Uml Model Maturity and Component Integration Test - Case Generation

Software testing is one method of revealing faults in a system's design or implementation. In the past, software testing has been described as potentially the most expensive aspect of a system's development. A recently completed three year study into the generation of test cases from design models, suggests that the software industry must develop automated techniques of system testing. Other researchers have suggested that the earlier in the process that faults can be found, the less effort is required to correct those faults; and therefore significantly reduce the costs associated with testing. An objective of the proposed study, is to create a test suite specifically for black-box integration testing of component-based software applications, prior to the commencement of coding. The test suite, generated automatically, is to be derived from information extracted from a variety of graphical diagrams that model the functional and structural aspects of a system. The proposed study's concurrent focus is on the testability assessment of system design diagrams. We intend to confirm whether diagrams, included in a model, contain sufficient information for the automatic generation of test cases, and how much specific information is necessary to produce an effective component integration test suite. It is intended that the assessment process will occur early in the system development life-cycle, thereby ensuring that time is not wasted unnecessarily on coding a defective design.