This is a presentation on MOTODEV App Validator from a webinar given on January 25, 2012. For more information go to http://developer.motorola.com/testing/app-validator

1. Improving Enterprise Application
Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Eric Cloninger (ericc@motorola.com)
Product Line Manager, Development Tools
#appval
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2012 Motorola Mobility, Inc. All rights reserved. moto.ly/appvalint

2. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Agenda
• Asset management in an Android project
• The Matrix of Pain
• The MOTODEV App Validator
• Extending the MOTODEV App Validator
• Q&A
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3. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Asset Management in Android
• An Android app (“APK”, aka “application package”) is a
container for both code and non-code assets
• An app can have multiple copies of the same asset
• Applies to images, menus, strings, layouts, sounds, icons, etc.
• The Android runtime has an algorithm that determines the best
resource to use based on
location, carrier, language, display, screen orientation, dock
status, keyboard availability, etc.
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4. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Structure of a simple Android App project
AwesomeApp.APK
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5. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
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6. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
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7. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
The Matrix of Pain
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8. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Statistics
http://bit.ly/fxFY7P Platform Codename API Level Distribution
Android 1.5 Cupcake 3 0.6%
Android 1.6 Donut 4 1.1%
Android 2.1 Eclair 7 8.5%
Android 2.2 Froyo 8 30.4%
Android 2.3 - Gingerbread 9 0.6%
Android 2.3.2
Android 2.3.3 - 10 54.9%
Android 2.3.7
Android 3.0 Honeycomb 11 0.1%
Android 3.1 12 1.5%
Android 3.2 13 1.7%
Android 4.0 - Ice Cream 14 0.3%
Data collected during a 14-day period Android 4.0.2 Sandwich 15 0.3%
ending on January 3, 2012 Android 4.0.3
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9. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Statistics, cont’d
http://bit.ly/AfeZHn
ldpi mdpi hdpi xhdpi
small 1.3% 2.9%
normal 1.0% 17.5% 71%
large 0.1% 3.1%
xlarge 3.1%
Data collected during a 14-day period
ending on January 3, 2012
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10. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Sparse Matrix. Less pain, more risk.
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11. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Static Analysis
• Solves a different problem set than runtime tests
• Finds “Matrix of Pain” issues that runtime tests don‟t
• Catches errors early in the development cycle
• Automatable / scriptable systems
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12. MOTODEV App Validator

13. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
MOTODEV App Validator
• Free static analysis tool that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux
• Available as Eclipse plugins, a stand-alone command line tool,
and as a drag-and-drop web app
• Operates on .APK files as well as contents of Eclipse projects
• Highly customizable for your needs
• Generates output as text, CSV, or XML for easy integration into
existing development processes
• Download at http://moto.ly/mdsdl
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14. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
MOTODEV App Validator – What it does
• Determines if an app requests too few or too many permissions
• Reports missing localized or default strings and missing
drawable resources
• Discovers duplicate IDs in layouts
• Code problems (e.g. open database cursors that aren‟t closed)
• 35 unique conditions tested, described at the MOTODEV site
– http://moto.ly/appvaldocs
– More checkers and conditions added with each release
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15. Demo
App Validator &
MOTODEV Studio

16. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
MOTODEV App Validator – How it works
• Decomposes an Android application into its “file system”
• Examines the app manifest for improper values
• Decompiles Java code in the APK and examines code patterns
• Compares values of Android APIs parameters against the
contents of resource directories
• Compares an app against device specifications to find issues
that might occur on certain devices
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17. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
App Validator vs. lint
• App Validator is a pre-flighting tool, meant to be your “last set of
eyes” before you deploy your app
• lint is an improvement on the existing SDK tool called
„layoutopt‟, which is intended for iterative improvement of your
user interface
• Use lint during layout, design and coding
• Use App Validator while coding and before deploying to users or
the Android Market
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18. Demo
App Validator on
the command line

19. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Command Line
Usage:
APPVALIDATOR [OPTION[PRM]]...
APPVALIDATOR [OPTION[PRM]]... -input [FILE] [OPTION[PRM]]...
Options:
-sdk SDKPATH Specify an Android SDK to be used during validation instead of the default one
-c CHK [PRM] Specify a checker to be run by supplying its ID (CHK) and specific checker parameters (PRM).
-dc CHK[.CND] Specify a checker or condition that should not run by supplying its ID. The other checkers will run normally.
-d [DEV] Specify a device that will be checked against your application for incompatibilities. Use 'none' to skip.
-wx [CHK[.CND]] Increases the warning level for all or for a particular set of checkers or conditions specified by CHK and CND IDs
-xw [CHK[.CND]] Decreases warning level for all or for the particular set of checkers or conditions specified by CHK and CND IDs
-output [TYPE] Format output to the specified type. TYPE can be [text (default) | csv | xml].
-limit [COUNT] Limit the number of output entries.
-list-checkers List available checkers
-list-devices List available devices
-describe-device [DEV] Show information about a specific device
-help [CHK] See information about general usage or about a checker by specifying its ID (CHK)
-vN Specify verbosity level, where N is one of: 0 (default, most succinct), 1, 2 (most verbose)
-wN Specify warning level, where N is one of: 0 (most severe warnings only), 1, 2 (default), 3, 4 (all warnings)
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20. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
CSV output
appvalidator -input demo.apk -w4 output csv > foo.csv
type checker_id condition description file suggestion
WARNING codeChecker openedCurso The cursor c at comdemoapp Make sure that all cursors are closed to
rs "com.demoapp.MainActivity.onCreate" does MainActivity.jav avoid problems during app execution.
not seem to be closed. 1 instance(s) using this a
variable were not closed."
WARNING layout missingId The following ID was not defined in your layout reslayout- Add the missing ID to the layout file.
file: myText"." xlargemain.xml
WARNING missingDrawable missingDraw Folder drawable-xhdpi" does not exist." res Create the drawable-xhdpi" folder inside
Resources ableFolders the "res" folder and add the appropriate
drawables to it."
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21. Demo
App Validator @ MOTODEV
moto.ly/webvalidator

22. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
MOTODEV Testing Programs
• Online App Validator
– http://moto.ly/webvalidator
• MOTOREADY App Testing for Motorola XOOM™
• http://developer.motorola.com/testing/motoready/
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23. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
MOTODEV App Validator SDK
• Extend the App Validator to add checkers and conditons that
meet your own criteria
• Download the SDK at http://moto.ly/mdsdl
• Install guide at http://moto.ly/appvalsdkinstall
• Installs into MOTODEV Studio or Eclipse (requires PDE)
• Supported on the MOTODEV discussion boards
– http://moto.ly/studiodb
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24. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
MOTODEV App Validator SDK
• Context-aware API reference while editing and offline HTML
Javadoc documentation
• Requires Eclipse and Java experience
• Implement one method to get started
• Operates on APKs and Eclipse projects
• Two samples for developers to begin their own work
• findviewbyid – Search for calls to findViewById() that are within loops
• androidlabel – Ensures that android:label in AndroidManifest.xml has a
specific value or pattern
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25. Improving Enterprise Application Quality with MOTODEV App Validator
Thank you
• Slides available at slideshare.net/motodev later today
• “Office hours” with the MOTODEV Tools team and developer
support members, February 15, 1:00 PM PT (21:00 UTC)
• Follow-up email, including a link to the recording, to registered
attendees
• Q&A
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