SENG-637 Assignment 3

Topic - Code Coverage Measurement and Test Adequacy Assessment

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Video demo
• Manual data flow coverage
• Detailed description of testing strategy for new unit tests
• Description of five selected test cases in increasing code coverage
• Coverage screenshots of each class and method
• Pros and cons of coverage tools and reported metrics
• Requirements-based test generation vs Coverage-based test generation
• Division of team work
• Difficulties, challenges, and lessons learned
• Comments and feedback
• Contributors

Introduction

In this assignment, we will explore coverage tools and its involvement in software testing. We will first explore the different coverage tools that is suggested for analyzing coverage metrics, and then we will be looking at analyzing coverage manually.

Lastly, we will look at how to use the coverage tool (EclEmma) to help us improve the test cases that we have developed in Assignment 2.

Video demo

Link to the video demonstration of coverage metrics is here.

Manual data flow coverage

1. Range.intersects(double b0, double b1)

Defs, uses, and du-pairs

defs:	def(1) = {b0, b1}
uses:	use(2) = {b0, this.lower}
	use(3) = {b1, this.lower}
	use(5) = {b0, this.upper}
	use(6) = {b0, b1}
du-pairs:	for b0: (1, 2), (1, 5), (1, 6)
	for b1: (1, 3), (1, 6)

DU-pair coverage calculation per test case

Variable	Def at node (n)	dcu(v, n)	dpu(v, n)
b0	1	{}	{(2, 3), (2, 5), (5, 6), (5, 7), (6, 4), (6, 7)}
b1	1	{}	{(3, 4), (3, 7), (6, 4), (6, 7)}
	Total	CU = 0	PU = 10

Test case	Execution path	DU-pairs covered	CUc + PUc	All-uses coverage %
intersectsWithInputBLBAndLB	[1, 2, 3, 7]	(1, 2), (1, 3)	(2, 3), (3, 7)	20%
intersectsWithInputBLBAndALB	[1, 2, 3, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 3)	(2, 3), (3, 4)	20%
intersectsWithInputBLBAndAUB	[1, 2, 3, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 3)	(2, 3), (3, 4)	20%
intersectsWithInputLBAndALB	[1, 2, 3, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 3)	(2, 3), (3, 4)	20%
intersectsWithInputLBAndUB	[1, 2, 3, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 3)	(2, 3), (3, 4)	20%
intersectsWithInputNOMAndNOM	[1, 2, 5, 6, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 5), (1, 6)	(2, 5), (5, 6), (6, 4), (6, 4)	40%
intersectsWithInputBUBAndUB	[1, 2, 5, 6, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 5), (1, 6)	(2, 5), (5, 6), (6, 4), (6, 4)	40%
intersectsWithInputUBAndAUB	[1, 2, 5, 7]	(1, 2), (1, 5)	(2, 5), (5, 7)	20%
intersectsWithInputMINAndAUB	[1, 2, 5, 6, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 5), (1, 6)	(2, 5), (5, 6), (6, 4), (6, 4)	40%
intersectsWithInputBLBAndMAX	[1, 2, 3, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 3)	(2, 3), (3, 4)	20%
intersectsWithInput0And0	[1, 2, 5, 6, 4]	(1, 2), (1, 5), (1, 6)	(2, 5), (5, 6), (6, 4), (6, 4)	40%
intersectsWithInputNaNAnd1	[1, 2, 5, 7]	(1, 2), (1, 5)	(2, 5), (5, 7)	20%

Total

CUc + PUc = 8

CU + PU = 10

All-uses coverage = 80%

2. DataUtilities.calculateColumnTotal(Values2D data, int column)

Defs, uses, and du-pairs

defs:	def(1) = {data, column}
	def(3) = {total, rowCount, r}
	def(5) = {n}
	def(6) = {total}
	def(7) = {r}
uses:	use(2) = {data}
	use(3) = {data}
	use(4) = {r, rowCount}
	use(5) = {data, r, column, n}
	use(6) = {total, n}
	use(7) = {r}
	use(8) = {total}
du-pairs:	for data: (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5)
	for column: (1, 5)
	for total: (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8)
	for rowCount: (3, 4)
	for r: (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7)
	for n: (5, 5), (5, 6)

