Patrol Advanced and Native Interactions in Patrol Estimated reading: 5 minutes 171 views In the realm of mobile testing, achieving seamless user interactions is paramount to ensuring a smooth user experience. Patrol Testing provides an effective framework for automating and validating these interactions, including both advanced and native functionalities. This guide explores the intricacies of advanced and native interactions in Patrol, offering insights into best practices, techniques, and methodologies to elevate your testing strategies.Advanced InteractionsAdvanced interactions in Patrol Testing encompass a variety of user actions that simulate complex user behaviors. These interactions are crucial for ensuring that applications function as intended in real-world scenarios. Here are some key types of advanced interactions:GesturesGestures such as swipes, pinches, and rotations play a crucial role in navigating and interacting with mobile applications. These gestures simulate the natural user interactions within an app, and automating them ensures your tests closely mimic real-world usage scenarios. Patrol makes it easy to automate gestures with its intuitive syntax, allowing testers to seamlessly simulate complex interactions such as swipes.Swipe Left// Verify the first card is visible initially expect(find.byType(CardWidget), findsWidgets); // Swipe left to scroll right through the cards await $.tester.drag(find.byType(CarouselSlider), const Offset(-300, 0)); await $.pumpAndSettle();A left swipe action mimics the user’s gesture of dragging the screen to the left, often used to reveal the next set of items in a carousel or slider. Swiping Left in Patrol Card Verification: The test first checks if the CardWidget is visible. Swipe Action: The swipe is performed by dragging the CarouselSlider with an offset of -300 on the X-axis, which simulates a leftward swipe. Settling: After the swipe, we call await $.pumpAndSettle(); to allow the animations or transitions to complete.Swipe Right// Verify the first card is visible initially expect(find.byType(CardWidget), findsWidgets); // Swipe right to scroll right through the cards await $.tester.drag(find.byType(CarouselSlider), const Offset(300, 0)); await $.pumpAndSettle();Similarly, a right swipe mimics the user’s gesture of dragging the screen to the right, often to scroll back to the previous items in the carousel. Swiping Right in Patrol Card Verification: The test first checks if the CardWidget is visible. Swipe Action: The swipe is performed by dragging the CarouselSlider with an offset of 300 on the X-axis, which simulates a rightward swipe. Settling: After the swipe, we call await $.pumpAndSettle(); to allow the animations or transitions to complete.Double TapCertain functionalities depend on double tap actions. Patrol currently doesn’t have built-in method for doubleTapping on an element. In this scenario we will use the tap feature twice. Tip: Double Tap in Patrol TestingPatrol doesn’t have a built-in doubleTap method for interacting with Flutter widgets in the app. However, Patrol provides a $.native.doubleTap feature, which is specifically used for WebViews and elements that are native to the device itself, rather than elements within the Flutter app. To simulate a double-tap in a Flutter app, you can manually call tap twice with a small delay in between.Double Tapawait $.tap(find.text('Double Tap for App Info')); await $.tap(find.text('Double Tap for App Info')); expect(find.text('Rich Pay v2.0.0 | Patrol Version 3.2.0'), findsOneWidget);This command allow you to validate double taps and the expectation ensuring comprehensive coverage of user actions. Mimicking DoubleTap FeatureNative InteractionsNative interactions refer to the ability to interact with platform-specific features and components, significantly enhancing the overall user experience by testing your application in real-world scenarios. Patrol provides robust support for accessing and interacting with native functionalities on both Android and iOS devices. This feature allows testers to simulate device-level interactions, ensuring that applications behave correctly under various system conditions.Accessing Device FeaturesPatrol allows you to interact with several native device features, such as WiFi, GPS, dark mode, and system dialogs. These interactions are invaluable for testing how your app reacts to changes in device settings or permissions. For instance, when testing a weather app that relies on location services, you can simulate turning GPS on and off, or granting and denying location