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snapshot

Automate taking localized screenshots of your iOS app on every device

You have an iPhone app. You support 20 languages. You updated the design. You want to release the update to the App Store. What's missing?

New Screenshots

You want them to look perfect and gorgeous. They should show the same screens on all devices in all languages.

You have to manually create 20 (languages) x 4 (devices) x 5 (screenshots) = 400 screenshots.

It's hard to get everything right!

New screenshots with every (design) update
No loading indicators
Same content / screens
Clean Status Bar
Uploading screenshots (deliver is your friend)

This gem solves all those problems. It will run completely in the background - you can do something else, while your computer takes the screenshots for you.

Get in contact with the developer on Twitter: @KrauseFx

Features • Installation • UI Automation • Quick Start • Usage • Tips • Need help?

`snapshot` is part of fastlane: connect all deployment tools into one streamlined workflow.

Features

Create hundreds of screenshots in multiple languages on all simulators
Configure it once, store the configuration in git
Do something else, while the computer takes the screenshots for you
Integrated with fastlane and deliver
Generates a beautiful web page, which shows all screenshots on all devices. This is perfect to send to Q&A or the marketing team
snapshot automatically waits for network requests to be finished before taking a screenshot (we don't want loading images in the App Store screenshots)

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After snapshot successfully created new screenshots, it will generate a beautiful html file to get a quick overview of all screens:

assets/htmlPagePreviewFade.jpg

Why?

This gem automatically switches the language and device type and runs the automation script to take all screenshots.

Why should I automate this process?

It takes hours to take screenshots
It is an integration test: You can test for UI elements and other things inside your scripts
Be so nice, and provide new screenshots with every App Store update. Your customers deserve it
You realise, there is a spelling mistake in one of the screens? Well, just correct it and re-run the script.
You get a great overview of all your screens, running on all available simulators without the need to manually start it hundreds of times
Easy verification that localizations fit into labels on all screen dimensions
Easy verification for translators (without an iDevice) that translations do make sense in real App context

Why use `snapshot` instead of....

I've been using many other solutions out there. Unfortunately none of them were perfect. The biggest issue was random timeouts of Instruments when starting the script. This problem is solved with snapshot

UI Automation in Instruments: Instruments can only run your app on one device in one language. You have to manually switch it.
ui-screen-shooter: This is the best alternative out there right now. It's based on AppleScript, you can not update it properly and there are quite some hacks in there. snapshot uses a very similar technique - just in a clean and maintainable Ruby gem.
Subliminal: A good approach to write the interaction code in Objective C. Unfortunately it has a lot of open issues with the latest release of Xcode. Also, it requires modifications of your Xcode project and schemes, which might break some other things.

Installation

Install the gem

sudo gem install snapshot

Make sure, you have the latest version of the Xcode command line tools installed:

xcode-select --install

UI Automation

Getting started

This project uses Apple's UI Automation under the hood. I will not go into detail on how to write scripts.

Here a few links to get started:

Quick Start

Run snapshot init in your project folder
Profile your app in Xcode (CMD + I), choose Automation and click the Record button on the bottom of the window.
This will get you started. Copy the generated code into ./snapshot.js. Make sure, you leave the import statement on the top.
To take a screenshot, use captureLocalizedScreenshot('0-name')

Here is a nice gif, that shows snapshot in action: assets/snapshot.gif

You can take a look at the example project to play around with it.

Start `snapshot`

cd [your_project_folder]
snapshot

Your screenshots will be stored in ./screenshots/ by default.

From now on, you can run snapshot to create new screenshots of your app.

Usage

snapshot

To skip cleaning the project:

snapshot --noclean

To only run tests (i.e. don't actually take any screenshots):

snapshot test

By default, snapshot, will re-install the app, to make sure it's in a clean state. In case you don't want this run

SNAPSHOT_SKIP_UNINSTALL=1 snapshot

Snapfile

Why should you have to remember complicated commands and parameters?

Store your configuration in a text file to easily take screenshots from any computer.

Create a file called Snapfile in your project directory. Once you created your configuration, just run snapshot.

