App activity is never started the app is running on the screen record

Question

Hi,  
  
I am trying to run test on Android app with Appium and TestNG.  
At first I used empty desired capabilities but then I discovered that adding following caps helped to certain users on this forum:  
                capabilities.setCapability("appPackage", "com.everfx");  
                capabilities.setCapability("appActivity", "com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity");  
                capabilities.setCapability("appWaitPackage", "com.everfx");  
                capabilities.setCapability("appWaitActivity", "com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity");  
                capabilities.setCapability("appWaitDuration", "50000");  
  
It is interesting, because I thought that AWS Device Farm is overriding any capabilities that appium server is receiving.  
  
Unfortunately it didn't help and I am still received the same error:  
  
**Failed to invoke configuration method test.BaseTestClass.setUp:Unable to create a new remote session. Please check the server log for more details. Original error: An unknown server-side error occurred while processing the command. Original error: Cannot start the 'com.everfx' application. Visit https://github.com/appium/appium/blob/master/docs/en/writing-running-appium/android/activity-startup.md for troubleshooting. Original error: 'com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity' or 'com.everfx.com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity' never started. Visit https://github.com/appium/appium/blob/master/docs/en/writing-running-appium/android/activity-startup.md for troubleshooting**

Then I decided to change "appWaitActivity" to receive ".MainActivity", as Appium might skip seeing splashscreen, however it didn't help either. Service was still expecting to see "com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity" which might mean that capabilities are not being overridden at all.  
  
So question is how to pass capabilities to aws device farm properly?  
And how to overcome the issue that tests are not seeing app?

Answer

Can you try replacing the Appium command in your test spec file with the following:  
  
   - >-  
        appium --log-timestamp  
        --default-capabilities "{\"deviceName\": \"$DEVICEFARM_DEVICE_NAME\", \"platformName\":\"$DEVICEFARM_DEVICE_PLATFORM_NAME\",  
        \"appPackage\":\"com.everfx\", \"udid\":\"$DEVICEFARM_DEVICE_UDID\", \"platformVersion\":\"$DEVICEFARM_DEVICE_OS_VERSION\",  
        \"chromedriverExecutable\":\"$DEVICEFARM_CHROMEDRIVER_EXECUTABLE\",\"appActivity\":\"com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity\",\"appWaitActivity\":\"com.everfx.MainActivity\"}"  
  
This appium command does not specify your app package, but only encoded the app package and activity names in the appium server as default capabilities.  
  
Edited by: raygader-aws on Oct 21, 2020 8:10 PM

Answer

Error : Found package: 'com.everfx' and fully qualified activity name : 'com.everfx.MainActivity  
  
Can you please verify if capabilities are set correctly. Looks like appWaitActivity is set incorrectly which should be "com.everfx.MainActivity". Please try running the test again with code as below.  
  
capabilities.setCapability("appPackage", "com.everfx");  
capabilities.setCapability("appActivity", "com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity");  
capabilities.setCapability("appWaitPackage", "com.everfx");  
capabilities.setCapability("appWaitActivity", "com.everfx.MainActivity");  
capabilities.setCapability("appWaitDuration", "50000");  
  
Please let us know if you still seeing any issue.

Answer

Thank you for your answer, however it didn't help to resolve the issue.   
I am putting the value you've given into desired capabilities, however appium seems to ignore my those capabilities.   
Appium is still expecting to find app by default: "Original error: 'com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity' or 'com.everfx.com.zoontek.rnbootsplash.RNBootSplashActivity' never started."  
  
So question is how to effectively override desired capabilities at AWS device farm so appium at device farm would use the ones overridden?

Answer

Thank you, both of your suggestions helped me a lot!   
The issue is resolved now

Answer

Hi guys,   
  
Can you please take a look into provided link and give me some suggestions regarding Appium not being able to see launched application  
  
https://us-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/devicefarm/home?region=us-east-2#/projects/a97a62fe-ee08-4056-bd65-fd9c2892e8ba/runs/7cdcfd70-9a1e-4a2b-9446-c4bfebac11b9

Answer

Hi:  
  
Thanks for reaching out. Can you please provide a run URL so that I can further debug the issue? Thanks.  
  
Andy

Answer

Hi Andy,   
  
Sorry forgot to add the link. Here it is:  
  
https://us-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/devicefarm/home?region=us-east-2#/projects/a97a62fe-ee08-4056-bd65-fd9c2892e8ba/runs/7cdcfd70-9a1e-4a2b-9446-c4bfebac11b9/jobs/00000

App activity is never started the app is running on the screen record

Relevant content