Replicate pull to refresh in XCTest UI testing - ios

Question

I am trying to replicate a pull to refresh on a UITableView using the new Xcode UI testing framework in Xcode 7 (beta 3)
My current approach is dragging from the table to whatever element below the table I can find. This works when there is a fixed item below the table like a UIToolbar or UITabBar I would rather not rely on having a UITabBar or UIToolbar but I can't figure out a way to do the pull to refresh/drag action without using the method in XCUIElement.
func pressForDuration(duration: NSTimeInterval, thenDragToElement otherElement: XCUIElement)
But it fails when I don't have a toolbar/tabbar and try to drag using the cells
This is the relevant portion of my code:
func testRefresh() {
//For testing cell
for _ in 0...9 {
addCell()
}
refreshTable()
}
func refreshTable(var tbl: XCUIElement? = nil) {
let app = XCUIApplication()
if tbl == nil {
let tables = app.tables
if tables.count > 0 {
tbl = tables.elementAtIndex(0)
}
}
guard let table = tbl else {
XCTFail("Cannot find a table to refresh, you can provide on explicitly if you do have a table")
return
}
var topElement = table
let bottomElement: XCUIElement?
//Try to drag to a tab bar then to a toolbar then to the last cell
if app.tabBars.count > 0 {
bottomElement = app.tabBars.elementAtIndex(0)
}
else if app.toolbars.count > 0 {
bottomElement = app.toolbars.elementAtIndex(0)
}
else {
let cells = app.cells
if cells.count > 0 {
topElement = cells.elementAtIndex(0)
bottomElement = cells.elementAtIndex(cells.count - 1)
}
else {
bottomElement = nil
}
}
if let dragTo = bottomElement {
topElement.pressForDuration(0.1, thenDragToElement: dragTo)
}
}
func addCell() {
let app = XCUIApplication()
app.navigationBars["Master"].buttons["Add"].tap()
}
Additional failed attempts:
swipeDown() (multiples times as well)
scrollByDeltaX/deltaY (OS X only)

Answer 1

You can use the XCUICoordinate API to interact with specific points on the screen, not necessarily tied to any particular element.
Grab a reference to the first cell in your table. Then create a coordinate with zero offset, CGVectorMake(0, 0). This will normalize a point right on top of the first cell.
Create an imaginary coordinate farther down the screen. (I've found that a dy of six is the smallest amount needed to trigger the pull-to-refresh gesture.)
Execute the gesture by grabbing the first coordinate and dragging it to the second one.
let firstCell = app.staticTexts["Adrienne"]
let start = firstCell.coordinateWithNormalizedOffset(CGVectorMake(0, 0))
let finish = firstCell.coordinateWithNormalizedOffset(CGVectorMake(0, 6))
start.pressForDuration(0, thenDragToCoordinate: finish)
More information along with a working sample app is also available.

Answer 2

I managed to do such tasks with coordinates like Joe suggested. But i went a step further using coordinateWithOffset()
let startPosition = CGPointMake(200, 300)
let endPosition = CGPointMake(200, 0)
let start = elementToSwipeOn.coordinateWithNormalizedOffset(CGVectorMake(0, 0)).coordinateWithOffset(CGVector(dx: startPosition.x, dy: startPosition.y))
let finish = elementToSwipeOn.coordinateWithNormalizedOffset(CGVector(dx: 0, dy: 0)).coordinateWithOffset(CGVector(dx: endPosition.x, dy: endPosition.y))
start.pressForDuration(0, thenDragToCoordinate: finish)
Now i am able to drag from a specific point to another specific point. I implemented a custom refresh on some of my views. While implementing this, i also discovered that i can even use this to access the control center or the top menu.

Answer 3

Here is a Swift 5.1 version
let firstCell = staticTexts["Id"]
let start = firstCell.coordinate(withNormalizedOffset: CGVector(dx: 0, dy: 0))
let finish = firstCell.coordinate(withNormalizedOffset: CGVector(dx: 0, dy: 100))
start.press(forDuration: 0, thenDragTo: finish)