Current (April 2014) techniques for testing Android applications with Robolectric and Robotium. Good BDD testing strategies. CI setup.

1. Testing on Android
Ari Lacenski
July 21, 2014

2. I <3 Android
• CodePath August 2013
• Then: EroGear LED control app
• Now: Android lead at Mango Health

3. Today
• Why test Android projects? What’s your approach?
• Android testing libraries
• How to write tests
• How to automate test runs

4. TDD and BDD
• TDD seems like a tough goal. Start small!
• BDD creates strong functional tests
• Behavior-driven dev healthy testing practices
Test-Driven
Development
Your goal? Release with confidence.
Behavior-Driven
Development

5. What to test
• Identify activity pathways in your app
• Test user stories with BDD strategies
• Test concepts like:
• button clicks perform actions
• content is drawn on screen
• an intent was launched and finished as expected

6. Database & services
What to test
Data persistence
Activities
Business logic
JUnit
JUnit
Robolectric, Robotium
JUnit

7. Which library is best?
• Robolectric is fast: no emulator required
• Robotium offers flexibility, if the emulator doesn’t bog
you down
Robolectric, Robotium, Android built-in tests, Mockito...?
OK to use more than one! You’ll probably have to.
BDD: Robolectric first , then Robotium.
Don’t forget plain old JUnit.

8. Robotium
<instrumentation
android:name="android.test.InstrumentationTestRunner"
android:targetPackage="net.tensory.justevents"
/>
• Starts its own emulator or can be run on your Android
device... so it’s slow
public
class
MainActivityTest
extends
ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2<MainActivity>
{
• Runs as separate Android project linked to main
from JustEventsRobotiumTest/.../MainActivityTest.java
from JustEventsRobotiumTest/AndroidManifest.xml
• Based on Android Instrumentation built-in tests

9. • Provides implementation for Android native methods,
lets you write behavior tests that use them directly
• Runs as a JUnit test project, not an Android app
• Fast! No emulator necessary
• Where it works, it’s awesome
Robolectric

10. http://www.slideshare.net/tylerschultz/robolectric-
android-unit-testing-framework
from 2011
Robolectric background
from 2010
(more code examples, but a little dated)
http://www.slideshare.net/
joemoore1/tdd-android-applications-with-robolectric

11. Good Ideas in Testing
• Multiple assertions per test are OK
• Test only one concept per test method
• You can write multiple test methods for one UI story
• Don’t test other libraries’code
• Look for ways to simplify your tests

12. private
Solo
solo;
public
MainActivityTest()
{
super(MainActivity.class);
}
@Before
protected
void
setUp()
throws
Exception
{
super.setUp();
solo
=
new
Solo(getInstrumentation(),
getActivity());
}
!
@Test
public
void
testFBFailedLoginReturnsToErrorView()
{
MainActivity
activity
=
getActivity();
int
errorResultCode
=
0;
int
fakeRequestCode
=
64208;
activity.onActivityResult(fakeRequestCode,
errorResultCode,
new
Intent());
!
TextView
tvError
=
(TextView)
activity.findViewById(R.id.tv_login_error);
String
text
=
(String)
tvError.getText();
assertThat(text,
equalTo(activity.getResources().
getString(R.string.txt_login_error)));
}

13. Then…
yay

14. Building with Tests
The goal of test coverage is to avoid manual work.
How do you run automated tests?
Continuous integration!
You rang, sir?

15. Your Basic CI Setup
Write tests in your IDE
Commit projects to a build server
Run build scripts
Deploy tested .apk as dev build
Eclipse, Android Studio
Jenkins with Git hooks
Jenkins
Hockey, XL Studio
Details on the CodePath wiki!
https://github.com/thecodepath/android_guides/wiki/
Building-Gradle-Projects-with-Jenkins-CI

16. Using Gradle?
• Running CI with Gradle, you can configure build.gradle
to run your Robolectric and your JUnit tests
• Develop locally in Android Studio
• Run tests with
• Then push the dev configuration to your CI
environment’s build.gradle file
You really should…
gradle build
http://blog.blundell-apps.com/android-gradle-app-with-
robolectric-junit-tests/

17. Set up deployment tool to distribute .apk
(XL Studio or HockeyApp)
Setup Flow
Write a build script that sends .apk
from Jenkins to deployment tool
Configure Jenkins to:
!
Write test projects1
2
3
4
1. run test projects as part of build
2. start a new build whenever you push code

18. Your Day-to-Day
Write tests and features Push code to repo
Jenkins runs the test projects
as part of the .apk build
Nope
Yup
New .apk gets sent out to
deployment tool
Read Jenkins logs
Try, try again
Trigger Jenkins
Build succeeded?
Tests passed?

19. Robotium in CI?
• Configure Jenkins to launch an emulator
• Use the Android Emulator Plugin

20. • Big thanks to Nathan & Tim
• Contribute to the CodePath wiki!
!
• Stay in touch?
• Also, we’re hiring.
https://github.com/thecodepath/android_guides
and @tensoryalacenski@gmail.com
ari@mangohealth.com