Feature-Focused Test Generation

Zusammenfassung

Specification-based test generators use input specifications to produce valid tests for complex systems, covering the entire input space of the system under test. This broad generation capability, however, can become a burden when one wants to focus test generation on a particular subset of the input space, say, a feature whose implementation has recently changed or is particularly critical. In this paper, we propose Feature-Focused Test Generation (FFTG), an approach that treats specification-based test generation as a configuration problem. From the input specification, FFTG first extracts a feature model that represents alternate and optional expansions as possible feature values. After the tester selects which features to focus upon, FFTG specializes the specification accordingly, generating inputs in which only the focused features vary. We implement FFTG in a prototype named Compás. In our evaluation, we find that Compás-generated slices (1) effectively focus test generation on specific features, preserving validity; (2) exercise unique code locations associated with the targeted features and thus enable traceability of features; and (3) enable test suite minimization, with a small set of slices retaining the aggregate coverage of the full suite while requiring fewer tests. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to apply product line engineering techniques to specification-based testing.