Integrate Espresso test suite with app accessibility testing

Add mavenCentral and the classpath for Android Tools

In the root build.gradle file of your project, add mavenCentral under buildscript at the root level and the classpath for android tools under dependencies.

buildscript {
    repositories {
        ...
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        ...
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:<AGP_version>'
        classpath 'com.browserstack:gradle-tool:1.0.0'
    }
}

Add the Gradle plugin and the SDK dependency

In your project’s app directory, open the app’s build.gradle file and add the Gradle plugin under plugins and the BrowserStack SDK dependency under dependencies.

plugins {
 id 'com.browserstack.gradle-tool'
 }
dependencies {
 androidTestImplementation group: 'com.browserstack', name: 'browserstack-java-sdk', version: '1.21.0'
}

Enable internet access for the app

Open your app’s AndroidManifest.xml file and add the following entries. These entries allow the test app to connect to the internet and use the HTTP protocol to send performScan requests.

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

      <application
        android:usesCleartextTraffic="true"
        ...
    </application>

Upload your app

Upload your Android app (.apk or .aab file) to the BrowserStack servers using a REST API request.

The following sample cURL command demonstrates how to upload an app:

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/espresso/v2/app" \
-F "file=@/path/to/app/file/App.apk"

A sample response for the request is shown below:

{
    "app_name":"Application-debug.apk",
    "app_url":"bs://j3c874f852ea50957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4",
    "app_version":"1.0",
    "app_id":"j3c874f852ea50957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4",
    "uploaded_at":"2022-05-12 07:27:54 UTC",
    "expiry":"2022-06-11 07:27:54 UTC"
}

The app_id parameter is used to identify the application you want to test when you run Espresso tests.

Upload your test suite

Upload your Espresso test suite (.apk) file to the BrowserStack servers using REST API.

The following sample cURL command demonstrates how to upload a test suite:

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/espresso/v2/test-suite" \
-F "file=@/path/to/app/file/Application-debug-test.apk"

A sample response for the request is shown below:

{
    "test_suite_name":"Application-debug-test.apk",
    "test_suite_url":"bs://f7c874f21852ba57957a3e31f47514288c4ba4",
    "test_suite_id":"f7c874f21852ba57957a3e31f47514288c4ba4",
    "uploaded_at":"2022-05-12 07:32:41 UTC",
    "expiry":"2022-06-11 07:32:41 UTC",
    "framework":"espresso"
}

The test_suite_id parameter is used to identify the test suite when you run Espresso tests.

Run Espresso tests

In a cURL command, add the following parameters and send the API request to run the test.

• app - specify the identifier of the application that you want to test. The app_id is generated when you upload the app to BrowserStack. See Step 1.
• testSuite - specify the Espresso test suite uploaded to BrowserStack. The test_suite_id is generated when you upload your test suite to BrowserStack. See Step 2.
• devices - specify a list of Android devices on which you want to test your app. For more information, see Specify devices.
• accessibility - enable accessibility checks.
• accessibilityOptions - Configure the accessibilityOptions parameter to set various accessibility testing options. For a list of available accessibility options that you can use to configure your tests, see Configuration options.

curl -u "USERNAME:ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/espresso/v2/build" \
-d "{
    \"app\": \"bs://$app_id\",
    \"testSuite\": \"bs://$test_suite_id\",
    \"devices\": ["Samsung S24-14.0"], ["Google Pixel 8-14.0"], ["Samsung S21-11.0"]
    \"deviceLogs\": true,
    \"project\": \"$PROJECT_NAME\",
    \"accessibility\": true,
    \"accessibilityOptions\": {
        \"wcagVersion\": \"wcag21aa\",
        \"includeIssueType\": {
            \"bestPractice\": true,
            \"needsReview\": false
        },
        \"includeTagsInTestingScope\": [\"TAG_1\"],
        \"excludeTagsInTestingScope\": [\"TAG_2\"]
    }
}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"

Response

A sample response to the above API request is shown below :

{
    "message" : "Success",
    "build_id" : "4d2b4deb810af077dd98f479bfdd2e64f36c3"
}

The build_id uniquely identifies your build in App Automate. Each test build is an execution of your Espresso test suite on all selected devices.

If your tests fail with a NO TESTS RAN error, refer to the No tests ran documentation.

View test results

After you run the test using the REST API, visit the App Automate dashboard to view your test results, debugging logs, and overall test details.

Visit App Accessibility dashboard

You can also use API requests to view the test results.