Cannot use extra CLI flags (sometimes required by plugins)

[nextlevelbeard]

Some plugins like device-farm make use of CLI arguments passed to Appium.
For example: there is the plugin-device-farm-platform argument, which can take values android, ios or both

Since beta.26, you can specify the plugin to use, but you cannot specify any extra plugin arguments.

Without the argument, Appium runs but it is not properly configured:

npx appium \
--base-path / \
--port 4446 \
--allow-insecure="execute_driver_script,chromedriver_autodownload,adb_shell" \
--use-plugins="device-farm"

With the argument, Appium will throw an error:

npx appium \
--base-path / \
--port 4446 \
--allow-insecure="execute_driver_script,chromedriver_autodownload,adb_shell" \
--use-plugins="device-farm" \
--plugin-device-farm-platform=both

appium: error: unrecognized arguments: --plugin-device-farm-platform=both

[saikrishna321]

@boneskull Has something changed with CLI args in latest beta?

[mykola-mokhnach]

AFAIK it is necessary for a plugin/driver to provide a schema where supported CLI args are described. See https://github.com/appium/appium/pull/17050/files#diff-3baee5b43161e5ca3169450387053776d15111d589a22e656715c1ef103c5688R387

[nextlevelbeard]

They do specify a schema, @mykola-mokhnach

"appium": {
    "pluginName": "device-farm",
    "mainClass": "DevicePlugin",
    "schema": {
      "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema",
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "description": "Appium configuration schema for the Device Farm plugin.",
      "properties": {
        "platform": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      },
      "title": "Fake Plugin Configuration",
      "type": "object"
    }
  }

Can we double check this is working for plugins?
Because the fake-plugin, unlike the fake-driver, has no such schema examples in place.

[mykola-mokhnach]

I do not observe any schema that describes CLI args. Nevertheless I might be wrong.

[jlipps]

this all looks correct except in the fake-driver example, schema is a path to a js file exporting the schema. so the device-farm plugin should probably be updated to conform to this pattern

[mykola-mokhnach]

xcuitest driver uses the same approach (schema inside package.json). Not sure which of these approaches is correct

[saikrishna321]

Server command: appium server -ka 800 --use-plugins=device-farm --plugin-device-farm-platform=android -pa /wd/hub

[Appium] Attempting to load plugin device-farm...
[debug] [Appium] Requiring plugin at /Users/saikrishna/.appium/node_modules/appium-device-farm
In Con android
[Appium] Welcome to Appium v2.0.0-beta.40
[Appium] Non-default server args:
[Appium] {
[Appium]   basePath: '/wd/hub',
[Appium]   keepAliveTimeout: 800,
[Appium]   usePlugins: [
[Appium]     'device-farm'
[Appium]   ]
[Appium] }
[Appium] Attempting to load driver uiautomator2...
[debug] [Appium] Requiring driver at /Users/saikrishna/.appium/node_modules/appium-uiautomator2-driver
[device-farm] Device Farm Plugin will be served at http://localhost:4723/device-farm
[device-farm] If the appium server is started with different port other than 4723, then use the correct port number to access the device farm dashboard
[ADB] Found 2 'build-tools' folders under '/Users/saikrishna/Library/Android/sdk' (newest first):
[ADB]     /Users/saikrishna/Library/Android/sdk/build-tools/31.0.0
[ADB]     /Users/saikrishna/Library/Android/sdk/build-tools/30.0.2
[ADB] Using 'adb' from '/Users/saikrishna/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb'
[debug] [ADB] Running '/Users/saikrishna/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb -P 5037 start-server'
[debug] [ADB] Getting connected devices
[debug] [ADB] No connected devices have been detected
[device-farm] Device list updated: []
[Appium] Appium REST http interface listener started on 0.0.0.0:4723
[Appium] Available drivers:
[Appium]   - uiautomator2@2.1.0 (automationName 'UiAutomator2')
[Appium] Available plugins:
[Appium]   - relaxed-caps@1.0.0-beta.6
[Appium]   - element-wait@1.0.0-beta.4
[Appium]   - device-farm@1.0.0-beta.16 (ACTIVE)

Can't reproduce the error

[boneskull]

schema can be a path to a JSON schema or it can be a schema itself.

[boneskull]

This sounds like it's been resolved, so I'll close it.

[saikrishna321]

@boneskull Can we load all the plugins CLI args from a file? Currently, the plugin device-farm has three CLI args and may to come.

appium server -ka 800 --use-plugins=device-farm --plugin-device-farm-platform=android --plugin-device-farm-simulator-skip=ios something-blah -pa /wd/hub