Mixed session

You must have been familiar with the concept of Manual Session and Scripted Automation Session (Appium, Espresso, XCUITest) in Kobiton. We introduce a new session: Mixed Session. A mixed session allows you to launch both Manual and Automation sessions on one single device simultaneously. 

Why you need Mixed Session

• You want to observe your automation script during its run on Kobiton devices

• There are cases where you want to debug your script or need manual interaction to fix unexpected issues during the automation run, eg. the "cannot find element" error.

How to use

Launch Mixed Session

The tool to enter the mixed session mode is Session Viewer. Simply start with a manual session or an automation session first, then launch the other session type on the same device while the first session is ongoing. Thus there are 2 ways to enter a Mixed session, launch Automation first, Manual second, or Manual first, Automation second. 

1. Start a Automation session first

• Run an automation script on Kobiton devices

• Manually interact with the automation session in real-time via Session Viewer. There are three ways to enter Session Viewer:

  • Method 1: From the Device list: select the Launch button while the device was running automation to enter Session Viewer.

  • Method 2: From the Session Overview screen: Go to Session Overview of the ongoing automation session, and click on the Session Viewer button in the upper right corner.

  • Method 3: From Session List screen:
    • Highlight the ongoing automation session (by clicking the session name) then click the Session Viewer icon on the action menu.
    • Alternatively, right-click on the session name, and select Session Viewer.

2. Start a Manual session first

Simply start a Manual session on a device, then run automation script on the device while it is ongoing a Manual session. Once the automation script starts running, you will see a banner on the manual session “Automation Script is running on this device”. You will then be able to observe your automation run and interact with the screen.

Mixed session on Session List

If you are observing from the Session list - once a session (Manual or Automation) is changed to a Mixed session, its icon will change accordingly:

You can also search for sessions with the session type Mixed:

Some additional notes

• Only one user can launch a Mixed session. In other words, you can not launch the Manual session, and your worker launching the Automation script on your Manual session device.

• Mixed Session is only available for Latest Kobiton, not Legacy Kobiton.

• We only support running Appium test in Mixed Session for now. Other automation frameworks eg. Espresso, XCUITest are not supported yet. 

• We don't support Session explorer for Mixed Session, ie. you wont be able to view the detailed steps and screenshots during the mixed session.

• We haven't supported Kobiton Scriptless and Appium Script Export for Mixed session yet.

• If you use public devices for Mixed Session, you will be charged minutes for the total time usage on the device.