An Object-based Data Flow Testing Approach for Web Applications

In recent years, Web applications have grown rapidly because of their abilities to provide online information access to anyone at anytime around the world. As Web applications become complex, there is a growing concern about their quality and reliability. This paper extends traditional data flow testing techniques to Web applications. Several data flow issues about analyzing HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents in Web applications are discussed. An object-based data flow testing approach is presented. The approach is based on a test model that captures data flow test artifacts of Web applications. In the test model, each entity of a Web application is modeled as an object. The data flow information of the functions within an object or across objects is then captured using various flow graphs. Based on the object-based test model, data flow test cases for a Web application can be systematically and selectively generated in five different levels.