Automated test input generation for integration testing of microservice-based web applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10489279-B2
Application number	US-201916381502-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2019
Priority date	Aug 5, 2016
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Techniques for automated generation of inputs for testing microservice-based applications are provided. In one example, a computer-implemented method comprises: traversing, by a system operatively coupled to a processor, a user interface of a microservices-based application by performing actions on user interface elements of the user interface; and generating, by the system, an aggregated log of user interface event sequences and application program interface call sets based on the traversing. The computer-implemented method also comprises: determining, by the system, respective user interface event sequences that invoke application program interface call sets; and generating, by the system, respective test inputs based on the user interface event sequences that invoke the application program interface call sets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a memory that stores computer executable components; and
a processor that executes the computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable components comprise:
an event sequence component that:
generates an aggregated log of user interface event sequences and application program interface call sets of an application program interface call graph based on a traversal of a user interface of a microservices-based application, and
determines respective user interface event sequences that invoke application program interface call sets based on an analysis of the aggregated log;

a coverage component that generates an annotated application program interface call graph from the application program interface call graph based on the aggregated log, wherein respective edges of the annotated application program interface call graph are annotated with coverage indications; and
a test execution component that tests, within a defined time period prior to deployment of the microservices-based application in a live environment, at least a portion of the application program interface call graph using at least one test input generated based on the user interface event sequences that invoke the application program interface call sets and the coverage indications.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one coverage indication associated with an edge indicates a calling relationship between two application program interfaces represented by the edge, and the calling relationship is invoked by at least one application program interface call set of the application program interface call sets, and wherein the coverage component further determines at least one coverage metric related to the annotated application program interface call graph based on the coverage indications.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the coverage component further determines that the user interface should be traversed again with one or more mutated event sequences based on the at least one coverage metric and at least one coverage criterion.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the coverage component further determines an event sequence for mutation, where the event sequence is determined by the coverage component to invoke an externally visible application program interface that is at least one of directly or indirectly connected with an uncovered edge of the annotated application program interface call graph.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein a user interface crawling component mutates the event sequence to invoke the externally visible application program interface with at least one of a different parameter or a different parameter value.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the user interface crawling component mutates the event sequence by at least one of deletion of an event of the event sequence that contributes at least one parameter to invocation of the externally visible application program interface, addition of an additional event to the event sequence that contributes at least one additional parameter to invocation of the externally visible application program interface, or modification of at least one data value of at least one event of the event sequence.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the event sequence component further:
obtains a first log generated by the traversal of the user interface comprising user interface events that are timestamped;
obtains a second log generated by the traversal of the user interface comprising application program interface calls that are timestamped; and
aggregates user interface events and application program interface calls in time synched order into the aggregated log.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
generating, by a system operatively coupled to a processor, an aggregated log of user interface event sequences and application program interface call sets of an application program interface call graph based on a traversal of a user interface of a microservices-based application;
determining, by the system, respective user interface event sequences that invoke application program interface call sets based on an analysis of the aggregated log;
annotating, by the system, respective edges of the application program interface call graph with coverage indications based on the aggregated log to generate an annotated application program interface call graph; and
testing, by the system within a defined time period prior to deployment of the microservices-based application in a live environment, at least a portion of the application program interface call graph using at least one test input generated based on the user interface event sequences that invoke the application program interface call sets and the coverage indications.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining, by the system, at least one coverage metric related to the annotated application program interface call graph based on the coverage indications, wherein at least one coverage indication associated with an edge indicates a calling relationship between two application program interfaces represented by the edge, and the calling relationship is invoked by at least one application program interface call set of the application program interface call sets.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining, by the system, whether the user interface should be traversed again with one or more mutated event sequences based on the at least one coverage metric and at least one coverage criterion.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, by the system, an event sequence for mutation, wherein the event sequence is determined to invoke an externally visible application program interface that is at least one of directly or indirectly connected with an uncovered edge of the annotated application program interface call graph.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , further comprising:
mutating, by the system, the event sequence to invoke the externally visible application program interface with at least one of a different parameter or a different parameter value.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the mutating comprises at least one of deleting of an event of the event sequence that contributes at least a parameter to invocation of the externally visible application program interface, adding of an additional event to the event sequence that contributes at least one additional parameter to invocation of the externally visible application program interface, or changing of at least one data value of at least one event of the event sequence.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the generating the aggregated log comprises:
obtaining, by the system, a first log generated by the traversal of the user interface comprising user interface events that are timestamped;
obtaining, by the system, a second log generated by the traversal of the user interface comprising application program interface calls that are timestamped; and
aggregating, by the system, user interface events and application program interface calls in time synchronized order into the aggregated log.

15. A computer program product for automatically generating test inputs for testing of a microservices-based application, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processing component to cause the processing component to:
generate, by th

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Rajagopalan Shriram
• Sinha Saurabh

Classifications

• G06F16/9024

  Graphs; Linked lists (G06F16/9027 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/3676

  for coverage analysis · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F11/3438

  monitoring of user actions (tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535) · CPC title

• G06F9/451 Primary

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title