The document discusses the use of XCUITest for iOS app testing, outlining its advantages, such as native integration and fast performance, while addressing common challenges like test flakiness and CI/CD integration. It emphasizes the importance of adopting a protocol-oriented test design pattern and the use of best practices for effective testing, including the need for accessibility identifiers and the maintenance of separate configurations. The speaker, Shashikant Jagtap, also highlights misconceptions about XCUITest and encourages collaboration between developers and testers for better app quality.

1. Fashionable XCUITest for iOS Apps
SauceCon 2019
Shashikant Jagtap
@Shashikant86

2. About Me
• Shashikant Jagtap [ XCTEQ Limited ]
• Background: Mobile DevOps, CI/CD & Test Automation
• XCUITest, XCTest, Swift, Developer Tools, CI Scripting
• XCBLOG [https://shashikantjagtap.net]
@Shashikant86

3. Topics
• State of iOS App Testing
• XCUITest
• Protocol Oriented Test Design Pattern
• Tips and Tricks for DevOps friendly XCUITests
@Shashikant86

4. iOS Testing without XCUITest
• Heavy Manual Testing
• Use of third-party tools
• Slow and Flaky Test Automation
• Hard to integrate with CI/CD pipeline
@Shashikant86

5. XCUITest
• Xcode UI Testing framework from
• Allows UI Testing using Swift or Objective-C programming languages
• Based on Accessibility technology
• Black Box
@Shashikant86

6. How to learn XCUITest
• Apple WWDC Videos
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2015/406/
• Apple Official Documentation on UI Testing
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/testing_with_xcode/chapters/09-ui_testing.html
• Test Automation University Course on XCUITest
https://testautomationu.applitools.com/introduction-to-ios-test-automation-with-xcuitest/
@Shashikant86

7. XCUITest Test Design Pattern
• Page Object Pattern or Screen Play Pattern
@Shashikant86

8. XCUITest Test Design Pattern
• Page Object Pattern or Screen Play Pattern
• Why?
@Shashikant86

9. XCUITest Test Design Pattern
• Page Object Pattern or Screen Play Pattern
• Why?
• Swift is protocol oriented language
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2015/408/
@Shashikant86

10. XCUITest Test Design Pattern
• Page Object Pattern or Screen Play Pattern
• Why?
• Swift is protocol oriented language
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2015/408/
• We can use Protocol Oriented Approach for test designing too!
@Shashikant86

11. Protocol Oriented XCUITest
@Shashikant86
https://testautomationu.applitools.com/introduction-to-ios-test-automation-with-xcuitest/

12. Protocol Oriented XCUITest
• Scalable Steps across UI Test Target
• One Suite for both iPad and Phone
• Human Readable and Re-usable Steps with XCTActivity
• Easy to Configure on CI
@Shashikant86

13. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance
Testing
@Shashikant86

14. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance
Testing
• Make Accessibility Identifiers mandatory all UI elements
@Shashikant86

15. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance
Testing
• Make Accessibility Identifiers mandatory all UI elements
• Separate Configuration for testing. Don’t use debug or release.
@Shashikant86

16. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance
Testing
• Make Accessibility Identifiers mandatory all UI elements
• Separate Configuration for testing. Don’t use debug or release
• Think if testing on real devices required?
@Shashikant86

17. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance
Testing
• Make Accessibility Identifiers mandatory all UI elements
• Separate Configuration for testing. Don’t use debug or release
• Think if testing on real devices required?
• Write loads of API and Contract Tests, Reduce the burden on UI testing
@Shashikant86

18. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance
Testing
• Make Accessibility Identifiers mandatory all UI elements
• Separate Configuration for testing. Don’t use debug or release
• Think if testing on real devices required?
• Write loads of API and Contract Tests, Reduce the burden on UI testing
• Write performance tests for detecting run time issues
@Shashikant86

19. Effective XCTest for iOS
• Use XCTest for all kinds of tests. Unit, Integration, API, UI and Performance Testing
• Make Accessibility Identifiers mandatory all UI elements
• Separate Configuration for testing. Don’t use debug or release
• Think if testing on real devices required?
• Write loads of API and Contract Tests, Reduce the burden on UI testing
• Write performance tests for detecting run time issues
• Keep separate Xcode schemes for UI and Performance tests
@Shashikant86

20. Stub/Mock for XCUITest
• Stubbing or mocking is hard with Swift. Harder for XCUITest
@Shashikant86

21. Stub/Mock for XCUITest
• Stubbing or mocking is hard with Swift. Harder for XCUITest
• Launch Arguments Or Launch Environments in application code
@Shashikant86

