On integrating multiple restriction domains to automatically generate test cases of model transformations

• Published in: Informatica (Ljubljana) Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 21 - 41
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Hanh Thi, Dang, Hanh Duc
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ljubljana Slovenian Society Informatika / Slovensko drustvo Informatika 01.03.2023
• Subjects: Alliances; Automation; Contracts; Domains; Effectiveness; Metamodels; Model testing; Partitioning; Restrictions; Software testing; Subject specialists; Transformations (mathematics)
• ISSN: 0350-5596; 1854-3871
• DOI: 10.31449/inf.v47i1.4421

Testing model transformations poses several challenges, one of which is how to automatically generate effective test suites. A promising approach for this is to employ equivalence partitioning, a well-known technique for software testing. Specifically, in order to generate effective test suites, current works in literature often focus on exploiting either the structural aspects of models or transformation contracts for partition analysis. However, for the aim, they focus on only a single restriction source such as metamodels, contracts of the transformation, and domain-expert knowledge. To increase the effectiveness of generated test suites, partitioning techniques should be performed on a combination of various restriction sources. This paper introduces a method to generate test models on such a multi-domain ofrestrictions. The method also allows the tester to flexibly select and combine constraints to create a unified restriction for different strategies and objectives in model transformation testing. We developed a support tool based on the UML-based Specification Environment (USE) and performed experiments on several transformations to point out the effectiveness of our method.