DU-pair coverage calculation per test case

Variable	Def at node (n)	dcu(v, n)	dpu(v, n)
data	1	{2, 3, 5}	{}
column	1	{5}	{}
r	3	{5, 7}	{(4, 5), (4, 8)}
r	7	{5, 7}	{(4, 5), (4, 8)}
rowCount	3	{}	{(4, 5), (4, 8)}
total	3	{6, 8}	{}
total	6	{6, 8}	{}
n	5	{6}	{(5, 6), (5, 7)}
	Total	CU = 13	PU = 8

Test case	Execution path	DU-pairs covered	CUc + PUc	All-uses coverage %
calculateColumnTotalAllRowsFirstColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalAllRowsMiddleColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalAllRowsLastColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalWithMaxValueAndFirstColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalWithMinValueAndFirstColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalWithMaxValueColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalWithMinValueColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%
calculateColumnTotalWithSumOf0AndFirstColumn	[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]	(1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 5), (1, 5), (3, 6), (3, 8), (6, 6), (6, 8), (3, 4), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 7), (7, 4), (7, 5), (7, 7), (5, 5), (5, 6)	{2,3,5}, {5}, {5, 7}, {5, 7}, {6, 8}, {6, 8}, {6}, (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (4, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6)	95%

Total

CUc + PUc = 20

CU + PU = 21

All-uses coverage = 95%

Detailed description of testing strategy for new unit tests

We will first run the coverage tool (EclEmma) on the test cases that we developed in Assignment 2 and analyze the coverage of test cases using Lines, Branches, and Method coverage metrics.

Afterwards, if the coverage of any of the ten methods is below requirements, we will look at the source code of those methods to see which parts of the methods are not covered by existing test cases.

Then we will develop new test cases to cover all possible parts source code of each method. Finally, we will verify the coverage with existing and new test cases to ensure that the coverage metrics are above the expected requirements.

Description of five selected test cases in increasing code coverage

1. RangeTest.intersectsWithReverse()

Before adding test case RangeTest.intersectsWithReverse(), the coverage calculated using EclEmma was as mentioned in below table.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	87.5 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	80.0 %

Although we have reached the minimum coverage of 70% coverage for branch, we can still find ways to improve this coverage.

When we analyze our test code coverage using EclEmma, we found that following condition is only partially covered

return (b0 < this.upper && b1 >= b0);

We have found that the branch that we did not cover is when b0 > b1.

To improve on the coverage, we have added the test case RangeTest.intersectsWithReverse() where we called the intersects method with the values -6, -9 respectively so that b0 (-6) is greater than b1 (-9).

With the addition of this test case, all metrics have coverage of 100%, as again calculated using EclEmma.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	100.0 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	100.0 %

2. RangeTest.expandToIncludeWithNullRange()

Before adding test case RangeTest.expandToIncludeWithNullRange(), the coverage calculated using EclEmma was as mentioned in below table.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	82.4 %
Branches	83.3 %
Lines	85.7 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	75.0 %

The minimum requirement of 70% branch coverage was already met, however 90% line coverage was not met.

When we analyze our test code coverage using EclEmma, we found that one branch was partially covered and as a result one line in that branch was not covered

if (range == null) {
  return new Range(value, value);
}

We have found that the branch that we did not cover is when range is null.

To improve on the coverage, we have added the test case RangeTest.expandToIncludeWithNullRange() where we called the expandToInclude method with the values null, 10 respectively so that null range is also tested.

With the addition of this test case, all metrics have coverage of 100%, as again calculated using EclEmma.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	100.0 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	100.0 %

3. RangeTest.combineIgnoringNaNWithFirstRangeNullSecondRangeNaN()

Before adding test case RangeTest.combineIgnoringNaNWithFirstRangeNullSecondRangeNaN(), the coverage calculated using EclEmma was as mentioned in below table.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	65.2 %
Branches	35.7 %
Lines	61.5 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	25.0 %

None of the minimum requirements was met for branch coverage and statement coverage.

