Requirements-Driven Testing of Domain-Specific Core Language Models Using Scenarios

In this paper, we present an approach for the scenario-based testing of the core language models of domain-specific modeling languages (DSML). The core language model is a crucial artifact in DSML development, because it captures all relevant domain abstractions and specifies the relations between these abstractions. In software engineering, scenarios are used to explore and to define (actual or intended) system behavior as well as to specify user requirements. The different steps in a requirements-level scenario can then be refined through detailed scenarios. In our approach, we use scenarios as a primary design artifact. Non-executable, human-understandable scenario descriptions can be refined into executable test scenarios. To demonstrate the applicability of our approach, we implemented a scenario-based testing framework based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) and the Epsilon model-management toolkit.