Developers often run into debugging hurdles when testing web pages for Android mobile devices. And, while the Android Developers Guide provides a solution, it’s a bit cumbersome and complex. So, many web developers often turn to tools like Firefox’s Firebug
or Webkit’s Web Inspector because they are easy to use, powerful, and convenient. However, what developers often find when using these tools is that the end result is quite different on the actual device. We decided to create our own solution — a tool based
on the standard solution proposed by the Android team, but much simpler to use. We call it RemoteJS, a tool that enables you to debug your JavaScript code while running on an Android device or emulator from your workstation.
The program automatically installs a package with the same name on the device. This tool will actually be the one loading your page, instead of the Android browser. This doesn’t represent any concern from the developer’s perspective, since the web engine
a specific URL, just enter it on the console. If you don’t include the protocol, only addresses starting with “www” will be validated. If you have more than one attached device, you’ll be presented with a list to choose from. Similarly, it will detect when
you disconnect the device already being used. It will then fall back to the only attached device left, if that’s the case, or wait until you connect one again. Please note that in order to actually get some output back, you need to make use of
The source code is changing constantly, and we plan to extend the capabilities of these tools. You’re more than welcome to contribute in any way. With the adb Python module, it will be possible to remotely automate the injection of recorded events on the
device and grab screenshots at any point. This will allow automated verification of behavior consistency along time. Stay tuned and please feel free to clone our android-tools public repository to play around with the tools and code. All is available under
the MIT license.