20060712 automated model based testing of community-driven open-source gui applications

Automated Model-Based
Testing of Community-
Driven Open-Source GUI
Applications

Zheng-Wen Shen
2006/07/12

1

Reference
• “Automated Model-Based Testing of
Community-Driven Open-Source GUI
Applications”
– Qing Xie and Atif Memon
– 22nd International Conference on
Software Maintenance (ICSM 2006),
Philadelphia, PA, USA, Sep. 25-27,
2006.

2

Outline
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Testing Loops
• 3. Overview of GUI Model
• 4. Experiment
• 5. Conclusions

3

1. Introduction (1/3)

• Open-source software (OSS) development
on world-wide web. (WWW)
– Communities of programmers distributed
world-wide
– Unprecedented OSS code churn rates

4

Problems on OSS (2/3)

• Little direct inter-developer
communication
– CVS commit log message, bug reports,
change-requests, and comments
• Developers work on loosely coupled
parts of the application code.
– Local change has inadvertently broken
other parts of the overall software code

5

Key idea (3/3)

• To create concentric testing loops

Specific GUI testing goals, Comprehensive GUI testing
resource usage, and target
developer sub-groups for
Smoke testing
error reports

Crash testing

6

2. Testing Loops
• CR Tools Test cases  fragile
– Input event sequence can no longer
execute on the GUI
– The expected output stored with
the test case becomes obsolete.
• Model-based techniques
– Generate and maintain test cases
automatically during OSS evolution
– Employs GUI models to generate test cases.

7

3. GUI Model (1/5)

• An event-flow graph (EFG) model
represents all possible event sequences
that may be executed on a GUI.
– All executable paths of the software
• Microsoft Word (total 4210 events)
– 80 events open menus, 346 events open
windows, 196 events close windows, and the
remaining 3588 events interact with the
underlying code.

9

Event-Interaction Graph (2/5)

• Test interactions between loosely-coupled
parts of an OSS
• System-interaction events = Non-
structural events + close windows events
• Test cases consist of event-flow-paths that
start and end with system-interaction
events, without any intermediate system-
interaction events.

10

Path in an EFG and EIG (3/5)

11

Test Case Generation (4/5)
1. Test cases are short  generate and
execute very quickly
2. Only consists of system-interaction
events
3. The expected state is stored only for
system-interaction events
4. All system-interaction events are
executed; most of the GUI’s
functionality is covered.
5. Each test case is independent
and the suite can be distributed.
12

Test Oracle Creation (5/5)

• Oracles for Crash Tests
– Crashes during test execution may be used to
identify serious problems in the software.
• Oracles for Smoke Tests
– Software does what it was doing before
modifications
– Reference Testing
• Oracles for Comprehensive Testing
– Specifications-based approach
– Precondition + Effect

13

4. Experiment
• Do popular web based community-
driven GUI–based OSS have
problems that can be detected by
our automated techniques?
• Do these problems persist across
multiple versions of the OSS?

14

Notice
• Execute fully-automatic crash testing
process on applications and report
problems
– A crash  An uncaught exception
• Determine how long these problems
have been in the application code
• We overall process executed without
any human intervention in 5-8 hours.

15

Subject Applications
• FreeMind, a premier mind-mapping software
– 0.0.2, 0.1.0, 0.4, 0.7.1, 0.8.0RC5, 0.8.0
• Gantt Project, a project scheduling application
– 1.6, 19.11, 1.10.3, 1.11, 1.11.1, 2.pre1
• JMSN, a pure java Microsoft MSN messenger
clone
– 0.9a, 0.9.2, 0.9.7, 0.9.8b7, 0.9.9b1
• Crossword Sage, a tool for creating (and
solving) professional looking crosswords with
powerful word suggestion capabilities
– 0.1, 0.2, 0.3.0, 0.3.1, 0.3.2, and 0.3.5

