Wrong activity launched on Espresso tests

Issue

I have an issue when attempting to execute espresso tests for a non launcher activity. The problem I'm experiencing is that on the first test, the launcher activity gets launched instead of the activity under test.

Here is my code:

@MediumTest
@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
public class MyActivityTest extends BaseRobot {

@Rule
public ActivityTestRule<MyActivity> mActivityRule = new ActivityTestRule<>(MyActivity.class);

@Test
public void testManifestListVisible() throws Exception {
    allOf(withId(R.id.llContainer), isDisplayed());
}

@Test
public void testManifestBtnVisible() throws Exception {
    isViewDisplayed(R.id.btManageManifest);
}

@Test
public void testManifestBtn() throws Exception {
    clickButton(R.id.btManageManifest);
}

When the first test gets executed I get this error:

android.support.test.espresso.NoMatchingViewException: No views in hierarchy found matching: with id:com.xxx.xxx:id/myBtnId

This error occurs because the launcher activity is being launched for the first test(I'm certain of this because I can see it on the device). For the other tests MyActivity is launched as expected.

Note: I'm using this version of the libs

espressoVersion = '3.0.1'
hamcrestVersion = '1.3'
supportAnnotationsVersion = '23.1.0'
testRunnerVersion = '1.0.1'
testRulesVersion = '1.0.1'

Thank you in advance!

Solution

Found a work around for anyone who has the same issue. Before the tests add a method that manually launches the intent. Here is an example:

public class InstrumentationActivityTest {

@Rule
public ActivityTestRule<InstrumentationActivity> mActivityRule = new 
 ActivityTestRule<>(InstrumentationActivity.class);

 @Before
 public void startIntentManually() {
    mActivityRule.launchActivity(new Intent());
}

//add tests

Don't know if this is the best solution, but it works.

Answered By - android enthusiast