libraries/testing-support-library/index.jd

page.title=Testing Support Library
page.metaDescription=The Android Testing Support Library provides an extensive framework for testing Android apps.
page.image=images/tools/studio-test-module.png

@jd:body

  <div id="qv-wrapper">
    <div id="qv">
    <h2>
      In this document
    </h2>

    <ol>
      <li>
      <a href="#features">Testing Support Library Features</a>
      <ol>
        <li>
        <a href="#AndroidJUnitRunner">AndroidJUnitRunner</a>
        </li>

        <li>
        <a href="#Espresso">Espresso</a>
        </li>

        <li>
        <a href="#UIAutomator">UI Automator</a>
        </li>
      </ol>
      </li>

      <li>
      <a href="#setup">Testing Support Library Setup</a>
      </li>
    </ol>

    <h2>See also</h2>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/package-summary.html">
      Testing Support Library API Reference</a></li>
    <li><a href="https://github.com/googlesamples/android-testing" class="external-link">
      Code Samples</a></li>
  </ol>
    </div>
  </div>

  <p>
    The Android Testing Support Library provides an extensive framework for testing Android apps.
    This library provides a set of APIs that allow you to quickly build and run test code for
    your apps, including JUnit 4 and functional user interface (UI) tests. You can run tests
    created using these APIs from the <a href=
    "{@docRoot}tools/studio/index.html">Android Studio IDE</a> or from the command line.
  </p>

  <p>The Android Testing Support library is available through the Android SDK Manager.
    For more information, see <a href="#setup">Testing Support Library Setup</a>
  </p>

  <p>
    This page provides information about what tools are provided in the Android Testing Support
    Library, how to use them in your testing environment, and information about library releases.
  </p>

  <h2 id="features">
    Testing Support Library Features
  </h2>

  <p>
    The Android Testing Support Library includes the following test automation tools:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>
    <strong><a href="#AndroidJUnitRunner">AndroidJUnitRunner</a></strong>: JUnit 4-compatible
    test runner for Android
    </li>

    <li>
    <strong><a href="#Espresso">Espresso</a></strong>: UI testing framework; suitable for
    functional UI testing within an app
    </li>

    <li>
    <strong><a href="#UIAutomator">UI Automator</a></strong>: UI testing framework; suitable
    for cross-app functional UI testing across system and installed apps
    </li>
  </ul>

  <h3 id="AndroidJUnitRunner">
    AndroidJUnitRunner
  </h3>

  <p>
    The
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/runner/AndroidJUnitRunner.html">{@code AndroidJUnitRunner}</a>
    class is a <a href="http://junit.org/" class="external-link">JUnit</a> test runner that lets you
    run JUnit 3 or JUnit 4-style test classes on Android devices, including those using the
    <a href="#Espresso">Espresso</a> and <a href="#UIAutomator">UI Automator</a> testing frameworks.
    The test runner handles loading your test package and the app under test
    to a device, running your tests, and reporting test results. This class replaces the {@link
    android.test.InstrumentationTestRunner} class, which only supports JUnit 3 tests.
  </p>

  <p>
    The key features of this test runner include:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="#ajur-junit">JUnit support</a>
    </li>

    <li><a href="#ajur-instrumentation">Access to instrumentation information</a>
    </li>

    <li><a href="#ajur-filtering">Test filtering</a>
    </li>

    <li><a href="#ajur-sharding">Test sharding</a>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>Requires Android 2.2 (API level 8) or higher.</p>

  <h4 id="ajur-junit">
    JUnit support
  </h4>

  <p>
    The test runner is compatible with your JUnit 3 and JUnit 4 (up to JUnit
    4.10) tests. However, you should avoid mixing JUnit 3 and and JUnit 4 test code in the same
    package, as this might cause unexpected results. If you are creating an instrumented JUnit 4
    test class to run on a device or emulator, your test class must be prefixed with the
    {@code @RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)} annotation.
  </p>

  <p>The following code snippet shows how you might write an instrumented JUnit 4 test to validate
    that the <em>add</em> operation in the {@code CalculatorActivity} class works correctly.
</p>

<pre>
import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner;
import android.test.ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2;

&#64;RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
public class CalculatorInstrumentationTest
        extends ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2&lt;CalculatorActivity&gt; {

    &#64;Before
    public void setUp() throws Exception {
        super.setUp();

        // Injecting the Instrumentation instance is required
        // for your test to run with AndroidJUnitRunner.
        injectInstrumentation(InstrumentationRegistry.getInstrumentation());
        mActivity = getActivity();
    }

    &#64;Test
    public void typeOperandsAndPerformAddOperation() {
        // Call the CalculatorActivity add() method and pass in some operand values, then
        // check that the expected value is returned.
    }

