Editing Model-based testing (section)

===From finite-state machines===
Often the model is translated to or interpreted as a [[finite-state automaton]] or a [[state transition system]]. This automaton represents the possible configurations of the system under test. To find test cases, the automaton is searched for executable paths. A possible execution path can serve as a test case. This method works if the model is [[Deterministic system (mathematics)|deterministic]] or can be transformed into a deterministic one. Valuable off-nominal test cases may be obtained by leveraging unspecified transitions in these models.

Depending on the complexity of the system under test and the corresponding model the number of paths can be very large, because of the huge amount of possible configurations of the system. To find test cases that can cover an appropriate, but finite, number of paths, test criteria are needed to guide the selection. This technique was first proposed by Offutt and Abdurazik in the paper that started model-based testing.<ref>Jeff Offutt and Aynur Abdurazik. Generating Tests from UML Specifications. Second International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language (UML ’99), pages 416-429, Fort Collins, CO, October 1999.</ref> Multiple techniques for test case generation have been developed and are surveyed by Rushby.<ref>John Rushby. Automated Test Generation and Verified Software. Verified Software: Theories, Tools, Experiments: First IFIP TC 2/WG 2.3 Conference, VSTTE 2005, Zurich, Switzerland, October 10–13. pp. 161-172, Springer-Verlag</ref> Test criteria are described in terms of general graphs in the testing textbook.<ref name="Jeff Offutt 2016"/>