ID locator strategy not working for `resource-id` elements generated by React Native 0.64

The problem

ID locator strategy not working for resource-id elements generated by React Native 0.64 using testID.

Environment

• Appium version (or git revision) that exhibits the issue: Appium Desktop 1.19.1, Appium CLI 1.21.0
• Last Appium version that did not exhibit the issue (if applicable): NA
• Desktop OS/version used to run Appium: MacOS Big Sur 11.2
• Node.js version (unless using Appium.app|exe): v14.16.1
• Npm or Yarn package manager: NA
• Mobile platform/version under test: Android
• Real device or emulator/simulator: Real device
• Appium CLI or Appium.app|exe: Both
• React Native: 0.64.0

Details

Since https://github.com/facebook/react-native/pull/29610 has been merged, we can now use testID which is exposed via a view’s resource-id. However, it is impossible to locate these elements using their ID, both in Appium Desktop and Appium CLI. The elements are simply not found, even though they appear as id in Appium Desktop.

Link to Appium logs

[MJSONWP (71a501f7)] Calling AppiumDriver.findElements() with args: ["id","backButton","71a501f7-6dca-4900-9031-28783ce7577b"]
[BaseDriver] Valid locator strategies for this request: xpath, id, class name, accessibility id, css selector, -android uiautomator
[BaseDriver] Waiting up to 0 ms for condition
[WD Proxy] Matched '/elements' to command name 'findElements'
[WD Proxy] Proxying [POST /elements] to [POST http://127.0.0.1:8200/wd/hub/session/347565f6-94ae-4cd5-922f-9af19084f0da/elements] with body: {"strategy":"id","selector":"backButton","context":"","multiple":true}
[WD Proxy] Got response with status 200: {"sessionId":"347565f6-94ae-4cd5-922f-9af19084f0da","value":[]}
[MJSONWP (71a501f7)] Responding to client with driver.findElements() result: []
[HTTP] <-- POST /wd/hub/session/71a501f7-6dca-4900-9031-28783ce7577b/elements 200 51 ms - 74

Code To Reproduce Issue

/**
 * Sample React Native App
 * https://github.com/facebook/react-native
 *
 * Generated with the TypeScript template
 * https://github.com/react-native-community/react-native-template-typescript
 *
 * @format
 */

import React from 'react';
import {
  SafeAreaView,
  ScrollView,
  StatusBar,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  useColorScheme,
  View,
  TouchableOpacity
} from 'react-native';

import {
  Colors,
  DebugInstructions,
  Header,
  LearnMoreLinks,
  ReloadInstructions,
} from 'react-native/Libraries/NewAppScreen';

const Section: React.FC<{
  title: string;
}> = ({ children, title }) => {
  const isDarkMode = useColorScheme() === 'dark';
  return (
    <View style={styles.sectionContainer}>
      <Text
        style={[
          styles.sectionTitle,
          {
            color: isDarkMode ? Colors.white : Colors.black,
          },
        ]}>
        {title}
      </Text>
      <Text
        style={[
          styles.sectionDescription,
          {
            color: isDarkMode ? Colors.light : Colors.dark,
          },
        ]}>
        {children}
      </Text>
    </View>
  );
};

const App = () => {
  const isDarkMode = useColorScheme() === 'dark';

  const backgroundStyle = {
    backgroundColor: isDarkMode ? Colors.darker : Colors.lighter,
  };

  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={backgroundStyle}>
      <StatusBar barStyle={isDarkMode ? 'light-content' : 'dark-content'} />
      <ScrollView
        contentInsetAdjustmentBehavior="automatic"
        style={backgroundStyle}>
        <Header />
        <View
          style={{
            backgroundColor: isDarkMode ? Colors.black : Colors.white,
          }}>
          <TouchableOpacity
            accessible={true}
            accessibilityLabel="Go back"
            accessibilityHint="Navigates to the previous screen"
            testID="backButton"
          >
            <Text >Go Back</Text>
          </TouchableOpacity>

        </View>
      </ScrollView>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  sectionContainer: {
    marginTop: 32,
    paddingHorizontal: 24,
  },
  sectionTitle: {
    fontSize: 24,
    fontWeight: '600',
  },
  sectionDescription: {
    marginTop: 8,
    fontSize: 18,
    fontWeight: '400',
  },
  highlight: {
    fontWeight: '700',
  },
});

export default App;

[BlackSwan2019]

Update: A better selector is: //*[@resource-id="Some_Element_ID"]. It has behaved very well and selects for just the element I want vs. using contains like in my response above.

[iseki0]

I’m faceing the same problem. But when I use new UiSelector().resourceId("the_simple_id") it works. Both of use ${pkgName}:id/${resId} and Android UiAutomator2 selector are ugly way. It breaks the cross-platform ability. So, are there any better way? I think it’s a bug that relates to appium.