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xcrun simctl - like ADB but for the other guys

So I'm definitely not an iOS guy. I barely have the bandwidth to keep tabs on the latest and greatest features of the consumer-facing stuff. Keeping in touch with the developer/tester tools is hard too. So it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm just now finding out about xcrun simctl

If you're an Android guy and you're familiar with ADB, this is a LOT like that. In fact, after looking through the documentation on xcrun simctl and reading up on it on StackOverflow, it occurred to me that it is finally possible to do what I do on Android with my favorite script ever but on iOS devices/simulators instead. For reference, here's my blog post about that script.

The bottom line is that as a tester who regularly uses multiple devices concurrently, the shell script in conjunction with TextExpander is a massive time and mental-space saver for me, making me a whole lot faster and more effective at my job. If you're an iOS tester or you know someone who is, do them a favor and point them at that. If you're an iOS developer and you want to build a highly testable app, consider how powerful custom URI handling along with "xcrun simctl openurl" will be for your project.

Short. Sweet.

In completely non-iOS news, my blog post on using the Factory Pattern for addressing system UI fragmentation in your UiAutomator tests is forthcoming. I've got quite a bit of sample code to put together since I'll be publishing a whole test project, some build/deploy/run scripts, screenshots galore, and all that work takes time that is in short supply these days. Please bear with me. I hope it will turn out as awesome as it seems like it is in my head.
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Comments

  1. 2x2February 2, 2015 at 1:46 PM

    Okay, let me be clear: I know that xcrun simctl didn't break completely new ground on iOS. It DOES simplify what used to be a fairly unwieldy nightmare though. One area I'd love to see them improve is in making the output more script-friendly. "xcrun simctl list" returns a bloated and unwieldy blob of crap compared to "adb devices". Still though, it is fairly obvious that the new hotness is an improvement and I look forward to any progress Apple makes in that area.

    ReplyDelete
  2. brettmcginJune 26, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    Personally I use libimobiledevice for iDevice scripting:

    http://technotesonthego.blogspot.com/2013/10/install-libimobiledevice-on-mac-os-x.html

    ReplyDelete

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