Issuing a synchronous HTTP GET request or invoking shell script in JavaScript from iOS UIAutomation

Question

I am trying to use Apple's UIAutomation to write unit tests for an iOS Application that has a server-side component. In order to setup the test server in various states (as well as simulate two clients communicating through my server), I would like to issue HTTP get requests from within my javascript-based test.

Can anyone provide an example of how to either issue HTTP GET requests directly from within UIAutomation javascript tests, or how to invoke a shell script from within my UIAutomation javascript tests?

FWIW, most of the core objects made available by all browsers are missing within the UIAutomation runtime. Try to use XMLHTTPRequest for example and you will get an exception reporting that it cannot find the variable.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Folks,

I was able to work around this by sending HTTP requests to the iOS client to process and return the results in a UIAlertView. Note that all iOS code modifications are wrapped in #if DEBUG conditional compilation directives.

First, setup your client to send out notifications in the event of a device shake. Read this post for more information.

Next, in your iOS main app delegate add this code:

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                         selector:@selector(deviceShakenShowDebug:)
                                             name:@"DeviceShaken" 
                                           object:nil];

Then add a method that looks something like this:

- (void) deviceShakenShowDebug:(id)sender
{
    if (!self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs)
    {
        self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs = [[[UITextField alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 260.0, 25.0)] autorelease];
        self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.accessibilityLabel = @"AlertDebugArgsField";
        self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.isAccessibilityElement = YES;
        [self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs setBackgroundColor:[UIColor whiteColor]];
        [self.tabBarController.selectedViewController.view addSubview:self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs];
        [self.tabBarController.selectedViewController.view bringSubviewToFront:self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs];
    }
    else
    {
        if ([self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.text length] > 0)
        {
            if ([self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.text hasPrefix:@"http://"])
            {
                [self doDebugHttpRequest:self.textFieldEnterDebugArgs.text];    
            }
        }
    }
}

- (void)requestDidFinishLoad:(TTURLRequest*)request
{
        NSString *response = [[[NSString alloc] initWithData:((TTURLDataResponse*)request.response).data 
                                                    encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] autorelease];

        UIAlertView *resultAlert = 
            [[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"Request Loaded",@"")
                                       message:response
                                      delegate:nil
                             cancelButtonTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"OK",@"")
                             otherButtonTitles:nil] autorelease];
        resultAlert.accessibilityLabel = @"AlertDebugResult";
        [resultAlert show];
}

This code will add a UITextField to the very top view controller after a shake, slapped right above any navigation bar or other UI element. UIAutomation, or you the user, can manually enter a URL into this UITextField. When you shake the device again, if the text begins with "http" it will issue an HTTP request in code (exercise for the reader to implement doDebugHttpRequest).

Then, in my UIAutomation JavaScript file, I have defined the following two functions:

function httpGet(url, delayInSec) {
  if (!delayInSec) delay = 1;
  var alertDebugResultSeen = false;
  var httpResponseValue = null;

  UIATarget.onAlert = function onAlert(alert) {    
    httpResponseValue = alert.staticTexts().toArray()[1].name();
    alert.buttons()[0].tap();
    alertDebugResultSeen = true;
  }

  var target = UIATarget.localTarget();
  var application = target.frontMostApp();
  target.shake(); // bring up the input field
  application.mainWindow().textFields()["AlertDebugArgsField"].setValue(url);
  target.shake(); // send back to be processed
  target.delay(delayInSec);
  assertTrue(alertDebugResultSeen);
  return httpResponseValue;
}

function httpGetJSON(url, delayInSec) {
  var response = httpGet(url, delayInSec);
  return eval('(' + response + ')');
}

Now, in my javascript file, I can call

httpGet('http://localhost:3000/do_something')

and it will execute an HTTP request. If I want JSON data back from the server, I call

var jsonResponse = httpGetJSON('http://localhost:3000/do_something')

If I know it is going to be a long-running call, I call

var jsonResponse = httpGetJSON('http://localhost:3000/do_something', 10 /* timeout */)

I've been using this approach successfully now for several weeks.

Answer 2

Try performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout

UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/curl", "http://google.com", 30);

Answer 3

Just a small correction. The answer that suggests using UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout is an easy way to make a request on a URL in iOS 5.0+, but the syntax of the example is incorrect. Here is the correct way to make this call:

UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/curl", ["http://google.com"], 30);

The "[" around the "args" param is important, and the test will die with an exception similar to the following if you forget the brackets:

Error: -[__NSCFString count]: unrecognized selector sent to instance

Here is a fully working example that hits google.com and logs all the output:

var result = UIATarget.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/curl", ["http://www.google.com"], 30);

UIALogger.logDebug("exitCode: " + result.exitCode);

UIALogger.logDebug("stdout: " + result.stdout);

UIALogger.logDebug("stderr: " + result.stderr);