How do I keep the app open between UITests in Xcode - xcode-ui-testing

Question

I have a series of UITests I want to run as individual tests but I don't want to relaunch the app between each test. How can I launch the app and keep it open so it doesn't shutdown and restart between tests.
I tried putting XCUIApplication().launch() in init() but got an error.

Answer 1

To improve on #James Goe's answer -
To avoid all those relaunches, but keep the ability to run individual tests - and not care about the order in which they're run - you can:
class MyTests: XCTestCase {
static var launched = false
override func setUp() {
if (!MyTests.launched) {
app.launch()
MyTests.launched = true
}
(Of course, now that you're not relaunching your app you have to care much more about state, but that's another story. It's certainly faster.)

Answer 2

In your setUp() method, remove [[[XCUIApplication alloc] init] launch]; and put it into the first test you will be performing.
For eg.,
If you have tests: testUI(), testUIPart2(), testUIPart3(), etc., and it runs in this order, put [[[XCUIApplication alloc] init] launch]; into the first line of testUI() and no where else.

Answer 3

This question is a bit old, but XCTestCase has a class func for setup() and tearDown() that executes before the first test, and after the last test completes. If you create your XCUIApplication() as a singleton (say XCUIAppManager), you could put your XCUIAppManager.shared.launchApp() call within the override class func setup() method... this will only launch the app once per XCTestCase (contains multiple tests)
override class func setUp() { // 1.
super.setUp()
// This is the setUp() class method.
// It is called before the first test method begins.
// Set up any overall initial state here.
}
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xctest/xctestcase/understanding_setup_and_teardown_for_test_methods
Example app manager singleton implementation:
import XCTest
class XCUIAppManager {
static let shared = XCUIAppManager()
let app = XCUIApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.something.yourAppBundleIdentifierHere")
private(set) var isLaunched = false
private init() {}
func launchApp() {
app.launch()
isLaunched = true
}
}

Answer 4

Here's another way to allow both common or non-common app launches on each test.
you can do it by creating your custom XCUIApplication and include state in your app launches as shown below.
import XCTest
class MyUIApplication: XCUIApplication {
private(set) var isLaunched = false
static let shared = MyUIApplication()
private override init() {
super.init()
// add your launch arguments and environment keys
launchArguments += ["isRunningTests"]
launchEnvironment["state"] = "InitState"
}
func launchIfNeeded(at state: AppState) {
if !isLaunched {
launch(at: state)
}
}
func launch(at state: AppState) {
switch state {
case .home:
launchEnvironment["state"] = "InitState"
...
}
launch()
isLaunched = true
}
}
An example of test case with the above solution:
class MyViewControllerTests: XCTestCase {
let app = VFGUIApplication.shared
override func setUp() {
super.setUp()
app.launchIfNeeded(at: .home)
}
}
This is preferable specially if you are working with a team and you want to make sure that launches are executed properly based on pre-defined launchArguments and launchEnvironment, etc.