Automatic Validation of Java Page Flows Using Model-Based Coverage Criteria

There continue to be advances in the automation of Web application development, however testing these applications remains mainly a manual process. In this paper we present a methodology to test page flows using traditional test coverage criteria in conjunction with an automated testing tool. The criteria is applied in the context of page flows and transformed into: all pages, all actions, all links, and all forwards. We define a state-based model of the application using information from the page flow and then use this model as the basis for generating a script to be executed by the automated testing tool. This finite state machine (FSM) also models the various combinations of inputs associated with the user interface of the application. During execution of the script, test cases are randomly generated using the FSM along with textual input from a pre-defined data pool. The adequacy of the test coverage based on the criteria for the page flow is determined by analyzing the elements covered during execution of the test script