Applying "Functional Scenario-Based" Test Case Generation Method in Unit Testing and Integration Testing

Specification-based testing enables us to detect errors in the implementation of functions defined in given specifications. Its effectiveness in achieving high path coverage and efficiency in generating test cases are always major concerns of testers. The automatic test case generation approach based on formal specifications proposed by Liu and Nakajima is aimed at ensuring high effectiveness and efficiency, but this approach has not been used under different testing environments. In this paper, we first present the statical analysis of the characteristics of the test case generation approach, and then show the experiments of using this approach in two different real testing environments. The two practical testing cases include a unit testing and an integration testing. We perform the testing not only for assessing Liu's approach in practice, but also trying to get some experience of using this approach in practice. The static analysis and the results of experiments indicate that this test case generation approach may not be effective in some circumstances, especially in integration testing. We discuss the results, analyze the specific causes for the ineffectiveness, namely the low path coverage, and propose some suggestions for improvement.