    &#64;After
    public void tearDown() throws Exception {
        super.tearDown();
    }
}
</pre>

  <h4 id="ajur-instrumentation">
    Access to instrumentation information
  </h4>

  <p>
    You can use the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/InstrumentationRegistry.html">{@code InstrumentationRegistry}</a>
    class to access information related to your
    test run. This class includes the {@link android.app.Instrumentation} object, target app {@link
    android.content.Context} object, test app {@link android.content.Context} object, and the
    command line arguments passed into your test. This data is useful when you are writing tests
    using the UI Automator framework or when writing tests that have dependencies on the {@link
    android.app.Instrumentation} or {@link android.content.Context} objects.
  </p>

  <h4 id="ajur-filtering">
    Test filtering
  </h4>

  <p>
    In your JUnit 4.x tests, you can use annotations to configure the test run. This feature
    minimizes the need to add boilerplate and conditional code in your tests. In addition to the
    standard annotations supported by JUnit 4, the test runner  also supports Android-specific
    annotations, including:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/filters/RequiresDevice.html">{@code @RequiresDevice}</a>:
    Specifies that the test should run only on physical devices, not on emulators.
    </li>

    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/filters/SdkSuppress.html">{@code @SdkSupress}</a>:
    Suppresses the test from running on a lower Android API level than the given level. For
    example, to suppress tests on all API levels lower than 18 from running, use the annotation
    {@code @SDKSupress(minSdkVersion=18)}.
    </li>

    <li>{@link android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.SmallTest &#64;SmallTest},
      {@link android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.MediumTest &#64;MediumTest},
      and {@link android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.LargeTest &#64;LargeTest}: Classify how long
      a test should take to run, and consequently, how frequently you can run the test.
    </li>
  </ul>

  <h4 id="ajur-sharding">
    Test sharding
  </h4>

  <p>
    The test runner supports splitting a single test suite into multiple
    <em>shards</em>, so you can easily run tests belonging to the same shard together as a group,
    under the same {@link android.app.Instrumentation} instance. Each shard is identified by an
    index number. When running tests, use the {@code -e numShards} option to specify the number
    of separate shards to create and the {@code -e shardIndex} option to specify which shard to
    run.
  </p>

  <p>
    For example, to split the test suite into 10 shards and run only the tests grouped in the
    second shard, use the following command:
  </p>

  <pre>
adb shell am instrument -w -e numShards 10 -e shardIndex 2</pre>

  <p>
    To learn more about using this test runner, see the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/package-summary.html">API reference</a>.
  </p>

  <h3 id="Espresso">
    Espresso
  </h3>

  <p>
    The Espresso testing framework provides a set of APIs to build UI tests to test user flows
    within an app. These APIs let you write automated UI tests that are concise and that run
    reliably. Espresso is well-suited for writing <em>white box</em>-style automated tests, where
    the test code utilizes implementation code details from the app under test.
  </p>

  <p>
    The key features of the Espresso testing framework include:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>Flexible APIs for view and adapter matching in target apps.
      For more information, see <a href="#espresso-matching">View matching</a>.

    <li>An extensive set of action APIs to automate UI interactions.
      For more information, see <a href="#espresso-actions">Action APIs</a>.
    </li>

    <li>UI thread synchronization to improve test reliability.
      For more information, see <a href="#espresso-thread-sync">UI thread synchronization</a>.
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>Requires Android 2.2 (API level 8) or higher.</p>

  <h4 id="espresso-matching">
    View matching
  </h4>

  <p>
    The <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/Espresso.html#onView(org.hamcrest.Matcher<android.view.View>)">{@code Espresso.onView()}</a>
    method lets you access a UI component in the target app and
    interact with it. The method accepts a
    <a href="http://hamcrest.org/JavaHamcrest/javadoc/1.3/org/hamcrest/Matcher.html"
    class="external-link">{@code Matcher}</a> argument and searches the view
    hierarchy to locate a corresponding {@link android.view.View} instance that meets some given
    criteria. You can refine searches by specifying such criteria as:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>The class name of the view
    </li>

    <li>The content description of the view
    </li>

    <li>The {@code R.id} of the view
    </li>

    <li>Text displayed in the view
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>
    For example, to target a button that has the ID value of {@code my_button}, you can specify
    a matcher like this:
  </p>

  <pre>
onView(withId(R.id.my_button));</pre>

  <p>
    If the search is successful, the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/Espresso.html#onView(org.hamcrest.Matcher<android.view.View>)">{@code onView()}</a>
    method returns a reference which lets you
    perform user actions and test assertions against the target view.
  </p>

