JPH04177541A - Program testing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To completely execute the program test by providing a state contents holding means for holding the contents of a state between systems varied in connection with transmission/reception of data, and a test executing means for updating the contents of the state contents holding means. CONSTITUTION:A test executing means 15 executes a test of a program 2 in accordance with a test case, and also, when transmission and reception of data to the program 2 are executed, whether its operation conforms to a communication agreement or not is decided from the kind of the data and the present state held in a state contents holding means 12, while referring to a list. When it conforms to the communication agreement, subsequently, a correspondence table 14 is referred to and from combination of the kind of the data and the present state held in the state contents holding means 12, the next state is determined and the contents of the state contents holding means 12 are updated. After updating, a processing to the next data transmission/reception is executed. In such a way, by only preparing a test case of the necessary minimum, the test based on the communication agreement related to all the data transmitted from a test object program is executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a program testing device that tests a program that performs data communication with another system.

(Prior Art) Generally, a program that communicates with other systems has variables to internally simulate the state between each system.
By constantly referring to this, data suitable for the current state of the systems is assembled and sent to the other system.

On the other hand, although conventional program test devices communicate with other systems, they do not have a mechanism for internally simulating the state between systems. This is because program test equipment purposely sends data that violates the communication protocol (protocol) between systems to the test target program, and tests to check the test target program's reaction to that data. If it had a mechanism for simulating the state of the program test equipment, the data sent by itself that violates the communication protocol would confuse the mechanism for internally simulating the state of the program test equipment, making it impossible to continue testing as intended. It is.

For this reason, in conventional program testing equipment, it is necessary to list all data that may be sent from the program under test during data exchange between systems in a test case that indicates the procedure for data transmission and reception between systems. there were.

An example is shown below. FIG. 3 shows an example of a communication protocol, and in the same figure, SO to S7 are the states between systems, and sO to 57 (excluding s2) indicated by the bold line in the figure are transmission data from the program under test, Further, arrows rO to r7 (excluding r2) indicated by thin lines in the figure are transmission data from the program test device. If a test case is written according to this communication protocol, for example, as shown in Figure 4, 5
A typical test case can be considered. However, the information in parentheses here describes the state between the systems for convenience, and in the actual test case, only the descriptions of the arrow parts excluding these are written. This allows you to write a test case that violates the communication protocol (receiving the test target program or data r3 in state SO is not defined in the communication protocol) as shown in Figure 5, and test it. You can run tests to check the response of the target program.

Incidentally, although five types of test cases are listed in this example, in general, there are a large number of states that can be transitioned from one to another depending on the data sent by the test target program. Therefore, the number of test cases that need to be prepared is quite large. Furthermore, due to memory capacity constraints, it may not always be possible to prepare all test cases in advance. Therefore, in practice, the mainstream method is to select only the necessary test cases and write them.

However, with this method, if the test target program sends data that does not exist in any test case, the test is interrupted, making it impossible to perform a complete program test.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) The present invention is intended to solve such problems.In order to prepare the minimum necessary test cases, the present invention provides a communication protocol for all data sent from the test target program. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a program testing device that can execute tests based on the following.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the program testing device of the present invention allows a program that communicates with other systems to communicate with other systems based on the communication protocol and to transmit and receive data between the systems. In a program test device that tests according to a test case showing the procedure of A list containing a list of the types of data sent and received, and a correspondence table containing the contents of the next state that is compatible with the communication protocol for the combination of the state between systems and the type of data sent and received in that state. When the test of the program is executed according to the test case and data is sent and received to and from the program, the type of the data and the current state held in the state content holding means are checked while referring to the list. It is determined whether the operation conforms to the communication agreement based on the status of the communication agreement, and if it is compliant with the communication agreement, the type of data and the current status held in the status content retention means are determined by referring to the correspondence table. and test execution means for determining the next state based on the combination with the state and updating the contents of the state content holding means.

(Function) In the program test device of the present invention, the test execution means or the test case executes the test of the program.
When data is sent or received to the program, it is determined whether the operation complies with the communication protocol based on the type of data and the current state held in the state/content holding means while referring to the list. . Then, if the communication protocol is followed, the next state is determined from the combination of the data type and the current state held in the state content holding means by referring to the correspondence table, and the next state is determined from the combination of the data type and the current state held in the state content holding means. Update content. After updating, perform processing for the next data transmission/reception.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform a test based on the communication protocol on all data transmitted from a test target program by simply preparing the minimum necessary test cases.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a program test device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is the program test device of this embodiment;
2 is a program to be tested by this program test device 1 (hereinafter referred to as a test target program).
, 3 is a display device connected to the program test device 1;
4 is an input device such as a key fob.

