So whats the story with Frank?

[Zac Tolley]

Excuse me for being a bit dim, but I'm not totally clear what the story is with Calabash and Frank.

I've seen a couple of messages saying how calabash is a plugin for Frank, or merging it... so trying to understand, are Frank and Calabash-ios becoming one single test framework/tool or will they continue as 2 different things that compete (in a friendly way of course).

I really like the calabash console and the fact that its very easy to build and run tests for actual devices, I also like that I just have a drop in framework folder and which makes the project nice and neat, but I also appreciate the Frank symbiote tool and there is a large installed base of Frank users.

I ask because many iOS devs looking at tools to use for testing and come up against the question... "Should I use Frank or should I use Calabash".

[Jani Jegoroff]

Check out this post from Karl: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/calabash-ios/wcrDLVPtY1A/ZqUfv9f0w8cJ

[Krukow]

Good question. The link posted below has the rationale. But I can elaborate a bit... See below:

On Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:12:08 AM UTC+2, Zac Tolley wrote:

Excuse me for being a bit dim, but I'm not totally clear what the story is with Calabash and Frank.

I've seen a couple of messages saying how calabash is a plugin for Frank, or merging it... so trying to understand, are Frank and Calabash-ios becoming one single test framework/tool or will they continue as 2 different things that compete (in a friendly way of course).

They'll continue both, but parts of Calabash will be removed and use the infrastructure provided by the Frank project. So basically you can think of Calabash as an "add-on" or "plugin" to Frank. 

 

I really like the calabash console and the fact that its very easy to build and run tests for actual devices, I also like that I just have a drop in framework folder and which makes the project nice and neat, but I also appreciate the Frank symbiote tool and there is a large installed base of Frank users.

The point here will be that you'll get the benefits of Calabash *and* Frank together in one package. There will be a Calabash console and the ability to run "external UIA" on devices as you do now. There will be symbiote. Here is a sample screenshot of Symbiote running the WordPress app using Frank+Calabash and specifying a Calabash web-view/css selector:

 

I ask because many iOS devs looking at tools to use for testing and come up against the question... "Should I use Frank or should I use Calabash".

Yes, I understand. Soon it won't matter since we're working on the integration already. But let me give you my opinion if you do need to choose now. 

Right now I see three main reasons for picking Calabash, and if none of those apply, my advice would actually be to start with Frank and then add the Calabash plugin if needed (i.e., as it becomes available).

1) You are testing a hybrid app, or need some of the other extended query capabilities that Calabash provides.

2) You need the of gesture recording/playback that Calabash provides.

3) You have an Android app also and prefer to use similar client-apis for testing.

or (4)  you're testing a Xamarin app :)

Hope that helps

 

[Mayank Jain]

Thanks for clearing some of the mystery around Frank+Calabash :)

Any ball park figures on when we can get the first cut?

 

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Regards,
Mayank.

[Krukow]

I suspect we could have something official in 4-6 weeks, and "pre-releases" sooner. 

[José González Gómez]

Any update on this?

[Krukow]

On Thursday, July 25, 2013 10:23:13 PM UTC+2, José González Gómez wrote:

Any update on this?

Yes - I've done some work, but there is still work to do. 

Given my current schedule, I can't predict when this will happen at the moment.

If anyone is interested in helping out, I'd be very happy :) 

[nnbla...@gmail.com]

Just as a follow up to this-  It was about 5 months ago when I put my chips on calabash over frank and so far it's been an enjoyable experience.

I just experimented with setting up frank as a comparison:

- It took me a while to set up Frank- despite the 'easy' steps, I had problems getting the server up and running. 

- I found it a bit strange that the frank setup command messed with the production xCode project rather than setting up a new target (I since found some instructions from Pete where a separate target was created- and those worked ok).

- Although there is symbiote and a console in Frank, they don't feel as nice as the console and query language that currently exists in calabash. 

- I also find the documentation for calabash far more accessible and comprehensive. 

I just hope we don't lose this goodness when the merge happens and its not too painful to migrate the tests over.

Karl- is there any documentation of how to start contributing to Calabash or helping with the merge? 

Cheers.

Nick

[Krukow]

On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 3:56:50 PM UTC+2, nnbla...@gmail.com wrote:

Just as a follow up to this-  It was about 5 months ago when I put my chips on calabash over frank and so far it's been an enjoyable experience.

