Android command line is a very powerful tool. During this talk, we'll briefly review what Android shell commands can be useful for development, testing, and automation. We'll concentrate on how your application can interact with the command line considering 2 approaches. The first one is based on Android framework tools and the second is the core of Facebook Stetho tool.

1. Interacting with your app
through command line
Roman Mazur
Software Engineer @ Stanfy
@roman_mazur
#androidshell

2. #androidshell @roman_mazur#androidshell @roman_mazur
Real time updates
vs
polling with “adb devices”
How is the magic done?

3. #androidshell @roman_mazur#androidshell @roman_mazur
Stetho dumpapp
Another magic

4. #androidshell @roman_mazur#androidshell @roman_mazur
Use Chrome Dev Tools for
you app just like for a web
browser

5. #androidshell @roman_mazur
Connecting to a device
ADB

6. #androidshell @roman_mazur
adbd
shell
Local socket
@stetho_my.pckg_devtools_remote
tcp:<port>
ADB Services
Device 1
dumpapp
ADB
Server
:5037
Dev machine
Connecting to a device
1. Select device
2. Select service
“localabstract:name”
adbd
Device 2
3. Delegate

7. #androidshell @roman_mazur
dumpapp
ADB
Server
:5037
Dev machine
ADB Server
1. Select device
2. Select service
“localabstract:name”
$ lsof -i :5037
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
Google 458 roman 14u IPv4 0x6811aab866733861 0t0 TCP localhost:54221->localhost:5037 (ESTABLISHED)
studio 11523 roman 31u IPv4 0x6811aab87e409539 0t0 TCP localhost:55391->localhost:5037 (ESTABLISHED)
studio 11523 roman 32u IPv4 0x6811aab87e3c2861 0t0 TCP localhost:53970->localhost:5037 (ESTABLISHED)
studio 11523 roman 33u IPv4 0x6811aab8668d3539 0t0 TCP localhost:53972->localhost:5037 (ESTABLISHED)
studio 11523 roman 35u IPv4 0x6811aab865be8861 0t0 TCP localhost:59588->localhost:5037 (ESTABLISHED)
studio 11523 roman 425u IPv4 0x6811aab866848861 0t0 TCP localhost:49906->localhost:5037 (ESTABLISHED)
adb 11743 roman 4u IPv4 0x6811aab865bd6a51 0t0 TCP localhost:5037->localhost:54221 (ESTABLISHED)
adb 11743 roman 6u IPv4 0x6811aab8667de861 0t0 TCP localhost:5037->localhost:49906 (ESTABLISHED)
adb 11743 roman 7u IPv4 0x6811aab866765c41 0t0 TCP localhost:5037 (LISTEN)
adb 11743 roman 10u IPv4 0x6811aab866788e31 0t0 TCP localhost:5037->localhost:53970 (ESTABLISHED)
adb 11743 roman 12u IPv4 0x6811aab85e985a51 0t0 TCP localhost:5037->localhost:53972 (ESTABLISHED)
adb 11743 roman 13u IPv4 0x6811aab8668cb861 0t0 TCP localhost:5037->localhost:55391 (ESTABLISHED)
adb 11743 roman 14u IPv4 0x6811aab87e3f6861 0t0 TCP localhost:5037->localhost:59588 (ESTABLISHED)
Google Chrome, Android
Studio, adb client, Stetho
dumpapp talk to it

8. #androidshell @roman_mazur
adbd
shell
Local socket
@stetho_my.pckg_devtools_remote
tcp:<port>
ADB Services
Device 1
ADB Deamon
$ adb shell ps | grep adb
shell 25878 1 26068 360 ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
Runs as a shell user on a
device exposing different
services
$ adb shell cat /proc/net/unix | grep remote
00000000: 00000002 00000000 00010000 0001 01 309885 @stetho_com.stanfy.cmdline_devtools_remote
00000000: 00000002 00000000 00010000 0001 01 81886 @chrome_devtools_remote

9. #androidshell @roman_mazur
Other use case
Stream your screen like Vysor:
MediaProjection + VirtualDisplay API + adb connection

10. #androidshell @roman_mazur#androidshell @roman_mazur
adb shell

11. #androidshell @roman_mazur
adbd
shell
Local socket
@stetho_my.pckg_devtools_remote
tcp:<port>
ADB Services
Device 1
adb
ADB
Server
:5037
Dev machine
Connecting to a device
adbd
Device 2

12. #androidshell @roman_mazur
adb shell
Start your activity
am start -n <package>/<activity>
Simulate key strokes
input keyevent <code: 4 - back, 3 - home>

13. #androidshell @roman_mazur#androidshell @roman_mazur
dumpsys activity

14. #androidshell @roman_mazur
dumpsys activity
Your entry point
dumpsys activity -h
Might be very useful
dumpsys activity top
dumpsys activity package <package>
service <package>/<service-name>
provider <package>/<provider-name>

15. #androidshell @roman_mazur
References and further reading
ADB sources
https://github.com/android/platform_system_core/tree/master/adb
Stetho tool
https://github.com/facebook/stetho
“Embedded Android” book
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920021094.do

16. #androidshell @roman_mazur
Thank you!
Questions?Questions? #androidshell
@roman_mazur
+RomanMazur
www.stanfy.com