  <h4>
    Adapter matching
  </h4>

  <p>
    In an {@link android.widget.AdapterView} layout, the layout is dynamically populated with
    children views at runtime. If the target view is inside a layout subclassed from {@link
    android.widget.AdapterView} (such as a {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link
    android.widget.GridView}), the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/Espresso.html#onView(org.hamcrest.Matcher<android.view.View>)">{@code onView()}</a>
    method might not work because only a subset of
    the layout’s views may be loaded in the current view hierarchy.
  </p>

  <p>
    Instead, use the <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/Espresso.html#onData(org.hamcrest.Matcher<java.lang.Object>)">{@code Espresso.onData()}</a>
    method to access a target view element. The <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/Espresso.html#onData(org.hamcrest.Matcher<java.lang.Object>)">{@code Espresso.onData()}</a>
    method returns a reference which lets you perform user actions and test assertions against the
    elements in an {@link android.widget.AdapterView}.
  </p>

  <h4 id="espresso-actions">
    Action APIs
  </h4>

  <p>
    Typically, you test an app by performing some user interactions against the app’s user
    interface. You can easily automate these actions in your test by using the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/action/ViewActions.html">{@code ViewActions}</a>
    API. You can perform such UI interactions as:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>View clicks
    </li>

    <li>Swipes
    </li>

    <li>Key and button presses
    </li>

    <li>Typing text
    </li>

    <li>Opening a link
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>
    For example, to simulate entering a string value and pressing a button to submit the value,
    you can write an automated test script like this. The
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/ViewInteraction.html#perform(android.support.test.espresso.ViewAction...)">{@code ViewInteraction.perform()}</a>
    and <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/DataInteraction.html#perform(android.support.test.espresso.ViewAction...)">{@code DataInteraction.perform()}</a>
    methods take one or more
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/espresso/ViewAction.html">{@code ViewAction}</a>
    arguments and run the actions in the order provided.
  </p>

  <pre>
// Type text into an EditText view, then close the soft keyboard
onView(withId(R.id.editTextUserInput))
    .perform(typeText(STRING_TO_BE_TYPED), closeSoftKeyboard());

// Press the button to submit the text change
onView(withId(R.id.changeTextBt)).perform(click());</pre>

  <h4 id="espresso-thread-sync">
    UI thread synchronization
  </h4>

  <p>
    Tests on Android devices can fail randomly because of timing issues. This testing issue is
    referred to as <em>test flakiness</em>. Prior to Espresso, the workaround was to insert a
    sufficiently long sleep or timeout period into a test or to add code to keep retrying the
    failing operation. The Espresso testing framework handles synchronization between the
    {@link android.app.Instrumentation} and the UI thread; this removes the need for the previous
    timing workarounds and ensures that your test actions and assertions run more reliably.
  </p>

  <p>
    To learn more about using Espresso, see the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/package-summary.html">API reference</a> and
    <a href="{@docRoot}training/testing/ui-testing/espresso-testing.html">
      Testing UI for a Single App</a> training.
  </p>

  <h3 id="UIAutomator">
    UI Automator
  </h3>

  <p>
    The UI Automator testing framework provides a set of APIs to build UI tests that perform
    interactions on user apps and system apps. The UI Automator APIs allows you to perform
    operations such as opening the Settings menu or the app launcher in a test device. The UI
    Automator testing framework is well-suited for writing <em>black box</em>-style automated
    tests, where the test code does not rely on internal implementation details of the target
    app.
  </p>

  <p>
    The key features of the UI Automator testing framework include:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>A viewer to inspect layout hierarchy.
      For more information, see <a href="#uia-viewer">UI Automator Viewer</a>.
    </li>
    <li>An API to retrieve state information and perform operations on the target device.
      For more information, see <a href="#uia-device-state">Access to device state</a>.
    </li>
    <li>APIs that support cross-app UI testing.
      For more information, see <a href="#uia-apis">UI Automator APIs</a> .
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>Requires Android 4.3 (API level 18) or higher.</p>

  <h4 id="uia-viewer">
    UI Automator Viewer
  </h4>

  <p>
    The {@code uiautomatorviewer} tool provides a convenient GUI to scan and analyze the UI
    components currently displayed on an Android device. You can use this tool to inspect the
    layout hierarchy and view the properties of UI components that are visible on the foreground
    of the device. This information lets you create more fine-grained tests using UI Automator,
    for example by creating a UI selector that matches a specific visible property.
  </p>

  <p>
    The {@code uiautomatorviewer} tool is located in the {@code <android-sdk>/tools/}
    directory.
  </p>

  <h4 id="uia-device-state">
    Access to device state
  </h4>

  <p>
    The UI Automator testing framework provides a
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/UiDevice.html">{@code UiDevice}</a>
    class to access and perform operations on the device on which the target app is running. You
    can call its methods to access device properties such as current orientation or display size.
    The <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/UiDevice.html">{@code UiDevice}</a>
    class also let you perform actions such as:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>Change the device rotation
    </li>

