Automatic CoDec generation to reduce test engineering cost

ISSN： 1433-2779

Source： International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer, Vol.10, Iss.4, 2008-08, pp. : 337-346

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

TTCN-3 is an abstract language for specification of Abstract Test Suites. Coding of TTCN-3 values into physically transmittable messages and decoding of bitstrings into their TTCN-3 representation has been removed from the language itself and relayed to external and specialized components, called CoDec. CoDec development, either implicitly or explicitly, is a must in any TTCN-3 testing activity. Field experience showed that there is a high cost associated with CoDec development and maintenance. To achieve adequate software engineering practices, a set of types, tools and definitions were developed. This paper unveils gray areas in TTCN-3 architecture and presents a methodological approach to minimize the complexity of CoDec development. Even though the initial field of application is IPv6 testing, the main tool introduced—the CoDec Generator—is a valuable tool in any testing application domain. It is designed to lower the CoDec maintenance costs in all test case lifecycle stages, from development to maintenance.