Running Your First iOS Test on Sauce Labs: A Quick Guide to iOS Automation

Before running your first iOS test, you need to ensure that your app is successfully uploaded to the Sauce Labs server. You can verify this by navigating to the Sauce Labs Dashboard, where all uploaded apps are listed.

Section 2: Writing Your First iOS Appium Test

Now, the real action begins! In this section, we’ll walk you through the process of writing and executing your first iOS test using Appium on Sauce Labs. You’ll learn how to interact with iOS elements, perform key actions, and make assertions using the powerful Appium framework.

We’ll also provide practical code examples and best practices to ensure your tests are effective, reliable, and optimized for execution on Sauce Labs’ cloud-based testing platform. Before diving in, let’s go over the essential steps required to set up and execute your first iOS test on Sauce Labs

1. Setup your POM File:

You need to include specific Maven dependencies in your project to integrate with Sauce Labs. These dependencies provide the essential libraries and tools required to establish a connection with Sauce Labs and execute your tests seamlessly. Here are the key Maven dependencies you need:

1. Selenium WebDriver: Dependency: org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java

       <dependency>
            <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
            <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
            <version>4.8.1</version>
       </dependency>

✨ Purpose: Selenium WebDriver is a powerful tool designed to automate browser interactions seamlessly. It enables users to interact with web elements, simulate user actions, and efficiently test web applications with ease.

2. Appium Java Client: Dependency: io.appium:java-client

        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.appium</groupId>
            <artifactId>java-client</artifactId>
            <version>8.3.0</version>
        </dependency>

✨ Purpose: The Appium Java Client library offers a powerful set of classes and methods to seamlessly interact with mobile devices and applications using Appium.

3. JUnit(optional) : Dependency: org.JUnit

 <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.13.2</version>
        </dependency>

Purpose: ✨ JUnit is a powerful testing framework designed to streamline test management, configuration, and reporting. With its advanced features, you can efficiently organize, execute, and enhance your Appium test automation, ensuring a more structured and reliable testing process.

4. Sauce Bindings: Enables seamless integration with Sauce Labs.

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.saucelabs</groupId>
        <artifactId>sauce_bindings</artifactId>
        <version>4.10.0</version>
    </dependency>

5. Cucumber: Allowing tests to be written in Gherkin syntax (Given-When-Then), which makes them readable for both technical and non-technical stakeholders

    <dependency>
        <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
        <artifactId>cucumber-java</artifactId>
        <version>7.15.0</version>
    </dependency>

In the POM file, you’ll notice that I’ve designed a test automation framework leveraging Appium and JUnit. Additionally, at the bottom, I’ve included a crucial dependency that enables seamless execution of tests on Sauce Labs, even in a local environment.

As you can see in the POM file, I built a framework based on Appium, JUnit, and Cucumber.

2. Configure Appium Server:

Set up your Appium server to seamlessly connect with Sauce Labs by configuring the Sauce Labs URL, along with your username and access key.

        HashMap<String, Object> sauceOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();
       // Appium Version is mandatory to use Appium 2
        sauceOptions.put("build", "testBuild");
        sauceOptions.put("name", "appLaunch");
        
        URL url = new URL("https://oauth-UserName:AccessKeyxxxxxxxxxxx@ondemand.eu-central-1.saucelabs.com:443/wd/hub");
   

3. Define Desired Capabilities:

Desired capabilities serve as the blueprint for configuring your Appium tests on Sauce Labs. These parameters specify crucial details such as the device name, platform version, browser name, screen orientation, and other essential settings to ensure seamless test execution. Accurately defining your desired capabilities is key to optimizing test performance across your chosen devices and meeting your automation goals.

       
 DesiredCapabilities desiredCapabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();

        desiredCapabilities.setCapability("appium:deviceName", "iPhone XR");
        desiredCapabilities.setCapability("appium:os_version", "iOS 16.3");
        desiredCapabilities.setCapability("app", "storage:filename= .ipa-file name");
        desiredCapabilities.setCapability("appium:automationName", "XCUITest");
        desiredCapabilities.setCapability("platformName", "iOS");
        desiredCapabilities.setCapability("sauce:options", sauceOptions);

        IOSDriver  driver = new IOSDriver(url, desiredCapabilities);

As you can see in the above block, we declare the desired capabilities, which play a key role in mobile testing, and we need to configure these desired capabilities as per our needs. If you’re already familiar with these, that would be great. If not, you can read my other blog Why We Need Desired Capabilities in Appium, This short blog post may provide a fruitful amount of knowledge in a short amount of time because I tried to elaborate more about desired capabilities in a beautiful manner.

For iOS testing appium Supported automation names for platform ‘IOS’ are: [xcuitest, flutter] only.

Section 3: Executing the Test on SauceLabs

Since you’re already familiar with the functionality of the Cucumber-based framework, you can run your tests directly from the TestRunner. As shown in the screenshot, I have added two demo scenarios to the project’s feature file, along with their corresponding step definition and page classes. Alternatively, you can execute the following command in the terminal to run the test:

mvn test -Dtest=TestRunner

When a user or tester executes a test from an IDE like IntelliJ, they can view live logs in the terminal. Additionally, they can monitor the real-time execution of the test on the Sauce Labs dashboard for better visibility and debugging.

Even though you can view the entire test execution recording in the Sauce Labs Test Results section after test completion, testers can debug issues by analyzing what happened during execution, identifying the reasons for test failures, and gaining insights into other potential problems.

Conclusion

This is just the beginning of iOS test automation on Sauce Labs! In upcoming posts, I’ll cover advanced techniques, troubleshooting tips, and test optimization strategies. Plus, I’m launching a Tech Hub with a complete Appium iOS framework to streamline mobile test automation. Stay tuned for more insights, hands-on examples, and expert guidance to take your iOS automation skills to the next level! 🚀

Till then, Happy learning, and happy sharing!