When we analyze our test code coverage using EclEmma, we found multiple branches and statements are missing coverage. We found that one of the condition that was missed was when first range is null and second range is NaN.

if (range1 == null) {
  if (range2 != null && range2.isNaNRange()) {
    return null;
}

To improve on the coverage, we have added the test case RangeTest.combineIgnoringNaNWithFirstRangeNullSecondRangeNaN() where we called the combineIgnoringNaN method with the first range null and second range with both bounds Double.NaN.

With the addition of this test case, we see improvements in all coverage counters like intructions, branches, lines, and complexity, as again calculated using EclEmma.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	80.4 %
Branches	57.1 %
Lines	76.9 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	37.5 %

4. DataUtilitiesTest.calculateRowTotalwithNullValue()

Before adding test case DataUtilitiesTest.calculateRowTotalwithNullValue(), the coverage calculated using EclEmma was as mentioned in below table.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	75.0 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	66.7 %

Although we have reached the minimum coverage of 70% coverage for branch, we can still find ways to improve this coverage.

When we analyze our test code coverage using EclEmma, we found that following condition is only partially covered

if (n !=null) {
  ...

We have found that the branch that we did not cover is when n=null.

To improve on the coverage, we have added the test case DataUtilitiesTest.calculateRowTotalwithNullValue() where we called the calculateRowTotal method by mocking Values2D with one value being null.

With the addition of this test case, all metrics have coverage of 100%, as again calculated using EclEmma.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	100.0 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	100.0 %

5. DataUtilitiesTest.calculateColumnTotalwithNullValue()

Before adding test case DataUtilitiesTest.calculateColumnTotalwithNullValue(), the coverage calculated using EclEmma was as mentioned in below table.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	75.0 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	66.7 %

Although we have reached the minimum coverage of 70% coverage for branch, we can still find ways to improve this coverage.

When we analyze our test code coverage using EclEmma, we found that following condition is only partially covered

if (n !=null) {
  ...

We have found that the branch that we did not cover is when n=null.

To improve on the coverage, we have added the test case DataUtilitiesTest.calculateColumnTotalwithNullValue() where we called the calculateColumnTotal method by mocking Values2D with one value being null.

With the addition of this test case, all metrics have coverage of 100%, as again calculated using EclEmma.

Counter	Coverage
Instructions	100.0 %
Branches	100.0 %
Lines	100.0 %
Methods	100.0 %
Complexity	100.0 %

Coverage screenshots of each class and method

1. Coverage of Range class - BEFORE

• Line coverage of Range class

  

• Branch coverage of Range class

  

• Method coverage of Range class

  

2. Coverage of Range class - AFTER NEW TESTS

• Line coverage of Range class

  

• Branch coverage of Range class

  

• Method coverage of Range class

  

3. Coverage of DataUtilities class - BEFORE

• Line coverage of DataUtilities class

  

• Branch coverage of DataUtilities class

  

• Method coverage of DataUtilities class

  

4. Coverage of DataUtilities class - AFTER NEW TESTS

• Line coverage of DataUtilities class

  

• Branch coverage of DataUtilities class

  

• Method coverage of DataUtilities class

  

Pros and cons of coverage tools and reported metrics

In this report, we used EclEmma to report the coverage metrics. EclEmma supports statement and branch coverage, but does not support condition coverage.

Other tools have been experimented but we cannot get the condition coverage to work. For example, CodeCover do have condition coverage, but it seems that it is discontinued from support.

When we run CodeCover on the current version of eclipse, it will produce the following error -

Plug-in "org.codecover.eclipse" was unable to instantiate class "org.codecover.eclipse.junit.JUnitLaunchConfigurationDelegate".org/eclipse/osgi/framework/internal/core/BundleHost

Upon researching this issue on stackoverflow, it seems that only Eclipse Kepler can be used with CodeCover. We have also attempted to install Eclipse Kepler on another system to test CodeCover, but unfortunately we have multiple issues running the JFreeChart code in that version of Eclipse.

