Is it possible to find out if an Android application runs as part of an instrumentation test

Question

Is there a runtime check for an application to find out if it runs as part of an instrumentation test?

Background: Our application performs a database sync when star

Answer 1

If you're using ActivityUnitTestCase, you could set a custom Application object with setApplication, and have a flag in there to switch database sync on or off? There's an example of using a custom Application object on my blog:

http://www.paulbutcher.com/2011/03/mock-objects-on-android-with-borachio-part-3/

Answer 2

You can pass an intent extra to your activity indicating it's under test.

1) In your test, pass "testMode" extra to your activity:

public void setUp() throws Exception {
    super.setUp();

    Intent activityIntent = new Intent();
    activityIntent.putExtra("testMode", true);
    setActivityIntent(activityIntent);
}

2) In your activity, check for testMode:

Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras();
if (extras != null && extras.getBoolean("testMode")) {
    // disable your database sync
}