Adding enableFlutterDriverExtension() disables keyboard on the app

[ricky-bhatia]

We are building our tests using appium and flutter driver to test our flutter app. The problem we are facing is after adding the enableFlutterDriverExtension() in main.dart file (as mentioned in the documentation), the soft keyboard on the phone stops showing up and doesn't allow any text entry in edit box widgets. This problem goes away once we remove the enableFlutterDriverExtension() statement. So, we are in a fix. Is there any solution to this problem?

[denysord88]

I just added ValueKey to the TextField key parameter in my POC Flutter app

const TextField(
    key: Key('_myTextField'),
),

and locating it with byValueKey method. It allows appium-flutter-driver type text there.

finder.byValueKey("_myTextField").sendKeys("12345");

But in our production Flutter app we are using ObjectKey instead of ValueKey and I don't know yet how to locate TextFields with appium-flutter-driver by ObjectKey. Investigating it now..

[denysord88]

Or in Flutter app add parameter enableTextEntryEmulation in enableFlutterDriverExtension() method
enableFlutterDriverExtension(enableTextEntryEmulation: false);

For my Appium framework it works this way:

getiOSDriver().context("NATIVE_APP");
getiOSDriver().findElements(By.xpath("//*[@label='']")).get(0).click();
getiOSDriver().findElements(By.xpath("//*[@label='']")).get(0).sendKeys("12345");
getiOSDriver().context("FLUTTER");

[zohaib304]

I have added the parameter enableFlutterDriverExtension(enableTextEntryEmulation: false);
The send_key('test"); doesn't work.

@denysord88

[denysord88]

I have added the parameter enableFlutterDriverExtension(enableTextEntryEmulation: false); The send_key('test"); doesn't work.

@denysord88

Are you using FlutterFinder class or IOSDriver to send a text? I guess enableTextEntryEmulation option disabling text input for FlutterFinder but enabling text input for Appium driver class IOSDriver

[ricky-bhatia]

Or in Flutter app add parameter enableTextEntryEmulation in enableFlutterDriverExtension() method enableFlutterDriverExtension(enableTextEntryEmulation: false);

For my Appium framework it works this way:

getiOSDriver().context("NATIVE_APP");
getiOSDriver().findElements(By.xpath("//*[@label='']")).get(0).click();
getiOSDriver().findElements(By.xpath("//*[@label='']")).get(0).sendKeys("12345");
getiOSDriver().context("FLUTTER");

Thanks for the direction @denysord88 . I think I've got it working for my purpose. Here's what I did:

1. I added this parameter enableFlutterDriverExtension(enableTextEntryEmulation: false) in the flutter app which enables underlying keyboard and text entry (as a default behavior)
2. As @zohaib304 mentioned, with this the send_keys() does not work in the 'FLUTTER' context.
3. Flutter driver provides this command setTextEntryEmulation which I used in the script as below
   driver.execute_script("flutter:setTextEntryEmulation", True)
   After this the send_keys() works fine in 'FLUTTER' context

[KazuCocoa]

Added a link to this ticket from https://github.com/appium/appium-flutter-driver/blob/main/README.md#troubleshooting (as a troubleshooting)