Go back to tutorial

Desired Capabilities 

We can define desired capabilities are keys and values encoded in a JSON object, that are sent by Appium clients to the server when a new automation session is requested. Further, desired capabilities tell the Appium drivers as to how you want your test to work. Also, every Appium client construct capabilities specific to the client’s language, but in the end, they are sent over to Appium as JSON objects.

Moreover, Appium supports many capabilities. In general, capabilities also differ by driver, though there are a standard set that most drivers pay attention to.

We will now consider a series of tables outlining various types of desired Capabilities, that are available for general as well as specific drivers.

General Capabilities

We consider capabilities that span multiple drivers.

Capability	Values
automationName	Appium (default) or Selendroid or UiAutomator2 or Espresso for Android or XCUITest for iOS or YouiEngine for application built with You.i Engine
platformName	iOS, Android, or FirefoxOS
platformVersion	e.g., 7.1, 4.4
deviceName	iPhone Simulator, iPad Simulator, iPhone Retina 4-inch, Android Emulator, Galaxy S4, etc…. On iOS, this should be one of the valid devices returned by instruments with instruments -s devices. On Android this capability is currently ignored, though it remains required.
app	/abs/path/to/my.apk or http://myapp.com/app.ipa
browserName	‘Safari’ for iOS and ‘Chrome’, ‘Chromium’, or ‘Browser’ for Android
newCommandTimeout	e.g. 60
language	e.g. fr
locale	e.g. fr_CA, CA
udid	e.g. 1ae203187fc012g
orientation	LANDSCAPE or PORTRAIT
autoWebview	true, false
noReset	true, false
fullReset	true, false
eventTimings	e.g., true
enablePerformanceLogging	true, false
printPageSourceOnFindFailure	e.g., true

Specific Capabilities

 

For Android 

We define capabilities that are available only on Android-based drivers.

Capability	Values
appActivity	MainActivity, .Settings
appPackage	com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings
appWaitActivity	SplashActivity, SplashActivity,OtherActivity, *, *.SplashActivity
appWaitPackage	com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings
appWaitDuration	30000
deviceReadyTimeout	5
allowTestPackages	true or false
androidCoverage	com.my.Pkg/com.my.Pkg.instrumentation.MyInstrumentation
androidCoverageEndIntent	com.example.pkg.END_EMMA
androidDeviceReadyTimeout	e.g., 30
androidInstallTimeout	e.g., 90000
androidInstallPath	e.g. /sdcard/Downloads/
adbPort	5037
systemPort	e.g., 8201
remoteAdbHost	e.g.: 192.168.0.101
androidDeviceSocket	e.g., chrome_devtools_remote
avd	e.g., api19
avdLaunchTimeout	300000
avdReadyTimeout	300000
avdArgs	e.g., -netfast
useKeystore	true or false
keystorePath	e.g., /path/to.keystore
keystorePassword	e.g., foo
keyAlias	e.g., androiddebugkey
keyPassword	e.g., foo
chromedriverExecutable	/abs/path/to/webdriver
chromedriverArgs	e.g., [“–disable-gpu”, “–disable-web-security”]
chromedriverExecutableDir	/abs/path/to/chromedriver/directory
chromedriverChromeMappingFile	/abs/path/to/mapping.json
chromedriverUseSystemExecutable	e.g., true
autoWebviewTimeout	e.g. 4
chromedriverPort	e.g. 8000
chromedriverPorts	e.g. [8000, [9000, 9005]]
intentAction	e.g.android.intent.action.MAIN, android.intent.action.VIEW
intentCategory	e.g. android.intent.category.LAUNCHER, android.intent.category.APP_CONTACTS
intentFlags	e.g. 0x10200000
optionalIntentArguments	e.g. –esn <EXTRA_KEY>, –ez <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_BOOLEAN_VALUE>, etc.
dontStopAppOnReset	true or false
unicodeKeyboard	true or false
resetKeyboard	true or false
noSign	true or false
ignoreUnimportantViews	true or false
disableAndroidWatchers	true or false
chromeOptions	chromeOptions: {args: [‘–disable-popup-blocking’]}
recreateChromeDriverSessions	true or false
nativeWebScreenshot	true or false
androidScreenshotPath	e.g. /sdcard/screenshots/
autoGrantPermissions	true or false
networkSpeed	[‘full’,’gsm’, ‘edge’, ‘hscsd’, ‘gprs’, ‘umts’, ‘hsdpa’, ‘lte’, ‘evdo’] Check -netspeed option more info about speed emulation for avds
gpsEnabled	true or false
isHeadless	e.g., true
adbExecTimeout	e.g., 50000
localeScript	e.g., “Cyrl” (Cyrillic)
skipDeviceInitialization	true or false
chromedriverDisableBuildCheck	true or false
skipUnlock	true or false
unlockType	[‘pin’, ‘password’, ‘pattern’, ‘fingerprint’]
unlockKey	e.g., ‘1111’
autoLaunch	true or false
skipLogcatCapture	true or false
uninstallOtherPackages	e.g. “io.appium.example”, [“io.appium.example1”, “io.appium.example2”], ‘*’
disableWindowAnimation	true, false

 

For UIAutomator (1 & 2)

In this case, these capabilities are available on UIA 1 and 2

Capability	Values
otherApps	e.g., “/path/to/app.apk”, https://www.example.com/url/to/app.apk, [“/path/to/app-a.apk”, “/path/to/app-b.apk”]

 

For UIAutomator2 Only

Further, these Capabilities are available only on the UiAutomator2 Driver

Capability	Values
uiautomator2ServerLaunchTimeout	e.g., 20000
uiautomator2ServerInstallTimeout	e.g., 20000
skipServerInstallation	true or false

 

For Espresso Only

Also, these Capabilities are available only on the Espresso Driver

Capability	Values
espressoServerLaunchTimeout	e.g., 50000

 

For iOS Only

Next, these Capabilities are available only on the XCUITest Driver and the deprecated UIAutomation Driver.

Capability	Values
calendarFormat	e.g. gregorian
bundleId	e.g. io.appium.TestApp
udid	e.g. 1ae203187fc012g
launchTimeout	e.g. 20000
locationServicesEnabled	true or false
locationServicesAuthorized	true or false
autoAcceptAlerts	true or false
autoDismissAlerts	true or false
nativeInstrumentsLib	true or false
nativeWebTap	true or false
safariInitialUrl	e.g. https://www.github.com
safariAllowPopups	true or false
safariIgnoreFraudWarning	true or false
safariOpenLinksInBackground	true or false
keepKeyChains	true or false
localizableStringsDir	en.lproj
processArguments	e.g., -myflag
interKeyDelay	e.g., 100
showIOSLog	true or false
sendKeyStrategy	oneByOne, grouped or setValue
screenshotWaitTimeout	e.g., 5
waitForAppScript	e.g. true;, target.elements().length > 0;, $.delay(5000); true;
webviewConnectRetries	e.g., 12
appName	e.g., UICatalog
customSSLCert	e.g. —–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–MIIFWjCCBEKg…
	—–END CERTIFICATE—–
webkitResponseTimeout	e.g., 10000
remoteDebugProxy	e.g. 12000 or “/tmp/my.proxy.socket”
enableAsyncExecuteFromHttps	true or false
skipLogCapture	true or false
webkitDebugProxyPort	12021

 

Enrich your profile and become Job Ready. Practice and Prepare for Mobile Testing (Appium) Exam Now!

Get expert advice and hundreds of Free Test – Try Mobile Testing (Appium) Practice Questions Now!

Go back to tutorial