Software testing

Objectives

To discuss the distinctions between
validation testing and defect testing

To describe the principles of system and
component testing

To describe strategies for generating system
test cases

To understand the essential characteristics
of tool used for test automation
 Topics covered

System testing

Component testing

Test case design

Test automation
 The testing process

Component testing
• Testing of individual program components;
• Usually the responsibility of the component developer
(except sometimes for critical systems);
• Tests are derived from the developer’s experience.

System testing
• Testing of groups of components integrated to create a
system or sub-system;
• The responsibility of an independent testing team;
• Tests are based on a system specification.
 Testing phases

Component System
testing testing

Software developer Independent testing team

 Defect testing

The goal of defect testing is to discover
defects in programs

A successful defect test is a test which
causes a program to behave in an
anomalous way

Tests show the presence not the absence of
defects
 Testing process goals

Validation testing
• To demonstrate to the developer and the system
customer that the software meets its requirements;
• A successful test shows that the system operates as
intended.

Defect testing
• To discover faults or defects in the software where its
behaviour is incorrect or not in conformance with its
specification;
• A successful test is a test that makes the system perform
incorrectly and so exposes a defect in the system.
 The software testing process

Test Test Test Test

cases data results reports

Design test Prepare test Run program Compare results

cases data with test da
ta to test cases
 Testing policies

Only exhaustive testing can show a program is free
from defects. However, exhaustive testing is
impossible,

Testing policies define the approach to be used in
selecting system tests:
• All functions accessed through menus should be tested;
• Combinations of functions accessed through the same
menu should be tested;
• Where user input is required, all functions must be tested
with correct and incorrect input.
 System testing

Involves integrating components to create a
system or sub-system.

May involve testing an increment to be
delivered to the customer.

Two phases:
• Integration testing - the test team have access
to the system source code. The system is
tested as components are integrated.
• Release testing - the test team test the
complete system to be delivered as a black-box.
 Integration testing

Involves building a system from its components
and testing it for problems that arise from
component interactions.

Top-down integration
• Develop the skeleton of the system and populate it
with components.

Bottom-up integration
• Integrate infrastructure components then add
functional components.

To simplify error localisation, systems should be
incrementally integrated.
Incremental integration testing

A T1

T1
A
T1 T2
A B
T2

T2 B T3

T3
B C
T3 T4
C
T4

D T5

Test sequence 1 Test sequence 2 Test sequence 3

 Testing approaches

Architectural validation
• Top-down integration testing is better at discovering
errors in the system architecture.

System demonstration
• Top-down integration testing allows a limited
demonstration at an early stage in the development.

Test implementation
• Often easier with bottom-up integration testing.

Test observation
• Problems with both approaches. Extra code may be
required to observe tests.
 Release testing

The process of testing a release of a system
that will be distributed to customers.

Primary goal is to increase the supplier’s
confidence that the system meets its
requirements.

Release testing is usually black-box or
functional testing
• Based on the system specification only;
• Testers do not have knowledge of the system
implementation.
 Black-box testing
Inputs causing
anomalous
Input test da
ta Ie behaviour

System

Outputs which reveal

the presence of
Output testesults
r Oe defects
 Testing guidelines

Testing guidelines are hints for the testing
team to help them choose tests that will
reveal defects in the system
• Choose inputs that force the system to generate
all error messages;
• Design inputs that cause buffers to overflow;
• Repeat the same input or input series several
times;
• Force invalid outputs to be generated;
• Force computation results to be too large or too
small.
 Testing scenario

A student in Scotland is studying American History and has been asked to write a paper
on ÔFrontier mentality in the American West from 1840 to 1880Õ.To do this, she needs to
find sources from a range of libraries. She logs on to the LIBSYS system and uses the
search facility to discover if she can access original documents from that time. She
discovers sources in various US university libraries and downloads copies of some of
these. However, for one document, she needs to have confirmation from her university
that she is a genuine student and that use is for non-commercial purposes. The student
then uses the facility in LIBSYS that can request such permission and registers her
request. If granted, the document will be downloaded to the registered libraryÕs server
and printed for her. She receives a message from LIBSYS telling her that she will receive
an e-mail message when the printed document is available for collection.
System tests
 Use cases

Use cases can be a basis for deriving the
tests for a system. They help identify
operations to be tested and help design the
required test cases.

