Implementing Long‑Press Actions in Android UiAutomator Tests

When testing Android applications with UiAutomator, certain controls (e.g., a record button) require a press-and-hold gesture. The built‑in API for long press is cumbersome, so a lightweight custom solution is presented.

The core idea is to use UiDevice.getInstance().swipe() with identical start and end coordinates; the last parameter specifies the duration in units of 5 ms. A value of 300 therefore yields a 1.5‑second press.

/* Long press by resourceId */
public void longclickUiObectByResourceId(String id) throws UiObjectNotFoundException {
    int x = getUiObjectByResourceId(id).getBounds().centerX();
    int y = getUiObjectByResourceId(id).getBounds().centerY();
    UiDevice.getInstance().swipe(x, y, x, y, 300); // duration unit = 5 ms
}

/* Long press by visible text */
public void longclickUiObectByText(String text) throws UiObjectNotFoundException {
    int x = getUiObjectByText(text).getBounds().centerX();
    int y = getUiObjectByText(text).getBounds().centerY();
    UiDevice.getInstance().swipe(x, y, x, y, 300);
}

/* Long press by explicit coordinates */
public void longclickUiObectByCoordinates(int x, int y) throws UiObjectNotFoundException {
    UiDevice.getInstance().swipe(x, y, x, y, 300);
}

These three overloads cover the most common scenarios: locating a UI element by its resource ID, by the text it displays, or by a known coordinate pair. The same pattern can be extended to other selectors such as class name, index, or content description.

For more advanced gestures—e.g., drawing a heart shape with a series of points—a separate method that feeds an array of coordinates to swipe (or drag) can be used; the original article links to an example implementation.