
<p>Appium is a well-known mobile automation tool for automating native, hybrid, mobile web, and desktop apps. The appium community has come up with a major release in recent years, appium 2.0.0, and has made some considerable changes in making appium a platform where drivers and plugins can coexist independently.</p>



<p><em>In this blog, we will see how we can create an executable file for the appium server.&nbsp;</em></p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_are_executable_files"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What are executable files?</a><ul><li><a href="#Why_do_we_need_executable_files_for_the_appium_server"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> Why do we need executable files for the appium server?</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Installing_Appium_2nbsp"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Installing Appium 2:&nbsp;</a><ul><li><ul><li><a href="#Operating_System"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">2.0.1</span> Operating System:</a></li><li><a href="#Pre-requisite"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">2.0.2</span> Pre-requisite:</a></li><li><a href="#Installation"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">2.0.3</span> Installation:</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Starting_Appium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Starting Appium:</a><ul><li><a href="#Installing_Drivers"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.1</span> Installing Drivers:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Starting_Appium_via_exec_file"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Starting Appium via exec file:</a><ul><li><a href="#Pre-requisite-2"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.1</span> Pre-requisite:</a><ul><li><a href="#Pkg"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">4.1.1</span> Pkg:</a></li><li><a href="#Installing_Pkg"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">4.1.2</span> Installing Pkg:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Steps_to_create_an_executable_file"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.2</span> Steps to create an executable file:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Conclusion:</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-what-are-executable-files"><span id="What_are_executable_files">What are executable files?</span></h2>



<ul><li>Executable files contain a set of encoded instructions, which execute sequentially once the user clicks on them.</li><li>Executable files are available in all operating systems but with extensions pertaining to that OS. While .exe is the Windows extension for executable files, the macOs executable file does not have any extension.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-why-do-we-need-executable-files-for-the-appium-server"><span id="Why_do_we_need_executable_files_for_the_appium_server">Why do we need executable files for the appium server?</span></h3>



<p>The <a href="https://github.com/appium/appium-desktop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">appium desktop</a>, which is basically a GUI for the appium server was used to start/stop the server in appium 1.x. Moreover, the node runtime comes bundled with Appium Desktop which allowed users to use appium without having to install npm or node. But it is no longer compatible with appium 2.0+. And to overcome this, creating an executable file for the appium server is one of the easiest solutions. Apart from this, below are the benefits of having an executable file for the appium server:</p>



<p><strong><em>Easy distribution:</em></strong></p>



<ul><li>Users do not have to worry about having node or npm as a pre-requisite to install appium.&nbsp;</li><li>Once the executable file is built, the same can be used to start the appium on any machine and on any operating system.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p><strong><em>Easy to start the server:&nbsp;</em></strong></p>



<ul><li>Appium server can be started with just a click on the executable file.&nbsp;</li><li>No need to run commands from the terminal to start the appium server.</li></ul>



<p><strong><em>Easy to deploy:</em></strong></p>



<ul><li>Allows easy deployment on target machines i.e., if you want to install appium on any cloud server, you can simply deploy the exec file.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-installing-appium-2"><span id="Installing_Appium_2nbsp">Installing Appium 2:&nbsp;</span></h2>



<h4 id="h-operating-system"><span id="Operating_System">Operating System:</span></h4>



<ul><li>Mac os</li></ul>



<h4 id="h-pre-requisite"><span id="Pre-requisite">Pre-requisite:</span></h4>



<ul><li>We are going to use the node package manager to install appium, so make sure you have the node set up on your machine. If you do not have the node, please download it from the below link:<ul><li><a href="https://nodejs.org/en/download" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">https://nodejs.org/en/download</a></li></ul></li><li>I am using node version 16.20.0.</li></ul>



<h4 id="h-installation"><span id="Installation">Installation:</span></h4>



<ul><li>To install appium 2, please use the below command:<ul><li>npm i -g appium@next</li></ul></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-starting-appium"><span id="Starting_Appium">Starting Appium:</span></h2>



<ul><li>Once appium is installed, you can start the server by mentioning “appium” in the terminal.&nbsp;</li></ul><br>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1600" height="245" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-112.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" class="wp-image-29808"/></figure>