JaCoco has basically the same featureset as EclEmma, there are no differences and thus EclEmma is preferred.

As for Clover, when it transitioned to opensource by Atlassian since 2017, it seems like support and updates were dropped and requires users to compile it themselves in order to run it on their IDE. The instructions given on their website are also not detailed enough. We tried to compile Clover on our end but were unsuccessful.

Coverlipse and Cobertura had not been tested.

Thus, finally, all the tests coverage was done using EclEmma.

Requirements-based test generation vs Coverage-based test generation

Requirements-based test generation

• Advantages

  • More representative of actual use cases for a user who would read Javadoc
  • Test cases are not biased by looking at the code

• Disadvantages

  • No way to verify test coverage
  • Planning must be more thorough to ensure all cases are tested
  • Test cases may test the same paths multiple times as testers are unsure of the source code

Coverage-based test generation

• Advantages

  • Can maximize coverage by designing test cases around the methods
  • Can verify previous black box tests
  • Can ensure test are not all testing the same cases/conditions/methods/paths

• Disadvantages

  • Test cases can be biased by looking at the code
  • Test cases designed only around coverage may not test all boundary cases, eg incorrect code may pass with normal values but fail at boudaries even with 100% coverage
  • Reliance on coverage tools which offer different features

Division of team work

Division of manual data flow coverage

The work of producing the data flow graphs and analyzing the DU pairs was split into two parts, one group (Drew and Bhavyai) completed the intersect method and the other group (Michael and Oke) completed the calculateColumnTotal method. After the two groups finished their respective work, we reviewed each other's work.

Division of new test cases

Each of the four testers increased coverage of the methods according to the data in below table

API method	Tester
Range.isNaNRange()	Bhavyai Gupta (already 100%)
Range.shift(Range, double, boolean)	Okeoghenemarho Obuareghe (already 100%)
Range.intersects(double, double)	Michael Man Yin Lee
Range.expandToInclude(Range, double)	Drew Burritt
Range.combineIgnoringNaN(Range, Range)	Bhavyai Gupta
DataUtilities.calculateRowTotal(Values2D, int)	Michael Man Yin Lee
DataUtilities.calculateRowTotal(Values2D, int, int[])	Bhavyai Gupta
DataUtilities.calculateColumnTotal(Values2D, int)	Michael Man Yin Lee
DataUtilities.calculateColumnTotal(Values2D, int, int[])	Drew Burritt
DataUtilities.getCumulativePercentages(KeyedValues)	Okeoghenemarho Obuareghe (already 100%)

Difficulties, challenges, and lessons learned

Coverage is a really good tool to analyze what is missing in the test case, but as mentioned in the disadvantages, this only tests whether the test would cover all aspects of code, but does not look at the requirements itself.

We believe that, both requirements base and coverage base tests are equally important in software testing.

Comments and feedback

1. This assignment has given us a great opportunity in learning how to make sure the test cases we write are complete and cover most of the source code effectively.

2. This assignment gave us a chance to review our assignment 2 work and see how well we did with black box testing.

3. EclEmma was used as the code coverage tool, which is already available Eclipse as an installed plugin.

4. The assignment description document Assignment_Description.md is very detailed and comprehensive, and it was easy to follow.

5. The Teacher Assistant has provided us very detailed and prompt feedback in clarifying any questions that we had on the assignment. For example, for the scope for section 3.3 ("Test Suite Development"), he helped us clarify that we only need to create tests to cover the required coverage metrics on the methods that we have done from assignment 2 instead of all of the methods within the Range and DataUtilities class.

Contributors

We are group 5, and below are the team members

• Bhavyai Gupta
• Drew Burritt
• Michael Man Yin Lee
• Okeoghenemarho Obuareghe