Locator Strategies

The UiAutomator2 driver supports several location strategies in the native context. The list below describes each strategy along with usage recommendations.

Id

Name	Speed Ranking	Example
id	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	com.mycompany:id/resourceId

This strategy is mapped to the native UI Automator BySelector.res matcher, which returns elements whose resource name matches the specified value exactly.

If the package identifier prefix is not specified and the disableIdLocatorAutocompletion setting is not enabled, the prefix identifier of the current app under test is added automatically.

When to Use

Use this strategy for elements that can be identified using their View.id attribute value.

Accessibility Id

Name	Speed Ranking	Example
accessibility id	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	my description

This strategy is mapped to the native UI Automator BySelector.desc matcher, which returns elements whose content description matches the specified value exactly.

When to Use

Use this strategy for elements that can be identified using their View.contentDescription attribute value.

Class Name

Name	Speed Ranking	Example
class name	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	android.view.View

This strategy is mapped to the native UI Automator BySelector.clazz matcher, which returns elements whose class name matches the specified value exactly.

When to Use

Use this strategy for elements that can be identified using their class name.

UiAutomator

Name	Speed Ranking	Example
-android uiautomator	⭐⭐⭐⭐	new UiSelector().resourceId("android:id/list")

This strategy is mapped to the native UI Automator UiSelector locator.

The strategy also allows to implicitly perform some advanced operations, like scrolling. Refer to the UiAutomator Locator Strategy guide for more details.

Warning

Google is planning to deprecate and remove UiCollection, UiObject, UiScrollable, and UiSelector support from the UiAutomator framework. This will render all -android uiautomator-based locators invalid, so keep this in mind while using them or planning to use them in the future.

When to Use

Use this strategy for elements that cannot be directly identified by their class name, id, or contentDescription.

XPath

Name	Speed Ranking	Example
xpath	⭐⭐⭐	//android.view.View[@text="Regular" and @checkable="true"]

This strategy relies on the XML tree generated by the UiAutomator2 driver's page source API.

XPath versions 1.0 and 2.0 are supported.

When to Use

Use this strategy when no other strategy is applicable, typically for elements that can only be identified from their sibling or descendant elements.