Using Executable Specification and Regression Testing for Broadcast Mechanism of Visual Programming Language on Smartphones

Authors

  • Zulfiqar Ali Institute of Software Technology, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
  • Aiman M Ayyal Awwad
  • Wolfgang Slany Institute of Software Technology, Graz University of Technology, Austria.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v13i02.9851

Keywords:

Mobile Application, Regression Testing, Behavior Driven Development, Visual Programming Environment, Catrobat

Abstract


The rapid advancement of mobile computing technology and the rising usage of mobile apps made our daily life more productive. The mobile app should operate all the time bug-free in order to improve user satisfaction and offers great business value to the end user. At the same time, smartphones are full of special features that make testing of apps more challenging. Actually, the quality is a must for successful applications and it cannot be achieved without testing and verification. In this paper, we present the Behavior Driven Development (BDD) methodology and Cucumber framework to automate regression testing of Android apps. Particularly, the proposed methods use the visual programming language for smartphones (Catrobat) as a reference. The Catrobat program scripts communicate via a broadcast mechanism. The objective is to test the broadcast mechanism from different angles and track regression errors as well as specify and diagnose bugs with the help of executable specifications. The results show that the methods are able to effectively reveal deficiencies in the broadcast mechanism, and ensure that the app matches all expectations and needs of end users.

Author Biography

Wolfgang Slany, Institute of Software Technology, Graz University of Technology, Austria.

Wolfgang Slany heads the Institute of Software Technology at Graz University of Technology and is the head and founder of the Catrobat non-profit free open source project, in which more than 1,000 pro-bono collaborators from around 100 countries are developing apps that allow kids to create their own games, animations, and other apps, directly on their phones. Wolfgang is passionate about poverty alleviation through coding education for teens, in particular girls, refugees, and teens in developing countries. Catrobat works in a sustainable way also for teens in less privileged regions who do not have access to PCs and laptops, by relying on the phones most teens everywhere on Earth already personally own, and by bypassing traditional school pedagogy, instead using a constructionist approach focusing on game app development and fun. Professionally, Wolfgang conducts research, teaches, and is consulting on sustainable large scale agile software development and user experience topics for mobile platform projects. � 

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Published

2019-02-22

How to Cite

Ali, Z., Awwad, A. M. A., & Slany, W. (2019). Using Executable Specification and Regression Testing for Broadcast Mechanism of Visual Programming Language on Smartphones. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 13(02), pp. 50–65. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v13i02.9851

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 02 (2019)

Section

Papers