SF App Automation

Appium + WebdriverIO (Mocha) tests for the Salesforce mobile app (com.salesforce.chatter), run on BrowserStack App Automate against the app installed on the dedicated device.

Project layout

specs/suite.spec.js      Single entry spec: logs in once, then loads every test file below
tests/                   Test files (navigation, search, notifications, profile-settings, login)
pages/                   Page objects (locators and screen actions)
helpers/auth.js          Login flow: username -> password -> emailed OTP
helpers/otp.js           Reads the newest verification code from the Mailinator inbox
wdio.conf.js             BrowserStack / Appium configuration

Setup

1. Install dependencies: npm install
2. Set BrowserStack credentials in your shell (never in a file): export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME=... and export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY=...
3. Create a .env file (git-ignored) with:

SF_USERNAME=<salesforce user>
SF_PASSWORD=<salesforce password>
SF_OTP_INBOX=<mailinator inbox name that receives the verification email>
MAILINATOR_BASE_URL=https://www.mailinator.com/api/v2/domains/public/inboxes
MAILINATOR_API_TOKEN=<only needed for a private Mailinator domain>

Run

npm test              # whole suite, one session, one login
npm run test:smoke    # only tests tagged @smoke

Results appear in the BrowserStack App Automate dashboard (the build link is printed at the end of the run).

How login works

• Every WebdriverIO spec file gets a fresh app session, and a fresh session starts logged out. Logging in per spec sends many verification emails and Salesforce then blocks the account ("Problem Verifying Your Identity"). So specs/suite.spec.js logs in once and loads all test files into that one session.
• The login form is a WebView. Its fields are located with attribute XPath (for example //android.widget.EditText[@resource-id="username"]), because UiSelector.resourceId() does not match them.
• The OTP helper takes the newest Salesforce email received after the login was triggered, because older codes stop working as soon as a new one is sent.
• "Remember me" and "Remember this device" are ticked during login.
• The login tests run last because they clear the app data.

Notes

• The dedicated device runs one session at a time (maxInstances: 1).
• Assertions are intentionally loose (screen/element is displayed) so small text changes do not fail the run.
• If login starts failing with "Please check your username and password" or "can't send you a verification code", the Salesforce account is rate-limited. Wait for it to clear, or have it unlocked.