Test using adb

Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a robust command-line tool that allows you to communicate with a connected Android device. Using adb commands, you can perform a variety of device actions, such as installing apps, granting permissions, profiling for performance, etc.

In this guide, you will learn the following:

• ADB Commands use cases in an App Automate session
• Achieve Equivalent functionalities without using ADB Commands

ADB Commands use cases

For security reasons, we launch the appium server on our platform with --relaxed-security setting off. This means that we won’t be able to support execution of ADB shell commands using the mobile: shell appium command. More details in Appium documentation. However, we provide custom implementation to run certain useful ADB commands on our Android devices.

This section provides details on how to run adb commands for the following use cases in an App Automate session:

• Log and Debug Firebase Analytics events
• Log Google Analytics events
• Set system-level preferences using settings commands
• Get diagnostic output for system services using dumpsys commands
• Get system and device properties using getprop commands

Currently, we support only those adb commands that have been mentioned in this guide.

Log and Debug Firebase Analytics events

Log Events

You can set verbose logging to monitor the logs of Firebase events using the following adb shell setprop commands:

adb shell setprop log.tag.FA VERBOSE
adb shell setprop log.tag.FA-SVC VERBOSE

In order to achieve this functionality in App Automate, use the browserstack.devicePreferences capability in your test sessions and set the log.tag.FA and log.tag.FA-SVC tags to VERBOSE inside the setprop object. The following code snippet demonstrates how to do this:

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> browserstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();

HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, String> setProp = new HashMap<>();
setProp.put("log.tag.FA", "VERBOSE");
setProp.put("log.tag.FA-SVC", "VERBOSE");
devicePreferences.put("setprop", setProp);

browserstackOptions.put("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

var capabilities = {
   "bstack:options": {
       "devicePreferences": {
         "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.FA" : "VERBOSE",
           "log.tag.FA-SVC" : "VERBOSE"
           }
      }
   }	
}

desired_cap = {
    "bstack:options": {
       "devicePreferences": {
         "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.FA" : "VERBOSE",
           "log.tag.FA-SVC" : "VERBOSE"
           }
      }
   }	
}

desired_cap = {
   "bstack:options"=> {
      "devicePreferences"=> {
        "setprop" => {
           "log.tag.FA" => "VERBOSE",
           "log.tag.FA-SVC" => "VERBOSE"
           }
      }
   }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> browserstackOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();

Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, string> setProp = new Dictionary<>();
setProp.Add("log.tag.FA", "VERBOSE");
setProp.Add("log.tag.FA-SVC", "VERBOSE");
devicePreferences.Add("setprop", setProp);

browserstackOptions.Add("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, String> setProp = new HashMap<>();
setProp.put("log.tag.FA", "VERBOSE");
setProp.put("log.tag.FA-SVC", "VERBOSE");

devicePreferences.put("setprop", setProp);

capabilities.setCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

var capabilities = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.FA" : "VERBOSE",
           "log.tag.FA-SVC" : "VERBOSE"
           }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.FA" : "VERBOSE",
           "log.tag.FA-SVC" : "VERBOSE"
           }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences"=> {
        "setprop" => {
           "log.tag.FA" => "VERBOSE",
           "log.tag.FA-SVC" => "VERBOSE"
           }
      }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, string> setProp = new Dictionary<>();
setProp.Add("log.tag.FA", "VERBOSE");
setProp.Add("log.tag.FA-SVC", "VERBOSE");

devicePreferences.Add("setprop", setProp);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

Upon setting this capability in your tests, logs for Firebase events will start appearing under device logs. You can capture the complete logs by using driver.manage().logs().get("logcat").filter(Level.ALL); command and then filter out the firebase events for your app in your test.