<br><ul><li>As I mentioned before, with appium version 2, we need to install the drivers separately. However, this was not the case with appium 1, i.e.<em> </em><em>When we installed Appium 1. x, all available drivers would be installed at the same time as the main Appium server. This is no longer the case.</em></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-installing-drivers"><span id="Installing_Drivers">Installing Drivers:</span></h3>



<ul><li>To find the list of available drivers, use the following command.&nbsp;<ul><li>appium driver list</li></ul></li></ul><br>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="990" height="316" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-111.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" class="wp-image-29806"/></figure>



<br><ul><li>To install a specific driver, use the following command.<ul><li>appium driver install &lt;drivername&gt;&nbsp;</li></ul></li></ul><br>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1298" height="172" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-109.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" class="wp-image-29802"/></figure>



<br><ul><li>Now, when you start appium, it starts the server along with the installed drivers.&nbsp;</li></ul><br>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1600" height="292" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-110.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" class="wp-image-29804"/></figure>



<br><p><em>Note: </em><em>By default, appium creates a hidden directory called </em><em>.appium</em><em> inside your user home directory. This will be the location of all the appium drivers that we install. In my case, it would be: “/Users/vikramramalingam/.appium”.</em></p>



<h2 id="h-starting-appium-via-exec-file"><span id="Starting_Appium_via_exec_file">Starting Appium via exec file:</span></h2>



<p>In order to create an executable file for the appium server, we need a command line interface called “<a href="https://github.com/vercel/pkg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">pkg</a>”.</p>



<h3 id="h-pre-requisite-1"><span id="Pre-requisite-2">Pre-requisite:</span></h3>



<h4 id="h-pkg"><span id="Pkg">Pkg:</span></h4>



<ul><li>A node.js package that can convert your Node.js app into executable files.</li><li>Another advantage of using pkg is, it creates executable files for several target machines at once.</li></ul>



<h4 id="h-installing-pkg"><span id="Installing_Pkg">Installing Pkg:</span></h4>



<ul><li>You can install pkg using the below command:<ul><li>npm install -g pkg</li></ul></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-steps-to-create-an-executable-file"><span id="Steps_to_create_an_executable_file">Steps to create an executable file:</span></h3>



<ul><li>Create a new node js project using the below command<ul><li>npm init</li></ul></li><li>Add appium and pkg as a dependency<ul><li>npm install &#8211;save appium@2.0.0-beta.71</li><li>npm install &#8211;save pkg@5.8.0</li></ul></li><li>Create an index.js file and add the below code, which will start the appium server:</li></ul>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code><styled-code>
const {asyncify} = require('asyncbox');
const appium = require('appium');

if (require.main === module) {
  asyncify(appium.main);
}

module.exports = appium;
</styled-code></code></pre>



<ul><li>Pkg looks for an entry point to the application in the package.json file, so add bin and mention index.js.</li><li>Pkg has options such as targets, assets, and outputPath.<ul><li><strong>targets: </strong>Specify the format for which you want to build your output. For example, I am generating an exec file for node version:node16, Os: macOS, and Arch: arm64. If we don&#8217;t specify the target, Pkg generates an exec file for Windows, Linux, and macOS by default.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>assets: </strong>Asset is where we need to add all the required dependencies. For the appium server, we need to add the axios.cjs path as assets Apart from that I have also added files related to the sharp module, as I was getting errors for the same.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>output path: </strong>Path where the exec file should be placed.&nbsp;</li></ul></li></ul>



<p>After doing the above, the package.json file should look like this:</p>



<styled-code>{

 &#8220;name&#8221;: &#8220;appium&#8221;,

 &#8220;version&#8221;: &#8220;1.0.0&#8221;,

 &#8220;description&#8221;: &#8220;Project to create exec file for appium&#8221;,

 &#8220;bin&#8221;: {

   &#8220;appium&#8221;: &#8220;./index.js&#8221;

 },

 &#8220;scripts&#8221;: {

   &#8220;start&#8221;: &#8220;node ./index.js&#8221;,

   &#8220;test&#8221;: &#8220;echo \&#8221;Error: no test specified\&#8221; &amp;&amp; exit 1&#8243;
},

 &#8220;license&#8221;: &#8220;ISC&#8221;,

 &#8220;dependencies&#8221;: {

   &#8220;appium&#8221;: &#8220;^2.0.0-beta.71&#8221;,

   &#8220;pkg&#8221;: &#8220;^5.8.0&#8221;

