Example-based model-transformation testing

  • Authors:

  • Marouane Kessentini;Houari Sahraoui;Mounir Boukadoum

  • Affiliations:

  • DIRO, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada and College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;DIRO, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada;DI, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada

  • Venue:
  • Automated Software Engineering
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

A major concern in model-driven engineering is how to ensure the quality of the model-transformation mechanisms. One validation method that is commonly used is model transformation testing. When using this method, two important issues need to be addressed: the efficient generation/selection of test cases and the definition of oracle functions that assess the validity of the transformed models. This work is concerned with the latter. We propose a novel oracle function for model transformation testing that relies on the premise that the more a transformation deviates from well-known good transformation examples, the more likely it is erroneous. More precisely, the proposed oracle function compares target test cases with a base of examples that contains good quality transformation traces, and then assigns a risk level to them accordingly. Our approach takes inspiration from the biological metaphor of immune systems, where pathogens are identified by their difference with normal body cells. A significant feature of the approach is that one no longer needs to define an expected model for each test case. Furthermore, the detected faulty candidates are ordered by degree of risk, which helps the tester inspect the results. The validation results on a transformation mechanism used by an industrial partner confirm the effectiveness of our approach.