WebdriverIO Appium Helpers

Those who are moving to WebdriverIO from Java, Python, or Ruby clients in Appium will encounter some differences.

I have written this blog for beginners who have moved from Python to Javascript (WebdriverIO) by collating Python codes to the equivalent WebdriverIO code for the same command. These elementary commands will be helpful if you are new to WebdriverIO.

Find Element By ID

Python

from appium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
element = driver.find_element(By.ID, "com.google.android.gms:id/cancel")
element.click()

WebdriverIO

element = await $("id=com.google.android.gms:id/cancel");
await element.click();

Find Element By Name

Python

from appium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
element = driver.find_element(By.NAME, “General”)
element.click()

WebdriverIO

element = await $('[name="General"]');
element.click();

Find Elements

Python

from appium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
element = driver.find_elements(By.NAME, 'Settings')[1]
element.click()

WebdriverIO

element = await $$('[name="Settings"]')[1];
element.click();

Find Element By Classname

Python

element = driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "android.widget.EditText")

WebdriverIO

enter_number = await $(".android.widget.EditText");

Send Keys

Python

enter_number.send_keys("9999999999")

WebdriverIO

await enter_number.addValue("9999999999");

Find Element By Tag Name

Python

element = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "h1")

WebdriverIO

element = await $("<h1>");

Find Element by Android UI Automator and Scrolling

This is a tricky one.

Android UI automator can be used in Android phones to scroll to an element that doesn’t appear on the screen initially. This can only be found after scrolling through to the bottom.

Python

from appium.webdriver.common.appiumby import AppiumBy
###
scrollable_id = 'new UiScrollable(new UiSelector().scrollable(true)).scrollIntoView(new UiSelector().text("Albania (+355)"))'
self.driver.find_element(AppiumBy.ANDROID_UIAUTOMATOR, scrollable_id)

WebdriverIO

const bottomElementSelector = 'new UiScrollable(new UiSelector().scrollable(true)).scrollIntoView(new UiSelector().text("Albania (+355)"))';
const bottomEl = await $('android=${bottomElementSelector}');