I’m trying to implement hybrid app automation using Appium for a PhoneGap-based Android app.
I’ve managed to install the .apk and launch it on the emulator using a Node server. However, I’m now stuck on how to interact with and locate elements within the app for assertions.
Currently, I’m using a Python test script, but I’m open to switching languages if there are better-documented solutions.
Appium’s official documentation doesn’t seem to provide enough guidance on commands or workflows for hybrid apps.
What are the next steps I should take to inspect elements and write meaningful tests in this setup?
Ah yes, hybrid apps like PhoneGap can be tricky at first.
Once you’ve launched your app using Appium, you’ll need to switch the context from NATIVE_APP to WEBVIEW to interact with HTML elements inside the WebView.
In Python, that would look like this:
python
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contexts = driver.contexts
print(contexts) # Should show ['NATIVE_APP', 'WEBVIEW_com.example']
driver.switch_to.context('WEBVIEW_com.example')
After switching, you can use regular Selenium-style locators (find_element_by_css_selector, etc.) to access elements in the WebView.
Just make sure WebView debugging is enabled in your app (setWebContentsDebuggingEnabled(true) in Android code), or Appium won’t detect the WebView context.
One thing that really helped me: before trying to automate, use Chrome’s chrome://inspect to inspect your WebView content.
Connect your emulator (or real device), enable USB debugging, and open Chrome > chrome://inspect. You’ll see the WebView listed there if the app is debuggable.
From there, you can inspect DOM elements and determine the best selectors for your tests.
This step made my automation much more reliable because I could validate exactly what selectors I needed before writing the Appium code.
@Apurvaugale Another good move is using Appium Inspector (Desktop App).
You can connect it to your running emulator session and inspect both native views and WebView elements once you’ve switched the context.
It’s much more visual than coding blind.
Personally, I kept most of my automation in Python too, and it worked fine.
But if you feel stuck, Java with Appium has the widest support and community, especially for hybrid apps.
So if you’re looking for better documentation and examples, switching to Java might be worth it.