Data Flow Testing Research Articles

Generation Technology of Test Cases of Object-Oriented Software

This paper analyzed the basic object-oriented concepts from the perspective of testing. The effects of the characteristics of object-oriented software on the software testing were discussed. The class testing method of object-oriented software was put forward. This method includes tests based on the state transition diagram and data flow testing on class. A integration testing of object-oriented software was put forward based on the event-driven characteristics of object-oriented software, and a data-generating method of software test based on genetic algorithm was provided. The test case generating technology of object-oriented software was discussed, which utilized an intercalation method of branch function and regarded the genetic algorithm as the core search algorithm.

Testing of data‐centric and event‐based dynamic service compositions

SUMMARYThis paper addresses integration testing of data‐centric and event‐based dynamic service compositions. The compositions under test define abstract services that are replaced by concrete candidate services at runtime. Testing all possible instantiations of a composition leads to combinatorial explosion and is often infeasible. We consider data dependencies between services as potential points of failure and introduce the k‐node data flow test coverage metric, which helps to significantly reduce the number of test combinations. We formulate a combinatorial optimization problem for generating minimal sets of test cases. On the basis of this formalization, we present a mapping to the model of FoCuS, a coverage analysis tool. FoCuS efficiently computes near‐optimal solutions, which are used to automatically generate test instances. The proposed approach is applicable to various composition paradigms. We illustrate the end‐to‐end practicability based on an integrated scenario, which uses two diverse composition techniques: on the one hand, the Web Services Business Process Execution Language and on the other hand, WS‐Aggregation, a platform for event‐based service composition. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An efficient bitwise algorithm for intra-procedural data-flow testing coverage

Data-flow (DF) testing was introduced to achieve more comprehensive structural evaluation of programs. It requires tests that traverse a path in which the definition of a variable and its subsequent use, i.e., a definition-use association (dua), is exercised. However, DF testing has rarely been adopted in industry because it is considered too costly by practitioners. A factor precluding broad adoption of DF testing is the cost of tracking duas exercised by tests. Previous approaches rely on complex computations and expensive data structures to collect dua coverage. We present an algorithm which utilizes efficient bitwise operations and inexpensive data structures to track intra-procedural duas. RAM memory requirements are restricted to three bit vectors the size of the number of duas. Conservative simulations indicate that the new algorithm imposes less execution slowdown.

Data flow analysis and testing for OWL-S semantic web service compositions

Semantic web services SWSs, which integrate the concept of ontology to support incorporation of machine understandable semantics into web services, have drawn much attention in recent years. By introducing semantics into web services, the quality and robustness of web service discovery, selection, and invocation can be greatly improved. However, web ontology language for service OWL-S, the most widely accepted standard used to describe SWS, is extremely complex and hard to understand. This makes OWL-S compositions difficult to analyse and test. In view of this, this paper proposes a data flow testing approach for web service compositions based on OWL-S. The data flow test artefacts introduced by OWL-S are identified and thoroughly analysed. A test model that considers a variety of control constructs and semantics of OWL-S is proposed to abstract these test artefacts. Based on the test model, test paths can be derived to effectively uncover defects caused by improper data handling and message exchanges of OWL-S compositions.

Data Flow Testing in Concurrent Programs with Message Passing and Shared Memory Paradigms

This paper proposes a novel structural test model to capture information about flows of data, control, communication and syn- chronization of parallel and distributed applications interacting through both message passing and shared memory paradigms. Our main focus is the data flow among threads of different processes, considering the operations of communication and syn- chronization related to such flow. This inter-process data-flow represents a challenge to the tester, who must consider the heterogeneity of programming paradigms and languages. The information captured by the test model is used by new testing criteria, which improve the testing activity quality. The proposed model and criteria were applied to an object-oriented and distributed application developed in Java. The results suggest that the model and the criteria are able to represent distributed applications developed with message passing and shared memory paradigms. The main contribution of this paper is to present a more flexible test model capable of improving the structural test activity related to the data flow on processes and threads simultaneously.

