Desired Capabilities
We can define desired capabilities are keys and values encoded in a JSON object, that are sent by Appium clients to the server when a new automation session is requested. Further, desired capabilities tell the Appium drivers as to how you want your test to work. Also, every Appium client construct capabilities specific to the client’s language, but in the end, they are sent over to Appium as JSON objects.
Moreover, Appium supports many capabilities. In general, capabilities also differ by driver, though there are a standard set that most drivers pay attention to.
We will now consider a series of tables outlining various types of desired Capabilities, that are available for general as well as specific drivers.
General Capabilities
We consider capabilities that span multiple drivers.
| Capability | Values |
| automationName | Appium (default) or Selendroid or UiAutomator2 or Espresso for Android or XCUITest for iOS or YouiEngine for application built with You.i Engine |
| platformName | iOS, Android, or FirefoxOS |
| platformVersion | e.g., 7.1, 4.4 |
| deviceName | iPhone Simulator, iPad Simulator, iPhone Retina 4-inch, Android Emulator, Galaxy S4, etc…. On iOS, this should be one of the valid devices returned by instruments with instruments -s devices. On Android this capability is currently ignored, though it remains required. |
| app | /abs/path/to/my.apk or http://myapp.com/app.ipa |
| browserName | ‘Safari’ for iOS and ‘Chrome’, ‘Chromium’, or ‘Browser’ for Android |
| newCommandTimeout | e.g. 60 |
| language | e.g. fr |
| locale | e.g. fr_CA, CA |
| udid | e.g. 1ae203187fc012g |
| orientation | LANDSCAPE or PORTRAIT |
| autoWebview | true, false |
| noReset | true, false |
| fullReset | true, false |
| eventTimings | e.g., true |
| enablePerformanceLogging | true, false |
| printPageSourceOnFindFailure | e.g., true |
Specific Capabilities
For Android
We define capabilities that are available only on Android-based drivers.
| Capability | Values |
| appActivity | MainActivity, .Settings |
| appPackage | com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings |
| appWaitActivity | SplashActivity, SplashActivity,OtherActivity, *, *.SplashActivity |
| appWaitPackage | com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings |
| appWaitDuration | 30000 |
| deviceReadyTimeout | 5 |
| allowTestPackages | true or false |
| androidCoverage | com.my.Pkg/com.my.Pkg.instrumentation.MyInstrumentation |
| androidCoverageEndIntent | com.example.pkg.END_EMMA |
| androidDeviceReadyTimeout | e.g., 30 |
| androidInstallTimeout | e.g., 90000 |
| androidInstallPath | e.g. /sdcard/Downloads/ |
| adbPort | 5037 |
| systemPort | e.g., 8201 |
| remoteAdbHost | e.g.: 192.168.0.101 |
| androidDeviceSocket | e.g., chrome_devtools_remote |
| avd | e.g., api19 |
| avdLaunchTimeout | 300000 |
| avdReadyTimeout | 300000 |
| avdArgs | e.g., -netfast |
| useKeystore | true or false |
| keystorePath | e.g., /path/to.keystore |
| keystorePassword | e.g., foo |
| keyAlias | e.g., androiddebugkey |
| keyPassword | e.g., foo |
| chromedriverExecutable | /abs/path/to/webdriver |
| chromedriverArgs | e.g., [“–disable-gpu”, “–disable-web-security”] |
| chromedriverExecutableDir | /abs/path/to/chromedriver/directory |
| chromedriverChromeMappingFile | /abs/path/to/mapping.json |
| chromedriverUseSystemExecutable | e.g., true |
| autoWebviewTimeout | e.g. 4 |
| chromedriverPort | e.g. 8000 |
| chromedriverPorts | e.g. [8000, [9000, 9005]] |
| intentAction | e.g.android.intent.action.MAIN, android.intent.action.VIEW |
