JPH06110733A - Program test case generator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] A test case of a program is generated by automatically generating a script file and test data for executing a test, and reliability of test debugging and work efficiency are improved. [Structure] A function to generate a script file for test execution by synthesizing a program specification and a standard type of a script file defined for each processing mode of the program, and a function specification and a definition for each processing mode of the program It consists of a function to generate test data for each test case of the program from the standard type of the test case.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to reliability and productivity improvement of software, and more particularly to a device for automatically generating a test execution script file and test data when executing a unit test of a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of the effective methods for improving the test debug efficiency, a test execution script file (hereinafter, the contents of the file is referred to as the test command Called) is generated. This test command generation function inputs the completed source program, instruction information for program execution and interruption, and
The items and record names used in the program are identified, and data matching the length and type is generated for the items in the test command and used as the input data for the test. This method is effective in that the item names and paragraph names make the test command according to the contents of the program to be tested. For the conventional technology described above, refer to "Program Product VOS3" of Hitachi, Ltd.
System Development Support EAGLE2 COBOL Edition "manual (6180-3-811), page 62 to page 76.

An automatic test data generation function is available as means for creating test execution test data for a program. This automatic test data generation function searches the data specifications and generates data with a certain regularity that matches the length and type of the data items used in the program. With this function, you can freely generate the specified number of unique data items in each record and have an editor that edits the generated test data, so you can easily generate the input data for each test case. Is an effective method. The prior art described above is disclosed in JP-A-60
-200346 No. "Test data generation method for programs".

[0004]

The conventional method has the following problems.

The first problem in the prior art lies in the test execution method. In the test debugging of the program using the above-mentioned test command, the input data is set in the input item of the program under test in the test command. For this reason, it is necessary to create multiple test commands according to the number of test cases in the program and modify the contents using a general-purpose text editor according to each test case, which reduces the efficiency of test debugging. .

The second problem in the prior art is a method of generating a test command. In the conventional technology based on the test command generation method described above, the input / output file name and the item name used in the program are extracted from the source program, expanded as the input information of the program in the test command, and Input conditions were generated mechanically. This method simply generates data that matches the attributes of the item name, regardless of the structure and processing form of the program, so a test command that reflects the design information of the program is not generated, and the coding of the source code ends. There was a problem that the test command could not be generated until later.

Therefore, at the time of test debugging, data generated mechanically in the test command is replaced based on input conditions and data set on the desk as test items in the test case designing stage. It was a hindrance to the reliability of the input test data during debugging.

A first object of the present invention is to standardize a test command by separating input test data and a test execution test command, and generate a script file for test execution independent of test cases.

A second object of the present invention is to make the data set at the time of designing a test case and the substance of data actually used for test debugging the same.

[0010]

In order to achieve the first object, according to the present invention, the name of a program, the type and name of an input / output medium handled by the program, and the program are specified from a program specification having design information of the program. A method that searches for standard pattern names that classify the program structure so that it can be used universally by classifying them according to the processing mode of the program, and a test execution script file of the program that is prepared according to the type of standard pattern. It is characterized by having means for retrieving a corresponding test command pattern from a standard type of command.

In order to achieve the second object of the present invention,
From the standard program checklist that defines the standard test cases of the program according to the standard pattern of the program, the means to select the test case that matches the function of the program, and the check conditions and the input conditions for each test case from this test case. From the means to retrieve the number of output data and key items, the means to retrieve the length and type of the input data items required to test the program from the data specifications, the names and attributes of the data items, and the number of input / output data It is characterized by having a means for creating test data having a certain regularity.

[0012]

In order to achieve the first object, according to the present invention, a test command that matches a standard test command part defined in advance for each standard pattern based on the standard pattern name of the program retrieved from the program specification It was decided to select a part and generate a test command. Also, based on the I / O medium type and name retrieved from the program specifications, the I / O medium format information retrieved from the data specifications can be used to automatically assign the I / O medium during execution in the test command. And As a result, it becomes possible to generate test commands that are not affected by the test cases unique to each program, and it is possible to reduce the amount of modification of test commands, thus improving the efficiency of test debugging and solving the problems of the conventional technology. .

In order to achieve the second object of the present invention,
Required for each test case retrieved from the standard program checklist defined for each standard pattern and the format of the input / output medium retrieved from the data specification and the data item name belonging to it, at the same time as the above test command generation We decided to generate test data for as many records as possible. This makes it possible to recognize the required test case from the design information of the program, and to generate the test data corresponding to this and the test command to execute the test by allocating the generated test data at the same time. , The efficiency of test debugging and the reliability of test data can be improved, and the problems of the prior art can be solved.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a system centering on a test case generation device (105) for realizing an embodiment of the present invention. Program specification library (10
A plurality of program specifications are stored in 1). In the program specification, the name of the standard pattern corresponding to each program, the input / output file name, the screen name, the form name, and the logical device name are defined. Data specification library (10
2) stores a file specification describing the definition information of the file and a record specification defining the record layout of the file. Although not described in the description of the present embodiment, a screen specification that defines a screen layout and a batch form specification that defines an output form layout are also stored in the data specification library. The standard test command pattern library (103) is a library that stores standard test commands for executing the test defined corresponding to the processing pattern of the program. The standard program checklist library (104) is
It is a library that stores a standard program checklist that defines the minimum test cases (three test cases in the following example) necessary for testing the program according to the standard pattern name. Further, the test command library (106) stores a test command according to the target program generated by the test case generation device (105), and the test data file (107) stores a test generated according to the standard test case. Store the data. 2 is a hardware configuration of a computer for realizing the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for realizing the embodiment of the present invention.

