I have a lot of UI Automation JavaScript code which is no longer useable since support was dropped in Xcode.
I'm looking for any means possible to try an reuse as much of the code as possible.
I just wondered if there's is any sort of migration path or hack to make it useable ? I haven't seen anything so far.
Well, I've waited enough for iOS QA Automation Engineers to share their professional view on the matter, but since none showed up, I'll give it a go.
First off, you are not alone. UI Automation support has been dropped since XCode 8 and a lot of other people had the same problem.
The main takeaway from all the materials I've read online is this:
The only version of Appium that will work with xcode 8 is 1.6.0. You can download the beta now. Instruments/UIAutomation have been removed and only Appium's XCUITest support will work moving forward.
Moving forward, the best document to get you started with your test case migration, or at least give you some helping tips is this one: Migrating your iOS tests from UIAutomation (iOS 9.3 and below) to XCUITest (iOS 9.3 and up) [UPDATED LINK].
The article covers some pretty hot topics considering your situation:
xpath emphasis); You will have to start using appium-xcuitest-driver instead of appium-ios-driver.
Installation & Setup:
Apart from the relevant info that you'll find on appium-xcuitest-driver's official GitHub repo, the bread and butter is here: Setting up iOS Real Devices Tests with XCUITest.
Getting started with a new framework/set of libs, or migrating from one tool-suite to another is always hard, but from past experiences, once you have a working setup and build your first test case, everything else will go smoothly afterwards.
Finally, I could pro-long the response, but the official documentation will always do a better job.
Hope is helps in any way, shape, or form. Cheers!