4 Reactis Validator
The verification and validation capabilities of Reactis help engineers
detect bugs earlier, when they are less costly to fix.
Reactis Validator performs automated searches of programs for violations of
user-specified requirements. If Validator finds a violation, it returns a test
that leads to the problem. This test may then be executed in Reactis Simulator
to gain an understanding of the sequence of events that leads to the problem.
Validator enables the early detection of software defects and
reduces the effort required for code reviews. Some checks that may be
performed with Validator include the following. -
Will a variable’s value ever fall outside a desired range?
- Will a car’s cruise-control maintain vehicle speed within
acceptable limits of the set speed?
- Will a car’s brake pedal always override the cruise control?
- Will a car’s brake pedal always override the electronic throttle control?
- Will a plane’s thrust reversers ever engage when the aircraft is airborne?
- Will an x-ray machine ever deliver a dangerous dose of radiation?
- Will a cellular phone “hang” when moved from a non-serviced into a serviced area?
| Figure 7: Reactis Validator automates functional testing. |
Figure 7 shows how engineers use Validator.
First, a program
is instrumented with Validator objectives.
There are two forms of Validator objectives,
assertions and user-defined coverage targets.
An assertion is a boolean C function which should always return a true (non-zero) value.
A user-defined coverage target is a boolean C function which should return a true result
at least once during testing.
During the instrumentation process,
objectives can be inserted at any point within a C program using the
Reactis for C GUI. Note that all objectives are stored in a separate library
and none of the actual C source files are modified.
The purpose of Validator is to produce a test suite which
triggers assertion violations and/or covers all user-defined coverage targets. After the program is instrumented, Reactis Validator performs an automated
search for an execution scenario that leads to a violation of an assertion.
If Validator finds an assertion violation, it returns a test that leads to the
problem. This test may then be executed in Reactis Simulator to gain an
understanding of the sequence of events that leads to the problem. Reactis for C Validator reduces the effort required to detect software defects
prior to code release, which in turn reduces overall development costs.
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