Find the locator of a mobile application element

We can identify a mobile app element's locator using Appium Inspector.

1. Make sure Appium was installed by running the commands:

   appium --version
   npm install appium-doctor -g
   appium-doctor -h

2. Download and install Appium Inspector: Appium Inspector.
   Start Appium server by running:

   appium --base-path /wd/hub

3. Start Appium Inspector:
   • Run this command before starting Appium Inspector:

     xattr -cr "/Applications/Appium Inspector.app"

   • Run Appium Inspector:

     /Applications/Appium Inspector.app

4. Start an Appium session:
   

   • Step 1: Fill in Remote Host, Remote Port and Remote Path for the Appium server.

   • Step 2: Input device information to JSON representation. Here is the sample:

     {
     "appium:deviceName": "emulator-5554",
     "platformName": "Android",
     "appium:app": "/path/to/apkFiles/ApiDemos-debug.apk"
     }

   • Step 3: Select Start Session.

5. After the app launched successfully, click the element and retrieve the locator value at Selected Element.
   Here is a sample of custom keyword:

   package mypackage
   
   import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities
   import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
   import com.kms.katalon.core.annotation.Keyword
   import io.appium.java_client.MobileElement
   import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidDriver
   
   class MobileSupport {
       @Keyword
       static def getSession(String appiumEnpoint, String desizedCapabilitiesJson) {
           Map<String,Object> desizedCapabilities = new ObjectMapper().readValue(desizedCapabilitiesJson, HashMap.class)
           DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities(desizedCapabilities)
           AndroidDriver<MobileElement> driver = new AndroidDriver<MobileElement>(new URL(appiumEnpoint), caps)
           return driver
       }
   }
   

   And here is an sample test case for your reference:

   import org.openqa.selenium.By
   import org.testng.Assert
   import io.appium.java_client.MobileElement
   import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidDriver
   import mypackage.MobileSupport
   
   String desCaps = """
       {
         "appium:deviceName": "emulator-5554",
         "platformName": "Android",
         "appium:app": "/Users/johnsmith/Documents/apkFiles/ApiDemos-debug.apk"
       }    
   """
   
   "Open API Demos application"
   AndroidDriver<MobileElement> driver = MobileSupport.getSession("http://127.0.0.1:4723/wd/hub"", desCaps)
   
   "Verify that the tool bar title is API Demos"
   By toolBarTitle = By.xpath("/hierarchy/android.widget.FrameLayout/android.view.ViewGroup/android.widget.FrameLayout[1]/android.view.ViewGroup/android.widget.TextView")
   Assert.assertEquals(driver.findElement(toolBarTitle).getText(), "API Demos")
   
   "Click App"
   driver.findElementByAccessibilityId("App").click()
   
   "Click Search"
   driver.findElementByXPath("//android.widget.TextView[@content-desc='Search']").click()
   
   "Click Invoke Search"
   driver.findElementByAccessibilityId("Invoke Search").click()
   
   "Fill 'Prefill query'"
   String seachText = "ABC"
   driver.findElement(By.id("io.appium.android.apis:id/txt_query_prefill")).sendKeys(seachText)
   
   "Click 'onSearchRequest' button"
   driver.findElementByAccessibilityId("onSearchRequested()").click()
   
   "Verify content of the address bar"
   Assert.assertEquals(driver.findElement(By.id("android:id/search_src_text")).getText(), seachText)

You have retrieved the app element's locator information.