22. Stub/Mock for XCUITest
• Stubbing or mocking is hard with Swift. Harder for XCUITest
• Launch Arguments Or Launch Environments in application code
• Local Networking Stubbing ( Swifter, Embassy, SBTUITestTunnel, Server
Side Swift framework, SwiftLocalhost etc)
@Shashikant86

23. Stub/Mock for XCUITest
• Stubbing or mocking is hard with Swift. Harder for XCUITest
• Launch Arguments Or Launch Environments in application code
• Local Networking Stubbing ( Swifter, Embassy, SBTUITestTunnel, Server
Side Swift framework, SwiftLocalhost etc)
• Stub if really needed. Keep UI tests as real tests.
@Shashikant86

24. CI Friendly XCUITest
• Select smart CI Server/Services
@Shashikant86

25. CI Friendly XCUITest
• Select smart CI Server/Services
• Avoid third party tools/Services if possible for shorter build time
@Shashikant86

26. CI Friendly XCUITest
• Select smart CI Server/Services
• Avoid third party tools/Services if possible for shorter build time
• Don’t build app twice. Use build-for-testing and test-without-building
option from xcodebuild tool
@Shashikant86

27. CI Friendly XCUITest
• Select smart CI Server/Services
• Avoid third party tools/Services if possible for shorter build time
• Don’t build app twice. Use build-for-testing and test-without-building
option from xcodebuild tool
• Avoid Flaky CI scripting, Keep it native.
@Shashikant86

28. CI Friendly XCUITest
• Select smart CI Server/Services
• Avoid third party tools/Services if possible for shorter build time
• Don’t build app twice. Use build-for-testing and test-without-building
option from xcodebuild tool
• Avoid Flaky CI scripting, Keep it native.
• Smart parallelisation of XCTest to speed up builds
@Shashikant86

29. Dealing with Flakiness
• You can’t simply avoid flakiness in UI tests ( trade-off )
@Shashikant86

30. Dealing with Flakiness
• You can’t simply avoid flakiness in UI tests ( trade-off )
• UI Tests != Unit Tests
@Shashikant86

31. Dealing with Flakiness
• You can’t simply avoid flakiness in UI tests ( trade-off )
• UI Tests != Unit Tests
• Root of flakiness aren not your test. It can be anything out of your control.
e.g Environment, Flaky app architecture, Test data, Network etc
@Shashikant86

32. Dealing with Flakiness
• You can’t simply avoid flakiness in UI tests ( trade-off )
• UI Tests != Unit Tests
• Root of flakiness aren not your test. It can be anything out of your control.
e.g Environment, Flaky app architecture, Test data, Network etc
@Shashikant86

33. Dealing with Flakiness
• “Your test code requires maintenance. There is no getting around this.”
Angie Jones
[ https://dzone.com/articles/testing-in-ci ]
@Shashikant86

34. Benefits of XCUITest
• Native and Fast
• Collaboration with app developers
• Easy to integrate with CI/CD
• Enhance the accessibility of the iOS apps
• Maintained by Apple
@Shashikant86

35. Excuses for not using XCUITest
• XCUITest is great but we made decision in the past to use other third-
party tool. We invested heavily in it.
@Shashikant86

36. Excuses for not using XCUITest
• XCUITest is great but we made decision in the past to use other third-
party tool. We invested heavily in it.
• We want cross-platform solution for both iOS and Android
@Shashikant86

37. Excuses for not using XCUITest
• XCUITest is great but we made decision in the past to use other third-
party tool. We invested heavily in it.
• We want cross-platform solution for both iOS and Android
• Where should we find engineers with Swift and XCUITest skills?
@Shashikant86

38. Excuses for not using XCUITest
• XCUITest is great but we made decision in the past to use other third-
party tool. We invested heavily in it.
• We want cross-platform solution for both iOS and Android
• Where should we find engineers with Swift and XCUITest skills?
• It’s still a new and buggy!
@Shashikant86

39. Excuses for not using XCUITest
• XCUITest is great but we made decision in the past to use other third-
party tool. We invested heavily in it.
• We want cross-platform solution for both iOS and Android
• Where should we find engineers with Swift and XCUITest skills?
• It’s still a new and buggy!
• We keep using existing tool as long as it works.
@Shashikant86

40. Recap
• XCUITest should be used for native iOS Apps
• Cross-platform mobile development, you can choose cross-platform
testing tools
• XCUITest gives chance to collaborate with developers and finds internal
issues in the app.
@Shashikant86

41. Question Time
@Shashikant86

42. Thanks
• Contact Me: @Shashikant86
• Email: shashikant.jagtap@xcteq.co.uk
• Website: [ https://shashikantjagtap.net ]
@Shashikant86