The Snapfile may contain the following information (all are optional):

Simulator Types

devices([
  "iPhone 6",
  "iPhone 6 Plus",
  "iPhone 5",
  "iPhone 4s",
  "iPad Air"
])

Languages

languages([
  "en-US",
  "de-DE",
  "es-ES",
  ["cmn-Hans", "cmn-Hans_CN"] # you can specify a locale if needed
])

JavaScript file

Usually snapshot automatically finds your JavaScript file. If that's not the case, you can pass the path to your test file.

js_file './path/file.js'

You can add a custom script for iPads: ./path/file-iPad.js and it will automatically be used if found. Just append the -iPad to your existing file.

Scheme

To not be asked which scheme to use, just set it like this:

scheme "Name"

You can also use the environment variable SNAPSHOT_SCHEME.

Screenshots output path

All generated screenshots will be stored in the given path.

screenshots_path './screenshots'

You can also use the environment variable SNAPSHOT_SCREENSHOTS_PATH.

Project Path

By default, snapshot will look for your project in the current directory. If it is located somewhere else, pass your custom path:

project_path "./my_project/Project.xcworkspace"

iOS Version

I'll try to keep the script up to date. If you need to change the iOS version, you can do it like this:

ios_version "9.0"

Custom Args for the build command

Use the custom_args directive to prepend custom statements to the build command.

Add a custom_build_args line to your Snapfile to add custom arguments to the build command.

Here is an example for adding a preprocessor macro SNAPSHOT and a custom build setting SNAPSHOT_ENABLE.

custom_build_args "GCC_PREPROCESSOR_DEFINITIONS='$(inherited) SNAPSHOT=1' SNAPSHOT_ENABLE = YES"

Custom Args for the run command

Add a custom_run_args line to your Snapfile to add custom arguments to the run command (i.e. the invocation of instruments. You can use this to set the value of a specific NSUserDefaults key, for example

custom_run_args "-DidViewOnboarding YES"

Custom Build Command

If for some reason, the default build command does not work for your project, you can pass your own build script. The script will be executed once before the tests are being run.

Make sure you are setting the output path to /tmp/snapshot or specify a custom build_dir on your Snapfile.

build_command "xcodebuild DSTROOT='/tmp/snapshot' OBJROOT='/tmp/snapshot' SYMROOT='/tmp/snapshot' ... "

Custom callbacks to prepare your app

Run your own script when snapshot switches the simulator type or the language. This can be used to

Logout the user
Reset all user defaults
Pre-fill the database

To run a shell script, just use system('./script.sh').

setup_for_device_change do |device, udid, language|
  puts "Running #{language} on #{device}"
  system("./popuplateDatabase.sh")
end

teardown_device do |language, device|
  puts "Finished with #{language} on #{device}"
  system("./cleanup.sh")
end

If you want to run a script before each run of the app, it's enough to only implement the setup_for_language_change callback.

Skip alpha removal from screenshots

In case you want to skip this process, just add skip_alpha_removal to your Snapfile.

Pass Bundle Identifier

This is only required in case there is a problem automatically detecting it.

SNAPSHOT_APP_IDENTIFIER="com.krausefx.app" snapshot

Clear old screenshots

If you add this line in your Snapfile, the previously generated screenshots will be deleted before generating new ones:

clear_previous_screenshots

Completely reset all simulators

You can run this command in the terminal to delete and re-create all iOS simulators:

snapshot reset_simulators

Warning: This will delete all your simulators and replace by new ones! This is useful, if you run into weird Instruments problems when running snapshot.

You can use the environment variable SNAPSHOT_FORCE_DELETE to stop asking for confirmation before deleting.

Tips

`fastlane` Toolchain

fastlane: Connect all deployment tools into one streamlined workflow
deliver: Upload screenshots, metadata and your app to the App Store using a single command
frameit: Quickly put your screenshots into the right device frames
PEM: Automatically generate and renew your push notification profiles
sigh: Because you would rather spend your time building stuff than fighting provisioning
produce: Create new iOS apps on iTunes Connect and Dev Portal using the command line
cert: Automatically create and maintain iOS code signing certificates
codes: Create promo codes for iOS Apps using the command line

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Run in Continuous Integration

If you want to run snapshot on your Jenkins machine (or any other CI-system), you might run into an authorization popup coming up.