A DATA FLOW BASED NOVEL TESTING STRATEGY FOR UNIT TESTING OF OBJECT ORIENTED SOFTWARE

Uncovering errors during unit testing only, lessens the probability of the propagation of errors to other phases in a large number. While this fact is applied to object oriented software, it is understood that the fundamental units with object oriented software are precisely the classes and hence the classes need to be thoroughly tested to accomplish unit testing. Testing of a class is analogous to testing the methods defined as part of the class. While it is known that the various methodologies to testing conventional software are path testing, transaction flow testing, data flow testing et. al, an attempt has been made in the current work to use the data flow testing technique partially to come up with a novel proposal so as to help the independent unit tester decide on the most important methods for testing within the class. The strategy would assist the tester in deciding on the priority of methods to be tested and thereby save on the testing effort.

Applying genetic algorithm to increase the efficiency of a data flow-based test data generation approach

The success or failure of the entire software development process relies on the software testing component which is responsible for ensuring that the software that is released is free from bugs. One of the major labor intensive activities of software testing is the generation of the test data for the purpose of applying the testing methodologies. Many approaches have been tried and tested for automating the process of generating the test data. Meta-heuristics have been applied extensively for improving the efficiency of the process. This paper analyses the effectiveness of applying genetic algorithms for generating test data automatically using data flow testing approach. An incremental coverage measurement method is used to improve the convergence.

Automatic Generation of Object-Oriented Tests with a Multistage-Based Genetic Algorithm

The widespread use of the object-oriented programs ( OOPs ) makes the requirement for tests-generation strategies for testing the OOPs increases from day to day. In this paper, we present a multi-stage genetic algorithm ( MSGA ) to generate a suite of tests for testing the OOPs . MSGA includes two optimization stages. The first stage concentrates on finding test cases (sequences of called methods), which satisfy a given test criterion. The second stage focuses on generating test data (values of the arguments of the called methods). In addition, we introduce a new chromosome representation, which consists of two concatenated one-dimensional arrays. Each array contains set of homogeneous genes. In addition, we introduce set of strategies for encoding and decoding the tests. Furthermore, we present set of new genetic operators and the required pre- and post-conditions for applying these operators. In order to determine the applicability and practicability of MSGA , we introduce a new testing tool by implementing MSGA . Also, we conduct a case study by the new tool to assess the efficiency of MSGA in data-flow testing of OOPs .

A data-flow approach to test multi-agent ASMs

Abstract This paper illustrates the theoretical basis of an approach to apply data flow testing techniques to abstract state machines (ASMs). In particular, we focus on multi-agent ASMs extended with the seq construct for turbo ASMs. We explain why traditional data flow analysis can not simply be applied to ASMs: data flow coverage criteria are strictly based on the mapping between a program and its flow graph whereas in this context we are interested in tracing the flow of data between states in ASM runs as opposed to between nodes in a program’s flow graph. We revise the classical concepts in data flow analysis taking into account the specific, parallel nature of ASMs, and define them on two levels: the syntactic (rule) level, and the computational (run) level. In particular, we analyze the role played by different types of terms in ASMs and deal with the problem of terms that are monitored by a given agent but controlled by another one, terms that are shared between several agents, and derived terms. We also discuss what consequences the use of the turbo ASM construct seq has on our analysis and revise the approach accordingly. Finally, we specify a family of ad hoc data flow coverage criteria for this class of ASMs and introduce a model checking-based approach to generate automatically test cases satisfying a given set of coverage criteria from ASM models.

