Run your first test

BrowserStack App Automate enables you to test native and hybrid mobile applications using Appium automation framework. Its easy to run your Appium tests written in NodeJS on real Android and iOS devices on BrowserStack. This guide will help you get started with your first test.

1. Setup

You will need a BrowserStack username and access key. To obtain your access credentials, sign up for a free trial or purchase a plan.
Ensure you have Appium’s NodeJS client library installed.
Access to an Android app (.apk or .aab file) or an iOS app (.ipa file)

Note: If you do not have an .apk or .ipa file and are looking to simply try App Automate, you can download and test using our sample Android app or sample iOS app.

2. Upload your app

Upload your Android app (.apk or .aab file) or iOS app (.ipa file) to BrowserStack servers using our REST API. Here is an example cURL request to upload the app :

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

A sample response for the above request is shown below:

{
    "app_url":"bs://j3c874f21852ba57957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4"
}

Note the value of app_url returned in the API response (bs://j3c874f21852b..... in the above example). This value will be used later to set the app capability to specify application under test in your Appium test scripts.

Note:

App upload will take a few seconds to about a minute depending on the size of your app. Do not interrupt the cURL command until you get the response back.
If you upload an iOS app, we will re-sign the app with our own provisioning profile to be able to install your app on our devices during test execution.

3. Setup and run your test

In this step, you will learn how to configure your Appium test script using desired capabilities to test remotely on BrowserStack’s real device cloud. You will need to make the following changes in your NodeJS test script :

Specify the application under test using the app capability. Use the app_url value returned at the time of app upload (Step 2) to set this capability.
Specify the real Android or iOS device you want to test on using the device capability.
In order to initialize an Appium driver, use a remote BrowserStack URL along with your BrowserStack access credentials as shown below :
```
  https://YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY@hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub
```

Android
iOS

If you are using our Sample App, the sample test below will install the Sample App (Wikipedia App) on the device, search for ‘browserstack’ and asserts for the list of results. If you are using your own app, modify the code as per your test cases. Copy the code below into your editor, and run the test from the command-line interface.

var wd = require('wd');
var assert = require('assert');
var asserters = wd.asserters;

desiredCaps = {
  'browserstack.user' : 'YOUR_USERNAME',
  'browserstack.key' : 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY',
  'build' : 'Node Android',
  'name': 'single_test',
  'device' : 'Google Pixel 3',
  'app' : '<app_url>',
  'browserstack.debug' : true
};
driver = wd.promiseRemote("http://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub");

driver
  .init(desiredCaps)
  .then(function () {
    return driver.waitForElementByAccessibilityId('Search Wikipedia', asserters.isDisplayed && asserters.isEnabled, 30000);
  })
  .then(function (searchElement) {
    return searchElement.click();
  })
  .then(function () {
    return driver.waitForElementById('org.wikipedia.alpha:id/search_src_text', asserters.isDisplayed && asserters.isEnabled, 30000);
  })
  .then(function (searchInput) {
    return searchInput.sendKeys("BrowserStack");
  })
  .then(function () {
    return driver.elementsByClassName('android.widget.TextView');   
  })
  .then(function (search_results) {
    assert(search_results.length > 0);
  })
  .fin(function() { return driver.quit(); })
  .done();

Note:

Refer to our GitHub repository for a complete example - NodeJS-appium-app-browserstack

If you are using our iOS Sample App, the sample test below will install the Sample App (BStackSample App) on the device, navigate to the Login screen, enters the login email and check whether the email is registered on WordPress. If you are using your own app, modify the code as per your test cases. Copy the code below into your editor, and run the test from the command-line interface.

var wd = require('wd');
var assert = require('assert');
var asserters = wd.asserters;
var sleep = require('sleep');
var Q = wd.Q;

desiredCaps = {
  'browserstack.user' : 'YOUR_USERNAME',
  'browserstack.key' : 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY',
  'build' : 'Node iOS',
  'name': 'single_test',
  'device' : 'iPhone 11 Pro',
  'app' : '<app_url>',
  'browserstack.debug' : true
};
driver = wd.promiseRemote("http://hub-cloud.browserstack.com/wd/hub");

driver
  .init(desiredCaps)
  .then(function () {
    return driver.waitForElementById('Text Button', asserters.isDisplayed && asserters.isEnabled, 30000);
  })
  .then(function (textButton) {
    return textButton.click();
  })
  .then(function () {
    return driver.waitForElementById('Text Input', asserters.isDisplayed && asserters.isEnabled, 30000);
  })
  .then(function (textInput) {
    return textInput.sendKeys("hello@browserstack.com"+"\n");
  })
  .then(function () {
    return driver.waitForElementById('Text Output', asserters.isDisplayed && asserters.isEnabled, 30000);
  })
  .then(function (textOutput) {
    return textOutput.text().then(function(value) {
      if (value === "hello@browserstack.com")
        assert(true);
      else
        assert(false);
    });
  })
  .fin(function() { return driver.quit(); })
  .done();

Note:

Refer to our GitHub repository for a complete example - NodeJS-appium-app-browserstack

4. Viewing test results

You can access results of your test sessions on the App Automate dashboard as well as using our REST API. You can drill down into the details of a specific test session to view its execution details and debugging information such as video recording, network logs and device logs.

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