Applying the Test Automation Framework With Use Cases and the Unified Modeling Language

Contents Currently, there is great interest in the use case technique and the Unified Modeling Language (UML). This paper explains how use cases and UML models are somewhat limited in the information they provide to testers. Any effective set of tests represents a detailed understanding of the requirements of the unit under test, as well as the interfaces provided to the test drivers. Although use cases and UML diagrams provide many important clues to the tester, they typically lack much vital information, especially in support of rigorous and cost-effective testing, as accomplished with the Software Productivity Consortium's Test Automation Framework (TAF). Given these limitations, the focus is on how best to employ TAF when working with UML artifacts. This is the first Consortium paper addressing the issue of using UML to support test automation with TAF. Based on member requests, this paper may be extended to include more technical details explaining how typical UML artifacts may be used to provide interface information.