    <li>Press a D-pad button
    </li>

    <li>Press the Back, Home, or Menu buttons
    </li>

    <li>Open the notification shade
    </li>

    <li>Take a screenshot of the current window
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>
    For example, to simulate a Home button press, call the {@code UiDevice.pressHome()} method.
  </p>

  <h4 id="uia-apis">
    UI Automator APIs
  </h4>

  <p>
    The UI Automator APIs allow you to write robust tests without needing to know about the
    implementation details of the app that you are targeting. You can use these APIs to capture
    and manipulate UI components across multiple apps:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/UiCollection.html">{@code UiCollection}</a>:
      Enumerates a container's UI elements for the purpose of counting,
    or targeting sub-elements by their visible text or content-description property.
    </li>

    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/UiObject.html">{@code UiObject}</a>:
      Represents a UI element that is visible on the device.
    </li>

    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/UiScrollable.html">{@code UiScrollable}</a>:
      Provides support for searching for items in a scrollable UI container.
    </li>

    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/UiSelector.html">{@code UiSelector}</a>:
      Represents a query for one or more target UI elements on a device.
    </li>

    <li><a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/uiautomator/Configurator.html">{@code Configurator}</a>:
      Allows you to set key parameters for running UI Automator tests.
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>
    For example, the following code shows how you can write a test script that brings up the
    default app launcher in the device:
  </p>

  <pre>
// Initialize UiDevice instance
mDevice = UiDevice.getInstance(getInstrumentation());

// Perform a short press on the HOME button
mDevice.pressHome();

// Bring up the default launcher by searching for
// a UI component that matches the content-description for the launcher button
UiObject allAppsButton = mDevice
        .findObject(new UiSelector().description("Apps"));

// Perform a click on the button to bring up the launcher
allAppsButton.clickAndWaitForNewWindow();</pre>

  <p>
    To learn more about using UI Automator, see the
    <a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/package-summary.html">API reference</a> and
    <a href="{@docRoot}training/testing/ui-testing/uiautomator-testing.html">
      Testing UI for Multiple Apps</a> training.
  </p>

  <h2 id="setup">
    Testing Support Library Setup
  </h2>

  <p>
    The Android Testing Support Library package is included with the latest version of the
    Android Support Repository, which you can obtain as a supplemental download through the
    Android SDK Manager.
  </p>

  <p>
    To download the Android Support Repository through the SDK Manager:
  </p>

  <ol>
    <li>Start the <a href="{@docRoot}tools/help/sdk-manager.html">Android SDK Manager</a>.
    </li>

    <li>In the SDK Manager window, scroll to the end of the <i>Packages</i> list, find the
    <em>Extras</em> folder and, if necessary, expand to show its contents.
    </li>

    <li>Select the <strong>Android Support Repository</strong> item.
    </li>

    <li>Click the <strong>Install packages...</strong> button.
    </li>
  </ol>

  <p>
    After downloading, the tool installs the Support Repository files to your existing Android
    SDK directory. The library files are located in the following subdirectory of your SDK:
    {@code <sdk>/extras/android/m2repository} directory.
  </p>

  <p>
    The Android Testing Support Library classes are located under the
    {@code android.support.test} package.
  </p>

  <p>
    To use the Android Testing Support Library in your Gradle project, add these dependencies in
    your {@code build.gradle} file:
  </p>

  <pre>
dependencies {
  androidTestCompile 'com.android.support.test:runner:0.4'
  // Set this dependency to use JUnit 4 rules
  androidTestCompile 'com.android.support.test:rules:0.4'
  // Set this dependency to build and run Espresso tests
  androidTestCompile 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.1'
  // Set this dependency to build and run UI Automator tests
  androidTestCompile 'com.android.support.test.uiautomator:uiautomator-v18:2.1.2'
}</pre>

  <p>To set
<a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/support/test/runner/AndroidJUnitRunner.html">{@code AndroidJUnitRunner}</a>
  as the default test instrumentation runner in your Gradle project, specify this dependency in
  your {@code build.gradle} file:</p>

  <pre>
android {
    defaultConfig {
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
}</pre>

  <p>
    It is strongly recommended that you use the Android Testing Support Library together with the
    Android Studio IDE. Android Studio offers capabilities that support test
    development, such as:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>Flexible Gradle-based build system that supports dependency management for your test code
    </li>

    <li>Single project structure to contain your unit and instrumented test code together with
    your app source code
    </li>

    <li>Support for deploying and running tests on virtual or physical devices, from a
    command line or graphical user interface
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>
  For more information about Android Studio and to download it, see
  <a href="{@docRoot}studio/index.html">Download Android Studio and SDK Tools</a>.
  </p>