WebdriverIO can not create session to test Android emulator with Appium - visual-studio-code

Question

I am using Visual Studio Code and WDIO with Appium to test Android on emulator by Android Studio, but I can not run Appium for some reason. However Android home and Java home has been set and Appium Doctor confirms necessary dependencies are completed, no fix needed.
I have tried with Appium stand-alone and from Command too.
Wit Appium standalone the ERROR log is the below:
ERROR webdriver: Request failed with status 500 due to session not created: Unable to create session from {
"desiredCapabilities": {
"platformName": "android",
"appium:deviceName": "Pixel",
"appium:platformVersion": "10.0",
"appium:app": "\u002fUsers\u002fzsolt\u002fappium_js\u002fApiDemos-debug.apk"
If I add ['appium'] to services in wdio.config.js the ERROR log is the below, though Appium stand-alone is shut:
ERROR #wdio/cli:utils: A service failed in the 'onPrepare' hook
Error: Appium exited before timeout (exit code: 2)
[HTTP] Could not start REST http interface listener. The requested port may already be in use. Please make sure there is no other instance of this server running already.
at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Users\zsolt\Documents\AppiumTestProject\node_modules\#wdio\appium-service\build\launcher.js:103:16)
at Object.onceWrapper (events.js:417:26)
at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:310:20)
at ChildProcess.EventEmitter.emit (domain.js:482:12)
at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:275:12)
This is my wdio.config.js file with using Appium stand-alone:
exports.config = {
runner: 'local',
port: 4723,
specs: [
'./test/specs/**/*.js'
],
exclude: [
// 'path/to/excluded/files'
],
maxInstances: 10,
capabilities: [{
platformName: 'android',
'appium:deviceName': 'Pixel',
'appium:platformVersion': '10.0',
'appium:app': '/Users/zsolt/appium_js/ApiDemos-debug.apk'
}],
logLevel: 'error',
bail: 0,
baseUrl: 'http://localhost',
waitforTimeout: 10000,
connectionRetryTimeout: 120000,
connectionRetryCount: 3,
services: ['selenium-standalone',
/*['appium', {
//command : 'appium'
}]*/],
reporters: ['spec'],
mochaOpts: {
ui: 'bdd',
timeout: 60000
},
These are my:
"devDependencies": {
"#wdio/local-runner": "^6.1.11",
"#wdio/mocha-framework": "^6.1.8",
"#wdio/selenium-standalone-service": "^6.0.16",
"#wdio/spec-reporter": "^6.1.9",
"#wdio/sync": "^6.1.8",
"appium": "^1.17.1"
Has anybody an idea what am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Welcome to Stack-overflow!
Below is my configuration and I believe you are missing some important details.
{
platformName: 'Android',
maxInstances: 1,
'appium:deviceName': 'Device Name',
'appium:platformVersion': '8'
'appium:orientation': 'PORTRAIT',
'appium:app': 'Path to App',
'appium:automationName': 'UiAutomator2',
'appium:noReset': true,
'appium:newCommandTimeout': 240,
}
There are boilerplates from maintainers themselves here.

Answer 2

I have played with the boilerplates and was able to run the tests on android emulator through Appium finally.
I have then compared the differences in conf.js and figured out, the below is needed to execute the test.
services:[
[
'appium',
{
// For options see
// https://github.com/webdriverio/webdriverio/tree/master/packages/wdio-appium-service
args: {
// For arguments see
// https://github.com/webdriverio/webdriverio/tree/master/packages/wdio-appium-service
},
command: 'appium',
},
],
],
Interesting but actually the test runs with only the below capabilites too:
capabilities: [{
platformName: 'Android',
'appium:deviceName': 'Pixel 2',
'appium:app': join(process.cwd(), './ApiDemos/ApiDemos-debug.apk'),
}],
When I execute the test it logs almost the same error messages as before though at the end of the execution it runs the test on the emulator. I did not use the Appium Desktop app.
Not perfect but works...
I guess this issue has been sorted out.
Cheers

Answer 3

Also you need to install the Appium service:
$ npm i #wdio/appium-service --save-dev
Finally check in your wdio.conf.js:
port: 4723, // default appium port
services: [
[
'appium',
{
args: {
},
command: 'appium'
}
]
],

Answer 4

Check that the file you are running is inside the correct folder when you do the 'npx wdio'.
this file