How to Record Video of Android Appium Testing

In the dynamic world of mobile app development, automated testing is crucial for ensuring app stability and performance. One of the most powerful features in Appium is the ability to record video sessions of your automated tests. This capability is especially useful for debugging, sharing test results, and providing visual proof of issues. In this blog, we’ll walk through the steps to set up and record video of your Android Appium testing sessions.

Why Record Test Sessions?

Before we dive into the technical details, let's explore why recording your test sessions is beneficial:

Debugging: Videos help identify UI issues and glitches that might not be evident from logs alone.
Documentation: Provides a clear and visual documentation of test cases and their outcomes.
Collaboration: Facilitates better communication with team members and stakeholders by sharing visual test results.
Regression Testing: Allows you to compare current test runs with previous ones to spot regressions.

Prerequisites

To record Android Appium test sessions, ensure you have the following setup:

Appium: The automation framework.
Java Development Kit (JDK): Required for running Appium and writing test scripts.
Android SDK: For Android device and emulator management.
Node.js: For Appium installation.
ffmpeg: For handling video recording.

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Setting Up the Environment

Step 1: Install Appium

First, install Appium using Node.js. Open a terminal and run:

npm install -g appium

1	npm install -g appium

Step 2: Install ffmpeg

ffmpeg is a powerful tool for handling multimedia data, and it will be used to record the screen of your Android device. Install ffmpeg using Homebrew (on macOS) or the appropriate package manager for your OS. For macOS, use:

brew install ffmpeg

1	brew install ffmpeg

For Windows, download the executable from the official ffmpeg website and follow the installation instructions.

Step 3: Configure Android SDK and ADB

Ensure that the Android SDK is installed and that the adb (Android Debug Bridge) is accessible via your PATH. You can verify this by running:

adb devices

1	adb devices

This command should list connected devices.

Recording Video with Appium

Appium has built-in support for video recording on Android devices using the startRecordingScreen and stopRecordingScreen commands. Here’s how to integrate these commands into your test scripts.

Step 4: Start Appium Server

Start the Appium server from the terminal:

appium

appium

Step 5: Write Your Test Script

Here’s an example of a Java test script that includes video recording commands:

import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidDriver;
import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidStartScreenRecordingOptions;
import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidStopScreenRecordingOptions;
import io.appium.java_client.MobileElement;
import io.appium.java_client.remote.MobileCapabilityType;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;

import java.net.URL;
import java.util.Base64;

public class AppiumVideoRecordingTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
        caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, "Android");
        caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, "Android Emulator");
        caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, "/path/to/your/app.apk");

        try {
            AndroidDriver<MobileElement> driver = new AndroidDriver<>(new URL("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub"), caps);

            // Start recording
            driver.startRecordingScreen(new AndroidStartScreenRecordingOptions()
                    .withTimeLimit(java.time.Duration.ofMinutes(5)));

            // Perform test actions
            MobileElement loginButton = driver.findElementById("com.example:id/loginButton");
            loginButton.click();

            // Additional test steps...

            // Stop recording
            String video = driver.stopRecordingScreen();

            // Save the video
            byte[] decodedVideo = Base64.getDecoder().decode(video);
            java.nio.file.Files.write(java.nio.file.Paths.get("test-recording.mp4"), decodedVideo);

            driver.quit();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidDriver;

import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidStartScreenRecordingOptions;

import io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidStopScreenRecordingOptions;

import io.appium.java_client.MobileElement;

import io.appium.java_client.remote.MobileCapabilityType;

import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;

import java.net.URL;

import java.util.Base64;

public class AppiumVideoRecordingTest {

public static void main(String[] args) {

DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();

caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.PLATFORM_NAME, "Android");

caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.DEVICE_NAME, "Android Emulator");

caps.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.APP, "/path/to/your/app.apk");

try {

AndroidDriver<MobileElement> driver = new AndroidDriver<>(new URL("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub"), caps);

// Start recording

driver.startRecordingScreen(new AndroidStartScreenRecordingOptions()

.withTimeLimit(java.time.Duration.ofMinutes(5)));

// Perform test actions

MobileElement loginButton = driver.findElementById("com.example:id/loginButton");

loginButton.click();

// Additional test steps...

// Stop recording

String video = driver.stopRecordingScreen();

// Save the video

byte[] decodedVideo = Base64.getDecoder().decode(video);

java.nio.file.Files.write(java.nio.file.Paths.get("test-recording.mp4"), decodedVideo);

driver.quit();

} catch (Exception e) {

e.printStackTrace();

}

Best Practices for Video Recording in Tests

Control Recording Duration: Avoid recording excessively long videos to save storage space and make reviewing easier. Use the withTimeLimit option to control the recording duration.
Store Videos Effectively: Save the video files with descriptive names, including test case identifiers and timestamps for easy retrieval.
Regular Clean-up: Regularly clean up old video files to manage storage space efficiently.
Review and Analyze: Frequently review recorded videos to identify and address flaky tests or intermittent issues.

Conclusion

Recording video of your Android Appium testing sessions is a powerful tool that enhances the debugging, documentation, and collaboration aspects of mobile test automation. By following the steps outlined in this blog, you can easily set up and integrate video recording into your Appium test scripts, ensuring a more robust and informative testing process. Whether you are capturing visual evidence of test failures or documenting test runs for stakeholders, video recordings are an invaluable addition to your mobile testing toolkit. With these tools and techniques at your disposal, you’ll be well-equipped to handle even the most complex testing scenarios with confidence. Happy testing!