Run your first automated multi-module app test using Espresso

Run your first multi-module app test using Espresso on BrowserStack App Automate. Access the test results on the App Automate dashboard or use our REST API.

Modularization is a software technique where an app is organized into loosely coupled, independent entities called modules. Each module can be tested separately and each module has its own main class or runner. Multi-module apps can be worked upon by multiple developers with less conflict. Modularity also helps in simplifying debugging and re-deployments.

Run your first multi-module app test

Multi-module app testing is different from the Espresso testing covered in the above sections. To run your first test for multi-module apps, use the following steps instead:

1. Setup

1. You need a BrowserStack username and access key. To obtain your access credentials, sign up for a free trial or purchase a plan.

2. Multi-module app APK and test suite APK are bundled together into a single .apk file.

2. Upload your app and test suite

Upload your Android module build (.apk) to BrowserStack servers using a REST API request.

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

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

A sample response for the request is as follows:

{
    "module_name": "Application-module.apk",
    "module_url": "bs://c8ddcb5649a8280ca800075bfd8f151115bba6b3",
    "module_id": "c8ddcb5649a8280ca800075bfd8f151115bba6b3",
    "uploaded_at": "2020-05-05 14:52:54 UTC",
    "expiry" : "2020-06-05 14:52:54 UTC",
    "framework": "module"
}

The value of the module_url parameter in the response is used to specify hash id of your module apk which has both your app and test suite when you run multi-module tests.

3. Execute multi-module app tests

After you upload your .apk file to BrowserStack servers, send an API request to start the test execution as shown in the following sample cURL request:

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/espresso/v2/module-build" \
-d '{"testSuite": "bs://j3c874f21852ea50957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4", "devices": ["Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus-9.0"]}' \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"

A sample response for the request is as follows:

{
    "message" : "Success",
    "build_id" : "4d2b4deb810af077d5aed98f479bfdd2e64f36c3"
}

The build_id is used to uniquely identify your build in App Automate.

4. View test results

After you start an Espresso test suite execution using the REST API, visit your App Automate dashboard to view your test results, debugging logs, and overall test details.

You can also use API requests to view test results.