Native Automation 2.0 (native2)
native2 is available starting from Patrol version 3.6.0.
What is native2?
native2 was created to address fundamental limitations in the original native automation approach. The original native API was primarily designed for Android, and attempts to make a single Selector work across both
platforms proved problematic because iOS and Android use different selector arguments (eg. Android's resourceName vs iOS's identifier) and a single selector approach couldn't effectively handle the fundamental differences
between iOS and Android element identification. native2 provides platform-specific selectors that work with both Android and iOS, giving you more accurate selectors instead of one shared selector.
Before native2
// You were forced to use flaky text-based selectors that work on both platforms
await $.native.tap(Selector(textContains: 'Login'));
// Before: Sometimes you needed to use platform-specific if statements in your test code.
if (Platform.isAndroid) {
await $.native.tap(Selector(resourceId: 'com.android.camera2:id/shutter_button'));
} else {
await $.native.tap(Selector(text: 'Take Picture'));
}
With native2
native2 provides a single method call that works across both platforms:
// After: Single method call with platform-specific selectors
await $.native2.tap(
NativeSelector(
android: AndroidSelector(
resourceName: 'com.android.camera2:id/shutter_button',
),
ios: IOSSelector(label: 'Take Picture'),
),
);
Text Input Operations
// Enter password in secure field
await $.native2.enterText(
NativeSelector(
android: AndroidSelector(
contentDescription: 'Password',
),
ios: IOSSelector(
elementType: IOSElementType.secureTextField,
),
),
text: 'secretpassword',
);
More platform-specific attributes like elementType for iOS
// Find elements by instance (when multiple elements match)
await $.native2.tap(
NativeSelector(
android: AndroidSelector(
className: 'android.widget.Button',
instance: 2, // Third button (0-indexed)
),
ios: IOSSelector(
elementType: IOSElementType.button,
instance: 2, // Third button (0-indexed)
),
),
);
Specifying App ID (iOS)
When working with iOS, you may need to specify the appId parameter to interact with elements in specific applications. This is particularly useful when your test needs to interact with system apps like Safari, Settings, or other third-party applications.
The appId parameter is used for iOS. On Android, it will be ignored.
await $.native2.tap(
appId: 'com.apple.mobilesafari',
NativeSelector(
ios: IOSSelector(elementType: IOSElementType.button, label: 'Open'),
),
);
Remember that if you don't provide a platform-specific selector (iOS or Android) and run the command on that platform, the command will fail.