Question: target specific device

[entomber]

I'd like the use this plugin for reviewing session history video and logs, but I'm not sure if it'd fit my use case, so I'd appreciate any clarification.

1. My current setup: I start a dedicated Appium server per device and target the server using udid capability so an automation session for a specific device goes to a dedicated Appium server. We did it this way to easily restart a server or pull logs for particular device's automation session. Does appium-device-farm work differently by running multiple sessions on the same single server or some other mechanism?

2. Is there a way to target automation for a particular device or is that not the intended use case for this plugin? e.g. I want to run an automation script only for a specific device given by its udid. If I start a server via appium server, then I can use the appium:udid capability to target that device using below Python script. But when I start a server via appium server -ka 800 --use-plugins=device-farm,appium-dashboard -pa /wd/hub --plugin-device-farm-platform=android and run the same script I get an error.

from appium import webdriver
import time

desired_caps = {
    'appium:udid': 'FLCTC10160500069',
    'appium:noReset': True,
    'appium:appPackage': 'com.android.vending',
    'appium:appActivity': 'com.android.vending.AssetBrowserActivity',
    'platformName': 'Android',
    'appium:automationName': 'uiautomator2'
}

driver = webdriver.Remote('http://localhost:4723/wd/hub', desired_caps)

time.sleep(10)

driver.quit()

Error:

InvalidArgumentError: property 'udid' should not exist on both primary ({"platformName":"Android","udid":"FLCTC10160500069","noReset":true,"appPackage":"com.android.vending","appActivity":"com.android.vending.AssetBrowserActivity","automationName":"uiautomator2"}) and secondary ({"clearDeviceLogsOnStart":true,"udid":"3e896ab7","deviceName":"3e896ab7","systemPort":36941,"chromeDriverPort":46251}) object
    at processCapabilities (/home/techm/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.0/lib/node_modules/appium/node_modules/@appium/base-driver/lib/basedriver/capabilities.js:224:13)
    at parseCapsForInnerDriver (/home/techm/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.0/lib/node_modules/appium/lib/utils.js:112:21)
    at AppiumDriver.createSession (/home/techm/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.0/lib/node_modules/appium/lib/appium.js:159:26)
    at commandExecutor (/home/techm/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.0/lib/node_modules/appium/node_modules/@appium/base-driver/lib/basedriver/driver.js:333:7)
    at AppiumDriver.executeCommand (/home/techm/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.0/lib/node_modules/appium/node_modules/@appium/base-driver/lib/basedriver/driver.js:347:15)
    at defaultBehavior (/home/techm/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.0/lib/node_modules/appium/lib/appium.js:513:28)
    at DevicePlugin.<anonymous> (/home/techm/.appium/appium-device-farm/node_modules/appium-device-farm/lib/plugin.js:82:35)
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at fulfilled (/home/techm/.appium/appium-device-farm/node_modules/appium-device-farm/lib/plugin.js:5:58)
    at runMicrotasks (<anonymous>)
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:97:5)

[saikrishna321]

Point 1: Recommended way to use Appium server with the plug-in is start single instance and use that for multiple client request this will help to optimise the server memory.

Point 2: Currently the plug-in does not support running on specified udids. There is a backlog for this. We will support soon.

[saikrishna321]

#191

[saikrishna321]

@entomber To run a specific device just provide UDIDS in environment variables
For mac and linux
UDIDS='emulator-5556,emulator-5554' appium server....

then I can use the appium:udid capability to target that device using below Python script

Don't specify any device udid in the script, the plugin takes care of device management.

Please check and tell us if this helps.

[sudharsan-selvaraj]

@entomber , instead of adding the device udid to environment variable, you now pass the udids as part of desired capabilities from the client side. The capability name is appium:udids. You can add the list of device udids as comma separated values(emulator-5554,emulator-5556). This change was introduced very recently and it is available in latest version (1.0.0-beta.12). Hope this helps.

[entomber]

@entomber , instead of adding the device udid to environment variable, you now pass the udids as part of desired capabilities from the client side. The capability name is appium:udids. You can add the list of device udids as comma separated values(emulator-5554,emulator-5556). This change was introduced very recently and it is available in latest version (1.0.0-beta.12). Hope this helps.

I'll try this out later with appium-device-farm. Thank you!

[entomber]

@sudharsan-selvaraj is there a resource where I can learn more about the new 2.0 desired capabilities such as appium:udids?

If I use it in my desired capabilities like below, then the server seems to ignore the capability and starts automation session on a device which is not specified:

{
  "appium:udids": [
    "FLCTC10160500443",
    "FLCH100019162461"
  ],
  "appium:noReset": true,
  "appium:appPackage": "com.android.vending",
  "appium:appActivity": "com.android.vending.AssetBrowserActivity",
  "platformName": "Android",
  "appium:automationName": "uiautomator2"
}

[saikrishna321]

'Appium:udids' is specific to the plug-in. Make sure you update the Appium-device-farm to beta12 and try. Please attach server logs if you still see the problem

[saikrishna321]

Try

{
"appium:udids":"FLCTC10160500443,FLCH100019162461",
"appium:noReset": true,
"appium:appPackage": "com.android.vending",
"appium:appActivity": "com.android.vending.AssetBrowserActivity",
"platformName": "Android",
"appium:automationName": "uiautomator2"
}