User interface result test

Question

Is is possible to test the result of an user action with automated test in ios? For example how can i check that the app created a file, if the user clicked on save button. I have tried Appium and Apple-made XCUITesting but i just cant figure it out.

Answer 1

With Apple's XCUITesting the test app lives in a separate process and has no direct access to your app's sandbox, so, unless your app's UI gives some sort of visual feedback that the file was created, there's no way to check that using the official tools.

You could use SBTUITestTunnel (disclaimer, I'm the author of the library) that extends UI Tests capabilities allowing to write such a test. Assuming, for ex., that your app saves a test_file.txt in the apps' Document folder you could write the following test:

func testThatFileExistsAfterTap() {
    // launch app
    app = SBTUITunneledApplication()
    app.launchTunnelWithOptions([SBTUITunneledApplicationLaunchOptionResetFilesystem]) {
         // do additional setup before the app launches, if needed
    }

    app.buttons["action"].tap() // button that triggers file save

    // add some expectation on the UI to wait for the write to complete (UIActivity indicator, etc)

    let fileData = app.downloadItemFromPath("test_file.txt", relativeTo: .DocumentDirectory)

    // XCTAssert() that fileData contains the expected data
}

Note how you can pass the SBTUITunneledApplicationLaunchOptionResetFilesystem which resets the app's file system on startup. This options allows you to write a test that is independent of previous sessions.