Testcase Metadata

Editor's draft: Last edited $Date: 2011/12/16 02:59:23 $

Introduction
Metadata elements
References

1. Introduction

This document defines a minimal set of metadata elements that can usefully be applied to test cases that are intended for publication within a conformance test suite. Defining and providing metadata has proved helpful in a variety of areas during the test development process. It also helps those who run the tests to verify the conformance of their implementations. For example, metadata can be used to:

track tests during the development and review process
filter tests according to a variety of criteria (for example, whether or not they are applicable for a particular profile or optional feature)
identify the area of the specification that is tested by the tests
aid in the construction of a test harness to automatically execute tests

If the use of standard metadata elements is adopted within the W3C it is likely that standardized tools will be developed to facilitate many of these tasks.

Please note that these metadata elements are simply suggestions. It is likely that additional metadata elements may be appropriate for your implementation. It may even make sense to define metadata about metadata (for example, the Dublin Core elements Date and Language may usefully be applied to several of the elements defined below.)

2. Metadata elements

Identifier

Name	Identifier
Description	An unambiguous reference to the test case.
Rationale	Enables the test case to be referenced and identified.
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Freeform (URI recommended).
Example	http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Test/CSS2.1/current/t0510-c25-pseudo-elmnt-00-c.htm
See Also	Dublin Core: identifier Testcase Metadata: Title
Comments	Most W3C test suites use URIs as identifiers.

Title

Name	Title
Description	The name by which the test case is formally known.
Rationale	It may be advantageous to provide a more human-oriented alternative to the Identifier.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Text.
Example	The CSS Test Suite uses the term Description for human readable names that more properly match this Title element. (For example, CSS 2.1 Test Suite: Co>.)
See Also	Dublin Core: title Testcase Metadata: Identifier
Comments	This element is optional because the Identifier will often be sufficient. Note also that in very large test suites it may be impractical to define unambiguous Titles.

Purpose

Name	Purpose
Description	A brief explanation of the reason the test case was developed.
Rationale	Provides additional context for the test case.
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Free-form (hypertext).
Example	The CSS1 test suite provides such explanations. For example: "This page tests the 'text-transform' property of CSS1".
See Also	Testcase Metadata: Description Testcase Metadata: SpecRef
Comments	The Purpose should typically be kept short enough (a "one liner") to be displayed in tablular format. More detailed explanation can be provided in a Description element.

Description

Name	Description
Description	A representation in words of the nature and characteristics of the test case.
Rationale	A detailed explanation can help reviewers to understand the purpose of a test and may also provide those executing the test with information that will be helpful if the test fails.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Free-form (hypertext).
Example	The WebCGM test suite incorporates detailed descriptions. For example: "Test basic CGM-to-HTML link, from a Application Structure with linkuri APS Attribute within the CGM, to a whole HTML document, with no behaviors or fragments associated with the link."
See Also	Dublin Core: description Testcase Metadata: Purpose
Comments	This element can be used to provide more detailed information than can be provided in the relatively short Purpose element.

Status

Name	Status
Description	One of an enumerated list of values that can be used to track the state of a test at a given time.
Rationale	It can be helpful to track the status of a test case during the development process.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Constrained choice from an enumerated list
Example	One of: unconfirmed, new, assigned, pending, accepted, rejected, holding (see Conformance Test Process For WCAG 2.0 and their Test Case Status document.).
See Also
Comments	This metadata element may also be useful after test suite publication, when it could be used to record the state of challenges to the validity of the test case.

SpecRef

Name	SpecRef
Description	Identification of the portion of the specification tested by this test case.
Rationale	Traceability back to the specification.
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Freeform hypertext or (ideally) an XPath expression.
Example	The HTML 4.1 test suite provides a list of Testable Assertions that associates individual test cases with assertions in the specification.
See Also
Comments	The more specific this reference is the better. (Simply pointing to the beginning of a large sub-section of the spec is not helpful. Identifying the exact string containing the requirement to be tested is ideal.)

Preconditions

Name	Preconditions
Description	Conditions that must be met before this test is executed.
Rationale	Any such conditions must be understood and met before the test case can be successfully executed.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Freeform (hypertext).
Example	It might be necessary that a network connection be available or a server process be running before the test case is executed.
See Also	Testcase Metadata: Inputs
Comments	This element does not refer to parameters or data required for execution (see Inputs).

Inputs

Name	Inputs
Description	Parameters or data that are needed for the test execution.
Rationale	Must be understood and supplied for test execution.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Implementation dependent.
Example	The XML Query Test Suite metadata defines an input_file element.
See Also	Testcase Metadata: Preconditions
Comments

ExpectedResults

Name	ExpectedResults
Description	The results that a conformant implementation is expected to produce when this test case is executed.
Rationale	If these are not defined, it will be impossible to determine whether the test case passed or failed.
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Implementation dependent.
Example	Test cases within the CSS Test Suite embed their expected results within the test's output. See this example. The XML Query Test Suite metadata defines an output_file element.
See Also
Comments

Version

Name	Version
Description	An identifier thatallows one to distinguish between different revisions of test case.
Rationale	Test cases often evolve over time, and it is important to maintain a history and to be able to identify and distinguish between different revisions.
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Implementation dependent.
Example	This will often be generated by a source-code control system such as CVS.
See Also
Comments

Contributor

Name	Contributor
Description	The individual or organization that contributed this test case.
Rationale	It may be necessary to contact the contributor to ask for information about the test case or to request an update.
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Freeform.
Example	The XML Conformance Test Suite encodes the contributor in the directory structure used to store the test cases.
See Also	Dublin Core: contributor
Comments

Rights

Name	Rights
Description	Information about rights held in and over the test case.
Rationale	Publishers and users of the test case need to understand the associated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
Required?	Yes.
Syntax	Ask your lawyer.
Example
See Also	Dublin Core: rights
Comments	This will often be simply a pointer to a copyright notice contained within the source code.

Grouping

Name	Grouping
Description	A mechanism for classifying test cases into groups.
Rationale	To enable the selection of subsets of test cases that share certain characteristics.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Implementation dependent. Possibilities include naming conventions and enumerated lists.
Example	Tests may be classified as interactive or automated, positive or negative, voice or dtmf.
See Also
Comments	An important use of grouping techniques is to classify tests that belong to particular profiles, modules, or other discretionary groupings (see Variability in Specifications for a detailed discussion of these issues). The SVG test suite, for example, uses naming conventions to distinguish between test cases targeted at different profiles (full, basic, or tiny).

Name	SeeAlso
Description	A list of references to relevant materials.
Rationale	Can help to clarify the intent or usefulness of the test case.
Required?	No.
Syntax	Freeform (hypertext).
Example	A pointer to an item in an issue-tracking system such as Bugzilla or to a mailing list thread in which the justification for this test case is discussed.
See Also	Dublin Core: relation
Comments

3. References

See the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative for an introduction to the use of metadata. (Note that this document re-uses Dublin Core elements where this seems appropriate.)

For background information on the test development process and additional rationale for the the use of metadata see the QA Working Group's Test FAQ.

For a practical implementation of some of these principles see the the XML Query and XSL Working Groups' use of metadata in the XML Query Test Suite. (Their Guidelines for Test Submission and Guidelines for Test Execution provide explanations and examples.)