Generation of test cases from functional requirements. A survey

One of the major quality criteria of a software system is how well it fulfils the needs of users or customers. One technique to verify and improve the grade of fulfilment is system testing. System test cases might be derived from the requirements of the system under test. This paper presents the results of a survey among 13 approaches to drive the generation of test cases from functional requirements

Using formal methods to support testing

Formal methods and testing are two important approaches that assist in the development of high quality software. While traditionally these approaches have been seen as rivals, in recent years a new consensus has developed in which they are seen as complementary. This article reviews the state of the art regarding ways in which the presence of a formal specification can be used to assist testing

04101 Abstracts Collection -- Language Engineering for Model-Driven Software Development

From 29.02. to 05.03.04, the Dagstuhl Seminar 04101 ``Language Engineering for Model-Driven Software Development\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Model based functional testing using pattern directed filmstrips.

Model driven functional system testing generates test scenarios from behavioral and structural models. In order to automatically generate tests, conditions such as invariants and pre-/post-conditions must be precisely defined. UML provides the Object Constraint Language (OCL) for this purpose; however OCL expressions can become very complex. This paper describes an approach that allows many commonly found OCL patterns to be expressed as snapshot patterns that correspond directly to the information model diagrams. Behaviour is constructed as chains of snapshots, or filmstrips. Snapshots and filmstrips are as expressive as UML behaviour models and OCL but it is argued that they are more accessible and more modular

A tertiary study on model-based testing areas, tools and challenges: Preliminary results

Context: Model-based testing (MBT) is one of the most studied approaches by secondary studies in the area of software testing. A tertiary study that aggregates knowledge from secondary studies on MBT can be useful to both academia and industry. Objective: The goal of this study is to identify and characterize secondary studies in model-based testing, in terms of the areas, tools and challenges they have investigated. Method: We conducted a tertiary study in MBT. Our systematic mapping of secondary studies included 12 literature surveys and 10 systematic reviews over the period 1996–2016.Results: We found that the two most studied areas of MBT are UML models and Transition-based notations. We also found that only 5 studies compared and classified MBT tools. The main challenges and limitations found were related to the need for more empirical evidence that supports the selection of MBT approaches and tools. Conclusions: Not many systematic reviews on MBT were found, consequently some areas still lack secondary studies: test execution aspects, language types, model dynamics, and some model paradigms and generation methods. We thus encourage the MBT community to perform further systematic reviews and mapping studies, following known protocols and reporting procedures, in order to increase the quality and quantity of empirical studies in MBT.Universidad de Costa Rica/[834-B7-749]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ingeniería::Facultad de Ingeniería::Escuela de Ciencias de la Computación e InformáticaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ingeniería::Centro de Investigaciones en Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación (CITIC

Model based functional testing using pattern directed filmstrips.

Model driven functional system testing generates test scenarios from behavioral and structural models. In order to automatically generate tests, conditions such as invariants and pre-/post-conditions must be precisely defined. UML provides the Object Constraint Language (OCL) for this purpose; however OCL expressions can become very complex. This paper describes an approach that allows many commonly found OCL patterns to be expressed as snapshot patterns that correspond directly to the information model diagrams. Behaviour is constructed as chains of snapshots, or filmstrips. Snapshots and filmstrips are as expressive as UML behaviour models and OCL but it is argued that they are more accessible and more modular

04371 Abstracts Collection -- Perspectives of Model-Based Testing

From 05.09.04 to 10.09.04, the Dagstuhl Seminar 04371 ``Perspectives of Model-Based Testing\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Finding the needles in the haystack: Generating legal test inputs for object-oriented programs

A test input for an object-oriented program typically consists of asequence of method calls that use the API defined by the programunder test. Generating legal test inputs can be challenging because,for some programs, the set of legal method sequences is much smallerthan the set of all possible sequences; without a formalspecification of legal sequences, an input generator is bound toproduce mostly illegal sequences.We propose a scalable technique that combines dynamic analysis withrandom testing to help an input generator create legal test inputswithout a formal specification, even for programs in whichmost sequences are illegal. The technique uses an example executionof the program to infer a model of legal call sequences, and usesthe model to guide a random input generator towards legal butbehaviorally-diverse sequences.We have implemented our technique for Java, in a tool calledPalulu, and evaluated its effectiveness in creating legal inputsfor real programs. Our experimental results indicate that thetechnique is effective and scalable. Our preliminary evaluationindicates that the technique can quickly generate legal sequencesfor complex inputs: in a case study, Palulu created legal testinputs in seconds for a set of complex classes, for which it took anexpert thirty minutes to generate a single legal input

Mallipohjaisen testauksen hyödyt ja haasteet

Mallipohjainen testaus on noussut viimeisten vuosikymmenten aikana merkittäväksi osaksi testauskulttuuria. Se markkinoi itseään taloudellisia säästöjä tuovana ja testauksen tehokkuutta lisäävänä testausmenetelmä. Mallipohjainen testaus onkin laajalti käytössä oleva testauksen muoto, mutta se ei kuitenkaan ole korvannut perinteisiä testausmenetelmiä. Tässä tutkielmassa käydään ensin kattavasti läpi testauksen teoriapohjaa, jonka jälkeen tutustutaan mallipohjaiseen testaukseen menetelmänä tässä testauskehyksessä. Lisäksi etsitään, millaisia työkaluja mallipohjaisessa testauksessa on käytössä, ja esitellään niistä muutamia. Näiden jälkeen perehdytään kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla mallipohjaisesta testauksesta viimeisen kymmenen vuoden aikana julkaistuun kirjallisuuteen ja etsitään haasteita, jotka rajoittavat mallipohjaisen testauksen käyttöä ja toisaalta hyötyjä, jotka tukevat mallipohjaisen testauksen soveltamista tulevaisuudessa yhä useammassa testausta sisältävässä hankkeessa. Keskeisimpiä kirjallisuuskatsauksessa löytyneitä hyötyjä olivat mallin jo kehityksen varhaisessa vaiheessa antama selkeyttävä kuva testattavasta kohteesta, testauksen tehokkuuden ja virheiden havaitsemiskyvyn kasvu sekä testitapausten luonnin helpottuminen ja nopeutuminen. Haasteina puolestaan koettiin raportoitujen ohjeistusten ja konkreettisten käytännön esimerkkien vähyys kirjallisuudessa, mallipohjaisen testauksen työläys ja vaikeus varsinkin mallipohjaisen testauksen suhteen kokemattomille testaajille sekä mallinnuksen ja mallin luonnin vaativuus ja tietotaidon korkea vaatimustaso

Model-based Testing

This paper provides a comprehensive introduction to a framework for formal testing using labelled transition systems, based on an extension and reformulation of the ioco theory introduced by Tretmans. We introduce the underlying models needed to specify the requirements, and formalise the notion of test cases. We discuss conformance, and in particular the conformance relation ioco. For this relation we prove several interesting properties, and we provide algorithms to derive test cases (either in batches, or on the fly)