Using UML collaboration diagrams for static checking and test generation

  • Authors:
  • Aynur Abdurazik;Jeff Offutt

  • Affiliations:
  • George Mason University, Fairfax, VA;George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

  • Venue:
  • UML'00 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on The unified modeling language: advancing the standard
  • Year:
  • 2000

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Abstract

Software testing can only be formalized and quantified when a solid basis for test generation can be defined. Tests are commonly generated from program source code, graphical models of software (such as control flow graphs), and specifications/requirements. UML collaboration diagrams represent a significant opportunity for testing because they precisely describe how the functions the software provides are connected in a form that can be easily manipulated by automated means. This paper presents novel test criteria that are based on UML collaboration diagrams. The most novel aspect of this is that tests can be generated automatically from the software design, rather than the code or the specifications. Criteria are defined for both static and dynamic testing of specification-level and instance-level collaboration diagrams. These criteria allow a formal integration tests to be based on high level design notations, which can help lead to software that is significantly more reliable.