Using UML Sequence Diagrams and State Machines for Test Input Generation

We present a novel testing approach that combines information from UML sequence models and state machine models. We use sequence models to extract message paths that play a role in critical usage scenarios of a system. We use state machines to generate multiple execution paths from a message path by analyzing the effect of the messages on state transitions of the system. By covering these execution paths, we generate more effective test cases than the approaches that only cover message paths. The approach also reduces the number of state transitions to be tested by selecting only those that are fired in critical scenarios.