How to Access Test Only Files From Unit and Instrumented Test Packages

Posted on Feb 19, 2022

Last update Mar 24, 2024

Arara-canindé with one wing opened

Fig. 1 - Arara-canindé with one wing opened.

TL;DR

Create a directory called testCommon and add the code below to your build.gradle file.

android {
    ...
    sourceSets {
        test { java.srcDirs += src/testCommon }
        androidTest { java.srcDirs += src/testCommon }
      }
  }

Have you ever been in a situation where you need to access util files from both test and androidTest packages? If so, this article may be useful for you.

Let’s say that you have a file called Placeholders.kt which you use its values as test doubles for your unit tests.

Our test scenario in this case will be the Success return of the login method from an use case class called LoginUseCaseImpl.

For example:

// test/Placeholders.kt
object Placeholders {
    const val email = "johndoe@email.com"
    const val password = "strongpassword123"
  }

// test/LoginUseCaseImplTest.kt
class LoginUseCaseImplTest {

    private val loginUseCase = LoginUseCaseImpl()

    @Test
    fun `when call login should return Success`() {
        // Arrange
        val email = Placeholders.email
        val password = Placeholders.password

        // Act
        val result = loginUseCase.login(email, password)

        // Assert
        assertEquals(Success, result)
    }
}

Now, we need to write Instrumented Tests using Espresso to validate the complete login flow. The scenario is: when fill the email and password fields and tap the login button then a success message will display.

// androidTest/LoginScreenInstrumentedTest.kt 
class LoginScreenInstrumentedTest {
    @Test
    fun when_fill_the_email_and_password_fields_and_tap_the_login_button_then_a_success_message_will_display() {
        // Arrange
        val email = Placeholders.email
        val password = Placeholders.password

        // When fill email and password fields
        onView(withId(R.id.email_field)).perform(ViewActions.typeText(email))
        onView(withId(R.id.password_field)).perform(ViewActions.typeText(password))

        // And tap the login button
        onView(withId(R.id.login_button)).perform(ViewActions.click())

        // Then a success message will display.
        onView(withId(R.id.success_message)).check(matches(isDisplayed()))
    }
}

By default, the espresso test will be inside the androidTest package but our Placeholders.kt is available only inside the test package, which our LoginUseCaseImplTest is also located. So, the Instrumented Test above will not find the Placeholders.kt.

To allow both tests access the same file, we need to create a new package inside src which we will place the Placeholders.kt. In this example, we’ll name it as testCommon. After that, we need to tell gradle to consider this new package as a test and androidTest package. We will put the code below in our build.gradle file:

android {
    ...
    sourceSets {
        test { java.srcDirs += src/testCommon }
        androidTest { java.srcDirs += src/testCommon }
      }
  }

That’s it! Now both test packages will be able to access our Placeholders.kt file!