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Test-driven statechart modelling

In model-driven software development (MDSD), specific parts of the software are created by a code generator instead of being written manually. This also pertains to code generated from statechart models.

The nice thing about generated code is that we can safely assume it to be correct – at least as long as the code generator developers have tested their product thoroughly enough. However, what about the model? While the generated code might be correct, this won’t help at all if the underlying model is broken in the first place.

SCTUnit is a scripting and testing framework for writing unit tests for statechart models. You can validate the behaviour of your statechart by running these tests. Each test, written in the SCTUnit language, consists of a well-defined sequence of instructions. When running a test, these instructions are applied to a state machine under control and possibly changes that state machine in a specific way. You put down the expected effects of these changes as assertions. An assertion is used to check whether a specific condition is fulfilled, for example certain states being active or not, variables having specific values, operations having been executed, etc. SCTUnit allows test-driven development of statechart models on the semantic level.

The subsequent sections will first introduce SCTUnit by example and then explain the SCTUnit language in full.