An automated framework for structural test-data generation

TLDR

Structural testing standards require 100 % coverage, yet generating the necessary test data is labor‑intensive and costly. The paper proposes an automated approach to generate test data that can also be generalized to other test‑data generation problems. The method uses dynamic optimisation‑based search to produce test data, and is applied to boundary value analysis, assertion/run‑time exception testing, and component re‑use testing. A prototype toolset was built, and preliminary experiments demonstrate its efficiency and effectiveness in generating test data for structural testing.

Abstract

Structural testing criteria are mandated in many software development standards and guidelines. The process of generating test data to achieve 100% coverage of a given structural coverage metric is labour-intensive and expensive. This paper presents an approach to automate the generation of such test data. The test-data generation is based on the application of a dynamic optimisation-based search for the required test data. The same approach can be generalised to solve other test-data generation problems. Three such applications are discussed-boundary value analysis, assertion/run-time exception testing, and component re-use testing. A prototype tool-set has been developed to facilitate the automatic generation of test data for these structural testing problems. The results of preliminary experiments using this technique and the prototype tool-set are presented and show the efficiency and effectiveness of this approach.