Part 12 : Logging with Log4j & Reporting with Extent Reports (Appium – Android)

In this part of the series, we move into two important components of any professional automation framework : logging and reporting.

Writing test scripts is only one part of automation. You must also be able to :

Understand what happened during the test run
Identify where and why a test failed
Share clear results with your team

Logging and reporting help you achieve this.

Log4j is used for printing test execution logs
ExtentReports is used to generate visual HTML reports

Why Do We Need Logging and Reporting?
Logging with Log4j
Reporting with ExtentReports
Taking Screenshots on Failure
Recommended Folder Structure
Summary

1. Why Do We Need Logging and Reporting?

A reliable automation framework should provide clarity about the test execution flow. Logging and reporting allow you to :

Track each action the script performs
Quickly debug failures
Find the root cause of issues
Share readable reports with QA engineers, developers, and managers

Without logging and reporting, troubleshooting becomes difficult, especially in large test suites.

2. Logging with Log4j

What is Log4j?

Log4j is a Java-based logging library. It allows you to add custom messages throughout your code, such as :

“App launched”
“Login button clicked”
“Element not found”

These messages help you trace the execution flow and understand what happened at each step.

Step 1 : Add Log4j dependency in pom.xml

				
					<dependency>
    <groupId>log4j</groupId>
    <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
    <version>1.2.17</version>
</dependency>

Step 2 : Create log4j.properties

Create this file under :

				
					src/test/resources/log4j.properties

Add the following configuration :

				
					log4j.rootLogger=INFO, file, stdout

# Print to console
log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n

# Print to file
log4j.appender.file=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.file.File=logs/test-log.log
log4j.appender.file.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.file.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n

Step 3 : Use Log4j in your test

				
					import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

public class LoginTest {
    Logger log = Logger.getLogger(LoginTest.class);

    public void loginTest() {
        log.info("Launching App");
        log.debug("Debug: entering credentials");
        log.error("Element not found"); 
    }
}

3. Reporting with ExtentReports

Why ExtentReports?

ExtentReports is a popular reporting tool for automation frameworks because it produces:

Clean and professional HTML reports
Logs for each test step
Pass and fail status
Screenshot support

These reports are easy to understand and can be shared with anyone.

Step 1 : Add ExtentReports dependency

				
					<dependency>
    <groupId>com.aventstack</groupId>
    <artifactId>extentreports</artifactId>
    <version>5.0.9</version>
</dependency>

Step 2 : Basic ExtentReports setup

				
					ExtentReports extent = new ExtentReports();
ExtentHtmlReporter htmlReporter = new ExtentHtmlReporter("reports/test-report.html");
extent.attachReporter(htmlReporter);

ExtentTest test = extent.createTest("Login Test");

test.pass("App launched");
test.fail("Login failed");

extent.flush();  // save the HTML report

4. Taking Screenshots on Failure

Screenshots are extremely helpful when a test fails because they show the exact state of the app at the moment of failure.

Capture the screenshot

				
					File src = ((TakesScreenshot) driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
FileUtils.copyFile(src, new File("screenshots/test-failure.png"));

Attach the screenshot in ExtentReports

				
					test.fail("Test failed",
    MediaEntityBuilder.createScreenCaptureFromPath("screenshots/test-failure.png").build());

5. Recommended Folder Structure

				
					/logs              - Log4j output
/reports           - Extent HTML reports
/screenshots       - Screenshots captured on failures
/src/test/java     - Test classes and page objects
/src/test/resources - config files, log4j properties

Summary

In this part, you learned how to add logging and reporting to your Appium automation framework. These are essential features because they provide clarity, help with debugging, and allow teams to understand test results quickly.

Logging and reporting are foundational elements of a scalable framework and prepare you for more advanced topics in the coming sessions.