I was wondering, with Appium, is there a way to (regression test) smart app banner linking from a mobile site to the matching mobile app that is installed on device (or somehow on simulator)?
What can be of interest specifically are cases where the links pass data to the mobile app, not just launch it with default view/data.
Our site implements some links that are similar to smart app banners but are custom links (no actual standard banner, but links that launch app with passed data, or opens app store page if app not installed).
I know Appium can automate mobile sites or mobile apps (and cases where the app includes or launches? web content). What about case of starting from mobile site that then takes you to the app?
Or is this type of scenario to be tested manually or with other tools for the time being?
I’m unsure of the startup process for trying that. And what cases it would work on.
I thought with Appium, you either launch with a specified app (to preload on simulator) or you launch mobile Safari, but you can’t really switch between both after startup, with exception to web views launched within the app itself. Or can you?
And what I would want to do starts in the mobile Safari first that then launches app. So I assume that would only work on actual device preloaded with app, and this wouldn’t work in simulator? Because you need to preload the app into simulator but yet start from mobile Safari not the app. Assuming my assumption is valid above that you can switch between mobile Safari and your app like a normal user in manual testing.
If my assumption is invalid, is there some existing sample test/code that showcases switching between mobile Safari and an app (not switching via the app’s internal launch of a web view like Facebook login) but switching like a user hitting home button to swap to mobile Safari then later home button and swap back to app kind of thing.
Also, does Appium have any capability to detect or validating anything in app store like you’ve landed on the correct app store page for the given app, etc. via the smart banner app (when app not installed). Is there switching such context in Appium?
I guess either folks have done this before and it simply works easily or no one has done this before, and/or non one cares. Haven’t gotten any responses beyond jonah’s first one.
In any case, I’ll try it out sometime to see how it goes, but I’ll have to dig into the docs first to see how to deal with interacting with both a website and an app but starting on site first.