 },

 &#8220;pkg&#8221;: {

   &#8220;targets&#8221;: [
     &#8220;node16-macos-arm64&#8221;
   ],
   &#8220;assets&#8221;: [
&#8220;./node_modules/axios/dist/node/axios.cjs&#8221;,&#8221;./node_modules/sharp/build/**&#8221;,&#8221;./node_modules/sharp/vendor/**&#8221;
],
   &#8220;outputPath&#8221;: &#8220;dist&#8221;

 }

}</styled-code>



<br><ul><li>Then give the below command to create an exec file for the appium server<ul><li>pkg package.json</li></ul></li><li>You can ignore the warnings on running the above command and once it is over, in the dist folder, you can find the appium server as an exec file. Double-click on it to start the server.</li></ul><br>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1600" height="269" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-113.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" class="wp-image-29810"/></figure>



<br><ul><li>One important thing to consider before packaging is that, when we try to start the server, appium by default fetches the npm version on the machine and checks if the npm version is compatible to start the server. Because of that, if you try to start the appium server using the exec file we have just created in a machine that does not have npm, it will throw the below error.&nbsp;</li></ul><br>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1294" height="162" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/image-114.png" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform" class="wp-image-29812"/></figure>



<br><ul><li>To overcome this problem, go inside the appium folder which is present inside the node_modules folder of the project’s working directory, and search for the below methods and comment them out. This will stop appium from looking for the npm version on the target machine.&nbsp;<ul><li>getNpmVersion()</li><li>checkNpmOk()</li></ul></li><li>After doing the above, run the command again to create an executable file, and this time, you will be able to start the server on machines that do not have npm.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p>It took me some time to figure this out. And having written this article, I hope it will help you get through the process of creating an executable file for the appium server with ease.</p>



<p>All said and done, I would also like to tell you about a <a href="https://testsigma.com/low-code-test-automation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">low-code test automation platform</a> for web, mobile, APIs, and desktop applications &#8211; Testsigma.&nbsp; I, along with my team, at Testsigma, am working on some interesting innovations in the field of test automation and would definitely like you to check it out here: <a href="https://testsigma.com/signup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://testsigma.com/signup</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 id="h-conclusion"><span id="Conclusion">Conclusion:</span></h2>



<p>Creating an executable file for the appium server not only helps you with starting/stopping the server but also with easy installation and distribution.</p>



<p>Happy Testing!!</p>


Creating an executable file for Appium Server


<p>In today&#8217;s world, mobile applications are essential for any business to thrive, and almost all developed products offer web and mobile support. This has made mobile application testing an integral part of the QA life cycle, and adding to it. The onus is on the test automation engineers to develop an E2E automation suite for mobile application testing.</p>



<p>In this blog, I will explain how test automation engineers can start using Appium to automate mobile applications developed using Flutter.</p>



<p>&#8220;Appium is a well-known open-source mobile automation framework through which we can automate Android and iOS mobile applications.&#8221;</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><ul><li><a href="#About_Flutternbsp"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.1</span> About Flutter:&nbsp;</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#How_can_we_Automate_Flutter_Apps"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> How can we Automate Flutter Apps?</a><ul><li><a href="#Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> Appium Flutter Driver:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Appium_Set_Up_and_Walkthrough"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Appium Set Up and Walkthrough:</a><ul><li><a href="#Installing_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.1</span> Installing Appium Flutter Driver:</a></li><li><a href="#nbspFlutter_Finder_Library"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.2</span> &nbsp;Flutter Finder Library:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#How_to_Generate_the_Jar_for_Flutter_Finder_Library"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> How to Generate the Jar for Flutter Finder Library:</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Inspect_Elements_in_the_Flutter_App"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> How to Inspect Elements in the Flutter App?</a><ul><li><a href="#Sample_App"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.1</span> Sample App:</a></li><li><a href="#Pre-Requisites"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.2</span> Pre-Requisites:</a></li><li><a href="#IDE"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.3</span> IDE:</a></li><li><a href="#Mobile_Device"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.4</span> Mobile Device:</a></li><li><a href="#Have_added_the_following_dependencies_in_my_pomxml_file"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.5</span> Have added the following dependencies in my pom.xml file</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Can_we_launch_Flutter_App_in_Appium_Inspector"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Can we launch Flutter App in Appium Inspector?</a></li><li><a href="#Switching_between_Native_App_and_Flutter_App_context"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Switching between Native App and Flutter App context:</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Conclusion:</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.1</span> What is Appium Flutter Driver?</a></li><li><a href="#How_can_I_automate_my_Flutter_app_using_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.2</span> How can I automate my Flutter app using Appium Flutter Driver?</a></li><li><a href="#Can_I_run_my_Appium_Flutter_Driver_tests_on_real_devices"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.3</span> Can I run my Appium Flutter Driver tests on real devices?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h3 id="h-about-flutter"><span id="About_Flutternbsp"><strong><em>About Flutter:&nbsp;</em></strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>An open-source UI development framework created by Google</li><li>Using Flutter, it is now possible for developers to develop cross-platform applications for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and the web from a single codebase.</li><li>Flutter apps are written in Dart programming language and run on Dart virtual machines.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-how-can-we-automate-flutter-apps"><span id="How_can_we_Automate_Flutter_Apps"><strong>How can we Automate Flutter Apps?</strong></span></h2>



