How to write tests for deep links in Android?

Question

I would like to write tests for Android app with deep link cases using UI testing framework (Espresso) - launch app using only ACTION_VIEW intent and check all views on opened screen.

But looks like Espresso (even espresso-intents) doesn't have this functionality, and require to define Activity class.

I tried this way, but it doesn't work properly, because launched app twice - standard launch using AppLauncherActivity (required by Espresso) and launch via deep link.

@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
public class DeeplinkAppLauncherTest {

    @Rule
    public ActivityTestRule<AppLauncherActivity> activityRule = new ActivityTestRule<>(AppLauncherActivity.class);

    @Test
    public void testDeeplinkAfterScollDownAndBackUp() {
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("myapp://search/777"));
        activityRule.launchActivity(intent);

        onView(withId(R.id.search_panel)).check(matches(isDisplayed()));
    }

}

I would like to launch testing app using only deep link without standard launch. Do you know, how to do it?

Answer 1

Accepted answer is helpful, but nowadays the ActivityTestRule class has been deprecated.

We can use ActivityScenario instead.

Here is a Kotlin example:

class MyDeepLinkTest {

    private lateinit var scenario: ActivityScenario<LoadingActivity>

    @Before
    fun setUp() {
        Intents.init()
    }

    @After
    fun tearDown() {
        Intents.release()
        scenario.close()
    }

    @Test
    fun myTest() {
        val intent = Intent(ApplicationProvider.getApplicationContext(), LoadingActivity::class.java)
            .putExtra("example_extra1", "Value 1")
            .putExtra("example_extra2", 777)

        scenario = ActivityScenario.launch(intent)

        // Test code goes here (e.g. intent causes to start MainActivity)
        intended(hasComponent(MainActivity::class.java.name))
    }

}

I also found this blog post with additional examples.