A UML-based Approach towards Test Case Generation and Optimization

Abstract

Software testing is an important phase as it ensures the software quality. The software testing process comprises of three steps: generation, execution, and evaluation of test cases. Literature claims the usage of single and multiple 'Unified Modeling Language' (UML) diagrams to generate test cases. Using multiple UML diagrams increases test case coverage. However, the existing approaches show limitations in test case generation from UML diagrams. Therefore, in this research study, we propose an approach to generate the test cases using UML State Chart Diagram (SCD), Activity Diagram (AD), and Sequence Diagram (SD). The proposed approach transforms UML diagrams into intermediate forms: SCD Graph, AD Graph, and SD Graph respectively. Furthermore, by integrating these three graphs, a System Testing Graph (STG) is formed. Finally, test cases are identified from STG by using a traversal algorithm such as Depth First Search (DFS) that is an optimization method. The results show that the proposed approach is better compared to existing approaches in terms of coverage and performance. Moreover, the generated test cases have the ability to detect faults at the unit level, integration, and system level testing.