Understanding UI Selector and Scrolling Actions in Android Testing

UI Selector Class - Locate Element

The UiSelector class in Android's UiAutomator framework is used to locate user interface elements in Android applications during automated testing. It provides a fluent API for specifying search criteria, enabling precise identification of elements based on various properties such as text, resource ID, class name, description, and more.

Usage Example

Here is an example of using UiSelector to locate elements:

// Import necessary classes
            import android.support.test.uiautomator.UiDevice;
            import android.support.test.uiautomator.UiSelector;
            import android.support.test.uiautomator.UiObject;
            
            // Locate an element by text
            UiObject element = device.findObject(new UiSelector().text("Example Text"));
            
            // Locate an element by resource ID
            UiObject elementById = device.findObject(new UiSelector().resourceId("com.example:id/button"));
            

The UiSelector class offers a variety of methods like className(), description(), index(), and enabled() for flexible and detailed searches.

UI Scrollable Horizontally or Vertically for Swiping

The UiScrollable class in UiAutomator is used to handle scrolling actions in a UI. It supports both horizontal and vertical scrolling, making it possible to interact with lists, grids, or pages that require swiping.

Vertical Scrolling Example

// Create a UiScrollable object for a vertically scrollable view
            UiScrollable scrollable = new UiScrollable(new UiSelector().scrollable(true));
            
            // Scroll forward
            scrollable.scrollForward();
            
            // Scroll backward
            scrollable.scrollBackward();
            

Horizontal Scrolling Example

// Set the scrollable direction to horizontal
            scrollable.setAsHorizontalList();
            
            // Scroll forward
            scrollable.scrollForward();
            
            // Scroll backward
            scrollable.scrollBackward();
            

The UiScrollable class also provides methods like scrollIntoView() to scroll until a specific element becomes visible.

Fling Backward or Forward to the Beginning

In addition to precise scrolling, UiScrollable supports fling gestures for quick navigation to the start or end of a scrollable view. Fling gestures are faster than scrolling and typically cover more distance in one motion.

Example of Flinging

// Fling forward to the end
            scrollable.flingForward();
            
            // Fling backward to the beginning
            scrollable.flingBackward();
            

Fling gestures are useful for rapidly navigating through long lists or grids where specific items are not immediately visible.

Best Practices

• Ensure that the scrollable property is set correctly for the target view.
• Use UiSelector methods to locate unique and identifiable elements for reliability.
• Combine scrolling and locating elements to interact with items in dynamic or large UIs effectively.

The combination of UiSelector and UiScrollable provides robust tools for automated testing of complex Android UIs.