Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Software validation based on prioritization using concurrent activity diagram

  • Original article
  • Published:
International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Quality of developed software totally relies upon three factors the time, effort and testing technique used for testing. Normally in large organizations, the development team allocates a high portion of estimated development time for software testing. Therefore, efficient algorithm needed for designing optimized test scenarios. Proposed approach can be apply on large and complex software. One of the most crucial and tedious task in SDLC is the generation of test scenario specially for large and complex problems. Generation as well as to execution of large number of test cases consumes high portion of effort and duration of total development effort and duration respectively. Therefore automatic testing has become the necessity of software industry specially large scale software development organization to reduce the testing cost to develop qualitative product. Also its very impractical to execute complete set of test case due to limited time and cost, the prioritization of test case is the solution to improve the software quality. Paper proposes a modelling based testing approach to generate test scenarios that uses UML activity diagram (AD). To prioritized the test cases average percentage fault detection (APFD) metrics is used. the proposed approach carries two phases, In the first phase specification information of AD is transferred into an arbitrary and testable graph called activity interaction graph using proposed parser. To execute the second phase a algorithm named TSPACO: the combination of DFS and BFS is proposed. In second phase TSPACO is applied to generate test scenarios with respect to decision and concurrent criteria to prioritize the test scenarios. The proposed model generates prioritized test scenarios according to strength values of different types of activity diagram which are- forks, joins and merge point’, developed by using the proposed TSPACO algorithm. Using the APFD metric, effectiveness of the generated test scenarios is computed. The experimental results shows that test cases generated by proposed approach have 14% more effectiveness than the other existing approaches.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdurazik A, Offutt J (2000) Using uml collaboration diagrams for static checking and test generation. In: 3rd International conference on the unified modeling language: advancing the standard. Springer, pp 383–395

  • Ali S, Briand LC, Rehman MJ, Asghar H, Iqbal MZ, Nadeem A (2007) A state-based approach to integration testing based on uml models. Inf Softw Technol 49(11):1087–1106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ammann P, Offutt J (2008) Introduction to software testing. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Can AB, Bultan T, Lindvall M, Lux B, Topp S (2007) Eliminating synchronization faults in air traffic control software via design for verification with concurrency controllers. Autom Softw Eng 14(2):129–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen M, Mishra P, Kalita D (2008) Coverage-driven automatic test generation for UML activity diagrams. In: Proceedings of the 18th ACM great lakes symposium on VLSI, pp 139–142

  • Dorigo M, Stützle T (2003) The ant colony optimization metaheuristic: algorithms, applications, and advances. In: Handbook of metaheuristics. Springer, pp 250–285

  • Elbaum S, Malishevsky AG, Rothermel G (2002) Test case prioritization: a family of empirical studies. IEEE Trans Softw Eng 28(2):159–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elqortobi M, El-Khouly W, Rahj A, Bentahar J, Dssouli R (2020) Verification and testing of safety-critical airborne systems: a model-based methodology. Comput Sci Inf Syst 17(1):271–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gnesi S, Latella D, Massink M (2004) Formal test-case generation for UML statecharts. In: Ninth IEEE international conference on engineering complex computer systems. IEEE, pp 75–84

  • Gupta A, Jalote P (2008) An approach for experimentally evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of coverage criteria for software testing. Int J Softw Tools Technol Transf 10(2):145–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huaizhong L, Peng LC (2005) An ant colony optimization approach to test sequence generation for state based software testing. In: Fifth international conference on quality software. IEEE, pp 255–262

  • Huang R, Zong W, Chen TY, Towey D, Zhou Y, Chen J (2018) Prioritising abstract test cases: an empirical study. IET Softw 13(4):313–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jayatilleke S, Lai R (2020) A method of assessing rework for implementing software requirements changes. Comput Sci Inf Syst 1:129–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Jorgensen PC (2018) Software testing: a Craftsmans approach. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kalaji AS, Hierons RM, Swift S (2011) An integrated search-based approach for automatic testing from extended finite state machine (EFSM) models. Inf Softw Technol 53(12):1297–1318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kansomkeat S, Thiket P, Offutt J (2010) Generating test cases from uml activity diagrams using the condition-classification tree method. In: 2010 2nd International conference on software technology and engineering, vol 1. IEEE, pp V1–62

  • Kim H, Kang S, Baik J, Ko I (2007) Test cases generation from uml activity diagrams. In: Eighth ACIS international conference on software engineering, artificial intelligence, networking, and parallel/distributed computing (SNPD 2007), vol 3. IEEE, pp 556–561

