Generating automatically test cases based on models

Abstract

I would like to thank the following people for their help and support over the course of the completion of this thesis. To João Saraiva, my supervisor, for his continued support and encouragement. To Luís Anjos and Nuno Vieira, my co-workers, that helped in everything I needed during my research time in Primavera. To my parents, Carlos and Isabel, that, even though in my life I may have not done everything the way they wanted and wished, were always there for my best interest, caring for me, my life and my future. I feel eternal gratitude for the two of you. To my lovely sister, Catarina, for giving me company even when I didn’t want it, for loving me unconditionally and for bringing a new cat into our household. Life with kittens is always better than life without kittens! To my aunts, Nocas, Sissi and Patrícia, that I am sure have always believed in me. To my grandfather, that age only made of him a more interesting, funny and reliable company. To my grandma, for all the love and food filled of love that fed me during all these years. To my girlfriend Ana, for all the love, patience and understanding, and for staying by my side. To all my friends, who make my life outside of research so enjoyable. Particularly, to my friends Ricardo, Renato, Miguel, Pedro Nuno, Bruno and Sebastião, whose company has been a constant for many years. To Zé and João Nuno, for the great time we have when we are together.

PRIMAVERA Business Software Solution dedicou muito tempo e esforço nos últimos anos no desenvolvimento de uma framework que permite a um utilizador modelar uma aplicação e respectivos serviços. Esta framework irá então gerar grande parte do código fonte, assim como a base de dados e o User Interface. O objectivo deste projecto de dissertação é de adicionar uma nova função a esta framework - uma componente de automação de testes. Desta forma, a framework será capaz de gerar casos de teste para validar os requisitos da aplicação. Como gerar todas as possiveis combinações seria impraticável, um dos principais objetivos deste projeto é gerar um conjunto de casos de teste mais pequeno que possa garantir que o sistema está a ser a ser bem testado.