Switch to different app while in appium session

Question

I want to switch to a different app B while I am in a test session of my "origin" app A. The purpose is to send data from app B to app A.

I already tried to restart my driver with different capabilities and I tried to have two different drivers in my test code. But none of that works.

Has anyone some suggestions how to achieve the switch? I'm working on a mac btw. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

If the switch is implemented in your app and happens automatically, then you should be able to just work with the current apps locators.

In case you need to separately open the app you can re-initialize the driver by performing quit() and creating new after.

mobileDriver.quit()
mobileDriver = new IOSDriver(url, capabilities)

Answer 2

If you are automating Android tests, it is easy. Just automate steps if you are a user

• Press Home button, you can do it via Appium but I recommend to call adb via code, e.g. adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_HOME
• Open apps menu and app B via locators

Or you can just start app B via adb, for example to start Chrome adb shell am start com.android.chrome

Answer 3

Refer this example code:

 public class Switch_activity {

 public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub

     String Start_Server="D:\\Appium\\node.exe  D:\\Appium\\node_modules\\appium\\bin\\appium.js";

    Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(Start_Server);

    if(process!=null)
    {
        System.out.println("Appium Server is Started");
    }
    else
    {
        System.out.println("NOT able to Start the Server");
    }

    Thread.sleep(12000);

    //Launch app
            DesiredCapabilities capabilities= new DesiredCapabilities();

            //device details
            capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "GT-I9300I");
            capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "Android");
            capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "4.4.4");

            //app details
            capabilities.setCapability("appPackage", "com.olacabs.customer");
            capabilities.setCapability("appActivity", "com.olacabs.customer.ui.SplashActivity");

            //appium server details
            AndroidDriver driver= new AndroidDriver(new URL("http://127.0.0.1:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities);

            Thread.sleep(8000);

            driver.findElementById("android:id/button1").click();
            //wait
            WebDriverWait wait= new WebDriverWait(driver, 35);
            WebElement until = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(By.id("com.olacabs.customer:id/button_ride_now")));
            System.out.println(until.isDisplayed());

            driver.findElementById("com.olacabs.customer:id/button_ride_now").click();
            Thread.sleep(4000);

            String text = driver.findElementById("com.olacabs.customer:id/button_ride_conform").getText();
            System.out.println(text);
            Thread.sleep(4000);

            driver.sendKeyEvent(AndroidKeyCode.BACK);
            //******************************************************
            Thread.sleep(8000);
            //Message app


            Thread.sleep(8000);
            //Try in this way
            driver.startActivity("com.flipkart.android", "com.flipkart.android.activity.HomeFragmentHolderActivity");

            WebDriverWait wait3= new WebDriverWait(driver, 35);
            WebElement until3 = wait3.until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(By.id("com.flipkart.android:id/search_widget_textbox")));
            System.out.println(until3.isDisplayed());

            driver.findElementById("com.flipkart.android:id/search_widget_textbox").click();
            Thread.sleep(4000);





            if(process!=null)
            {
                Thread.sleep(4000);

                process.destroy();                      
                System.out.println("Appium Server is Stopped");


            }



       }

  }