Debug Events

You can enable the debug mode for Firebase Analytics on an Android device by using the following adb shell setprop command:

adb shell setprop debug.firebase.analytics.app <PACKAGE_NAME>

To achieve this functionality in App Automate, use the browserstack.devicePreferences capability in your test sessions and set the debug.firebase.analytics.app value to your package_name inside the setprop object. The following code snippet demonstrates how to do this:

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> browserstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();

HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, String> setProp = new HashMap<>();
setProp.put("debug.firebase.analytics.app", "<your_package_name>");
devicePreferences.put("setprop", setProp);

browserstackOptions.put("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

var capabilities = {
   "bstack:options": {
      "devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "debug.firebase.analytics.app" : "<your_package_name>"
           }
      }
   } 	   
}

desired_cap = {
   "bstack:options": {
      "devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "debug.firebase.analytics.app" : "<your_package_name>"
           }
      }
   }
}

desired_cap = {
   "bstack:options"=> {
       "devicePreferences"=> {
        "setprop" => {
           "debug.firebase.analytics.app" => "<your_package_name>"
           }
      }
   }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> browserstackOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();

Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, string> setProp = new Dictionary<>();
setProp.Add("debug.firebase.analytics.app", "<your_package_name>");
devicePreferences.Add("setprop", setProp);

browserstackOptions.Add("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, String> setProp = new HashMap<>();
setProp.put("debug.firebase.analytics.app", "<your_package_name>");

devicePreferences.put("setprop", setProp);

capabilities.setCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

var capabilities = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "debug.firebase.analytics.app" : "<your_package_name>"
           }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "debug.firebase.analytics.app" : "<your_package_name>"
           }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences"=> {
        "setprop" => {
           "debug.firebase.analytics.app" => "<your_package_name>"
           }
      }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, string> setProp = new Dictionary<>();
setProp.Add("debug.firebase.analytics.app", "<your_package_name>");

devicePreferences.Add("setprop", setProp);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

Upon setting this capability in your tests, your test session will begin on a device where debug mode has been enabled. You can then navigate to DebugView to view your app’s events being logged in the DebugView report.

Log Google Analytics events

You can enable the log feature of Google Analytics events by using the following adb shell setprop command:

adb shell setprop log.tag.GAv4 DEBUG

To achieve this functionality in App Automate, use the browserstack.devicePreferences capability in your test sessions and set the log.tag.GAv4 tag to any of the log filter types such as DEBUG, VERBOSE, INFO etc inside the setprop object. The following code snippet demonstrates how to do this:

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> browserstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();

HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, String> setProp = new HashMap<>();
setProp.put("log.tag.GAv4", "DEBUG");
devicePreferences.put("setprop", setProp);

browserstackOptions.put("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

var capabilities = {
   "bstack:options": {
       "devicePreferences": {
         "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.GAv4" : "DEBUG"
           }
      }
   } 	  
}

desired_cap = {
   "bstack:options": {
       "devicePreferences": {
         "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.GAv4" : "DEBUG"
           }
      }
   }
}

desired_cap = {
   "bstack:options" => {
      "devicePreferences"=> {
         "setprop" => {
           "log.tag.GAv4" => "DEBUG"
           }
      }
  }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> browserstackOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();

Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, string> setProp = new Dictionary<>();
setProp.Add("log.tag.GAv4", "DEBUG");
devicePreferences.Add("setprop", setProp);

browserstackOptions.Add("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, String> setProp = new HashMap<>();
setProp.put("log.tag.GAv4", "DEBUG");

devicePreferences.put("setprop", setProp);

capabilities.setCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

var capabilities = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.GAv4" : "DEBUG"
           }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "setprop" : {
           "log.tag.GAv4" : "DEBUG"
           }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences"=> {
        "setprop" => {
           "log.tag.GAv4" => "DEBUG"
           }
      }
}

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, string> setProp = new Dictionary<>();
setProp.Add("log.tag.GAv4", "DEBUG");

devicePreferences.Add("setprop", setProp);

capabilities.SetCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

Upon setting this capability in your tests, logs for Google Analytics events will start appearing under device logs. You can capture the complete logs by using driver.manage().logs().get("logcat").filter(Level.ALL); command and then filter out the Google Analytics events for your app in your test.

Set system-level preferences using settings commands

The adb shell settings put commands can be used to set system-level device preferences such as disabling pop-up notifications, disabling location services, changing device orientation etc.

