Method and system for generating functional test cases for software systems

• US 10,176,085 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2016
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zare, Amey Anand, R, Venkatesh, Shrotri, Ulka Aniruddha, Agrawal, Supriya
• Primary Examiner(s): Bodden, Evral E
• Application Number:
  US15/189,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20160378646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• Field of Search: 717124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3684 for test design, e.g. generating new test cases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3692 for test results analysis

Abstract

A method and system is provided for automated generation of the functional test cases for testing a software system. In an embodiment, the invention provides an expressive decision table (EDT), a requirement specification notation designed to reduce translation efforts. It implements a novel scalable row-guided random algorithm with fuzzing (RGRaF) (pronounced R-graph) to generate test cases. The invention also implements two new coverage criteria targeted at requirements and requirement interactions. The invention also provides fuzzing at time boundaries to achieve scalability. According to an embodiment, the invention also provides the feature of generating error in case the generated functional test case corresponds to system property violation of the software system. According to another embodiment, the system can also reject the functional test case if there is an improbable condition of the software system.

Claims

1. A method for generating functional test cases for testing a software system, the method comprising a processor implemented steps of:

providing expressive decision table (EDT) specifications, wherein the EDT specifications specify requirements of the software system;

constructing automata using an automata builder (102), wherein the automata correspond to each of a plurality of cells in a plurality of rows present in the EDT specifications;

generating an input sequence by selecting a random sequence of rows from the EDT specifications using an input sequence generation module (104), wherein the input sequence generation further involves giving priority to unmatched rows out of the plurality of rows of the EDT specifications;

passing the input sequence to an expected output generation module (106), wherein the expected output generation module (106) executes each of the automaton out of the automata, corresponding to each of the cells of the EDT and determines the rows out of the plurality of rows that matches the input sequence to generate an expected output sequence; and

providing the expected output sequence to a final output generation module (110) to generate the functional test cases if a predefined set of conditions are satisfied, wherein the predefined set of conditions comprises,

at least one of a row or a row-interaction is covered by the functional test cases and the functional test cases do not involve an invalid test scenario.

2. The method of claim 1 further includes the step of fuzzing to cover complex time-based requirements of the software system by changing a time period at which the input sequence is generated.

3. The method of claim 1 further includes the step of rejecting the functional test case if the functional test case matches to a row in the input sequence corresponding to a reject flag, wherein the reject flag refers to an improbable condition of the software system.

4. The method of claim 1 further includes the step of generating an error by the final output generation module if the functional test case matches to a row in the input sequence corresponding to an error flag, wherein the error flag refers to a system property violation of the software system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the automata are discrete timed automata.

6. The method of claim 1 further includes the step of merging the expected output sequence generated by the matched rows out of the plurality of rows.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the EDT specifications comprising one or more tables having at least one input parameter and at least one output parameter and the rows of the EDT specifications specifying the relationship between the input parameter and the output parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rows are mapping to the requirement of the software system.

9. A system for generating functional test cases for testing a software system, the system comprising a processor and:

an automata builder (102) constructing automata, the automata correspond to each of the cells in a plurality of rows present in EDT specifications, wherein the EDT specifications are specifying the requirements of the system;

an input sequence generation module (104) generating an input sequence by selecting a random sequence of rows from the EDT specifications, wherein the input sequence generation further involves giving priority to unmatched rows out of the plurality of rows of the EDT specifications;

an expected output generation module (106) receiving the input sequence from the input sequence generation module, wherein the expected output generation module executes each of the automaton out of the automata, corresponding to each of the cells of the EDT and determines the rows that match the input sequence to generate an output sequence;

a final output generation module (110) configured to receive the output sequence and generate the functional test cases if a predefined set of conditions are satisfied, wherein the predefined set of conditions comprises;

at least one of a row or a row-interaction is covered by the functional test cases and the functional test cases do not involve an invalid test scenario.

10. The system of claim 9 further includes a test case selector (108) configured to forward the output sequence to the final output generation module if the predefined set of conditions are satisfied.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the automata are discrete timed automata.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for generating functional test cases for testing a software system, the method comprising:

providing expressive decision table (EDT) specifications, wherein the EDT specifications specify requirements of the software system;

constructing automata using an automata builder (102), wherein the automata correspond to each of a plurality of cells in a plurality of rows present in the EDT specifications;

generating an input sequence by selecting a random sequence of rows from the EDT specifications using an input sequence generation module (104), wherein the input sequence generation further involves giving priority to unmatched rows out of the plurality of rows of the EDT specifications;

passing the input sequence to an expected output generation module (106), wherein the expected output generation module (106) executes each of the automaton out of the automata, corresponding to each of the cells of the EDT and determines the rows out of the plurality of rows that matches the input sequence to generate an expected output sequence; and

providing the expected output sequence to a final output generation module (110) to generate the functional test cases if a predefined set of conditions are satisfied, wherein the predefined set of conditions comprises,

at least one of a row or a row-interaction is covered by the functional test cases and the functional test cases do not involve an invalid test scenario.