In the program test device 1, ] 1 is a test case storage section in which a test case indicating the procedure for transmitting and receiving data between systems, that is, between the program test device 1 and the program under test 2 is stored; and 12 is a test case storage section for data communication. A simulated state content holding unit holds the contents of the current simulated state between systems, which changes from moment to moment, and 13 is a transmitting/receiving unit containing a list of types of data that are allowed to be sent and received according to communication rules in each state between systems. The data list 14 is a correspondence table in which the contents of the next state conforming to the communication protocol are described for the combination of the state between the systems and the type of data transmitted and received in this state.

15 is a test case stored in the test case storage section 11, a simulation state content holding section] 2, a test of the test target program 2 is performed based on the current simulation state held in the test case storage section 11, the sending/receiving data list 13, and the correspondence table 14. The test execution control unit 16 is an input/output control unit that controls data input/output to/from the test target program 2.

Next, the test operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The test is started by the operator notifying the program test device 1 of a test start command through the input device 4.

The test execution control unit 15 first starts with the simulated state content holding unit 12.
The contents of are initialized (step 21).

The second initial state corresponds to the SO state in FIG. 3, for example.

Thereafter, the test execution control unit 15 retrieves the first content (command) of the test case stored in the test case storage unit 11 (step 22), and determines whether the content is data transmission or data reception. A judgment is made (step 23). If the result is a data transmission command, the target data is assembled and sent to the test target program 2 through the input/output control unit 16 (step 24).
.

After transmitting the data, the test execution control unit 5 refers to the transmission/reception data list 13 and determines whether the just-executed data transmission operates in accordance with the communication protocol in the current simulated state held in the simulated state content storage unit 12. Check whether there is one (step 25).

As a result, if it is determined that the communication protocol is violated, the current simulated state held in the simulated state content holding unit 12 is left as is, and the same processing is performed from step 22 for the next content (instruction) of the test case. I do.

In addition, if the communication protocol is followed, the next simulated state is determined from the current simulated state held in the simulated state content holding unit 12 and the type of transmission data with reference to the correspondence table 14, and the simulated state The contents of the contents holding unit 12 are updated (step 26). After updating, the following contents (instructions) of test case 11
Similar processing is performed from step 22 onwards.

Further, if it is confirmed in step 23 that the content (command) of the test case is a data reception command, the test execution control unit 15, after receiving data from the test target program 2 (step 27), determines whether the received data is The transmitted and received data list 13 is checked to see if it complies with the regulations (step 28).

As a result, if it is determined that the communication protocol is violated, it is assumed that an operational error in the test target program 2 has been discovered, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display device 13 (step 29), and the test is interrupted.

In addition, if the communication protocol is followed, the next simulated state is determined from the current simulated state held in the simulated state content storage unit 12 and the type of received data with reference to the correspondence table 14, and the simulated state is The contents of the contents holding section 12 are updated (step 30). After the update, similar processing is performed from step 22 on the next content (instruction) of the test case.

Thus, according to the program test device of this embodiment,
It is possible to check the received data from the test target program 2 based on the communication protocol in a wider range based on the transmitted/received data list 13 regardless of the test case.

Therefore, without having to prepare a large number of test cases that cover all data transmission and reception procedures with the test target program 2, it is possible to perform more rigorous program testing with the minimum necessary test cases. .

Note that the test case may include an instruction to execute other checks on the received data, if necessary. In this case, the test execution control section 15 checks the received data, and updates the current simulated state 12 after executing the check.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the program test device of the present invention, it is possible to perform tests based on the communication protocol for all data sent from the test target program by simply preparing the minimum necessary test cases. can be executed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of a program test device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the program test device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a communication State transition diagram illustrating example rules, Part 4
5 and 5 are diagrams showing examples of test cases written based on the communication protocol shown in FIG. 3, respectively. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Program test device, 2... Test target program, 3... Display device, 4... Input device, 11
. . . Test case storage section, 12 . . . Simulation state content holding section, 13 . . Figure 1 r2 s3 (S O) −> (S 2 ) −> (Eth・(S O) −> (S ) Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a program test device that tests programs that communicate with other systems based on communication protocols and in accordance with test cases that indicate the procedure for data transmission and reception between systems, the contents of the state between systems that change due to data transmission and reception are tested. A state content holding means to be held; a list containing a list of the types of data that are allowed to be sent and received according to the communication protocol in each state between systems; When the test of the program is executed according to the test case, and data is sent and received to and from the program, While referring to the list, it is determined from the type of the data and the current state held in the state content holding means whether the operation complies with the communication protocol, and if the operation conforms to the communication protocol, the test execution means for updating the contents of the state content holding means by referring to a correspondence table to determine the next state from a combination of the data type and the current state held in the state content holding means; A program test device comprising: (2) In the program test device according to claim 1,
A program characterized in that, when the test execution means receives data from the program and determines that the type of data violates communication regulations as a result of referring to the list, the test execution means interrupts the test as an operational error in the program. Test equipment.