Automating Formal Speciication-based Testing to Appear: Tapsoft '97

This paper presents a technique for automatically generating logical schemata that specify groups of black-box test cases from formal speci cations containing universal and existential quanti cation. These schemata are called test frames. Previous automated techniques have dealt with languages based on propositional logic. Since this new technique deals with quanti cation it can be applied to more expressive speci cations. This makes the technique applicable to speci cations written at the system requirements level. The limitations imposed by quanti cation are discussed. Industrial needs are addressed by the capabilities of recognizing and augmenting existing test frames and by accommodating a range of speci cation-coverage schemes. The coverage scheme taxonomy introduced in this paper provides a standard for controlling the number of test frames produced. This technique is intended to automate portions of what is done manually by practitioners. Basing this technique on formal rules of logical derivation ensures that the test frames produced are logical consequences of the speci cation. It is expected that deriving test frames automatically will o set the cost of developing a formal speci cation. This tangible product makes formal speci cation more economically feasible for industry.