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Automated Android Testing with MATE

MATE is a tool for automated android app testing featuring various (genetic) algorithms. The project is divided into two parts: the MATE framework and unit tests for android managed in this repository and a server that runs on a host machine which is responsible for some analysis that can not be performed by the instrumentation tests themselves. The repository containing the MATE server can be found here.

Supported Devices:

We have tested MATE on the following devices:

  • Nexus 5 (API 25 & 28 & 29 & 30)
  • Pixel C (API 25 & 28 & 29)
  • Pixel XL (API 25 & 28 & 29)

You have to employ on the emulator a x86 image that is not provided by Google, i.e. don't use neither a Google Play nor a Google API image. This is due to recent changes that otherwise lead to permission issues. Moreover, the AVD name, e.g. Nexus_5_API_25, needs to encode the device type, i.e. Nexus_5, Pixel_XL or Pixel_C, in order to properly derive the size of the menu bar.

How to run MATE

The simplest option is to make use of the supplied mate-commander:

If you however want to run MATE and MATE Server manually follow the instructions below:

1) Start the device

Setup the emulator or attach your device via USB and enable USB-Debugging. Install and open(!) the app you want to test.

2) Build and run MATE Server

Refer to the instructions from the MATE server repository.

3) Installing and running MATE

a) Android Studio (for Developers)

Open Android Studio. Select "Check out project from Version Control" and click through the wizard (use git with url https://github.com/mate-android-testing/mate.git). Install Android Sdk when prompted.

To run a test use the project browser to find the unit tests (either app -> java -> org.mate (androidTest) or mate -> app -> src -> androidTest -> java -> org.mate) and rightclick -> run '<testName>'. Note, you have to provide the package name of the AUT as instrumentation argument (adjust the run configuration).

b) Gradle

Install the Android Sdk and set the $ANDROID_HOME environment variable. Clone the git repository

git clone https://github.com/mate-android-testing/mate.git

Change into the project folder

cd mate

Install MATE and MATE unit tests (use gradlew.bat instead when using Windows):

./gradlew installDebug
./gradlew installDebugAndroidTest

Execute test over adb:

adb shell am instrument -w -r -e debug false -e packageName <package-name-of-aut> -e class \
    'org.mate.ExecuteMATERandomExploration' \
    org.mate.test/android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner

Replace ExecuteMATERandomExploration with the desired testing strategy and <package-name-of-aut> with the package name of the AUT. In order to retrieve the package name of an APK, you have two points:

  1. Run the command aapt dump badging <path-to-apk> | grep package:\ name.
  2. Extract the package name from the AndroidManifest.xml.

4) Debug MATE

If you would like to debug the execution of MATE, you have several options:

a) Android Studio

  • Provide an additional instrumentation argument wait-for-debugger set to true (run configuration) and click on Run -> 'Attach Debugger to Android Process' -> 'org.mate' once the log "Waiting for debugger..." appears in the android logcat output.
  • Or run the test, e.g. ExecuteMATERandomExploration in debug mode.

b) Gradle

  • Provide an additional argument -e wait-for-debugger true to the adb shell am instrument command and click on Run -> 'Attach Debugger to Android Process' -> 'org.mate' once the log "Waiting for debugger..." appears in the android logcat output.
  • Or change the argument -e debug false to -e debug true and attach to the debugger immediately.

5) Further configurations

Most properties necessary for the various algorithms can be now specified dynamically by providing a file called mate.properties. For instance, you can run an arbitrary genetic algorithm by specifying org.mate.ExecuteMATEGeneticAlgorithm as testing strategy (see above) and provide the following properties file:

# the time out in minutes
timeout=5

# which type of coverage should be recorded
coverage=ACTIVITY_COVERAGE

# how many actions per test case
max_number_events=10

# whether to record test cases for possible replaying
record_test_case=true

# genetic properties (test case chromosome)
population_size=5
big_population_size=10
algorithm=STANDARD_GA
fitness_function=NUMBER_OF_ACTIVITIES
selection_function=FITNESS_PROPORTIONATE_SELECTION
mutation_function=TEST_CASE_CUT_POINT_MUTATION
crossover_function=TEST_CASE_MERGE_CROSS_OVER
termination_condition=NEVER_TERMINATION
chromosome_factory=ANDROID_RANDOM_CHROMOSOME_FACTORY

The available properties can be looked up in the class org.mate.Properties.

Algorithm Documentation

For more information on grammatical evolution refer to the documentation.