Wiki support for automated definition of software test cases

Abstract

Purpose The design of tests is a very important step in the software development process because it allows us to match the users’ expectations with the finished product. Considered as a cumbersome activity, efforts have been made to automatize and alleviate the burden of test generation, but it is still a largely neglected step. The study aims to propose taking advantage of existing requirement artifacts, like scenarios that describe the dynamic of the domain in a very early stage of software development, to obtain tests from them. Design/methodology/approach In particular, the approach proposed complement the scenarios that are textually described with a glossary, the language extended lexicon. Thus, a set of rules to derive tests from scenarios is also proposed. The tests are then described using the task/method model. Findings The main findings of this study consist of an extension of a previously presented set of rules. And, a tool based on a media wiki platform that makes possible to record scenarios and the language extended lexicon and implement the rules to obtain the tests. Originality/value The main originality of this study is the glossary which complements scenarios, the semantic support to obtain tests and the tool to automatize the approach.