When using uiautomator, why should hint be used instead of contentDescription for EditText?

Question

When using uiautomator to test Android application UI behavior, it's instructed to ensure that UI is accessible. Ït is stated in documentation that "android:hint should be used instead of content description for EditText fields". (http://developer.android.com/tools/testing/testing_ui.html#accessibility)

Why is this? Is there some disadvantage if content description is also added?

When using only android:hint with android:inputType="textPassword", the EditText remains NAF (not accessible). But when adding contentDescription, the EditText is accessible.

Also, is resource-id an attribute that could be used to reference when using uiautomator to test UI?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can use both content-description and hint.

Resource id is also very useful in accessing elements which has been added since Android API Level 18.

It can be used as :

UiObject psswrd = new UiObject(new UiSelector().resourceId("com.example.abc:id/password")); 
psswrd.click();
psswrd.setText("qwerty");