android - AndroidManifest in androidTest directory being ignored

Question

I'm trying to test using the following directory structure (which was setup by Android Studio):

I can run some tests just fine, and even the AllTests.java runs fine without the AndroidManifest.xml file even being there. The thing is, for one of my new tests, I need the android.permission.INTERNET permission. So, I added the following to the AndroidManifest.xml file located within the androidTest directory:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          package="com.example.core"
          android:versionCode="2"
          android:versionName="2.0" >

    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
</manifest>

Unfortunately, this doesn't work. I'm still getting the following error when I run one of my tests:

E/RestAPIRequestTest﹕ Permission denied (missing INTERNET permission?)

I've tried setting the package to be com.example.core.test in my AndroidManifest.xml file (since that is what it shows up as in my Settings->Apps list), but with no joy.

I'm thinking it's not even recognizing the AndroidManifest.xml file, since the version number doesn't show in the Settings for the test app, either.

How can I inject the correct permissions for my test project?

Answer 1

I needed to do something similar. I created a folder named "debug" next to androidTest, which corresponds to the debug variant of the app, and put an AndroidManifest.xml with the permission in that folder. Then the permission works under test since the test app uses the debug variant. It's not ideal because it blurs the line between test and debug, which aren't quite the same thing.

I think what's happening is that the permissions in androidTest/AndroidManifest.xml are going to the test app, not the target app, although it's not 100% clear to me if there are actually two different APKs or what.