Im not able to run Detox test on an existing APK

[g4ss4n]

Hi,

My end goal is to run Detox tests on an existing APK. We are using React Native.

When running the following command
detox test --configuration android.emu.release

13:31:43.291 detox[42887] B jest --config detox/e2e/jest.config.js
13:31:44.601 detox[42888] i DetoxRuntimeError: Test APK at path /Users/ghassangharzuzy/Documents/GitHub/agwa-testing/detox/nativeApps/android/release/app.apk was detected as the app APK!

HINT: Your test test-binary path was probably wrongly set in the active Detox configuration.
For further assistance, visit the Android setup guide: https://github.com/wix/Detox/blob/master/docs/Introduction.Android.md
13:31:47.596 detox[42888] i planting.test.js is assigned to emulator-5554 (Nexus_5X_API_23)
13:31:47.689 detox[42888] i Planting flow: Can login to the app
13:31:47.690 detox[42888] i Planting flow: Can login to the app [FAIL]
....
No instrumentation runner found on device emulator-5554 for package com.agwa.mobileapp

  38 | describe('Planting flow', () => {
  39 |   beforeAll(async () => {
> 40 |     await device.launchApp({permissions: {notifications: 'YES'}});
     |                  ^
  41 |   });
  42 |

I am able to see that the app was installed in the emulator.

I can see there is an example in a similar discussion here - but the example is no longer available - #3188

Is anyone familiar with this issue? Any idea how to fix it?

[noomorph]

binaryPath and testBinaryPath are different things, and each should lead to its own APK file.

The test APK is created by commands like gradlew assembleAndroidTest ... e.g.:

Make sure to finish your project setup: https://wix.github.io/Detox/docs/introduction/project-setup

Normally you don't need to specify testBinaryPath separately, but if it is created in a custom location, then you should add it along with binaryPath in your Detox config.

[g4ss4n]

Just to be sure I understood this correctly - do I need to change anything in my app configuration before the build?

I have the APK in a different repo, where I drag the existing APK to the given location, and I can see that the command installs the app in the emulator ...

Worth mentioning - Im not looking to interfere with Gradle / the build of the APK or with the code there, Im only taking an APK, moving it to the testing repo where I have detox and run my tests from there

/** @type {Detox.DetoxConfig} */
module.exports = {
  testRunner: {
    args: {
      '$0': 'jest',
      config: 'detox/e2e/jest.config.js',
    },
    jest: {
      setupTimeout: 120000
    }
  },
  devices: {
    emulator: {
      type: 'android.emulator',
      device: {
        avdName: 'Nexus_5X_API_23'
      }
    },
    simulator: {
      type: 'ios.simulator',
      device: {
        type: 'iPhone 14 Plus'
      }
    }
  },
  apps: {
    'android.debug': {
      type: 'android.apk',
      binaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/debug/1.0.38(148)-debug.apk',
      testBinaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/androidTest/debug/1.0.38(148)-debug-androidTest.apk',
    },
    'android.release': {
      type: 'android.apk',
      binaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/release/app.apk',
      testBinaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/release/app.apk'
    },
    'ios.debug': {
      type: 'ios.app',
      binaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/ios/Agwa.app'
    }
  },
  configurations: {
    'android.emu.debug': {
      device: 'emulator',
      app: 'android.debug'
    },
    'android.emu.release': {
      device: 'emulator',
      app: 'android.release'
    },
    'ios.sim.debug': {
      device: 'simulator',
      app: 'ios.debug'
    },
    'ios.sim.release': {
      device: 'simulator',
      app: 'ios.release' 
    }
  }
};

[d4vidi]

@g4ss4n The configuration associated with android.emu.release (or more specifically, the android.release app) seems suspicious:

    'android.release': {
      type: 'android.apk',
      binaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/release/app.apk',
      testBinaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/release/app.apk'
    }

The error suggests that the APK in the path for testBinaryPath is of the app APK rather than the test APK. Indeed, this can be seen in the configuration, as testBinaryPath appears to be the same as binaryPath (which is the path for the app APK); All the more so, it doesn't lead to an APK file whose name is in the form of (or similar to) app-debug-androidTest.apk, which is typically the exported name for test APK's.

Your configuration for debug does seem proper, nevertheless:

    'android.debug': {
      type: 'android.apk',
      binaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/debug/1.0.38(148)-debug.apk',
      testBinaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/androidTest/debug/1.0.38(148)-debug-androidTest.apk',
    }

I think you ought to use the exact same testBinaryPath for the android.release config as well (it's recommended to use test APK compiled in Debug mode), namely:

    'android.release': {
      type: 'android.apk',
      binaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/release/app.apk',
      testBinaryPath: './detox/nativeApps/android/androidTest/debug/1.0.38(148)-debug-androidTest.apk',
    },