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Automated Testing

Automated testing is essential for building reliable, consistent, and high‑quality mobile applications. WaveMaker's React Native platform provides a comprehensive automation testing framework that allows developers to simulate real user interactions and validate app behavior across platforms, devices, and workflows.

WaveMaker's automation testing framework supports:

  • Functional and end‑to‑end workflows
  • UI component interaction testing
  • Regression validation
  • Cross‑platform and device testing
  • Continuous integration pipelines

Automation tests can be executed locally or in the cloud using platforms like BrowserStack.

Core Automation Framework​

WaveMaker leverages the following tools:

  • Appium -- Cross‑platform mobile automation tool
  • WebDriverIO (WDIO) -- Test framework and runner
  • Mocha -- JavaScript test runner
  • Allure Reports -- Test reporting and visualization
  • BrowserStack -- Cloud device testing platform
  • Jenkins -- CI/CD automation server

Setting Up Automation Testing​

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js and npm
  • Java JDK 11 or higher
  • Android Studio with SDK tools
  • Appium CLI
  • WebDriverIO CLI

Installing CLI Tools​

npm install -g appium
npm install -g @wdio/cli

Initialize your test framework:

npx wdio config

Test Project Structure​

Typical structure:

  • /test/specs/ -- Test scripts
  • wdio.conf.js -- Configuration file

Example Test​

describe('App Launch', () => {
  it('should display welcome screen', async () => {
    await expect($('~welcome')).toBeDisplayed();
  });
});

WebDriverIO Configuration Example​

exports.config = {
  runner: 'local',
  path: '/wd/hub',
  specs: ['./test/specs/**/*.js'],
  maxInstances: 1,
  capabilities: [{
    platformName: 'Android',
    'appium:deviceName': 'Android Emulator',
    'appium:platformVersion': '11.0',
    'appium:app': '/path/to/app.apk',
    'appium:automationName': 'UiAutomator2'
  }],
  framework: 'mocha',
  reporters: ['spec'],
  services: ['appium'],
};

Test Execution​

Local Execution​

  1. Start emulator or simulator
  2. Start Appium server
  3. Run:
npx wdio run wdio.conf.js

Cloud Execution​

Cloud testing enables:

  • Parallel execution
  • Real device testing
  • Wider OS coverage

CI/CD Integration​

Typical pipeline:

  1. Export project from WaveMaker
  2. Build APK/IPA
  3. Upload artifacts
  4. Execute automation tests
  5. Generate reports

Reporting​

Allure Reports provide:

  • Execution summaries
  • Logs and screenshots
  • Failure diagnostics

Best Practices​

  • Use stable selectors (testID)
  • Focus on critical workflows
  • Integrate testing into CI/CD
  • Maintain reusable test components

Summary​

WaveMaker React Native automation testing enables scalable, reliable validation of mobile applications using Appium, WebDriverIO, Mocha, Allure Reports, BrowserStack, and Jenkins.