An UI Layout Files Analyzer for Test Data Generation

Prevention actions (trainings, audits) and inspections (tests, validations, code reviews) are the crucial factors in achieving a high quality level for any software application simply because low investments in this area are leading to significant expenses in terms of corrective actions needed for defect fixing. Mobile applications testing involves the use of various tools and scenarios. An important process is represented by test data generation. This paper proposes a test data generator (TDG) system for mobile applications using several sources for test data and it focuses on the UI layout files analyzer module. The proposed architecture aims to reduce time-to-market for mobile applications. The focus is on test data generators based on the source code, user interface layout files (using markup languages like XML or XAML) and application specifications. In order to assure a common interface for test data generators, an XML or JSON-based language called Data Specification Language (DSL) is proposed.