SOFTWARE

TESTING
 IT2032 Software Testing

Chapter 6:-
Level of
Testing
The Need for Levels of Testing

Different Level of Testing

Unit Testing
Integration Testing
System Testing
Acceptance Testing
 Levels of Testing
Individual
Unit Test
Components

Components
Integration Test
groups

System Test System as a whole

System as a whole –
Acceptance Test
Customer requirements
Level of Testing and software development
Paradigms

 Two major approaches to system development

 Bottom – up supported two types of
Programming Language
1.) Procedure - Oriented
2.) Object - Oriented
 Top – down
 Unit Test

 A unit is the smallest possible testable

software component.
 It can be characterized in several ways.
For example, a unit in a typical procedure-
oriented software system:
 performs a single cohesive function;
 can be compiled separately;
 is a task in a work breakdown structure
(from the manager‘s point of view);
 contains code that can fit on a single page or
screen.
Some components suitable for unit test

Procedure Class / Procedure – sized

and Objects and reusable
Functions Methods components
Unit Test:- The need for Preparation

To prepare for unit test the developer/Tester must

perform several tasks.
i. Plan the general approach to unit testing;
ii. Design the test cases and procedure;
iii. Define relationship between the tests;
iv. Prepare the auxiliary code necessary for unit
test;
 Unit Test Planning
Document that provides input for the unit test plan
i. Project plan
ii. Requirement
iii. Specification
iv. Design document that describes the target units.
 Development phase for unit test planning

1) Phase 1:-Describing Unit Test Approach and

Risks
2) Phase 2:-Identify Unit Features to be Tested
3) Phase 3:-Add Levels of Details to the plan.
 Phase 1: Describe Unit Test Approach and
Risks

In this phase of unit testing planning the general approach to unit

testing is outlined. The test planner:-
(i) identifies test risks;
(ii) describes techniques to be used for designing the test cases for
the units;
(iii) describes techniques to be used for data validation and
recording of test results;
(iv) describes the requirements for test harnesses and other software
that interfaces with the units to be tested, for example, any special
objects needed for testing object-oriented units.
Phase 2: Identify Unit Features to be Tested

This phase requires information from

i. the unit specification
ii. detailed design description.
The planner determines which features of each unit will be
tested, for example:
1. functions,
2. performance requirements,
3. states, and state transitions,
4. control structures,
5. messages,
6. data flow patterns.
 If some features will not be covered by the
tests, they should be mentioned and the risks
of not testing them be assessed.
 Input/output characteristics associated with

each unit should also be

i. identified, such as variables with an
allowed ranges of values
ii. performance at a certain level.
Phase 3: Add Levels of Detail to the Plan

The planner adds new details to the

1) approach,
2) resource,
3) scheduling portions of the unit test plan.
 The planner must be sure to include a
description of how test results will be recorded.
 Test-related documents that will be required for

this task,
 for example,
1) test logs
2) test incident reports,
3) references to standards for these documents
provided.
 Designing the unit tests

 Part of the preparation work for unit test

involves unit test design.
 It is important to specify

(i) the test cases (including input data, and

expected outputs for each test case),
(ii) the test procedures (steps required run
the tests).
 Test case data should be tabularized for
i. ease of use,
ii. reuse
 components of a test case
i. Object_ID,
ii. Test_Case_ID,
iii. Purpose,
iv. List_of_Test_Case_Steps.
 The Class as a Testable Unit :- Special
Considerations

 Many developers/testers consider the class to be

the component of choice for unit testing.
 The process of testing classes as units is
sometimes called component test .
 A class encapsulates multiple interacting methods
operating on common data, so what we are testing
is the intra-class interaction of the methods.
 When testing on the class level we are able detect
not only traditional types of defects
Sample stack class with multiple methods

Stack Class
Data for Stack
.
.
Member function for
Stack
Create( s, size)
Push( s, item)
Pop( s, item)
Full( s )
Empty( s )
Show-top( s )
 Issue 1: Adequately Testing Classes

 If it is decided that the class is the smallest

component to test, testers must decide if they
are able to adequately cover all necessary
features of each method in class testing.
 Some researchers believe that coverage

objectives and test data need to be developed

for each of the methods.
 Example, the create, pop, push, empty, full, and
show_top methods associated with the stack class
 The methods push, pop, full, empty, and show_top

will either read or modify the state of the stack.

 A test sequence for a stack that can hold three

items might be:

create(s,3), empty(s), push(s,item-1), push(s,item-
2), push(s,item-3), full(s), show_top(s), pop(s ,item),
pop(s, item), pop(s ,item), empty(s), . . .
 Testers will want to determine,
 For example,
 if push places an item in the correct position at the top of
the stack.
 However, a call to the method full may have to be made
first to determine if the stack is already full.
 Testers will also want to determine if push and pop work
together properly so that the stack pointer is in the correct
position after a sequence of calls to these methods
 Issue 2: Observation of Object States and State
Changes

 Methods may not return a specific value to a caller.