16

FreeMind Bugs
1. NullPointerException when trying to open a non-existent file (0.0.2, 0.1.0)
2. FileNotFoundException when trying to save a file with a very long le name
(0.0.2, 0.1.0, 0.4)
3. NullPointerException when clicking on some buttons on the main toolbar
when no le is open (0.1.0);
4. NullPointerException when clicking on some menu items if no le is open
(0.1.0, 0.4, 0.7.1, 0.8.0RC5)
5. NullPointerException when trying to save a “blank” file (0.1.0)
6. NullPointerException when adding a new node after toggling folded node
(0.4)
7. FileNotFoundException when trying to import a nonexistent file (0.4, 0.7.1,
0.8.0RC5, 0.8.0)
8. FileNotFoundException when trying to export a file with a very long le
name (0.7.1, 0.8.0RC5, 0.8.0)
9. NullPointerException when trying to split a node in “Edit a long node”
window (0.7.1, 0.8.0RC5, 0.8.0)
10.NumberFormatException when setting non-numeric input while expecting a
number in “preferences setting” window (0.8.0RC5, 0.8.0)

17

Gantt Project Bugs
1. NumberFormatException when setting non-numeric inputs while
expecting a number in “New task” window (1.6)
2. FileNotFoundException when trying to open a nonexistent file
(1.6)
3. FileNotFoundException when trying to save a file with a very long
le name (1.6, 1.9.11, 1.10.3, 1.11, 1.11.1, 2.pre1)
4. NullPointerException after confirming any preferences setting
(1.9.11)
5. NullPointerException when trying to save the content to a server
(1.9.11)
6. NullPointerException when trying to import a nonexistent file
(1.9.11, 1.10.3, 1.11, 1.11.1, 2.pre1)
7. InterruptedException when trying to open a new window (1.10.3)
8. Runtime error when trying to send e-mail (1.11, 1.11.1, 2.pre1)

18

JMSN Bugs
1. InvocationTargetException when trying to
refresh the buddy list (0.9a, 0.9.2)
2. FileNotFoundException when trying to
submit a bug/request report because the
submission page doesn't exist (0.9a,
0.9.2, 0.9.5, 0.9.7, 0.9.8b7, 0.9.9b2);
3. NullPointerException when trying to check
the validity of the login data (0.9.7,
0.9.8b7, 0.9.9b2)
4. SocketException and NullPointerException
when stopping a socket that has been
started (0.9.8b7, 0.9.9b2)
19

Crossword Sage Bugs
• NullPointerException in Crossword Builder when
trying to delete a word (0.3.0, 0.3.1)
trying to suggest a new word (0.3.0, 0.3.1, 0.3.2,
0.3.5)
trying to write a clue for a word (0.3.0, 0.3.1,
0.3.2, 0.3.5)
• NullPointerException when loading a new
crossword file (0.3.5)
• NullPointerException when splitting a word
(0.3.5)
• NullPointerException when publishing the
crossword (0.3.5)
20

Results
• The some bug existed across
applications  shared open-source
GUI components (FileSave) 
sanitize inputs
• Many bugs are persistent across
versions
• There are fewer bugs in the first
version than in later versions 
consistent with our experience
22

the reasons for crash
1. Invalid text input: validity, size
2. Widget enabled when it should be
disabled
3. Object declared but not initialized
4. Obsolete external resources

23

5. Conclusions (1/2)
• Recognition the nature of the WWW
– enables the separation of GUI testing steps by
level of automation, feedback, and resource
utilization.
• Demonstration that resources may be
better utilized by defining a concentric
loop-based GUI testing approach.
• Demonstration that popular GUI-based
OSS developed on the WWW have flaws
that can be detected by our fully
automated approach.
24

Conclusions (2/2)
• A more detailed study of the overall
benefits of this technique
• Extended subject application  test
TerpOffice incrementally
• Web application that have complex back-
ends
• The interaction between three test loops
– Whether one loop can benefit from the
execution of the inner loops
– Study the need of additional loops

25

20060712 automated model based testing of community-driven open-source gui applications

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