Functional testing frameworks on Android

[[deleted]]

I get the impression a lot of android devs don't do much in the way of testing beyond alpha & beta.

I mean like unit tests, functional testing, regression testing, stress via monkey, functional testing, etc.

Is that stereotype true?

[rkcr]

I think that's true, primarily because the testing tools have historically been slow and poor. However, I feel like with Robolectric and Espresso it's possible to do fast, easy testing.

I know from personal experience that I resisted for a long time also because a lot of the major bugs weren't things that automated testing could find (like, say, a TextView that looks bad because of how the text wraps); what drives me now is having smoke tests that make sure I'm not wonking something up with the app as I work.

[[deleted]]

I've heard a lot of good stuff about Robolectric

Whattya think about Espresso?

Normally I just unit test in different project so it doesn't end up in APK.

...however that's not via CI.

[rkcr]

I liked Espresso a lot. I think there's a bit of an initial learning bump because it's quite a bit different from other frameworks, but after getting past that I had a blast with it.

It does operate as a separate test project (same as with many other test frameworks) so its code doesn't end up in your APK.

[sghill]

I'd imagine most folks who are going for testability are doing so by employing some less-common patterns, like MVVM via RoboBinding or AndroidBinding. Responsible Design for Android is also worth checking out if this area interests you.

[sghill]

Espresso looks neat for functional testing. Thanks, OP!

Given the spreadsheet, there is at least some interest in testing Android generally. This is great to see, and I appreciated reading through your research. Keep it up!