UITesting -> UISearchBar in titleView of NavigationItem returns XCUIElement.Type other

Question

I am setting the titleView of a navigationItem for a UIViewController to be a UISearchBar. This works fine in the app, but now I am trying to add some UITesting and when I search for the element via an XCUIElementQuery it returns XCUIElement.Type as .other instead of .searchField which is what I expect. Subsequently my test crashes when I attempt to enter text into the field using XCUIApplication().typeText("abcd"). Here is some sample code:

In the view controller:

override func viewDidLoad() {
        let searchBar = UISearchBar()
        searchBar.isAccessibilityElement = true
        searchBar.accessibilityIdentifier = "search-bar" 

        searchBar.delegate = self.searchViewController
        self.navigationItem.titleView = searchBar
}

In the UITest:

func testEnterTextInSearchBar() {        
    let app = XCUIApplication()
    let searchBarElement = app.descendants(matching: .any).matching(identifier: "search-bar").firstMatch
    searchBarElement.tap()
    app.typeText("test")
}

CRASH!!! because it thinks the type is .other and not .searchField

The error is: "Neither element nor any descendant has keyboard focus. Element: Attributes: Other, 0x608000192f10, traits: 8589934592, identifier: 'search-bar'"

Also using app.keys["x"].tap() works fine as long as the software keyboard is enabled.

I think this is a bug in the UITest framework. I tried differen approaces but even when you record the test it gives you the same error. Maybe file a radar at Apple? — joern
Please make sure that your simulators hardware keyboard connection is desabled. You can find it on Hardware --> Keyboard --> Connect Hardware keyboard is disabled. — Mahmud Riad
Thanks for the responses. I am leaning toward it being a bug as well. I did try with the hardware keyboard disconnected. When that is disconnected I can get the app.keys["D"].tap() function to work (although you have to start with an uppercase character and then use lowercase or else it won't find the keys.) — drew2dev
Okay, I think the issue is searchBar.isAccessibilityElement = true This is modifying the accessibility type to .other instead of .searchField. Removing that line seems to fix the issue. — drew2dev
Hello from 2019, this is still an issue. Setting the isAccessibilityElement to false helps. — Steffen Andersen

Mahmud Riad Mahmud Riad · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-29T12:41:56

Step 1: Disable the hardware keyboard. You can find it on

Hardware --> Keyboard --> Connect Hardware keyboard [Disable this option]

Step 2:

 func testEnterTextInSearchBar() {        
 let app = XCUIApplication()

 // use one of below two  code
 let searchBarElement = app.otherElements["search-bar"].tap().firstMatch
 //let searchBarElement = app.searchFields["search-bar"].tap().firstMatch


 searchBarElement.tap()
 searchBarElement.typeText("test")

}

Please let me know the result.

UITesting -> UISearchBar in titleView of NavigationItem returns XCUIElement.Type other

1 Answers