permissions.Below is a sample code that demonstrates how you can access and manipulate some of these native features:Native FeaturespatrolTest('demo', (PatrolIntegrationTester $) async { await $.pumpWidgetAndSettle(AwesomeApp()); // prepare network conditions await $.native.enableCellular(); await $.native.disableWifi(); // toggle system theme await $.native.enableDarkMode(); // handle native location permission request dialog await $.native.selectFineLocation(); await $.native.grantPermissionWhenInUse(); // tap on the first notification await $.native.openNotifications(); await $.native.tapOnNotificationByIndex(0); });Interacting with Native Alerts and DialogsMany applications utilize native alerts and dialogs for user notifications or confirmations. Patrol can handle these interactions effectively:System Dialog > Grant Permissionif (await $.native.isPermissionDialogVisible()) { await $.native.grantPermissionWhenInUse(); } Patrol Grant Access To System PromptThis sequence ensures that your tests can manage alerts, providing a seamless user experience.ScrollingTesting native scrolling is crucial for applications with long lists or multiple screens. Patrol facilitates these actions with simple commands:scrollToawait $(find.byKey(Key('request-tab'))).tap(); await $.pumpAndSettle(); await $(find.text('CONTINUE')).scrollTo(); await $(find.text('CONTINUE')).tap(); Patrol ScrollTo FeatureInteracting with WebViewsWebViews are a common element in mobile applications, allowing developers to display web content within a native app. Testing WebViews can be challenging due to the mixed nature of web elements inside a native container, but Patrol provides efficient ways to interact with them. This guide will walk you through testing WebView elements using Patrol, ensuring your app’s web interactions work seamlessly.WebViews// Tap on the button that opens the WebView page await $(find.text('Open Web Page')).tap(); // Allow the WebView to load by waiting and trying to settle for 15 seconds await $.pumpAndTrySettle(timeout: Duration(seconds: 15)); // Enter name into the first text input field (index 0) await $.native.enterTextByIndex( 'John Smith', index: 0, // Adjust index based on your specific form structure keyboardBehavior: KeyboardBehavior.alternative, ); // Enter email into the second text input field (index 1) await $.native.enterTextByIndex( 'student@masteringqa.com', index: 1, // Adjust index based on your specific form structure keyboardBehavior: KeyboardBehavior.alternative, ); // Enter password into the third text input field (index 2) await $.native.enterTextByIndex( 'test1234', index: 2, // Adjust index based on your specific form structure keyboardBehavior: KeyboardBehavior.alternative, ); Patrol Interacting With WebViewsPatrol uses the enterTextByIndex function to simulate typing text into specific input fields in the WebView. The index parameter specifies the position of the field within the WebView. The KeyboardBehavior.alternative parameter allows you to manage how the keyboard behaves during interactions, this is very crucial when working with IOS devices.Best Practices for Advanced and Native Interactions Use Assertions Wisely: Always validate expected outcomes after performing interactions. For instance, after a swipe action, assert that the correct screen is displayed or that the expected element is visible. Maintain Readable Code: Write clear and maintainable test scripts. Using descriptive names for actions and elements helps other team members understand your tests. Leverage Wait Commands: Utilize wait commands effectively to ensure that your tests are resilient to timing issues. Implementing proper waits between actions minimizes false negatives. Combine Interactions: Test complex user scenarios by combining multiple interactions. For example, you might simulate a user logging in, then navigating to a profile page and updating details.ConclusionMastering advanced and native interactions in Patrol Testing is essential for delivering high-quality mobile applications. By utilizing Patrol’s capabilities to simulate user behaviors and engage with native features, you can ensure a seamless user experience. Adopting the best practices in this guide will help you create effective and maintainable tests for comprehensive application validation. In the next guide, we will explore Debugging and Logging in Patrol, equipping you with the tools to troubleshoot and enhance your testing processes.Tagged:Patrol Patrol - Previous Organizing Test Suites in Patrol Next - Patrol Debugging and Logging in Patrol
