Automating iOS and Android tests using Appium ________________________________________

          Appium works as a Remote WebDriver and receives the commands from your test scripts over JSON ire    protocol. These commands are passed to Apple Instruments to be executed on the native app launched on    a simulator or a real device. Before the commands are passed on to the Apple Instruments, Appium tran  slates the JSON commands into UI Automation JavaScript commands that are understood by              Instruments. Apple Instruments will launch your app on the simulator or real device and start executing      your test script commands on it.

           This process is shown in the following diagram: Appium is an upcoming tool that can be used to  mate your test scripts for both Android and iOS platforms. It can be used to automate native, m.sites, and hybrid applications. It internally uses WebDriver's JSON wire protocol.

For automating iOS app tests, Appium uses Apple Instruments. According to Apple, Instruments is a performance, analysis, and testing tool for dynamically tracing and profiling OS X and iOS code. It is a flexible and powerful tool that lets you track one or more processes and examine the collected data. In this way, Instruments helps you understand the behavior of both user apps and the operating system. In particular, Appium uses UI Automation Instrument. UI Automation Instrument is used to automate user interface tests of iOS apps. More information about this instrument can be found athttps://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/InstrumentsUserGuide/UsingtheAutomationInstrument/UsingtheAutomationInstrument.html. After the command is executed against your app on the simulator or device, the target app sends the response to the Instruments, which are transferred to Appium in the JavaScript response format. Appium translates the UI Automation JavaScript responses into Selenium WebDriver JSON wire protocol responses and sends them back to your test script.
The main advantages of using Appium for your iOS automation testing are as follows:

·         It uses the iOS platform-supported UI Automation library and Instruments provided by Apple itself.

·         Even though you are using the JavaScript library, your tests and you as a test script developer are not really tied to it. You can use your own Selenium WebDriver client-language bindings, such as Java, Ruby, Python, and so on, to develop your test scripts. Appium will take care of translating them into JavaScript for you.

·         You don't have to modify your native or hybrid apps for the purpose of testing.