<p>Flutter framework, by default, comes up with<a href="https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/flutter_driver/flutter_driver-library.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> <em>flutter_driver</em></a><em>. </em>But<em> </em>using flutter_driver for UI automation has its <em>limitations</em>, and one of the main limitations is that we can write automation tests only in the Dart programming language. This can be quite tedious for test automation engineers without exposure to the Dart programming language.</p>



<h3 id="h-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>Appium Flutter Driver:</strong></span></h3>



<p>The Appium developer community has created a new driver,<a href="https://github.com/appium/appium-flutter-driver" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> appium_flutter_driver</a>.This has enabled test automation engineers to automate flutter-based apps just like how they would automate android and iOS mobile apps.&nbsp;</p>



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<h2 id="h-appium-set-up-and-walkthrough"><span id="Appium_Set_Up_and_Walkthrough"><strong>Appium Set Up and Walkthrough:</strong></span></h2>



<p><em>I assume you have already set up Appium on your machine.&nbsp;</em></p>



<h3 id="h-installing-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="Installing_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>Installing Appium Flutter Driver:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>If you are using Appium 2, use the command &#8220;appium driver install flutter&#8221; to install appium-flutter-driver.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-flutter-finder-library"><span id="nbspFlutter_Finder_Library"><strong>&nbsp;Flutter Finder Library:</strong></span></h3>



<p>The Appium developer community has also developed a flutter finder library through which we can interact with flutter-based elements. Below are the few locator strategies available in the flutter finder library.</p>



<ul><li>bySemanticslabel</li><li>byValuekey</li><li>byType</li><li>ancestor</li><li>byTooltip</li><li>descendant</li><li>pageBack</li><li>getRenderTree</li><li>text</li></ul>



<p>&#8220;You can also go through common finders class documentation to understand more about the locator strategies&#8221;</p>



<h2 id="h-how-to-generate-the-jar-for-flutter-finder-library"><span id="How_to_Generate_the_Jar_for_Flutter_Finder_Library"><strong>How to Generate the Jar for Flutter Finder Library:</strong></span></h2>



<ul><li>Pull the latest from the repo: <a href="https://github.com/appium-userland/finder-kotlin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">here</a> to your system.</li><li>Go to the respective folder where the repo is placed and from the terminal, run the command: “gradle clean build&#8221;</li><li>Once the build is over, inside the build directory of the project, i.e., “build/libs/appium-flutter-finder-0.0.6.jar&#8221;, you can find the jar.</li><li>You can add this jar to your automation project.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-how-to-inspect-elements-in-the-flutter-app"><span id="How_to_Inspect_Elements_in_the_Flutter_App"><strong>How to Inspect Elements in the Flutter App?</strong></span></h2>



<p>&#8220;Before trying to identify/inspect elements in the flutter app, request you to quickly go through the Introduction to widgets section in the flutter documentation to get an idea of how the UI is basically built out of Widgets.&#8221;</p>



<p>Using Flutter Inspector, one can inspect the widgets and try to identify the elements, but it might not be as easy compared to inspecting elements using Appium Inspector. So here is what you can do: <em>take help from the developers to get all the required locators</em>.</p>