The following table lists all the adb shell settings put commands that are supported in App Automate:

To execute these commands, use the browserstack.devicePreferences capability in your tests and set the required settings to your desired values inside the appropriate setting type object. The following table shows the BrowserStack compatible JSON-object format for the settings:

The following code snippet demonstrates how to run your tests on a device where all the above mentioned settings have been set:

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> browserstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();

HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, Integer> settingsGlobal = new HashMap<>();
settingsGlobal.put("headsUpNotificationsEnabled", 0);
settingsGlobal.put("alwaysFinishActivities", 0);
devicePreferences.put("settings.global", settingsGlobal);

HashMap<String, Integer> settingsSecure = new HashMap<>();
settingsSecure.put("locationMode", 0);
devicePreferences.put("settings.secure", settingsSecure);

HashMap<String, Integer> settingsSystem = new HashMap<>();
settingsSystem.put("accelerometerRotation", 0);
settingsSystem.put("userRotation", 3);
devicePreferences.put("settings.system", settingsSystem);

browserstackOptions.put("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

var capabilities = {
  "bstack:options": {
    "devicePreferences": {
      "settings.global": {
        "headsUpNotificationsEnabled": 0,
        "alwaysFinishActivities" : 0 
      },
      "settings.secure": {
        "locationMode" : 0
      },
      "settings.system": {
         "accelerometerRotation" : 0,
         "userRotation" : 3 
      }
    }
  }
}

desired_cap = {
  "bstack:options": {
    "devicePreferences": {
      "settings.global": {
        "headsUpNotificationsEnabled": 0,
        "alwaysFinishActivities" : 0 
      },
      "settings.secure": {
        "locationMode" : 0
      },
      "settings.system": {
         "accelerometerRotation" : 0,
         "userRotation" : 3 
      }
    }
  }
}

desired_cap = {
  "bstack:options" => {
    "devicePreferences" => {
      "settings.global"=> {
        "headsUpNotificationsEnabled"=> 0,
        "alwaysFinishActivities" => 0 
      },
      "settings.secure"=> {
        "locationMode" => 0
      },
      "settings.system"=> {
         "accelerometerRotation" => 0,
         "userRotation" => 3 
      }
    }
  }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> browserstackOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();

Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, int> settingsGlobal = new Dictionary<>();
settingsGlobal.Add("headsUpNotificationsEnabled", 0);
settingsGlobal.Add("alwaysFinishActivities", 0);
devicePreferences.Add("settings.global", settingsGlobal);

Dictionary<string, int> settingsSecure = new Dictionary<>();
settingsSecure.Add("locationMode", 0);
devicePreferences.Add("settings.secure", settingsSecure);

Dictionary<string, int> settingsSystem = new Dictionary<>();
settingsSystem.Add("accelerometerRotation", 0);
settingsSystem.Add("userRotation", 3);
devicePreferences.Add("settings.system", settingsSystem);

browserstackOptions.Add("devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("bstack:options", browserstackOptions);

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
HashMap<String, Object> devicePreferences = new HashMap<String, Object>();
HashMap<String, Integer> settingsGlobal = new HashMap<>();
settingsGlobal.put("headsUpNotificationsEnabled", 0);
settingsGlobal.put("alwaysFinishActivities", 0);
devicePreferences.put("settings.global", settingsGlobal);

HashMap<String, Integer> settingsSecure = new HashMap<>();
settingsSecure.put("locationMode", 0);
devicePreferences.put("settings.secure", settingsSecure);

