Test suite

In software development, a test suite, less commonly known as a "validation suite", is a collection of test cases that are intended to be used to test a software program to show that it has some specified set of behaviours. A test suite often contains detailed instructions or goals for each collection of test cases and information on the system configuration to be used during testing. A group of test cases may also contain prerequisite states or steps, and descriptions of the following tests.

Collections of test cases are sometimes incorrectly termed a test plan, a test script, or even a test scenario.

Different types of test suites

Occasionally, test suites are used to group similar test cases together. A system might have a smoke test suite that consists only of smoke tests or a test suite for some specific functionality in the system. It may also contain all tests and signify if a test should be used as a smoke test or for some specific functionality.

An "executable test suite" is a test suite that is one that can be executed by a program as opposed to manually. This usually means that a test harness, which is integrated with the suite, exists The test suite and the test harness together can work on a sufficiently detailed level to correctly communicate with the system under test (SUT).

A test suite for a primality testing subroutine might consist of a list of numbers and their primality (prime or composite), along with a testing subroutine. The testing subroutine would supply each number in the list to the primality tester, and verify that the result of each test is correct.

The counterpart of an executable test suite is an "abstract test suite".

Popular test suites

* [http://www.plumhall.com/suites.html The Plum Hall Validation Suite for C/C++ and the C++ Library]

ee also

*Software testing
*Test case
*Scenario test