Appium Inspector

Introduction

Appium Inspector is a graphical tool that allows you to inspect the UI elements of a connected mobile device. It is an essential tool for mobile automation, as it helps you to:

• Explore the UI hierarchy of your application.
• Find the selectors for the elements you want to interact with in your tests.
• See the attributes of the elements.
• Record basic scripts.

You can use the standalone Appium Inspector application or the Appium Inspector Plugin, which is a web-based interface.

When inspecting a mobile app, the Inspector looks like this:

Standalone Installation

1. Go to the Appium Inspector GitHub Releases page.
2. Download the appropriate installer for your operating system (e.g., .exe for Windows or .dmg for macOS).
3. Follow the installation instructions for your platform.

Appium Inspector Plugin

As an alternative to installing the standalone Appium Inspector application, you can use the Appium Inspector Plugin which integrates directly with your Appium server installation. This provides a web-based interface for inspecting and interacting with your application under test.

Installation

Install the plugin using the following command on your terminal:

appium plugin install --source=npm appium-inspector-plugin

Usage

1. Start the Appium server with the inspector plugin enabled:

   appium --use-plugins=inspector --allow-cors

2. Access the Inspector interface by opening your web browser and navigating to:

   http://localhost:4723/inspector

This web-based interface provides the same features as the standalone Appium Inspector application, allowing you to:

• Inspect UI elements of your connected device
• Generate selectors for your automation scripts
• Interact with the application under test