Switching between two apps in appium iOS - automation

Question

I have a testcase where in an iPhone I have to
1. Perform a task in app A.
2. Switch to Safari browser and perform a task
3. Switch back again to App A and continue other tasks
Currently I can perform 1 & 2 & then switch back to App A but I cannot perform any tasks in App A after switching from the safari browser. What I did is as follows.
First of all to launch the app A I used the following code
public void createAppiumDriver() throws MalformedURLException, InterruptedException {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "iPhone 7 Plus");
capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "iOS");
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "11.2");
capabilities.setCapability("autoWebView", true);
capabilities.setCapability("app", getProperties().getProperty("appURL"));
capabilities.setCapability("autoAcceptAlerts", true);
capabilities.setCapability("useNewWDA", true);
capabilities.setCapability("startIWDP",true);
iosDriver = new IOSDriver(new URL("http://0.0.0.0:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities);}
To switch from my app to Safari I started a new session using the following code to switch to safari
public void openSafari() throws MalformedURLException {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities2 = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities2.setCapability("deviceName", "iPhone 7 Plus");
capabilities2.setCapability("platformName", "iOS");
capabilities2.setCapability("platformVersion", "11.2");
capabilities2.setCapability("browserName", "Safari");
capabilities2.setCapability("autoAcceptAlerts", true);
capabilities2.setCapability("useNewWDA", true);
iosDriver2 = new IOSDriver(new URL("http://0.0.0.0:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities2);
iosDriver2.get("https://www.gmail.com");}
The issue now I have is to switch back to App A again from the safari browser to perform some tasks for that at the moment I have created a new session again as follows
public void switchToNutrifix() throws MalformedURLException, InterruptedException {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities3 = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities3.setCapability("deviceName", "iPhone 7 Plus");
capabilities3.setCapability("platformName", "iOS");
capabilities3.setCapability("platformVersion", "11.2"); //Replace this with your iOS version
capabilities3.setCapability("autoWebView", true);
capabilities3.setCapability("app", getProperties().getProperty("appURL"));
capabilities3.setCapability("autoAcceptAlerts", true);
capabilities3.setCapability("useNewWDA", true);
capabilities3.setCapability("startIWDP",true);
iosDriver3 = new IOSDriver(new URL("http://0.0.0.0:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities3);}
The issue now is that the app A opens again from Safari but it cannot identify the elements in the app. I even changed the context correctly to webview but still it cannot perform any tasks in App A after switching from Safari browser. Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong here or another alternative way to do this switch.
The error I usually get is
May 09, 2018 6:43:42 PM org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions findElement
WARNING: WebDriverException thrown by findElement(By.xpath: //div[#class='login-content purpose']/h2)
org.openqa.selenium.remote.SessionNotFoundException: A session is either terminated or not started (WARNING: The server did not provide any stacktrace information)
and the appium logs display
debug] [iOS] No key id found. Choosing first id from page array
[debug] [iOS] Page change not referring to currently selected app, ignoring.

Answer 1

public class SwitchBtnAppsiOS {
public AppiumDriver<RemoteWebElement>iosDriver;
public DesiredCapabilities createAppiumDriver()
throws MalformedURLException, InterruptedException {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "iPhone 7 Plus");
capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "iOS");
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "11.2");
capabilities.setCapability("autoWebView", true);
capabilities.setCapability("app", getProperties().getProperty("appURL"));
capabilities.setCapability("autoAcceptAlerts", true);
capabilities.setCapability("useNewWDA", true);
capabilities.setCapability("startIWDP",true);
return capabilities;
}
public DesiredCapabilities openSafari()
throws MalformedURLException {
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "iPhone 7 Plus");
capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "iOS");
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "11.2");
capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "Safari");
capabilities.setCapability("autoAcceptAlerts", true);
capabilities.setCapability("useNewWDA", true);
return capabilities;
}
public void switchBetweenApps() throws MalformedURLException, InterruptedException
{
DesiredCapabilities nativeAppCaps = createAppiumDriver();
iosDriver = new IOSDriver<>(new URL("http://0.0.0.0:4723/wd/hub"), nativeAppCaps);
/**
* Perform the actions on native app
*/
DesiredCapabilities webCaps = createAppiumDriver();
iosDriver = new IOSDriver<>(new URL("http://0.0.0.0:4723/wd/hub"), webCaps);
iosDriver.get("https://www.gmail.com");
/**
* Perform the actions on safari browser
*/
// Again switch to native app
iosDriver = new IOSDriver<>(new URL("http://0.0.0.0:4723/wd/hub"), nativeAppCaps);
}
}
Where ever you are using the driver instances pass the latest instance of driver.
Use RemoteWebElement instead of MobileElement if that is the case.

Answer 2

Since with XCode 9 Appium support multiple sessions, I suggest using 2 simultaneous sessions: app and safari:
Create driver for native app (e.g. driver1 object)
Do want you need in app, keep driver instance alive
Hint: you may put it in background:
driver.runAppInBackground(Duration.ofMinutes(1));
Create driver for safari (e.g. driver2 object)
Do want you need in safair and close driver2 if you don't need it
Continue using driver1 for native app

Answer 3

There is a better way of switching b/w iOS apps instead of creating driver session again and again as suggested in above answer
IOSDriver driver = new IOSDriver<>(new URL("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities);
try {
HashMap<String, Object> args = new HashMap<>();
args.put("bundleId", SWITCH_APP_BUNDLE_ID);
driver.executeScript("mobile: launchApp", args);
/*
TODO code for switch app
*/
// Now reactivate AUT App
args.put("bundleId", AUT_APP_BUNDLE_ID);
driver.executeScript("mobile: activateApp", args);
/*
TODO code for AUT App
*/
}
finally {
// quit driver
}