Validation of sdl-based architectural design models: automatic test generation and new coverage criteria
W. Eric Wong, Andrew Roberto Restrepo · 2011
As the capability to automatically generate code from different kinds of architectural models becomes more sophisticated, the risk is greater that an error in the design stage will propagate into the implementation of a software system. A well-known fact is that fixing such a defect becomes dramatically more expensive if it is discovered late in the development lifecycle, so it is critical that these models be adequately tested for quality assurance prior to code generation. Although simulation-based black-box testing strategies exist for these models, it is important that white-box testing strategies be employed similar to those used to test implementation code. This dissertation focuses on the application of coverage testing to architectural design models represented in the Specification and Description Language (SDL). First, a methodology is described for automatic test generation with respect to structural-based criteria such as all-node and all-edge. However, since a system specified in SDL typically consists of multiple communicating processes, these criteria are not entirely sufficient – testing guided by all-node and all-edge will exercise the internal control flow of each individual process, but it will not address inter-process communication. It is necessary to devise additional coverage criteria which aim at the interactions between processes to achieve a more complete testing of the specification. To that end, three new coverage criteria are proposed: one-step-message-transfer, sender-receiver-round-trip, and n-step-message-transfer, targeted at the communication between SDL processes. A test generation and coverage analysis framework, Coverage Testing for SDL (CTS) is implemented to support all of these criteria. Case studies using this framework are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this test generation methodology in achieving high coverage of SDL specifications.