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Domain Testing: Divide and Conquer - Testing Education

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<strong>Domain</strong> <strong>Testing</strong><br />

Combination <strong>Testing</strong><br />

Phase III: Given variables <strong>and</strong> best representatives of each of their equivalence<br />

classes, perform combination testing on them.<br />

The analysis for this phase requires the following steps:<br />

1. Review the analysis done in previous phase.<br />

2. Do combination testing.<br />

Step 1: Review the analysis done in previous phase<br />

It is a good idea to review the analysis done in Phase II before proceeding further with<br />

this phase.<br />

Step 2: Do combination testing<br />

Now that we have learned how to choose the best representatives (test cases) from each<br />

equivalence class for each variable, we next have to perform combination testing of all<br />

the identified variables using these best representatives in order to test these variables in<br />

combination.<br />

Why combine, why not test in isolation?<br />

We need to test variables in combination for the simple reason that all<br />

variables will interact as they are part of one functional unit <strong>and</strong> they have<br />

to unite to achieve the duty that the functional unit is designated for.<br />

Hence most of these variables influence each other in some or the other<br />

way.<br />

How to perform combination testing?<br />

Consider an example of a program (a simple GUI) that has 7 variables<br />

with 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2 <strong>and</strong> 2 representatives respectively. The number of all<br />

possible test cases is equivalent to 3x2x2x2x3x2x2 = 288 combinations,<br />

which means 288 test cases-one test case corresponding to each<br />

combination!<br />

If the number of test cases is so huge for as few as 7 variables, imagine<br />

what happens in a typical program where there are hundreds of variables.<br />

Yes, combinatorial explosion!<br />

A solution to this problem is ‘All-pairs combination testing’ <strong>and</strong> is<br />

discussed next.<br />

© Sowmya Padmanabhan, 2003<br />

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