Automated scenario generation based on UML activity diagrams

Abstract

Specification-based testing, also called black-box testing, involves producing a test suite based on the specification. Using a formal language or a model for specification helps in automation of the test generation process. For large and complex systems, testing based on covering the control flow or data flow paths becomes infeasible. In this regard, an efficient set of test scenarios need to be generated. One of the main objectives of testing is to check whether customer requirements are met. Scenarios help in generating sequence of events that represent the purpose of a system. Requirements are well defined using activity diagrams and this has led to an increased interest on generating test scenarios using activity diagrams. Each path from the initial node to the final node in an activity diagram constitutes a test scenario. The problem encountered following the strategy is exponential increase in test scenarios when considering concurrent activities, represented in an activity diagram using fork-join nodes. In this paper, we investigate this problem and have observed that the growth in test scenarios can be limited by considering domain dependency existing among concurrent activities. The paper proposes a method to automate the test scenario generation process. © 2008 IEEE.