| intentCategory | e.g. android.intent.category.LAUNCHER, android.intent.category.APP_CONTACTS |
| intentFlags | e.g. 0x10200000 |
| optionalIntentArguments | e.g. –esn <EXTRA_KEY>, –ez <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_BOOLEAN_VALUE>, etc. |
| dontStopAppOnReset | true or false |
| unicodeKeyboard | true or false |
| resetKeyboard | true or false |
| noSign | true or false |
| ignoreUnimportantViews | true or false |
| disableAndroidWatchers | true or false |
| chromeOptions | chromeOptions: {args: [‘–disable-popup-blocking’]} |
| recreateChromeDriverSessions | true or false |
| nativeWebScreenshot | true or false |
| androidScreenshotPath | e.g. /sdcard/screenshots/ |
| autoGrantPermissions | true or false |
| networkSpeed | [‘full’,’gsm’, ‘edge’, ‘hscsd’, ‘gprs’, ‘umts’, ‘hsdpa’, ‘lte’, ‘evdo’] Check -netspeed option more info about speed emulation for avds |
| gpsEnabled | true or false |
| isHeadless | e.g., true |
| adbExecTimeout | e.g., 50000 |
| localeScript | e.g., “Cyrl” (Cyrillic) |
| skipDeviceInitialization | true or false |
| chromedriverDisableBuildCheck | true or false |
| skipUnlock | true or false |
| unlockType | [‘pin’, ‘password’, ‘pattern’, ‘fingerprint’] |
| unlockKey | e.g., ‘1111’ |
| autoLaunch | true or false |
| skipLogcatCapture | true or false |
| uninstallOtherPackages | e.g. “io.appium.example”, [“io.appium.example1”, “io.appium.example2”], ‘*’ |
| disableWindowAnimation | true, false |
For UIAutomator (1 & 2)
In this case, these capabilities are available on UIA 1 and 2
| Capability | Values |
| otherApps | e.g., “/path/to/app.apk”, https://www.example.com/url/to/app.apk, [“/path/to/app-a.apk”, “/path/to/app-b.apk”] |
For UIAutomator2 Only
Further, these Capabilities are available only on the UiAutomator2 Driver
| Capability | Values |
| uiautomator2ServerLaunchTimeout | e.g., 20000 |
| uiautomator2ServerInstallTimeout | e.g., 20000 |
| skipServerInstallation | true or false |
For Espresso Only
Also, these Capabilities are available only on the Espresso Driver
| Capability | Values |
| espressoServerLaunchTimeout | e.g., 50000 |
For iOS Only
Next, these Capabilities are available only on the XCUITest Driver and the deprecated UIAutomation Driver.
| Capability | Values |
| calendarFormat | e.g. gregorian |
| bundleId | e.g. io.appium.TestApp |
| udid | e.g. 1ae203187fc012g |
| launchTimeout | e.g. 20000 |
| locationServicesEnabled | true or false |
| locationServicesAuthorized | true or false |
| autoAcceptAlerts | true or false |
| autoDismissAlerts | true or false |
| nativeInstrumentsLib | true or false |
| nativeWebTap | true or false |
| safariInitialUrl | e.g. https://www.github.com |
| safariAllowPopups | true or false |
| safariIgnoreFraudWarning | true or false |
| safariOpenLinksInBackground | true or false |
| keepKeyChains | true or false |
| localizableStringsDir | en.lproj |
| processArguments | e.g., -myflag |
| interKeyDelay | e.g., 100 |
| showIOSLog | true or false |
| sendKeyStrategy | oneByOne, grouped or setValue |
| screenshotWaitTimeout | e.g., 5 |
| waitForAppScript | e.g. true;, target.elements().length > 0;, $.delay(5000); true; |
| webviewConnectRetries | e.g., 12 |
| appName | e.g., UICatalog |
| customSSLCert | e.g. —–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–MIIFWjCCBEKg… |
| —–END CERTIFICATE—– | |
| webkitResponseTimeout | e.g., 10000 |
| remoteDebugProxy | e.g. 12000 or “/tmp/my.proxy.socket” |
| enableAsyncExecuteFromHttps | true or false |
| skipLogCapture | true or false |
| webkitDebugProxyPort | 12021 |
