Using emulation to disassociate verification from stimulus in functional test

摘要

Techniques for using emulation to disassociate verification from stimulus in functional test are described. In one approach, a computer stores first data representing an initial state of an application and second data representing the same initial state of a model application, wherein the model application models expected behavior of the application. The computer selects actions for the application to perform and causes both the application and the model application to perform the actions. The computer updates the first and second data to represent the state of both the application and the model application after performing the actions. The computer then compares the first and second data to determine whether both refer to the same state. In response to a determination that the first data and the second data do not refer to the same state, the computer stores data indicating a test failure.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
storing data representing a set of potential initial states of an application, wherein the application is a web site; selecting randomly an initial state of the application from the set of potential initial states, wherein the initial state of the application represents a state of an initially accessed web page of the web site; storing first data representing the initial state of an application to be tested and second data representing the same initial state of a model application, wherein the model application models expected behavior of the application to be tested; wherein the first data and the second data specify one or more widgets contained in the initially accessed web page; storing data representing a set of potential actions that the application can perform; selecting one or more actions for the application to perform by randomly selecting the one or more actions from the set of potential actions; causing the application to perform the one or more actions and updating the first data to represent a state of the application that results from the application performing the one or more actions; causing the model application to perform the one or more actions and updating the second data to represent a state of the model application that results from the model application performing the one or more actions; comparing the updated first data and the updated second data to determine whether the updated first data and the updated second data refers to a same state; in response to a determination that the updated first data and the updated second data do not refer to the same state, storing data indicating a test failure; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.