Did you know that Appium is just a web waiter? That & # x27; s correct! I & # x27; m going to write a full edition at some point on the WebDriver Protocol, which is the API that Appium implements (and which, as you can say by the name, was devise for the purpose of). But for now, let & # x27; s revelry in the knowledge that Appium is just like your backend web or API server at your society. In fact, you could host Appium on a server connected to the public internet and afford anybody the chance to run sessions on your devices! (Don & # x27; t do this, of course, unless you & # x27; re a cloud Appium vendor).

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You may be used to compose Appium code in Java or some other language, that looks like this:

driver = new IOSDriver(new URL (`` http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub ''), capabilities); WebElement el = driver.findElement (locater); System.out.println (el.getText ()); driver.quit ();

This looks like Java code, but what & # x27; s happening under the hood is that each of these bidding is actually trip an HTTP request to the Appium waiter (that & # x27; s why we need to condition the location of the Appium server on the network, in the iOSDriver constructor). We could feature written all the like codification, for example, in Python:

driver = webdriver.Remote (`` http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub '', capacity) el = driver.find_element (locator) print (el.text) driver.quit ()

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In both of these case, while the surface code looks different, the underlying HTTP postulation sent to the Appium server (and the reaction coming back) are the same! This is what countenance Appium (and Selenium, where we steal this architecture from) to work in any programming speech. All someone needs to do is code up a decent small guest library for that language, that converts that language & # x27; s constructs to HTTP requests.

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What all this means is that we technically don & # x27; t need a client library at all. It & # x27; s convenient to use one, absolutely. But sometimes, we require to but run an ad-hoc command against the Appium host and creating a whole new code file and try to remember all the appropriate syntax might be too much work. In this instance, we can just use curl, which is a bid line tool apply for constructing HTTP requests and showing HTTP responses. Curl work on any program, so you can download it for your environment if it & # x27; s not there already (it comes by default on Macs, for example). There are oodles of pick for using scroll, and to use it successfully on your own, you should translate all the ingredient of HTTP petition. But for now, let & # x27; s take a look at how we might encode the premature four commands, without any Appium client at all, but by using curl!

# 0. Check the Appium server is on-line > roll http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub/status # response: {`` value '': {`` build '': {`` version '': '' 1.17.0 ''}}, '' sessionId '': null, '' status '' :0}

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You can see above that we can make sure we have a link to the Appium host just by running curl and then the URL we want to retrieve, in this case the /status endpoint. We don & # x27; t postulate any parameters to curl other than the URL, because we & # x27; re making a GET request, and so no early argument are command. The output we get back is a JSON draw representing Appium & # x27; s establish information. Now, let & # x27; s actually start a session:

# 1. Create a new session > lock -H 'Content-type: application/json ' \ -X POST \ http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub/session \ -d ' {`` capabilities '': {`` alwaysMatch '': {`` platformName '': `` iOS '', `` platformVersion '': `` 13.3 '', `` browserName '': `` Safari '', `` deviceName '': `` iPhone 11 ''}}} ' # response: {`` value '': {`` capabilities '': {`` webStorageEnabled '': false, '' locationContextEnabled '': false, '' browserName '': '' Safari '', '' platform '': '' MAC '', '' javascriptEnabled '': true, '' databaseEnabled '': false, '' takesScreenshot '': true, '' networkConnectionEnabled '': false, '' platformName '': '' iOS '', '' platformVersion '': '' 13.3 '', '' deviceName '': '' iPhone 11 '', '' udid '': '' 140472E9-8733-44FD-B8A1-CDCFF51BD071 ''}, '' sessionId '': '' ac3dbaf9-3b4e-43a2-9416-1a207cdf52da ''}} # save session id > export sid= '' ac3dbaf9-3b4e-43a2-9416-1a207cdf52da ''

Let & # x27; s break this one down line by line:

