Possible to bring the app from background to foreground?

Question

When running an XCT UI test it is possible to put the application under test in the background with:

XCUIDevice().pressButton(XCUIDeviceButton.Home)

It it possible in some way to bring the app back to foreground (active state) without relaunching the application?

Answer 1

Update for Xcode 9: Starting in Xcode 9, you can now simply call activate() on any XCUIApplication.

let myApp = XCUIApplication()
myApp.activate() // bring to foreground

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xctest/xcuiapplication/2873317-activate

---

Yes, it is. But, you'll need XCUIElement's private headers (which are available via header dump from Facebook here). In order to foreground the app, you need to call resolve which I believe resolves the element's query (which for applications means foregrounding the app).

For Swift, you'll have to import the XCUIElement.h into your bridging header. For Objective-C you'll just need to import XCUIElement.h.

With the app backgrounded:

Swift:

XCUIApplication().resolve()

Objective-C

[[XCUIApplication new] resolve];

If this is the only functionality you need, you could just write a quick ObjC category.

@interface XCUIElement (Tests)
- (void) resolve;
@end

If you need to launch / resolve another app. Facebook has an example of that here by going through the Springboard.

Answer 2

As of Xcode 8.3 and iOS 10.3, you can accomplish this with Siri:

XCUIDevice.shared().press(XCUIDeviceButton.home)
XCUIDevice.shared().siriService.activate(voiceRecognitionText: "Open {appName}")

Include @available(iOS 10.3, *) at the top of your test suite file and you should be good to go!

Answer 3

If somebody needs just move app back from background i have written (based on answer above) category that really works(great thanks to pointing to FB git)

@implementation XCUIApplication(SpringBoard)

+ (instancetype)springBoard
{
    XCUIApplication * springboard  = [[XCUIApplication alloc] performSelector:@selector(initPrivateWithPath:bundleID:)
                                                                   withObject:nil
                                                                   withObject:@"com.apple.springboard"];




    [springboard performSelector:@selector(resolve) ];
    return springboard;
}

- (void)tapApplicationWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier
{
    XCUIElement *appElement = [[self descendantsMatchingType:XCUIElementTypeAny]
                           elementMatchingPredicate:[NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"identifier = %@", identifier]
                           ];
    [appElement tap];
}
@end

Answer 4

For Swift, you need to declare the XCUIApplication private methods interface in Brigding-Header.h like this:

@interface XCUIApplication (Private)
- (id)initPrivateWithPath:(NSString *)path bundleID:(NSString *)bundleID;
- (void)resolve;
@end

Then call resolve() in your test cases to bring the app back:

XCUIApplication().resolve()

Answer 5

This is what I have in my XCUITest and it works like a charm (xcode 10.1 and test device is iPhone X 11.0)

func testWhatever() {

// You test steps go here until you need the background foreground to run

XCUIDevice.shared.press(XCUIDevice.Button.home) // To background the app XCUIApplication().activate() // To bring the app back

// You test continues after background foreground has been done. }