alumnium-hq/alumnium

Handle non-unique locators in Appium (iOS)

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#132 opened on Jul 19, 2025

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good first issue

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Description

The current locating strategy in Appium is fairly native - it would attempt to find elements by tag name, name, text, and label. Often, there will be multiple elements matching this locator. We need to improve locators by:

  1. Generating the same XPath.
  2. Checking it against the accessibility tree.
  3. If there is one match, we can proceed.
  4. If there are multiple matches, find the one we are interested in (we can use "id" for that) and append its index to XPath.

When an area is used (#129), we would still need to search within the whole accessibility tree if possible.

Once this is done, swag_labs_test.py should start passing on Appium.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Understand the current Appium locator strategy by reading the code that queries the accessibility tree and generates XPath. Determine where multiple matches are possible and how to use the 'id' attribute to select the correct element. Check the failing swag labs test.py to see expected behavior.
Tech stack
iospythontypescript
Domain
testingmobile dev
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
GitAppiumXPathiOS accessibility
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60