Test Coverage tools
SD supplies test (or code) coverage tools for arbitrary procedural languages. Such tools provide statistics and detail information about which parts of an application program have been executed (usually by a test suite). This information is invaluable to software teams to help determine the readiness of software for actual use. The type of coverage information collected is branch coverage, which subsumes statement coverage.
Test coverage tools may also be used to locate application functionality. One simply exercises the functionality of interest, and the test coverage tool indicates what part of the application code is executed. This a a very effective way to locate functionality in a large, poorly understood system.
SD's test coverage tools operate by inserting language-specific probes for each basic block in the source files of interest before compilation/execution. At execution time, the probes record which blocks get executed ("coverage data"). On completion of execution, the coverage data is typically written to a test coverage vector file. Finally, the test coverage data is displayed on top of browsable source text for the system under test, enabling a test engineer to see what code has (not) been executed, and to see overall statistics on coverage data.
Typical Features
- Not dependent on any particular compiler or object formats
- Works with tens of thousands of files
- Very low probe overhead (one or two machine instructions per executed probe)
- Can accumulate coverage data from multiple execution runs
- Browsable source files overlayed with collected coverage information
- Produces coverage report by application, subsystem and file
- Test Coverage delta computation and display, to enable test case minimization
- Can operate with custom/embedded application execution environments
- Consistent style and operation across different languages
- Probe installer and display tool operate on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
- Application under test can execute in arbitrary native enviroment including embedded WinCE
- Test coverage data from multiple subsystems can be combined into single comprehensive display and summary reports
- Test coverage data from multiple languages can be combined into single comprehensive display and summary reports
SD is beta-testing incremental test coverage tools for Java and C#.
These tools can track coverage for individual tests, and indicate which
tests must be re-run when the source code base is changed. If you have
a lot of tests, this can save a lot of time during development.
If you are interested in doing a beta test, send a request to
info@semanticdesigns.com.
Available for the following languages
- Java: client, Server (J2EE), embedded, and RealTime Java, Java 1.2-Java 1.6
- C (ANSI, MSVC6, GNU)
- C++ (ANSI, MSVC6, MSVS2005, GNU)
- C# 2.0, 3.0, 4.0
- COBOL (IBM Enterprise)
- PHP4 and PHP5
- PARLANSE (yes, we use our own tools!)
SD is beta-testing PLSQL stored-procedure test coverage tools for Oracle 10g and up.
If you are interested in doing a beta test, send a request to
info@semanticdesigns.com.
Semantic Designs also provides profiling tools.
Unusual Requirements?
Your language not listed, runs in an unusual environment, or you have some custom need? SD can configure a test coverage tool for you! These test coverage tools are based on DMS, and inherit DMS's language agility and scalability. A white paper on how test coverage is implemented with DMS is available: TestCoverage.pdf
Thumbs up to Test Coverage tool
"LSI has integrated Semantic Designs' Test Coverage tool into its special firmware build to measure effectiveness of its internal testing. Fantastic support from Sematic Designs and the simplicity of the tool ensured we were able to integrate the tool in our process in just couple of days. Great thing about this tool is, IT JUST WORKS as expected and as advertised. We are already seeing measurable benefits of using the tool. Today, we have quantifiable data to assess our testing methodologies and track the improvements."
Abhijeet Aphale
Lead Engineer
LSI Corporation