Test Method for BEPL-Based Web Service Composition Based on Data Flow Analysis

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于BPEL的Web Service组合的数据流分析测试方法 DOI: 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: Supported by the National High-Tech Research and Development Plan of China under Grant Nos.2007AA01Z190, 2007AA010601 (国家高技术研究发展计划(863)) Test Method for BEPL-Based Web Service Composition Based on Data Flow Analysis Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:随着Web Service组合变得越来越复杂,通过测试来保证服务质量和可靠性也变得越来越重要.将传统数据流分析方法扩展用于Web Service组合测试,提出了一种基于BPEL的Web Service组合的数据流分析测试方法.该方法基于一个测试模型:Web Service组合测试模型WSCTM,该测试模型可以捕获Web Service组合的数据流接口.采用基于服务的模型WSCTM,数据流可以从3个视点来分析:服务间、服务内和服务实现构件间.从而,Web Service组合的数据流测试可以在三层上得到实现.基于以上方法,可得到Web Service组合的定义-使用链,最终可产生满足既定测试标准以获得需求Web服务组合质量要求的测试路径. Abstract:As the Web Service composition becomes complex, testing to ensure their quality and reliability become crucial. This paper extends traditional data flow analysis to Web Service composition testing. A test method for BPEL-based Web Service composition based on data flow analysis is presented. The test method is based on a test model called WSCTM that captures data flow test artifacts of Web Service composition. With the considerations of the intra-activity, intra-service, and inter-service, testing for Web Service composition based on data flow analysis can be accomplished in three levels, and various flow graphs are used to describe the interaction within and between services in structure model. The def-use chains of the Web Service composition can be obtained based on above analysis method. As a result, test paths can be selected to satisfy given criteria in order to achieve a desired Web Service composition test coverage. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Software testing and quality assurance: theory and practice

Software testing and quality assurance: theory and practice

Empirical Validation of Variable based Test Case Prioritization/Selection Technique

Regression test case prioritization optimizes the ordering of test cases to be executed to meet some criteria like maximum code coverage or high rate of fault detection. In prior work we prioritized test cases according to a hybrid technique using variable based method that combined both selection and prioritization. We inferred in our approach that variables are vital source of changes in the program and test cases should be prioritized according to the variables of any changed statement and variables computed from the variables of changed statements. In support of our prioritization approach we extend our work to validate the effectiveness of prioritized test cases with respect to data flow technique. This paper reports an experimental study investigating the effectiveness of our prioritization approach given in [2] by considering programs. The results obtained are encouraging and support our work to validate the prioritization technique with respect to DU/DC paths of data flow testing technique.

Data-flow testing of declarative programs

We propose a novel notion of data-flow coverage for testing declarative programs. Moreover, we extend an automatic test-case generator such that it can achieve data-flow coverage. The coverage information is obtained by instrumenting a program such that it collects coverage information during its execution. Finally, we show the benefits of data-flow based testing for a couple of example applications.

A testing method for Web services composition based on data-flow

This paper proposes a method of data-flow testing for Web services composition. Firstly, to facilitate data flow analysis and constraints collecting, the existing model representation of business process execution language (BPEL) is modified in company with the analysis of data dependency and an exact representation of dead path elimination (DPE) is proposed, which overcomes the difficulties brought to dataflow analysis. Then defining and using information based on data flow rules is collected by parsing BPEL and Web services description language (WSDL) documents and the def-use annotated control flow graph is created. Based on this model, data-flow anomalies which indicate potential errors can be discovered by traversing the paths of graph, and all-du-paths used in dynamic data flow testing for Web services composition are automatically generated, then testers can design the test cases according to the collected constraints for each path selected.

Class Level Test Case Generation in Object Oriented Software Testing

Object-oriented programming consists of several different levels of abstraction, namely, the algorithmic level, class level, cluster level, and system level. In this article, we discuss a testing technique to generate test cases at class level for object-oriented programs. The formal object oriented class specification is used to develop a test model. This test model is based on finite state machine specification. The class specification and the test model is analyzed to select a set of test data for each method of the class, and finally the test cases can be generated using other testing techniques like finite-state testing or data-flow testing.