Thanks for the support! Let me comment on your points individually below.

  

I just experimented with setting up frank as a comparison:

- It took me a while to set up Frank- despite the 'easy' steps, I had problems getting the server up and running. 

Could you explain what the problems are - perhaps there is a setup procedure that is as easy as calabash was for you...

 

- I found it a bit strange that the frank setup command messed with the production xCode project rather than setting up a new target (I since found some instructions from Pete where a separate target was created- and those worked ok).

Actually, maintaining a separate target is bad for maintenance (i.e. every time you add a new file you have to remember to add it to both targets). Ideally I think are Xcode configurations.

 

- Although there is symbiote and a console in Frank, they don't feel as nice as the console and query language that currently exists in calabash. 

That's the cool part! Please remeber that Frank-Calabash will be the power of Calabash and Frank combined! When we finish the integration - you'll be able to use the Calabash API, console and symbiote -- the best of both worlds.

 

- I also find the documentation for calabash far more accessible and comprehensive. 

Yes, and all that will remain. We're not abandoning it, we joining forces so all can move faster.

 

I just hope we don't lose this goodness when the merge happens and its not too painful to migrate the tests over.

I promise you we will not loose the goodness. Migration will be necessary, but we will try to keep it as light as possible. 

 

Karl- is there any documentation of how to start contributing to Calabash or helping with the merge? 

Cheers.

Nick

Nick, I appreciate your comments, concerns and willingness to contribute. I'm afraid there is no such documentation, nor a to-do list of tasks- it's still a bit of an insider-thing :( 

At the moment, Pete Hodgson is doing some of the work. I'm planning some time for this within the next 14 days. Unless you want to spend time going into the details of the Frank-Calabash integration the best contribution would actually be a public test-suite for testing the quality of the migration-guides. What would be great would be an open source app (for example WordPress), a good comprehensive test suite that we can run the 0.9.x and 0.10.x lines against to ensure compatibility (or document when manual migration is needed).

A good starting point for this would be the iOS part of the x-platform-example:

https://github.com/calabash/x-platform-example

Thanks!

- Karl

[nnbla...@gmail.com]

Could you explain what the problems are - perhaps there is a setup procedure that is as easy as calabash was for you...

I ran the "frank setup" command, and this laid down the Frank folder on disk, however I still needed to go in and manually add the Frank folder to my project. I only figured it out from watching a different screencast Pete recorded. 

I actually had a similar problem with calabash when first getting up and running- in the instructions it says to add the calabash.framework folder to the xCode project- but this didn't work for me- the only way I got it working was to copy the calabash.framework folder to the project directory but not actually add it to the xCode project.

Actually, maintaining a separate target is bad for maintenance (i.e. every time you add a new file you have to remember to add it to both targets). Ideally I think are Xcode configurations.

Fair enough- although I have limited experience of xCode configurations- I'll need to do some studying up on what these are and how they work and how they compare with targets. Having worked with maintaining a separate target for a while now- it's not too much of an overhead- and at least I understand what is going on there :-)

The best contribution would actually be a public test-suite for testing the quality of the migration-guides. What would be great would be an open source app (for example WordPress), a good comprehensive test suite that we can run the 0.9.x and 0.10.x lines against to ensure compatibility (or document when manual migration is needed).

Ok- I can probably get something going on this. I'll take a look at the x-platform example / WordPress app and get some ideas together. 

[nnbla...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the responses and reassurance btw :)

On Saturday, August 10, 2013 6:21:40 PM UTC+1, Krukow wrote:

[Peter Hodgson]

On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 3:43 AM, <nnbla...@gmail.com> wrote:

Could you explain what the problems are - perhaps there is a setup procedure that is as easy as calabash was for you...

I ran the "frank setup" command, and this laid down the Frank folder on disk, however I still needed to go in and manually add the Frank folder to my project. I only figured it out from watching a different screencast Pete recorded. 

I don't want to talk too much about Frank on the calabash list :) but after running `frank setup` you shouldn't need to do more than just run `frank build` whenever you want a frankified build. No need to make any further xcode project changes at all.

 

[nnbla...@gmail.com]

Thanks Pete- but those steps didn't work for me (frank setup / frank build). I will try and get a repro case and spin up another thread on the frank board for that. Cheers

Sent from my iPhone

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