Cross-Platform Mobile Test Automation Using Appium

Mobile devices are taking over the world and quickly outpacing the use of traditional desktop machines. But how should we test them? Jonah Stiennon has spent the past two years working with a team of open source contributors at Sauce Labs to establish Appium as the industry standard for cross-platform mobile test automation. A Node.js application, Appium uses a superset of the JSON wire protocol, the same protocol on which Selenium is built, to automate both iOS and Android platforms whether they are simulators, emulators, or physical devices. Since the protocol and architecture are the same as Selenium, testers do not need to learn new languages or paradigms—just keep using the same tools you use today. Jonah explains the fundamental principles of Appium, its installation and use, various capabilities (customizable touch actions!), and best practices for testing on mobile devices. Jonah provides detailed code examples along with demonstrations.