First, a test command generating procedure and a test data generating procedure in the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

In the present embodiment, the name of the program to be processed is input from the input device (205) and the display device (204) (step 301). Test case generator (1
05) is the part that generates the test command (step 3).
06-308) and a portion for generating test data (steps 302-305). Hereinafter, each part is called a test command generation tool and a test data generation tool.

First, the test data generation tool will be described. In the standard test case acquisition step (302),
Program specifications (10) on the external storage device (206)
1) is searched for a standard test case corresponding to the standard pattern of the program defined in the program specification,
Similarly, it is input from the standard program checklist library (104) on the external storage device (206).

FIG. 4 is an example of a standard program checklist. This example is a standard pattern of processing for performing additional update of a file, and this pattern is used in a program for performing processing of reading two sequential input files and additionally updating the contents of the master file. One or more test cases are defined in each pattern, and the number of records (404) and key information (405) for each test case (401, 402, 403) and confirmation items to be checked in that test case ( 406).

Returning to FIG. 2, the test data generation step (3
In 03), the data specification library (102) is searched based on the file specification name defined in the program specification of the program, and the file specification in the data specification library and the record specification are used as standard. Generate test data according to the number of records for each test case specified in the test case in the program checklist.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of generating test data. The test data generation tool is the program specification (7
04), the input file specification name (505) is read, and the record specification (507) is read based on the record specification name (506) in the file specification (708). The name of the data item (508), the number of digits, and the type (50
9) etc. are defined, and based on this, test data matching the type and number of digits of each data item is generated. In addition to this test data, the standard pattern name (70
Standard program checklist (50) selected from 6)
The test data corresponding to the number of input records (404) and key information (502) required in the first test case read from 1) is stored in the test data file (503, 50).
4). At this time, the file name for outputting the test data is reflected in the input data set name in the test command generation tool.

Returning to FIG. 2, the test data output step (3
In 04), the test data generated by the above processing is output to the test data file (107). At this time, it is also possible to output the contents of this file on paper using the printer (202).

Further, when there are two or more test cases defined in the standard program checklist,
The above test data generation to output processing is repeated for the number of test cases (305).

Next, the test command generation tool will be described. In the standard test command pattern acquisition step (306), the program specification library (101) on the external storage device (206) is searched to acquire the standard pattern name of the input / output medium used in the business program to be generated. , The standard test command pattern library (10
Input from 3).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a standard test command pattern. This example is a test command pattern for a program having two input files and one output file. Each pattern is composed of a stylized input / output medium allocation part and a variable part that is unique to each program. The variable part is a program name (605).
And the logical unit name (601) of the input / output file, the entity name of the file or data set (602), and the record length (603). Also, information (604) and information (6
06) is a part common to each program for instructing the start and control of the test debug support program.

Returning to FIG. 2, in the test command component developing step (307), the target test command is created by acquiring the information peculiar to the program from the program specification. First, the data specification library (102) is searched based on the name of the input / output file specification defined in the program specification, and the record format of the file and the file format in the data specification library are searched. Definition information such as record length is input, and a command for allocating the file is generated at the time of test execution. This is combined with the standard pattern of the test command input in step (306) to generate a test command for executing the program.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the correspondence between test commands and program specifications. The test command generation tool searches the contents of the corresponding program specifications,
A complete and program-specific test command is generated by incorporating the program name and logical unit name into the standard pattern of the test command. First, the standard pattern name of the program (70
6) is obtained and a test command pattern that matches it is selected, then the program name (705) and the logical unit name (707) of the file used in the program are read, and the execution target program name is specified in the test command. A command (703) and a logical unit allocation command (702) for the input / output file are generated. Further, for the output file, the file specification (708) defined in the program specification is read, the record length (709) of the command of input / output file allocation of the test command is generated, and this is used as the standard pattern (70) of the test command.
Synthesize to 1). Input data set name (710)
Is the file name that outputs the test data passed from the test data generation tool.

In the test command output step (304), the target test command generated by the above processing is output to the test command library (106) on the external storage device (206).

In this example, the case where the output destination is a file has been described, but this can be changed to a form, and in this case, it is within the scope of the present invention.

[0030]

Since the present invention has the processing procedure described above, it has the following effects.

The standard type of the test case and the standard type of the test command in which the input / output allocation part is standardized are defined for each standard pattern in which the framework is determined for each processing mode of the program.
Efficiency of creating test commands and test data by generating test data that reflects design information for each test case from the various specifications of those standard types and programs, and at the same time generating test commands that are linked to the test data. Therefore, reliability can be improved, which in turn can improve reliability and efficiency of test debugging work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a system for realizing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a hardware device configuration diagram of a computer for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing procedure in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a standard program check list.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of generating test data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a standard test command pattern.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method of generating a test command.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Program specification library, 102 ... Data specification library, 103 ... Standard test command library, 104
… Standard program check list library, 105… Test case generator, 106… Test command library, 107… Test data file, 503,504… Test data file, 505… Input file specification name, 506… Record specification name, 507… Record specification document , 704 ... Program specification, 705 ... Program name, 706 ... Standard pattern name, 707 ...
Logical device name, 708 ... File specifications

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A program specification having a name of a program and names of at least one input / output medium handled by the program, a data specification having a format of the input / output medium and data items included therein, and the program. Allocate and test the input test data medium and output medium of the program from the standard type of test command prepared according to the type of standard pattern that determines the framework of the program by classifying the A means to generate a script file for test execution that defines the procedure to be executed, and at the same time as generating the test command, input record data for each test case for a standard test case according to the standard pattern of the program. Standard program checklist defining numbers and said program Like the term the more the data specifications, test case generation system program, characterized in that it comprises a means for generating one or more test data files to be used in the test case.