From an associated sequence diagram, the
inputs and outputs to be created for the tests
can be identified.
Collect weather data sequence chart

:CommsController :WeatherStation :WeatherData

request (repor
t)

acknowledge ()
report ()
summarise ()

send (repor
t)
reply (repor
t)

acknowledge ()
 Performance testing

Part of release testing may involve testing
the emergent properties of a system, such
as performance and reliability.

Performance tests usually involve planning a
series of tests where the load is steadily
increased until the system performance
becomes unacceptable.
 Stress testing

Exercises the system beyond its maximum design
load. Stressing the system often causes defects to
come to light.

Stressing the system test failure behaviour..
Systems should not fail catastrophically. Stress
testing checks for unacceptable loss of service or
data.

Stress testing is particularly relevant to distributed
systems that can exhibit severe degradation as a
network becomes overloaded.
 Component testing

Component or unit testing is the process of
testing individual components in isolation.

It is a defect testing process.

Components may be:
• Individual functions or methods within an object;
• Object classes with several attributes and
methods;
• Composite components with defined interfaces
used to access their functionality.
 Object class testing

Complete test coverage of a class involves
• Testing all operations associated with an object;
• Setting and interrogating all object attributes;
• Exercising the object in all possible states.

Inheritance makes it more difficult to design
object class tests as the information to be
tested is not localised.
Weather station object interface

WeatherStation
identifier
reportWeather ()
calibrate (instruments)
test ()
startup (instruments)
shutdown (instruments)
 Weather station testing

Need to define test cases for reportWeather,
calibrate, test, startup and shutdown.

Using a state model, identify sequences of
state transitions to be tested and the event
sequences to cause these transitions

For example:
• Waiting -> Calibrating -> Testing -> Transmitting
-> Waiting
 Interface testing

Objectives are to detect faults due to
interface errors or invalid assumptions about
interfaces.

Particularly important for object-oriented
development as objects are defined by their
interfaces.
Interface testing
Test
cases

A B

C
 Interface types

Parameter interfaces
• Data passed from one procedure to another.

Shared memory interfaces
• Block of memory is shared between procedures or
functions.

Procedural interfaces
• Sub-system encapsulates a set of procedures to be
called by other sub-systems.

Message passing interfaces
• Sub-systems request services from other sub-system.s
 Interface errors

Interface misuse
• A calling component calls another component and makes
an error in its use of its interface e.g. parameters in the
wrong order.

Interface misunderstanding
• A calling component embeds assumptions about the
behaviour of the called component which are incorrect.

Timing errors
• The called and the calling component operate at different
speeds and out-of-date information is accessed.
 Interface testing guidelines

Design tests so that parameters to a called
procedure are at the extreme ends of their ranges.

Always test pointer parameters with null pointers.

Design tests which cause the component to fail.

Use stress testing in message passing systems.

In shared memory systems, vary the order in which
components are activated.
 Test case design

Involves designing the test cases (inputs and
outputs) used to test the system.

The goal of test case design is to create a
set of tests that are effective in validation
and defect testing.

Design approaches:
• Requirements-based testing;
• Partition testing;
• Structural testing.
 Requirements based testing

A general principle of requirements
engineering is that requirements should be
testable.

Requirements-based testing is a validation
testing technique where you consider each
requirement and derive a set of tests for that
requirement.
LIBSYS requirements
 LIBSYS tests
 Initiate user search for searches for items that are known to
be present and known not to be present, where the set of
databases includes 1 database.
 Initiate user searches for items that are known to be present
and known not to be present, where the set of databases
includes 2 databases
 Initiate user searches for items that are known to be present
and known not to be present where the set of databases
includes more than 2 databases.
 Select one database from the set of databases and initiate
user searches for items that are known to be present and
known not to be present.
 Select more than one database from the set of databases
and initiate searches for items that are known to be present
and known not to be present.
 Partition testing

Input data and output results often fall into
different classes where all members of a
class are related.

