Troubleshooting Appium: Essential Tips for Reliable and Fast UI Automation Testing

Miscellaneous Tips for Enhanced Performance

Navigating the challenges of UI automation testing with Appium can be daunting. When issues arise, having a toolkit of practical tips can be a lifesaver. Here are some essential strategies to optimize your Appium test performance and troubleshoot common problems.

Tips for Optimizing Performance

①. 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘨, 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘍𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬: When performing touch actions, use a drag motion instead of a flick to ensure precision.
②. 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯: Adding a wait step can help stabilize your tests by ensuring elements have enough time to load.
③. 𝘈𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴: Leave a margin of about 5 pixels to prevent unwanted screen edge interactions.
④. 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳: Supported drivers receive more performance updates, so pick the most suitable one for your test environment.
⑤. 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵: Some clients might introduce delays; check the Appium logs to verify that your client isn’t the culprit.
⑥. 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯: With tools like Gradle, you can load specific versions of Appium and Selenium clients to maintain compatibility and performance.
⑦. 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘜𝘱 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴: Always call driver.quit() even on test failure. Utilize try/finally blocks to ensure cleanup.
⑧. 𝘚𝘦𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴: Use newCommandTimeout: 60 to recover gracefully from network issues.
⑨. 𝘜𝘴𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴: Emulators and simulators can suffer from system load and may not represent real-world performance accurately.
⑩. 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘖𝘧𝘧 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘈𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: Disable animations with commands like adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale 0.

Debugging Tips

①. 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴: Client-side exceptions often contain valuable information about the cause of a test failure.
②. 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘴: Look for unexpected actions or warning messages in the logs.
③. 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘻𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘴: Use tools like adb logcat for Android or idevicesyslog for iOS to capture app-specific messages and crashes.
④. 𝘌𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴: Start Appium with --log-timestamp to identify slow commands by examining time gaps in the logs.
⑤. 𝘜𝘴𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴: Rewriting problematic test scripts with a different Appium client can help isolate issues.

Understanding the Appium [XCUITest] Stack

When troubleshooting, it’s crucial to understand the complexity of Appium’s technology stack, especially with XCUITest. The stack includes:

• Test code
• Appium client and server code
• WebDriverAgent
• XCUITest
• Proprietary Apple code

Issues can manifest at any layer, so a methodical approach to debugging is essential.

Diagnosing Issues

①. 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: Start by examining your test code for exceptions. Detailed error messages often provide clues about the root cause.
②. 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘴: Appium logs contain a wealth of information. Key areas to inspect include session start logs, the end of logs for crashes, and any stack traces or warnings.
③. 𝘓𝘰𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴: For slowness issues, use log timestamps to identify time-consuming commands and narrow down the problematic areas.
④. 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘴: System-level logs can reveal app-specific issues not visible in Appium logs.

Advanced Troubleshooting

①. 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴: If you suspect an issue with the Appium client, try using a different client or language to see if the problem persists.
②. 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴: Test directly with XCUITest or UiAutomator2 to determine if the issue lies with the underlying automation technology.
③. 𝘈𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱: When all else fails, search the Appium issue tracker or create a detailed issue report. The community and maintainers are valuable resources for finding solutions.

Conclusion

By following these tips and understanding the intricacies of the Appium stack, you can effectively troubleshoot and optimize your UI automation tests. Remember, the key to successful debugging lies in detailed investigation and leveraging community support.

𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓭𝓮𝓫𝓾𝓰𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰!

I welcome any comments and contributions to the subject. Connect with me on LinkedIn, X , GitHub, or Insta.

If you find this post useful, please consider buying me a coffee.

#Appium #UITesting #Automation #SDET #QATesting #TechTips #PerformanceBoost #AutomationEngineering #QATips #TechHacks #WomenInTech #SoftwareTesting