 They may instead change the state of an object.
 The state of an object is represented by a specific set
of values for its attributes or state variables.
 Methods will often modify the state of an object, and
the tester must ensure that each state transition is
proper.
 example, the first call to the method push in the stack
class
 Changes the state of the stack so that empty is no
longer true.
 It also changes the value of the stack pointer
variable, top.
 To determine if the method push is working
properly the value of the variable top must be
visible both before and after the invocation of this
method.
 In this case the method show_top within the class
may be called to perform this task.
 The methods full and empty also probe the state of
the stack.
 A sample augmented sequence of calls to check
the value of top and the full/empty state of the
three-item stack is:
 empty(s), push(s,item-1), show_top(s)
 push(s,item-2), show_top(s),
 push(s,item-3), full(s), show_top(s),
 pop(s, item), show_top(s),
 pop(s , item), show_top(s), empty(s), . . .
 Issue 3: The Retesting of Classes—I

 One of the most beneficial features of object-oriented

development is encapsulation.
 This is a technique that can be used to hide information.
 If a superclass, for example, is changed, then it is
necessary to retest all of its subclasses.
 In addition, when a new subclass is added (or modified),
we must also retest the methods inherited from each of
its ancestor super classes.
 The new (or changed) subclass introduces an unexpected form of
dependency because there now exists a new context for the
inherited components.
 Issue 4: The Retesting of Classes—II

 a tester may assume that once a method in a

superclass has been tested, it does not need
retested in a subclass that inherits it.
 there may be an overriding of methods where a
subclass may replace an inherited method with a
locally defined method.
 Not only will the new locally defined method
have to be retested, but designing a new set of test
cases may be necessary.
Sample shape class

Class Shape
Data for shape
.
Member functions for Shape
Create ( figure )
Color( figure, color)
Rotate( figure, degree)
Shrink( figure, Percent)
Enlarge( figure, Percent)
Duplicate( figure)
Display ( figure)
 Suppose the shape superclass has a subclass, triangle,
and triangle has a subclass, equilateral triangle.
 Also suppose that the method display in shape needs to
call the method color for its operation.
 Equilateral triangle could have a local definition for
the method display.
 That method could in turn use a local definition for
color which has been defined in triangle.
 This local definition of the color method in triangle has
been tested to work with the inherited display method
in shape, but not with the locally defined display in
equilateral triangle.
 The Test Harness
 In addition to developing the test cases,
supporting code must be developed to exercise
each unit and to connect it to the outside world.
 Since the tester is considering a stand-alone

function/procedure/class, rather than a

complete system, code will be needed to call
the target unit, and also to represent modules
that are called by the target unit.
 The Test Harness

 The auxiliary code developed to support

testing of units and components is called a
test harness.
 The harness consists of drivers that call

the target code and stubs that represent

modules it calls.
 The Test Harness

Call
Stub1

Call & pass parameter Acknowledge

Driver
Unit
Under
Results
Test
Call
Stub2
Acknowledge
 Drivers and stubs can be developed at several
levels of functionality.
 For example, a driver could have the following
options and combinations of options:
(i) call the target unit;
(ii) do 1, and pass inputs parameters from a
table;
(iii) do 1, 2, and display parameters;
(iv) do 1, 2, 3 and display results (output
parameters).
 The stubs could also exhibit different levels of
functionality.
 For example a stub could:

(i) display a message that it has been called by the

target unit;
(ii) do 1, and display any input parameters passed
from the target unit;
(iii) do 1, 2, and pass back a result from a table;
(iv) do 1, 2, 3, and display result from table.
 Running the unit tests and recording results

 Unit tests can begin when

(i) the units becomes available from the developers (an
estimation of availability is part of the test plan),
(ii) the test cases have been designed and reviewed,
(iii) the test harness, and any other supplemental
supporting tools, are available.
 The testers then proceed to run the tests and record

results.
 Some work sheet for unit test
results

Unit Test Worksheet

Unit Name:____________________________________________________________

Unit Identifier:__________________________________________________________

Tester:_________________________________________________________________

Date:_________________________________________________________________

Test case ID Status (run / not run) Summary of results Pass / Fail
 Recording Results
 It is very important for the tester at any level of
testing to carefully record, review, and check test
results.
 The tester must determine from the results whether
the unit has passed or failed the test.
 If the test is failed, the nature of the problem should
be recorded in what is sometimes called a test
incident report.
 When a unit fails a test there may be several reasons for
the failure.
 The most likely reason for the failure is a fault in the unit
implementation (the code).
 Other likely causes that need to be carefully investigated
by the tester are the following:
i. a fault in the test case specification (the input or the output
was not specified correctly);
ii. a fault in test procedure execution (the test should be rerun);
iii. a fault in the test environment (perhaps a database was not
set up properly);
iv. a fault in the unit design (the code correctly adheres to the
design specification, but the latter is incorrect).
 The causes of the failure should be recorded in a test
summary report, which is a summary of testing
activities for all the units covered by the unit test plan.
 Ideally, when a unit has been completely tested and
finally passes all of the required tests it is ready for
integration.
 Finally, the tester should insure that the test cases, test
procedures, and test harnesses are preserved for future
reuse.