  • Kim YG, Hong HS, Bae D-H, Cha SD (1999) Test cases generation from uml state diagrams. IEE Proc Softw 146(4):187–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kundu D, Samanta D (2009) A novel approach to generate test cases from uml activity diagrams. J Object Technol 8(3):65–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kundu D, Samanta D, Mall R (2012) An approach to convert xmi representation of uml 2. x interaction diagram into control flow graph. Int Scholar Res Not

  • Ledru Y, Petrenko A, Boroday S, Mandran N (2012) Prioritizing test cases with string distances. Autom Softw Eng 19(1):65–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li K, Zhang Z, Liu W (2009) Automatic test data generation based on ant colony optimization. In: 5th International conference on natural computation. IEEE, pp 216–220

  • Linzhang W, Jiesong Y, Xiaofeng Y, Jun H, Xuandong L, Guoliang Z (2004) Generating test cases from uml activity diagram based on gray-box method. In: 11th Asia-Pacific software engineering conference. IEEE, pp 284–291

  • Mala DJ, Mohan V, Kamalapriya M (2010) Automated software test optimisation framework-an artificial bee colony optimisation-based approach. IET Softw 4(5):334–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nayak A, Samanta D (2011) Synthesis of test scenarios using umlactivity diagrams. Softw Syst Model 10(1):63–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pandey AK, Shrivastava V (2011) Early fault detection model using integrated and cost-effective test case prioritization. Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag 2(1):41–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panthi V, Mohapatra DP (2016) Generating and evaluating effectiveness of test sequences using state machine. Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag 1–11

  • Pasala A, Lew YLH, Fung Y, Akladios F, Appala RG, Gorthi RP (2008) Selection of regression test suite to validate software applications upon deployment of upgrades. In: Australian software engineering conference. IEEE Computer Society, pp 130–138

  • Ping C, Min X (2015) Software testing case generation of ant colony optimization based on quantum dynamic self-adaptation. Int J Hybrid Inf Technol 8(9):95–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothermel G, Untch RH, Chu C, Harrold MJ (2001) Prioritizing test cases for regression testing. IEEE Trans Softw Eng 27(10):929–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuel P, Mall R, Kanth P (2007) Automatic test case generation from uml communication diagrams. Inf Softw Technol 49(2):158–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez AB, Segura S, Ruiz-Cortés A (2014) A comparison of test case prioritization criteria for software product lines. In: 2014 IEEE seventh international conference on software testing, verification and validation. IEEE, pp 41–50

  • Shirole M, Kumar R (2013) Uml behavioral model based test case generation: a survey. ACM SIGSOFT Softw Eng Notes 38(4):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh R, Bhatia R, Singhrova A (2019) Demand based test case generation for object oriented system. IET Softw 13(5):403–413

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava P, Baby KM, Raghurama G (2009) An approach of optimal path generation using ant colony optimization. In: TENCON 2009–2009 IEEE region 10 conference. IEEE, pp 1–6

  • Swain SK, Mohapatra DP, Mall R (2010) Test case generation based on state and activity models. J Object Technol 9(5):1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utting M, Legeard B (2010) Practical model-based testing: a tools approach. Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Tianlong M, Xu J (2014) Improved ant algorithms for software testing cases generation. Sci World J 8(9):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Zander-Nowicka J (2009) Model-based testing of real-time embedded systems in the automotive domain. Doctoral thesis

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by National Project Implementation Unit, A unit of MHRD, Government of India, Under the “TEQIP Collaborative Research Scheme” with CRS Id 1-5727963020. Carried out by Department of Computer Science & Engineering, UD, Rajasthan Technical University, Kota, Rajsathan, India. This paper is an extension of the work originally reported in IEEE TENCON 2016 Technologies for Smart Nation 22–25 November 2016, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Funding

Funding is provided by All India Council for Technical Education (Grant No. 1-5727963020).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing Science and Engineering, VIT Bhopal University, Bhopal, India

    Vikas Panthi & Aprna Tripathi

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, 769008, India

    Durga Prasad Mohapatra

Authors
  1. Vikas Panthi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aprna Tripathi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Durga Prasad Mohapatra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vikas Panthi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants and animals

This article does not contain any studies involving animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Panthi, V., Tripathi, A. & Mohapatra, D.P. Software validation based on prioritization using concurrent activity diagram. Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag 13, 1801–1816 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-021-01551-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-021-01551-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation