Work Product (Artifact): Test Interface Specification |
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This artifact specifies the provision of a set of behaviors (operations) by a classifier (specifically, a Class, Subsystem, or Component) for the purposes of test access (testability). |
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Purpose
To provide a means of documenting the special requirements of the test effort that will place constraints or additional
requirements on the design of the software.
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Description
Main Description |
Test Interface Specifications are used in situations where aspects of the system that do not normally have visibility
must be observed, or where control of the software is required in a way not normally available through the standard
interface. Each test Interface should provide a unique and well-defined group of services.
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Brief Outline |
Each Test Interface Specification should consider various aspects of testing, including the following:
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What is the nature of the interface? For example, does it allow dynamic two-way communication, does it provide
individual real-time status feedback or, once activated, does it simply log information passively?
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Under what circumstances will the interface be used? Be sure to consider concurrency and access methods.
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What ability is needed to activate and deactivate the interface?
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What control is required to raise or lower the level of detail of the output from the operations provided by the
interface?
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Properties
Optional |  |
Planned |  |
Tailoring
Impact of not having |
If there is a need for testability for different components under development, not capturing this information might
lead to:
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Delays in testing some aspects of the system, as there is not enough test access to the associated subsystems.
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Communications problems between the development and the test teams, as the testability needs are not properly
expressed.
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Potential for schedule overruns.
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Reasons for not needing | This is an optional artifact. On many projects, there is either sufficient accessibility for test in the visible operations
on classes, user interfaces and so on. Common reasons to create test interface specifications include UI extensions to
allow GUI test tools to interact with the tool and diagnostic message logging routines, especially for batch processes. |
Representation Options | UML Representation: Interface
See the Interface related guidance for ideas on iunterfaces that can be applied to tailoring the Test Interface
Specification.
Optionally enclosed in the other design or requirements related artifacts.
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