This is the method used by the Squish IDE. The IDE will build a test apk, re-sign your apk and finally install both. Either when choosing a new package in the test suite settings page or “Manage Android AUTs” in the “Server Settings”.

For command-line users, to create a test package, re-sign yours and install, run

apk-tool -a <path-to-android-sdk> -j <jdk> -pkg <your-apk> -o <temp-dir> -d <device>

where apk-tool is a script found in the Squish' bin directory, jdk the full path to a Java™ JDK, version 7 or higher, and temp-dir some directory where apk-tool writes some temporary files.

The -a option may be omitted. Squish has the required tools packed. Use it when your app uses more up-to-date resources from the Android SDK.

The -j option may be omitted when both java and jarsigner are in your path.

You can pass multiple -d device pairs to the apk-tool.

	Note
	The packages installed by apk-tool may conflict with a previous installed package due to re-signing. Either uninstall it manually first or edit the apk-tool script Settings for Signing field to match the keystore and credential your apk is using.

This is an alternative method to get a testable application. Instead of creating a test apk, the squish hook can be built-in too. This may be a faster compile/test cycle in some work loads.

We take as example AddressBook, which you can find in the android directory under examples.

This project was created as

$ android-sdk/tools/android create project --target android-8 \
    --name AddressBook --path AddressBook \
    --activity AddressBook --package com.froglogic.addressbook

To compile this application yourself, first create a local.properties file containing

sdk.dir=path-to-your-android-sdk

	Note
	When on MS Windows, either use forward slashes or use double backslashes for the path.

Next, create a project.properties file containing

target=android-8

	Note
	Look in your Android SDK directory for the possible targets. The targets are the subdirectories under android-sdk/targets/. Here we use target android-8.

Then create a libs subdirectory and copy the file squishandroid.jar in there.

To add support for UiAutomation, also the jars testing-support-lib and uiautomator can be copied to libs. These two jars can be retrieved from the Android-SDK extras/android/m2repository/com/android/support/test directory, when having 'Android Support Repository' installed. Unzip the aar files and rename classes.jar so that these two jars don't overwrite each other.

Edit the AndroidManifest.xml file to enable Squish instrumentation.

Edit the AndroidManifest.xml file to add android.permission.INTERNET permission.

	Note
	The above two steps have been done for the AddressBook application already

To build the application, execute

$ ant debug

Start the device or emulator, and once it is ready, install the application by executing

$ android-sdk/platform-tools/adb install -r bin/AddressBook-debug.apk

Naturally, you must replace android-sdk with the full path to your Android SDK installation.

For more information of starting the application in a test script, see Notes on using startApplication with Android (Section 5.12.2)

You can check to see if Squish can see multiple devices and emulators by executing:

squishrunner --info androidDevices

To see all applications that Squish can use, run

squishrunner --info androidInstrumentation

	Note
	squishserver must be running to handle the --info request.