Mobile Inspector

The Mobile Inspector is an Appium-Inspector-style tool built for TestFly and mobilecli. It runs inside your IDE, as a VS Code extension and an IntelliJ IDEA plugin with the same interface, and helps you write page objects:

• the device screen, with the element under the cursor outlined;
• the UI tree with mobilecli's @eN refs, and mobilecli's text snapshot;
• every attribute of the selected element;
• ranked TestFly selectors with their match count on the current screen, ready to paste as @MobileFind fields;
• tap, type, swipe and hardware buttons on the device;
• Record mode: use the device and get a page object with the steps you took.

Install

Both packages are in the repository, so no marketplace access is needed.

VS Code (1.85 or newer):

code --install-extension tools/vscode-mobile-inspector/dist/testfly-mobile-inspector-0.2.0.vsix

or Extensions view → … → Install from VSIX….

IntelliJ IDEA (2024.1 or newer, Community or Ultimate, and other IntelliJ-based IDEs): Settings → Plugins → ⚙ → Install Plugin from Disk… → tools/intellij-mobile-inspector/dist/testfly-mobile-inspector-0.2.0.zip, then restart the IDE. Uninstall an older version first.

Both need mobilecli 1.0.20 or newer and a booted simulator, emulator or connected device. On iOS install mobilecli's agent once per device (mobilecli agent install --device <udid>). The inspector starts mobilecli server start itself when no server answers on http://localhost:12000.

Open

• VS Code: the TestFly Mobile icon in the activity bar (left) → Open Mobile Inspector, or the command palette → TestFly: Open Mobile Inspector.
• IntelliJ: the TestFly Mobile tool window (left) → Open Mobile Inspector, or Tools → TestFly: Open Mobile Inspector. The inspector opens as an editor tab.

With one online device it is selected and read at once; otherwise choose it in the device picker.

The window

Area	What it shows
Toolbar	device picker with platform badge, Refresh, the click mode (Inspect / Tap / Record), device controls, status and the last read time
Screen	the screenshot; hover outlines an element, a click selects (Inspect) or taps (Tap, Record). Bounds outlines every element
UI Tree	the element tree with types, texts and @eN refs; filter by text, id, type or ref; arrow keys move and expand
Snapshot	mobilecli's text snapshot of the screen (mobilecli snapshot), with Copy
Recorded	the code of Record mode (see below)
Element	the selected element: actions, TestFly selectors, page object field, attributes and state

The panes can be resized by dragging their borders; the sizes, mode and expanded tree nodes are remembered.

Finding a selector

Select an element on the screen or in the tree. The Element pane lists every selector TestFly can use for it, best first:

1. test id (resource-id / accessibility identifier), full and short form;
2. role with name (role=button;name=Sign in);
3. label, placeholder, text;
4. XPath by id or text, or by position as a last resort.

Each selector shows how many elements it matches on the current screen: ✓ unique, N matches or no match. The XPath counts use the same tree TestFly evaluates, so they agree with the framework. The best unique selector is highlighted and shown as a ready field:

@MobileFind(android = "com.demo:id/btnLogin")
private MobileLocator btnLogin;

Copy a selector, the field, or any attribute value (click it). Field names come from the id or the label (Giriş Yap → girisYap). Run the inspector once per platform and merge the ios and android selectors into one @MobileFind.

Acting on the device

• Element pane: Tap and Long press the element's centre; Type taps the element and types the text from the field next to it (Enter also types); Copy CLI tap copies the matching mobilecli io tap command.
• Tap mode (T): a click on the screen taps that point on the device.
• Toolbar: Back (Android), Home, and swipe up, down, left and right across the middle of the screen. Swipe up scrolls a list down; swipe left moves a carousel forward.

After every action the screen is read again (setting below). The first read of a device takes longest; later reads fetch the tree and a compressed screenshot in parallel and show the picture as soon as it arrives.

Record mode (code generation)

Switch to Record (E; the screen gets a red frame). Now everything you do runs on the device and becomes a step:

You do	Recorded as
click an element on the screen	field.tap();
Long press in the Element pane	field.longPress();
Type in the Element pane	field.fill("text");
click a point without an element	screen().tap(x, y);
a swipe button	screen().swipe(SwipeDirection.UP);
Back / Home	device().pressButton("BACK");

The Recorded tab (its badge counts the steps) shows a page object with one @MobileFind field per element, using the best unique selector, and the steps in order:

public class RecordedPage extends MobilePage {

    @MobileFind(android = "com.demo:id/etUserName")
    private MobileLocator etUserName;

    @MobileFind(android = "com.demo:id/btnSubmit")
    private MobileLocator btnSubmit;

    public void recordedFlow() {
        etUserName.fill("12345");
        btnSubmit.tap();
        screen().swipe(SwipeDirection.UP);
    }
}

Copy puts it on the clipboard, Clear starts over. Treat it as a first draft: rename the class and fields, split recordedFlow() into intent methods that return the next page, add @WaitFor to a field that marks the screen, add assertions, and add the other platform's selectors. Typed text is recorded as you typed it; replace credentials with environment variables.

Keys

Key	Action
R	refresh the screen
I, T, E	Inspect, Tap, Record mode
/	filter the tree
↑ ↓ ← →	move in the tree, collapse / expand
Esc	clear the selection

Settings

VS Code (settings.json)	IntelliJ (Settings → Tools → TestFly Mobile Inspector)	Default	Meaning
testflyInspector.serverUrl	mobilecli server URL	http://localhost:12000	the mobilecli server (JSON-RPC at /rpc)
testflyInspector.mobilecliPath	mobilecli path	mobilecli	binary used to start the server; set the full path when the IDE's PATH lacks it
testflyInspector.autoStartServer	start the server automatically	true	start a local server when none answers (never for remote URLs)
testflyInspector.autoRefreshAfterAction	refresh after actions	true	read the screen again after tap, type, swipe and buttons

A server the inspector started is stopped when the inspector closes; a server that was already running is left alone.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
"mobilecli server … is not reachable"	mobilecli is not installed or not on the IDE's PATH: set the mobilecli path setting, or start mobilecli server start yourself
No device in the picker	boot a simulator/emulator (mobilecli devices must list it as online), then the reload button next to the picker
iOS: every read fails naming the agent	mobilecli agent install --device <udid>
IntelliJ: "needs JCEF"	the IDE runs on a runtime without the embedded browser; switch the boot runtime to a JetBrains Runtime with JCEF (Help → Find Action → Choose Boot Java Runtime)
The extension is missing from the activity bar	reload the window (VS Code) or restart the IDE (IntelliJ) after installing