<p><em>Let&#8217;s now try to <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/automated-login/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automate the login</a> flow in a flutter app.&nbsp;</em></p>



<h3 id="h-sample-app"><span id="Sample_App"><strong>Sample App:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>Provider Shopper&nbsp;</li><li>You can also download more sample flutter apps from<a href="https://flutter.github.io/samples/#" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> here</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-pre-requisites"><span id="Pre-Requisites"><strong>Pre-Requisites:</strong></span></h3>



<p>After downloading a sample flutter app, we need to do certain prerequisites so that the flutter app becomes feasible to automate.</p>



<p>Browserstack has elaborately mentioned the prerequisites <a href="https://www.browserstack.com/docs/app-automate/appium/test-hybrid-apps/test-flutter-apps#preprocess-flutter-app-for-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">here</a>. You can go through this to complete the pre-requisite and to build the app. </p>



<h3 id="h-ide"><span id="IDE"><strong>IDE:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>IntelliJ IDEA</li></ul>



<p><strong>Programming Language:</strong></p>



<ul><li><strong>Java: </strong>Open JDK 17.0.3v</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-mobile-device"><span id="Mobile_Device"><strong>Mobile Device:</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li>Android Emulator</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-have-added-the-following-dependencies-in-my-pom-xml-file"><span id="Have_added_the_following_dependencies_in_my_pomxml_file"><strong>Have added the following dependencies in my pom.xml file</strong></span></h3>



<ul><li><strong><em>Appium java client:</em></strong> 8.1.1</li><li><strong><em>TestNG</em>:</strong> 7.5</li><li><strong><em>Kotlin standard library for JVM</em>:</strong> 1.3.40</li><li><strong><em>Kotlin multiplatform serialization runtime library</em>: 0.14.0</strong></li><li>And do not forget to add the <strong><em>flutter finder jar</em></strong> to your project.</li></ul>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>public class FlutterAndroidShopper { private AndroidDriver driver; private FlutterFinder find; @BeforeTest public void setUp() throws Exception { DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities(); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, “android”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.AUTOMATION_NAME, “Flutter”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.NEW_COMMAND_TIMEOUT, “3000”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, “emulator-5554”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, “”); //mention your app path here driver = new AndroidDriver(new URL(“http://localhost:4723/wd/hub”), caps); find = new FlutterFinder(driver); } @Test public void login(){ find.bySemanticsLabel(“Username”).sendKeys(“username”); find.bySemanticsLabel(“Password”).sendKeys(“Password”); find.text(“ENTER”).click(); Assert.assertEquals(find.text(“Catalog”).getText(),”Catalog”); } @AfterTest public void tearDown(){ if(driver!=null){ driver.quit(); } } }</code></pre>



<p>As you can see from the above code, I have created a new object for FlutterFinder class, and with that, I can interact with the elements in the flutter app.</p>



<p>Similarly, you can also run automation on your iOS device as well.</p>



<p>An important point to be considered here is:</p>



<p>For running the automation in Android and iOS mobile applications, AUTOMATION_NAME should be &#8220;Flutter&#8221;</p>



<h2 id="h-can-we-launch-flutter-app-in-appium-inspector"><span id="Can_we_launch_Flutter_App_in_Appium_Inspector"><strong>Can we launch Flutter App in Appium Inspector?</strong></span></h2>



<p>We cannot launch the flutter app in Appium inspector with the automation name: &#8220;Flutter,&#8221;</p>



<p>But if the app has both native and flutter-based components:</p>



<ul><li>We can launch the app in Appium inspector by mentioning the automation name &#8220;UIAutomator2&#8221; for android and &#8220;XCUITest&#8221; for iOS.</li><li>Only native elements can be found in the inspector; we will not be able to find flutter-based elements.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-switching-between-native-app-and-flutter-app-context"><span id="Switching_between_Native_App_and_Flutter_App_context"><strong>Switching between Native App and Flutter App context:</strong></span></h2>



<p>If the app has both native and flutter-based components, here is what you need to do:</p>



