Android Espresso Intents test randomly fail with ``init() must be called prior to using this method``

Question

I am working on pushing a project into espresso testing currently. I have read a bunch of documents and follow the given practises to get started.

Everything works f

Answer 1

Two Solutions:

1. Use ActivityTestRule instead of IntentsTestRule and then in your @Before and @After manually call Intents.init() and Intents.release() respectively.
2. Write a custom IntentTestRule and override beforeActivityLaunched() to include your AccountManager logic. Use afterActivityFinished for your current @After logic. This will also allow you to just use the default IntentTestRule constructor. (Preferred Solution)

As to why this is happening:

"Finally on an unrelated note, be careful when using the new IntentsTestRule. It does not initialize, Intents.init(), until after the activity is launched (afterActivityLaunched())." - Shameless plug to my own post (halfway down helpful visual)

I think you are running into a race condition where in your @Before method you are executing launchActivity() then espresso tries to execute intending(not(isInternal())).respondWith(new Instrumentation.ActivityResult(Activity.RESULT_OK, null)); before your activity is actually created, which means afterActivityLaunched() isn't called, which means neither is Intents.init(), crash!

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

IntentsTestRule is derived from ActivityTestRule and should manage Intents.init() and Intents.release() for you.

However, in my case the IntentsTestRule did not work properly. So I switch back to ActivityTestRule and call Intents.init() before and Intents.release() after the test which sent the Intent.

For more information please see this reference.