Test suite patterns
Test suite patterns provide typical test suite definitions. Test suite patterns are not executed directly, but copied to become a specific test suite after updating special parameters. The advantage for test suite pattern is, that those provide common rules for test suites in a specific environment.
A test suite pattern defines the typical resources for a test suite. Providing a number of test suite patterns supports standardizing test processes. An alternative to test suite patterns ate test suite templates, which support automatic test suite generation.
A test suite pattern may be copied and adapted to become a part of a test suite. In case of test suite hierarchies, one may also provide a complete pattern hierarchy in order to define kind of nested patterns.
Considering the value domain problem (including tests for lower than or equal to minimum, between minimum and maximum and equal to or greater than maximum), one may define a two level test suite:
- pattern_suite - providing common resources
- test suite 1 (value < minimum)
- test suite 2 (value = minimum)
- test suite 3 (minimum < value < maximum)
- test suite 4 (value = maximum)
- test suite 5 (value > maximum)
Such a pattern makes sense, when all 5 test cases require different input data. One might, however, also define a test suite with five tests below, when the test sets for the test do not differ (e.g. testing parameters passed to a program)
- pattern_suite - providing test suite resources
- test 1 (value < minimum)
- test 2 (value = minimum)
- test 3 (minimum < value < maximum)
- test 4 (value = maximum)
- test 5 (value > maximum)