Data not Rendered on Mobile App: A Step-by-Step Solution using Appium Inspector and Selenium Script

If you’re an automation enthusiast, you’ve likely encountered the frustrating issue of data not rendering on a mobile app when entered via a rich text editor. This problem can be a major roadblock in your testing journey, but fear not, dear reader! In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive into the world of Appium Inspector and Selenium scripting to provide a clear and concise solution to this issue.

Understanding the Problem

Before we dive into the solution, it’s essential to understand the root cause of the problem. When you enter data into a rich text editor on a mobile app, it’s not just a simple text input. The editor converts the text into HTML format, which can lead to issues when trying to automate the process using Appium Inspector and Selenium script. The data may not render correctly, resulting in incomplete or incorrect input.

Rich Text Editor: The Culprit Behind the Issue

A rich text editor is a powerful tool that allows users to format text, add images, and more. However, this flexibility comes at a cost. When you enter data into a rich text editor, it’s stored in HTML format, which can lead to issues when trying to automate the process. The HTML code is not directly accessible, making it challenging to automate the data entry using Appium Inspector and Selenium script.

Using Appium Inspector to Inspect Elements

Appium Inspector is a powerful tool that allows you to inspect elements on a mobile app. By using Appium Inspector, you can identify the elements that correspond to the rich text editor and extract the necessary information to automate the data entry.

Launching Appium Inspector

To launch Appium Inspector, follow these steps:

• Open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you’ve installed Appium.
• Type the following command to launch Appium Inspector: appium --relaxed-security
• Appium Inspector will launch, and you’ll see a GUI interface with various options.

Inspecting Elements

Now that Appium Inspector is launched, let’s inspect the elements that correspond to the rich text editor:

• In Appium Inspector, click on the “Elements” tab.
• In the “Elements” tab, click on the rich text editor element to inspect it.
• Appium Inspector will display the element’s properties, including its ID, class, and XPath.
• Take note of the element’s XPath, as we’ll use it later in our Selenium script.

Writing Selenium Script to Automate Data Entry

Now that we have the element’s XPath, let’s write a Selenium script to automate the data entry:

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "Android");
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "10");
capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "My Android Device");

WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities);

// Navigate to the rich text editor element
WebElement richTextEditor = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//android.widget.EditText[@content-desc='Rich Text Editor']"));

// Enter data into the rich text editor
richTextEditor.sendKeys("This is a test data");

Breaking Down the Script

Let’s break down the script and understand what each line does:

• DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();: This line creates a new instance of the DesiredCapabilities class, which is used to set the device capabilities.
• capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "Android");: This line sets the platform name to Android.
• capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "10");: This line sets the platform version to 10.
• capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "My Android Device");: This line sets the device name to “My Android Device”.
• WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub"), capabilities);: This line creates a new instance of the WebDriver class, using the Appium server URL and the desired capabilities.
• WebElement richTextEditor = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//android.widget.EditText[@content-desc='Rich Text Editor']"));: This line finds the rich text editor element using the XPath obtained from Appium Inspector.
• richTextEditor.sendKeys("This is a test data");: This line enters the data into the rich text editor using the sendKeys method.

Handling the Data Rendering Issue

Now that we have the Selenium script, let’s handle the data rendering issue:

Converting Text to HTML Format

To handle the data rendering issue, we need to convert the entered text to HTML format. We can do this by using the getHtml method of the rich text editor element:

WebElement richTextEditor = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//android.widget.EditText[@content-desc='Rich Text Editor']"));

// Get the entered text
String enteredText = "This is a test data";

// Convert the text to HTML format
String htmlText = "<p>" + enteredText + "</p>";

// Enter the HTML text into the rich text editor
richTextEditor.sendKeys(htmlText);

Verifying the Data Rendering

To verify that the data is rendered correctly, we can use the getHtml method again to retrieve the HTML content of the rich text editor:

// Retrieve the HTML content of the rich text editor
String htmlContent = richTextEditor.getAttribute("innerHTML");

// Verify that the data is rendered correctly
Assert.assertEquals(htmlContent, "<p>This is a test data</p>");

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve explored the issue of data not rendering on a mobile app when entered via a rich text editor. By using Appium Inspector to inspect the elements and Selenium scripting to automate the data entry, we’ve provided a clear and concise solution to this problem. Remember to convert the entered text to HTML format to handle the data rendering issue. With these steps, you’ll be able to automate data entry on mobile apps with ease!

Keyword	Description
Data not rendered on mobile app	Issue where data is not displayed on a mobile app when entered via a rich text editor.
Rich Text Editor	A powerful tool that allows users to format text, add images, and more.
Appium Inspector	A tool that allows you to inspect elements on a mobile app.
Selenium Script	A script that automates the data entry using the Selenium WebDriver.

By following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll be able to overcome the data rendering issue and automate data entry on mobile apps with ease. Happy testing!

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