??Translation from 2nd to 3rd generation mobile test cases with Appium

Translation from 2nd to 3rd generation mobile test cases with Appium: Context:Mobile testing tools can be categorized in three classes, which are first generation(coordinate based), second generation (layout based) or third generation (visual based). All of them have their own advantages and disadvantages, but these shortcomings could be overcome by using a mixed approach where automated scripts can be translated from one generation to another one. Using a mixed approach for testing will improve the productivity of tests scripts development, and mitigate the issues like fragility and maintainability. since, some graphical aspects of the application could result in failure while performing visual GUI based testing but could be recovered with layout based ones. There is a possibility to create Visual scripts from existing available layout based test scripts. Goal: The aim of this work is to implement a tool that can automatically translate second generation layout based test scripts in the third generation visual GUI based test scripts which may be Sikuli or Eyeautomate. Method: A software project is created using Java language with support of Selenium framework to achieve the above mentioned goal and then an experiment was conducted, to evaluate the success rate of the translated scripts. The experiment consisted in translating layout test scripts, developed for three open source mobile applications (Omni Notes, Calculator and Unit Converter Application), into Sikuli GUI based scripts. Results: The translation was completed with very high success rate for all the test cases for all three applications (30 out of 30 test cases successfully translated), while the execution of those scripts showed less success rate comparatively. Conclusion: The experiment concluded that the translation from second generation (layout based) to third generation (visual based) test scripts is feasible by using Appium tool and Java code in the mobile domain, and it reduces the efforts required for generating visual-based test cases from scratch. Further, a mixed approach of using both layout and visual based test cases can increase the productivity of the testing activity. However more work is required to extend the proposed tool and experiment it in industrial environment.