CBS testing requirements and test case process documentation revisited

Abstract

Component-based software testing is an important capability that supports productivity and quality assurance in component-based software development. The increased size and complexity of software systems has led to the current focus on developing distributed applications that are constructed primarily using components. Thus, the component-based systems require efficient and effective ways to test these systems and need to develop effective techniques for testing various aspects of the components such as reusability, security, dependability and safety. Study on the subject by several researchers indicates that more than fifty percent of the cost of software development is devoted to testing and it results into very high cost for testing complex software. The present paper is aimed at improving component-based system testing while considering two factors: component-based system testing requirement and test case process documentation. Lastly, the paper also discusses the limitations of component-based software testing that hinders component-based development.

New and innovative process to construct testable component with systematic approach

“…A component test record shall be produced each time a test run. It includes component specification, component under test, and number of test discrepancies, coverage measurement and fault reports [12]. The test records for each test case shall unambiguously record the identities and versions of the component under test and the test specification.…”

A generic process to build reliable distributed software components from early to late stages of software development

“…If all components are fault free, a software architecture consisting of these may fail due to invalid interactions [11].…”

“…For example, we have to verify that the obtained assembly is deadlock free in order to avoid inter blockage and malignant cycles. Many techniques can be used to verify interaction between components such as formal methods [16], [6], [9], [7] and integration testing [11]. The first one is used to avoid interaction fault occurrence by setting constraints that must be proved.…”