1. Here we raise the curl command, passing the -H flag in order to set an HTTP request heading. The header we set is the Content-type header, with value application/json. This is so the Appium waiter knows we are sending a JSON twine as the body of the request. Why do we need to send a body? Because we have to tell Appium what we require to automatize (our & quot; capabilities & quot;)!
2. -X POST tells curl we want to make a POST asking. We & # x27; re making a POST request because theWebDriver specdefines the new session creation command in a way which anticipate a POST request.
3. We need to include our URL, which in this case is the base URL of the Appium waiter, plus /session because that is the route defined for creating a new session.
4. Finally, we need to include our capabilities. This is achieved by specifying a POST body with the -d iris. Then, we wrap up our capabilities as a JSON object inside of an alwaysMatch and a capabilities key.

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Running this bid, I see my simulator pop up and a session launching with Safari. (Did the session go away before you have clip to do anything else? Then make sure you set the newCommandTimeout capability to 0). We also get a bunch of output like in the cube above. This is the result of the new session command. The thing I wish virtually about here is the sessionId value of ac3dbaf9-3b4e-43a2-9416-1a207cdf52da, because I will need this to make future postulation! Remember that HTTP asking are stateless, so for us to keep sending automation bidding to the correct device, we need to include the session ID for subsequent commands, so that Appium knows where to direct each bidding. To save it, I can but export it as the $ sid shield variable.

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Now, let & # x27; s find an constituent! There & # x27; s just one element in Appium & # x27; s little Safari welcome page, so we can find it by its tag name:

# 2. Find an element > curl -H 'Content-type: application/json ' \ -X POST http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub/session/ $ sid/element \ -d ' {`` using '': `` tag name '', `` value '': `` h1 ''} ' # response: {`` value '': {`` element-6066-11e4-a52e-4f735466cecf '': '' 5000 '', '' ELEMENT '': '' 5000 ''}} # save element id: > export eid= '' 5000 ''

In the curl command above, we & # x27; re making another POST petition, but this time to /wd/hub/session/ $ sid/element. Note the use of the $ sid variable here, so that we can point the running session. This itinerary is the one we need to hit in order to find an element. When finding an element with Appium, two parameters are required: a locator scheme (in our case, & quot; tag name & quot;) and a chooser (in our case, & quot; h1 & quot;). The API is designed such that the locator scheme parameter is call using and the selector parameter is called value, so that is what we have to include in the JSON body.

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The response we get back is itself a JSON object, whose value dwell of two key. The reason there are two keys here is a bit complicated, but what matters is that they each carry the like information, namely the ID of the factor which was just found by our search (5000). Just like we did with the session ID, we can store the element ID for use in next dictation. Speaking of future commands, let & # x27; s get the schoolbook of this element!

# 3. Get textbook of an ingredient > curl http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub/session/ $ sid/element/ $ eid/text # response: {`` value '': '' Let 's browsing! ''}

This curl bid is quite a bit simpler, because regain the text of an constituent is a GET bidding to the endpoint/session/ $ sid/element/ $ eid/text, and we don & # x27; t want any extra parameter. Notice how hither we are using both the session ID and the factor ID, so that Appium knows which session and which ingredient we & # x27; re referring to (because, again, we might have multiple sessions running, or multiple factor that we & # x27; ve found in a particular session). The response value is the text of the component, which is precisely what we were trust to find! Now all that & # x27; s left is to clean up our session:

# 4. Quit the session > scroll -X DELETE http: //localhost:4723/wd/hub/session/ $ sid # response: {`` value '': naught}

This last dictation can use all the default ringlet arguments except we need to specify that we are making a DELETE asking, since that is what the WebDriver protocol requires for ending a session. We make this request to the endpoint/session/ $ sid,which include our session ID so Appium cognize which session to shut down.

That & # x27; s it! I hope you & # x27; ve enjoyed learning how to reach some & quot; low level & quot; HTTP-based control over your Appium (and Selenium) servers!

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