AndroidViewClient does not show id

Question

I've been toying around with AndroidViewClient for a little while, but I don't get why this extension will not show the id of a view when running the dump.py example. My device is above API lvl 16. What could be the problem?

I get an output like this, but again I don't know why it can't tell the name of the views...

android.widget.FrameLayout id/no_id/1
   android.widget.LinearLayout id/no_id/2
      android.widget.FrameLayout id/no_id/3
         android.widget.RelativeLayout id/no_id/4
            android.widget.Button id/no_id/5 New Jersey
            android.widget.Button id/no_id/6 New York
            android.widget.Button id/no_id/7 New Castle
            android.widget.Button id/no_id/8 New Berg
            android.widget.Button id/no_id/9 New Class

Error:

   C:\Users\EGHDK\android-sdk\tools>monkeyrunner C:\AndroidViewClient-master\Andro
idViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\examples\dump.py
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
] Script terminated due to an exception
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\e
xamples\dump.py", line 87, in <module>
    vc = ViewClient(*ViewClient.connectToDeviceOrExit(**kwargs1), **kwargs2)
  File "C:\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\s
rc\com\dtmilano\android\viewclient.py", line 935, in __init__
    adb = ViewClient.__obtainAdbPath()
  File "C:\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\s
rc\com\dtmilano\android\viewclient.py", line 1075, in _ViewClient__obtainAdbPath

    raise Exception('adb="%s" is not executable. Did you forget to set ANDROID_H
OME in the environment?' % adb)
Exception: adb="adb.exe" is not executable. Did you forget to set ANDROID_HOME i
n the environment?

130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyException.doRaise(PyException.java:219)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.Py.makeException(Py.java:1159)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.Py.makeException(Py.java:1163)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.Py.makeException(Py.java:1167)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.dtmilano.android.viewclient$py._ViewClient__obtainAdbPath$56(C:\A
ndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\src\com\dtmil
ano\android\viewclient.py:1075)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.dtmilano.android.viewclient$py.call_function(C:\AndroidViewClient
-master\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\src\com\dtmilano\android\view
client.py)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyTableCode.call(PyTableCode.java:165)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyBaseCode.call(PyBaseCode.java:117)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyFunction.__call__(PyFunction.java:307)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.dtmilano.android.viewclient$py.__init__$54(C:\AndroidViewClient-m
aster\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\src\com\dtmilano\android\viewcl
ient.py:1020)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.dtmilano.android.viewclient$py.call_function(C:\AndroidViewClient
-master\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\src\com\dtmilano\android\view
client.py)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyTableCode.call(PyTableCode.java:165)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyBaseCode.call(PyBaseCode.java:297)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyBaseCode.call(PyBaseCode.java:191)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyFunction.__call__(PyFunction.java:385)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyFunction.__call__(PyFunction.java:380)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyInstance.__init__(PyInstance.java:120)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyClass.__call__(PyClass.java:194)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyObject._callextra(PyObject.java:537)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.pycode._pyx0.f$0(C:\AndroidViewClient-master\AndroidViewCl
ient-master\AndroidViewClient\examples\dump.py:89)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.pycode._pyx0.call_function(C:\AndroidViewClient-master\And
roidViewClient-master\AndroidViewClient\examples\dump.py)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyTableCode.call(PyTableCode.java:165)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.PyCode.call(PyCode.java:18)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.Py.runCode(Py.java:1197)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.core.__builtin__.execfile_flags(__builtin__.java:538)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at org.python.util.PythonInterpreter.execfile(PythonInterpreter.java:156
)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.android.monkeyrunner.ScriptRunner.run(ScriptRunner.java:116)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerStarter.run(MonkeyRunnerStarter.
java:77)
130428 20:11:28.636:S [MainThread] [com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerOptions
]       at com.android.monkeyrunner.MonkeyRunnerStarter.main(MonkeyRunnerStarter
.java:189)

Answer 1

If device's API level is >= 16 the default backend used by AndroidViewClient is UiAutomator which does not show the IDs. To provide an extra level of help AndroidViewClient assigns unique IDs to the Views, and this is what dump.py is showing in your case.

You can force ViewServer backend by providing the corresponding command line option to dump.py:

$ dmup.py --force-view-server-use

and you will get View ID's.