Each of these classes is an equivalence
partition or domain where the program
behaves in an equivalent way for each class
member.

Test cases should be chosen from each
partition.
Equivalence partitioning

Invalid inputs Valid inputs

System

Outputs
 Equivalence partitions
3 11
4 7 10

Less than 4 Between 4 and 0

1 More than 1
0

Number ofinput values

9999 100000
10000 50000 99999

Less than 1
0000 Between 10000 and 99999 More than 99999

Input values
 Search routine specification

procedure Search (Key : ELEM ; T: SEQ of ELEM;

Found : in out BOOLEAN; L: in out ELEM_INDEX) ;

Pre-condition
-- the sequence has at least one element
T’FIRST <= T’LAST
Post-condition
-- the element is found and is referenced by L
( Found and T (L) = Key)
or
-- the element is not in the array
( not Found and
not (exists i, T’FIRST >= i <= T’LAST, T (i) = Key ))
Search routine - input partitions

Inputs which conform to the pre-conditions.

Inputs where a pre-condition does not hold.

Inputs where the key element is a member of

the array.

Inputs where the key element is not a
member of the array.
Testing guidelines (sequences)

Test software with sequences which have
only a single value.

Use sequences of different sizes in different
tests.

Derive tests so that the first, middle and last
elements of the sequence are accessed.

Test with sequences of zero length.
Search routine - input partitions
 Structural testing

Sometime called white-box testing.

Derivation of test cases according to
program structure. Knowledge of the
program is used to identify additional test
cases.

Objective is to exercise all program
statements (not all path combinations).
 Structural testing

Test data

Tests Derives

Component Test
code outputs
Binary search - equiv. partitions

Pre-conditions satisfied, key element in array.

Pre-conditions satisfied, key element not in
array.

Pre-conditions unsatisfied, key element in array.

Pre-conditions unsatisfied, key element not in array.

Input array has a single value.

Input array has an even number of values.

Input array has an odd number of values.
Binary search equiv. partitions

Equivalence class boundaries

Elements < Mid Elements > Mid

Mid-point
Binary search - test cases
 Path testing

The objective of path testing is to ensure that
the set of test cases is such that each path
through the program is executed at least
once.

The starting point for path testing is a
program flow graph that shows nodes
representing program decisions and arcs
representing the flow of control.

Statements with conditions are therefore
nodes in the flow graph.
Binary search flow graph
1

bottom > top while bottom <= top

5

elemArray [mid] != key

7 11
elemArray
elemArray [mid] > key elemArray [mid] < key
[mid] = key

8
12 13

14 10
 Independent paths

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 14

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 5, …

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 2, 11, 13, 5, …

Test cases should be derived so that all of
these paths are executed

A dynamic program analyser may be used to
check that paths have been executed
 Test automation

Testing is an expensive process phase. Testing
workbenches provide a range of tools to reduce the
time required and total testing costs.

Systems such as Junit support the automatic
execution of tests.

Most testing workbenches are open systems
because testing needs are organisation-specific.

They are sometimes difficult to integrate with closed
design and analysis workbenches.
 A testing workbench
Test data
Specification
generator

Source Test
Test data Oracle
code manager

Dynamic Program Test

Test results
analyser being tested predictions

Execution File
Simulator
report comparator

Report Test results

generator report
Testing workbench adaptation

Scripts may be developed for user interface
simulators and patterns for test data
generators.

Test outputs may have to be prepared
manually for comparison.

Special-purpose file comparators may be
developed.
 Key points

Testing can show the presence of faults in a system;
it cannot prove there are no remaining faults.

Component developers are responsible for
component testing; system testing is the
responsibility of a separate team.

Integration testing is testing increments of the
system; release testing involves testing a system to
be released to a customer.

Use experience and guidelines to design test cases
in defect testing.
 Key points

Interface testing is designed to discover defects in
the interfaces of composite components.

Equivalence partitioning is a way of discovering test
cases - all cases in a partition should behave in the
same way.

Structural analysis relies on analysing a program
and deriving tests from this analysis.

Test automation reduces testing costs by supporting
the test process with a range of software tools.