Make a Test Build to use with Appium
Prepare a build for Appium with Fastlane or xcodebuild

by Lou Franco

When you make GUI tests using XCUI directly in Xcode, it will automatically build the app for you when you run the test. Appium, however, is run completely outside of Xcode, so you must supply a build for it. The best way is to build from the command-line so that can control where the files end up.

Making a test build with Fastlane

If you use fastlane, a lane like this will make a test build and put it into a folder you specify.

This is how you build for use in a simulator

desc "Build the app for Appium GUI testing in a simulator"
lane :build_for_gui_testing_sim do
    scan(
        build_for_testing: true,
        derived_data_path: "test-app-sim"
    )
end

This is how you build for use on a device

desc "Build the app for Appium GUI testing on a device"
lane :build_for_gui_testing_device do
    scan(
        build_for_testing: true,
        derived_data_path: "test-app-device",
        sdk: 'iphoneos',
        destination: 'generic/platform=iOS'
    )
end

With those lanes, you can build a test app with either

bundle exec fastlane build_for_gui_testing_sim

or

bundle exec fastlane build_for_gui_testing_device

Depending on how you want to test.

Making a test build with xcodebuild

Fastlane just ultimately calls xcodebuild to build, but if you want to do it directly yourself, the important parts are:

1. Pass in the parameter -derivedDataPath with the path to store the build
2. Pass in a -destination, either 'generic/platform=iOS Simulator' for a simulator or 'generic/platform=iOS' for a device
3. Pass in a -sdk, either iphonesimulator for a simulator or iphoneos for a device.
4. Use the xcodebuild command build-for-testing

For example, I have a project file called EventOMat.xcodeproj with the app scheme EventOMat, so I can build for simulator testing with:

xcodebuild -project EventOMat.xcodeproj -scheme EventOMat -derivedDataPath test-app-sim -destination 'generic/platform=iOS Simulator' -sdk iphonesimulator build-for-testing 

And for device testing with:

xcodebuild -project EventOMat.xcodeproj -scheme EventOMat -derivedDataPath test-app-device -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' -sdk iphoneos build-for-testing 

Your exact command depends on whether you use a workspace or project file and the exact names. One nice thing about fastlane is that it can figure that all out for you and call xcodebuild correctly.