<ul><li>Start the <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/mobile-automation-testing-tools-appium-testsigma-testcomplete-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Appium</a> session with automation_name as &#8220;Flutter&#8221;</li><li>driver.getContextHandles() =&gt; will give “NATIVE_APP” and “FLUTTER”</li><li>You can then set the context accordingly using driver.context(&#8220;NATIVE_APP”) and interact with the respective elements.</li></ul>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>public class FlutterAndroidShopper { private AndroidDriver driver; private FlutterFinder find; @BeforeTest public void setUp() throws Exception { DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities(); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, “android”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.AUTOMATION_NAME, “Flutter”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.NEW_COMMAND_TIMEOUT, “3000”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, “emulator-5554”); caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, “”); //mention your app path here driver = new AndroidDriver(new URL(“http://localhost:4723/wd/hub”), caps); find = new FlutterFinder(driver); } @Test public void login(){ switchContext(“NATIVE_APP”); RemoteWebElement username = (RemoteWebElement) driver.findElement(By.xpath(“/hierarchy/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.widget.LinearLayout/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.view.View/android.view.View/android.view.View/android.view.View/android.widget.EditText&#91;1]”)); username.click(); username.sendKeys(“Username”); switchContext(“FLUTTER”); find.bySemanticsLabel(“Password”).sendKeys(“Password”); find.text(“ENTER”).click(); Assert.assertEquals(find.text(“Catalog”).getText(),”Catalog”); } public void switchContext(String context) { Set contexts = driver.getContextHandles(); for (String appContext : contexts) { if (appContext.contains(context)) { driver.context(appContext); break; } } } @AfterTest public void tearDown(){ if(driver!=null){ driver.quit(); } } }</code></pre>



<h2 id="h-conclusion"><span id="Conclusion">Conclusion:</span></h2>



<p>Thus, by using the Appium flutter driver and flutter finder library, you can now start writing <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/8-top-test-automation-mistakes-and-tips-for-qa-teams-to-avoid-them/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automation tests</a> using the Appium Java client for flutter apps and also for flutter+native apps.&nbsp; Despite the support and the capabilities offered, the Appium flutter driver is still in the early stages of development and due to this, there might be <a href="https://github.com/appium/appium-flutter-driver/issues" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">issues</a> and limitations in using the same for flutter <a href="https://testsigma.com/mobile-testing-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">app automation</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>So before adopting the appium flutter driver, do thorough research, understand the pros and cons, and then make the call! Happy testing.</p>



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<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions">Frequently Asked Questions</span></h2>



<h3 id="what-is-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="What_is_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>What is Appium Flutter Driver?</strong></span></h3>



<p>Appium Flutter Driver is a testing tool that allows you to automate Flutter apps using Appium. It helps you interact with the UI elements of your Flutter app, such as buttons, text fields, and dropdowns, and perform various actions on them, such as clicking, typing, and selecting. With Appium Flutter Driver, you can write automated tests for your Flutter app and run them on real devices or emulators.</p>



<h3 id="how-can-i-automate-my-flutter-app-using-appium-flutter-driver"><span id="How_can_I_automate_my_Flutter_app_using_Appium_Flutter_Driver"><strong>How can I automate my Flutter app using Appium Flutter Driver?</strong></span></h3>



<p id="how-can-i-automate-my-flutter-app-using-appium-flutter-driver">You need to follow a few steps to automate your Flutter app using Appium Flutter Driver. First, you need to set up your environment by installing the required software, such as Flutter, Android Studio, and Appium. Then, you need to create a Flutter project and add the necessary dependencies for Appium Flutter Driver. After that, you can write your automated tests using your favorite programming language and run them using Appium. To simplify this process, you can use a test automation platform like Testsigma that provides a user-friendly interface for creating and running automated tests.</p>



<h3 id="can-i-run-my-appium-flutter-driver-tests-on-real-devices"><span id="Can_I_run_my_Appium_Flutter_Driver_tests_on_real_devices"><strong>Can I run my Appium Flutter Driver tests on real devices?</strong></span></h3>



<p>Yes, you can run your Appium Flutter Driver tests on real devices and emulators. Appium supports a wide range of devices and platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. To run your tests on real devices, you can just connect your device to your computer and configure the Appium settings accordingly. With Testsigma, you can easily set up your test environment and run your tests on real devices without hassle.</p>



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Automating Flutter Apps with Appium Flutter Driver

Testsigma Blog

Vikraman Ramalingam