A Tool for Testing of Inheritance Related Bugs in Object Oriented Software

Object oriented software development different from traditional development products. In object oriented software polymorphism, inheritance, dynamic binding are the important features. An inheritance property is the main feature. The compilers usually detect the syntax oriented errors only. Some of the property errors may be located in the product. Data flow testing is an appropriate testing method for testing program futures. This test analysis structure of the software and gives the flow of property. This study is designed to detect the hidden errors with reference to the inheritance property. Inputs of the tool are set of classes and packages. Outputs of the tools are hierarchies of the classes, methods, attributes and a set of inheritance related bugs like naked access, spaghetti inheritance bugs are automatically detected by the tool. The tool is developed as three major modules. They are code analysis, knowledge base preparation and bugs analysis. The code analysis module is designed to parse extract details from the code. The knowledge base preparation module is designed to prepare the knowledge base about the program details. The bug's analysis module is designed to extract bugs related information from the database. It is a static testing. This study focused on Java programs.

Automatic construction of accurate application call graph with library call abstraction for Java

AbstractCall graphs are widely used to represent calling relationships among methods. However, there is not much interest in calling relationships among library methods in many software engineering applications, such as program understanding and testing, especially when the library is very big and the calling relationships are not trivial. This paper explores approaches for generating more accurate application call graphs for Java. A new data reachability algorithm is proposed and fine tuned to resolve library callbacks accurately. Compared with an algorithm that resolves library callbacks by traversing the whole‐program call graph, the fine‐tuned data reachability algorithm results in fewer spurious callback edges. In empirical studies, the new algorithm shows a significant reduction in the number of spurious callback edges. On the basis of the new algorithm, a library abstraction can be calculated automatically and applied in amortized slicing and dataflow testing. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Testing criteria for object oriented visual dataflow languages

Commercial and research Visual Dataflow Languages (VDFLs) with object oriented features have had a substantial impact on end-user programming. Like any other object oriented programming languages, be they visual or textual, VDFLs often contain faults. In this article we investigate, from a data-flow testing perspective, the various side effects introduced by objects behavior in VDFLs. Our findings helped us establish the theoretical and practical foundations needed to adapt code-based data-flow test adequacy criteria to VDFLs, in the context of Prograph [7], and provide users of the latter with some of the error detection benefits of traditional object oriented testing.

An Automatic Test Case Generation Framework for Web Services

BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) as a de-facto standard for web service orchestration has drawn particularly attention from researchers and industries. BPEL is a semi-formal flow language with complex features such as concurrency and hierarchy. To test a model thoroughly, we need to cover different execution scenarios. As is well known, it is tedious, time consuming, and error prone to design test cases manually, especially for complex modelling languages. Hence, it is desirable to apply existing model-based-testing techniques in the domain of web services. We proposed WSA (Web Service Automata) to be the operational semantics for BPEL. Based on WSA, we propose a model checking based test case generation framework for BPEL. The SPIN and NuSMV model checkers are used as the test generation engine, and the conventional structural test coverage criteria are encoded into LTL and CTL temporal logic. State coverage and transition coverage are used for BPEL control flow testing, and all-du-path coverage is used for BPEL data flow testing. Two levels of test cases can be generated to test whether the implementation of web services conforms to the BPEL behaviour and WSDL interface models. The generated test cases are executed on the JUnit test execution engine.

Data flow analysis and testing of JSP-based Web applications

Web applications often rely on server-side scripts to handle HTTP requests, to generate dynamic contents, and to interact with other components. The server-side scripts are usually not checked by any compiler and, hence, can be error-prone. In this paper, we adapt traditional data flow testing techniques into the context of Java Server Pages (JSP), a very popular server-side script for developing Web applications with Java Technology. We point out that the JSP implicit objects and action tags can introduce several unique data flow test artifacts which need to be addressed. A test model is presented to capture the data flow information of JSP pages with considerations of various implicit objects and action tags. Based on the test model, we describe an approach to compute the intraprocedural, interprocedural, and sessional data flow test paths for uncovering the data anomalies of JSP pages.