EventFlowSlicer: goal based test generation for graphical user interfaces

Jonathan Saddler, Myra B. Cohen
2016 Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Automating Test Case Design, Selection, and Evaluation - A-TEST 2016  
Automated test generation techniques for graphical user interfaces include model-based approaches that generate tests from a graph or state machine model, capture-replay methods that require the user to demonstrate each test case, and pattern-based approaches that provide templates for abstract test cases. There has been little work, however, in automated goal-based testing, where the goal is a realistic user task, a function, or an abstract behavior. Recent work in human performance regression
more » ... testing has shown that there is a need for generating multiple test cases that execute the same user task in different ways, however that work does not have an efficient way to generate tests and only a single type of goal has been considered. In this paper we expand the notion of goal based interface testing to generate tests for a variety of goals. We develop a direct test generation technique, EventFlowSlicer, that is more efficient than that used in human performance regression testing, reducing run times by 92.5% on average for test suites between 9 to 26 steps and 63.1% across all test suites. Our evaluation shows that the number of tests generated is non-trivial -more than can be easily captured manually. On average EventFlowSlicer generated 38 test cases per suite, and as many as 200 test cases which all achieve the same goal for a specified task. CCS Concepts •Software and its engineering → Software verification and validation;
doi:10.1145/2994291.2994293 fatcat:6intix3webfwhgk53c5uj4rspy