How to write tests for deep links in Android?

Question

I would like to write tests for Android app with deep link cases using UI testing framework (Espresso) - launch app using only ACTION_VIEW intent and check all views on opened screen.

But looks like Espresso (even espresso-intents) doesn't have this functionality, and require to define Activity class.

I tried this way, but it doesn't work properly, because launched app twice - standard launch using AppLauncherActivity (required by Espresso) and launch via deep link.

@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
public class DeeplinkAppLauncherTest {

    @Rule
    public ActivityTestRule<AppLauncherActivity> activityRule = new ActivityTestRule<>(AppLauncherActivity.class);

    @Test
    public void testDeeplinkAfterScollDownAndBackUp() {
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("myapp://search/777"));
        activityRule.launchActivity(intent);

        onView(withId(R.id.search_panel)).check(matches(isDisplayed()));
    }

}

I would like to launch testing app using only deep link without standard launch. Do you know, how to do it?

Answer 1

I found one option - just added deep link opening parameters for existed intent and use standard activity launch:

@Rule
public ActivityTestRule<AppLauncherActivity> activityRule = new ActivityTestRule<AppLauncherActivity>(AppLauncherActivity.class){
    @Override protected Intent getActivityIntent() {
        Intent intent = super.getActivityIntent();
        intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
        intent.setData(Uri.parse("myapp://search/777"));
        return intent;
    }
};