Using Model Checking to Generate Test Cases for Android Applications

Ana Rosario Espada
(University of Málaga)
María del Mar Gallardo
(University of Málaga)
Alberto Salmerón
(University of Málaga)
Pedro Merino
(University of Málaga)

The behavior of mobile devices is highly non deterministic and barely predictable due to the interaction of the user with its applications. In consequence, analyzing the correctness of applications running on a smartphone involves dealing with the complexity of its environment. In this paper, we propose the use of model-based testing to describe the potential behaviors of users interacting with mobile applications. These behaviors are modeled by composing specially-designed state machines. These composed state machines can be exhaustively explored using a model checking tool to automatically generate all possible user interactions. Each generated trace model checker can be interpreted as a test case to drive a runtime analysis of actual applications. We have implemented a tool that follows the proposed methodology to analyze Android devices using the model checker Spin as the exhaustive generator of test cases.

In Nikolay Pakulin, Alexander K. Petrenko and Bernd-Holger Schlingloff: Proceedings Tenth Workshop on Model Based Testing (MBT 2015), London, UK, 18th April 2015, Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science 180, pp. 7–21.
Published: 10th April 2015.

ArXived at: https://dx.doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.180.1 bibtex PDF
References in reconstructed bibtex, XML and HTML format (approximated).
Comments and questions to: eptcs@eptcs.org
For website issues: webmaster@eptcs.org