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 specificationhelps in automation of the test generation process.For large and complex systems, testing based oncovering the control flow or data flow paths becomes infeasible.In this regard, an efficient set of test scenariosneed to be generated. One of the main objectives oftesting is to check whether customer requirements aremet. Scenarios help in generating sequence of eventsthat represent the purpose of a system.Requirements are well defined using activity diagramsand this has led to an increased interest on generatingtest scenarios using activity diagrams. Eachpath from the initial node to the final node in an activitydiagram constitutes a test scenario. The problemencountered following the strategy is exponentialincrease in test scenarios when considering concurrentactivities, represented in an activity diagram usingfork-join nodes. In this paper, we investigate this problemand have observed that the growth in test scenarioscan be limited by considering domain dependency existingamong concurrent activities. The paper proposesa method to automate the test scenario generation process.