You can disable this dialog, running the following command:

security authorizationdb read system.privilege.taskport > /tmp/system.privilege.taskport.plist
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :allow-root true" /tmp/system.privilege.taskport.plist
sudo security authorizationdb write system.privilege.taskport < /tmp/system.privilege.taskport.plist

I found this solution in the Subliminal wiki.

Specify a custom `Snapfile`

snapshot --snapfile ./SpecialSnapfile

Be aware: The file will be executed from the current directory, not the location of the Snapfile. That means: ./screenshots will export the screenshots to the current directory of your terminal session.

Available language codes

["da-DK", "de-DE", "el-GR", "en-AU", "en-CA", "en-GB", "en-US", "es-ES", "es-MX", "fi-FI", "fr-CA", "fr-FR", "id-ID", "it-IT", "ja-JP", "ko-KR", "ms-MY", "nl-NL", "no-NO", "pt-BR", "pt-PT", "ru-RU", "sv-SE", "th-TH", "tr-TR", "vi-VI", "cmn-Hans", "zh_CN", "cmn-Hant"]

Use a clean status bar

You can use SimulatorStatusMagic to clean up the status bar.

Editing the `Snapfile`

Change syntax highlighting to Ruby.

Instruments is not responding

Unfortunately Instruments sometimes decides, to not respond to anything. Which means, neither the Instruments application, nor the instruments command line work. Killing the process doesn't help.

The only way to fix this, is a restart of the Mac.

Use a custom build system

Using a build systems not based on Xcode –such as RubyMotion or Xamarin– is also possible.

RubyMotion

Add to your Snapfile:

build_dir 'build/iPhoneSimulator-7.0-Development'
build_command 'rake build:simulator'

Xamarin

Add to your Snapfile:

build_dir 'YourProject/bin/iPhoneSimulator'
build_command '/Applications/Xamarin\ Studio.app/Contents/MacOS/mdtool -v build "--configuration:Debug|iPhoneSimulator" YourProject.sln'

Unfortunately, Xamarin command line tool is only available for Business Edition licenses. For Indie licenses you can build the app using Xamarin Studio and use the --nobuild option.

Skip building

If building via command-line doesn't work for your project or you don't want to build every time, you can run the tool with snapshot --nobuild to skip the build process and use a pre-built .app under your build_dir.

Determine language in UI Automation script

To detect the currently used localization in your Javascript file, use the following code:

var result = target.host().performTaskWithPathArgumentsTimeout("/usr/bin/printenv" , ["SNAPSHOT_LANGUAGE"], 5);
var language = result.stdout.substring(0, result.stdout.length - 1);

Need help?

If there is a technical problem with snapshot, submit an issue.
I'm available for contract work - drop me an email: [email protected]

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. See the LICENSE file.

Contributing

Create an issue to discuss about your idea
Fork it (https://github.com/KrauseFx/snapshot/fork)
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
Create a new Pull Request

fastlane

snapshot

Automate taking localized screenshots of your iOS app on every device

snapshot is part of fastlane: connect all deployment tools into one streamlined workflow.

Features

Like this tool? Be the first to know about updates and new fastlane tools

Why?

Why should I automate this process?

Why use snapshot instead of....

Installation

UI Automation

Getting started

Quick Start

Start snapshot

Usage

Snapfile

Why should you have to remember complicated commands and parameters?

Simulator Types

Languages

JavaScript file

Scheme

Screenshots output path

Project Path

iOS Version

Custom Args for the build command

Custom Args for the run command

Custom Build Command

Custom callbacks to prepare your app

Skip alpha removal from screenshots

Pass Bundle Identifier

Clear old screenshots

Completely reset all simulators

Tips

fastlane Toolchain

Like this tool? Be the first to know about updates and new fastlane tools

Run in Continuous Integration

Specify a custom Snapfile

Available language codes

Use a clean status bar

Editing the Snapfile

Instruments is not responding

Use a custom build system

RubyMotion

Xamarin

Skip building

Determine language in UI Automation script

Need help?

License

Contributing

`snapshot` is part of fastlane: connect all deployment tools into one streamlined workflow.

Why use `snapshot` instead of....

Start `snapshot`

`fastlane` Toolchain

Specify a custom `Snapfile`

Editing the `Snapfile`