SDL and MSC Based Test Case Generation - An Overall View of the SAMSTAG Method

This technical report summarizes the results of the research and development project 'Conformance Testing - A Tool for the Generation of Test Cases'. Within this project we developed a method for the automatic generation of test cases based on formal specifications and formally defined test purposes. The method is called SAMSTAG. It is implemented in the SAMSTAG tool. Most of the work has already been published in conference proceedings technical reports, and project reports. For detailed information these publications should be consulted. The report starts with a short introduction (Section 1). Then the standardized conformance testing procedure (ISO/IEC IS 9646), in the following abbreviated by CTMF/FMCT, is compared with other test case generation methods (Section 2). Afterwards, the SAMSTAG method (Sections 4, 5) and the SAMSTAG tool are introduced (Section 6). In the last section the formal aspects of CTMF/FMCT, other test case generation methods and the SAMSTAG method are summarized (Section 7). This summary provides a possibility for a complete formal explanation of the entire conformance testing procedure. CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: C.2.0 [Computer-Communication Networks]: General; C.2.2 [Computer-Communication Networks]: Network Protocols; D.2.5 [Software Engineering]: Testing and Debugging General Terms: Validation, Test Case Generation, Test Case Specification.