Question

I can’t find any examples or help in the JavaDocs on how to use an Android test to get at the SearchView in the Menu for testing. Is there a way to do it?

I would like to do do a .setQuery("Foo", true) or equivalent to test search in my app. How can that be done?

Answer 1

According to this documentation

Note: Although collapsing your action view is optional, we recommend
that you always collapse your action view if it includes SearchView.
Also be aware that some devices provide a dedicated SEARCH button and
you should expand your search action view if the user presses the
SEARCH button. Simply override your activity’s onKeyUp() callback
method, listen for the KEYCODE_SEARCH event, then call
expandActionView().

If you have expanded the serach view for the KEYCODE_SEARCH event,then testing should be possible by using the instrumentation to inject events.

public void testSearch() { 
   Instrumentation instrumentation = getInstrumentation(); 
   instrumentation.sendKeyDownUpSync(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_SEARCH); 
   instrumentation.sendCharacterSync(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_F); 
   instrumentation.sendCharacterSync(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_O); 
   instrumentation.sendCharacterSync(KeyEvent.KEYCODE_O);
   //Assert here for whatever you want. 
}

Make sure you have the inject permission in your manifest.