HashMap<String, Integer> settingsSystem = new HashMap<>();
settingsSystem.put("accelerometerRotation", 0);
settingsSystem.put("userRotation", 3);
devicePreferences.put("settings.system", settingsSystem);


capabilities.setCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

var capabilities = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
        "settings.global": {
          "headsUpNotificationsEnabled": 0,
          "alwaysFinishActivities" : 0 
      },
        "settings.secure": {
          "locationMode" : 0
      },
        "settings.system": {
         "accelerometerRotation" : 0,
         "userRotation" : 3 
      }
   }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences": {
      "settings.global": {
        "headsUpNotificationsEnabled": 0,
        "alwaysFinishActivities" : 0 
      },
      "settings.secure": {
        "locationMode" : 0
      },
      "settings.system": {
         "accelerometerRotation" : 0,
         "userRotation" : 3 
      }
      }
}

desired_cap = {
	"browserstack.devicePreferences"=> {
      "settings.global"=> {
        "headsUpNotificationsEnabled"=> 0,
        "alwaysFinishActivities" => 0 
      },
      "settings.secure"=> {
        "locationMode" => 0
      },
      "settings.system"=> {
         "accelerometerRotation" => 0,
         "userRotation" => 3 
      }
      }
}

AppiumOptions capabilities = new AppiumOptions();
Dictionary<string, object> devicePreferences = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Dictionary<string, int> settingsGlobal = new Dictionary<>();
settingsGlobal.Add("headsUpNotificationsEnabled", 0);
settingsGlobal.Add("alwaysFinishActivities", 0);
devicePreferences.Add("settings.global", settingsGlobal);

Dictionary<string, int> settingsSecure = new Dictionary<>();
settingsSecure.Add("locationMode", 0);
devicePreferences.Add("settings.secure", settingsSecure);

Dictionary<string, int> settingsSystem = new Dictionary<>();
settingsSystem.Add("accelerometerRotation", 0);
settingsSystem.Add("userRotation", 3);
devicePreferences.Add("settings.system", settingsSystem);

devicePreferences.Add("settings.global", settingsGlobal);

capabilities.AddAdditionalCapability("browserstack.devicePreferences", devicePreferences);

Get diagnostic output for system services using dumpsys commands

dumpsys is a tool that runs on Android devices and offers information on system services. adb shell dumpsys commands provide vital diagnostic output for system services operating on a connected device.

The following table lists all the dumpsys commands that can be used in an App Automate session:

Use the following code snippets to call the dumpsys commands from your test script:

JavascriptExecutor jse = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
jse.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"dumpsys gfxinfo <package_name>\"
         }
     }"
);

await driver.execute("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"dumpsys gfxinfo <package_name>\"
         }
     }"
);

driver.execute_script("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"dumpsys gfxinfo <package_name>\"
         }
     }"
);

caps["javascriptEnabled"] = "true" #include this capability for JavaScript Executors to work
driver.execute_script("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"dumpsys gfxinfo <package_name>\"
         }
     }"
);

((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"dumpsys gfxinfo <package_name>\"
         }
     }"
);

The output of the above-mentioned dumpsys commands would be captured under text logs on the App Automate dashboard.

driver.execute_script("browserstack_executor: {\"action\":\"adbShell\", \"arguments\": {\"command\" : \"dumpsys activity -p <package_name> activities | grep -E \\\"mResumedActivity\\\"\"}}")

driver.execute_script('browserstack_executor: {"action":"adbShell", "arguments": {"command" : "dumpsys activity -p <package_name> activities | grep -E \"mResumedActivity\""}}')

Get system and device properties using getprop commands

The adb shell getprop commands can be used to get system and device properties such as Sim Operator, device model, Android version etc.

The following table lists all the getprop commands that can be called in an App Automate session:

Use the following code snipptes to call the getprop commands from your test script:

JavascriptExecutor jse = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
jse.executeScript("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"getprop ro.system.build.version.sdk\"
         }
     }"
);

await driver.execute("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"getprop ro.system.build.version.sdk\"
         }
     }"
);

driver.execute_script("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"getprop ro.system.build.version.sdk\"
         }
     }"
);

caps["javascriptEnabled"] = "true" #include this capability for JavaScript Executors to work
driver.execute_script("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"getprop ro.system.build.version.sdk\"
         }
     }"
);

((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: {
          \"action\":\"adbShell\", 
          \"arguments\": {
            \"command\" : \"getprop ro.system.build.version.sdk\"
         }
     }"
);

The output of the above-mentioned getprop commands would be captured under text logs on the App Automate dashboard.