Specification based test sequence generation with propositional logic

In the domain of concurrent reactive systems, much work has been devoted to (semi‐)automatically validating a system's correctness. In this paper a novel approach to the automated generation of test sequences is presented. It may be used for both glass box testing a specification and black box testing an implementation (software/hardware). Finite system models specified within the CASE tool AutoFocus as well as user‐friendly test case specifications are automatically translated into propositional logic and fed into the propositional solver SATO. Results are interpreted as input/output traces (test sequences) of the system, and may be displayed as message sequence charts. A small example illustrates the basic ideas as well as the method's advantages and shortcomings. The testing process is integrated into an overall development process. Main contributions include the implementation of a tool for graphical specification of test cases and the description of an efficient method to compute test sequences fully automatically as well as its integration into the same CASE tool. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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