This Recommendation defines TTCN-3 (Testing and Test Control Notation 3) intended for specification of test suites that are independent of platforms, test methods, protocol layers and protocols. TTCN-3 can be used for specification of all types of reactive system tests over a variety of communication ports. Typical areas of application are protocol testing (including mobile and Internet protocols), service testing (including supplementary services), module testing, testing of CORBA-based platforms and APIs. The specification of test suites for physical layer protocols is outside the scope of this Recommendation.TTCN-3 has evolved form TTCN-2 (Tree and Tabular Combined Notation, Edition 2) defined in ITU-T Rec. X.292, but, is syntactically very different. Unlike TTCN-2, TTCN-3 is not restricted to conformance testing and can be used for many other kinds of testing including interoperability, robustness, regression, system and integration testing.TTCN-3 retains much of the well-proven basic functionality of TTCN-2 but has been enhanced to include features such as:- the ability to specify dynamic concurrent testing configurations;- operations for procedure-based and message-based communication; - the ability to specify encoding information and other attributes (including user extensibility);- the ability to specify data and signature templates with powerful matching mechanisms;- type and value parameterization;- the assignment and handling of test verdicts;- test suite parameterization and test case selection mechanisms;- combined use of TTCN-3 with ASN.1 and potentially with other languages;- well-defined syntax, interchange format and static semantics.The core language of TTCN-3 can be expressed in a variety of presentation formats. While ITU-T Rec. Z.140 defines the Core Language, ITU-T Rec. Z.141 defines the Tabular Format for TTCN (TFT) and ITU-T Rec. Z.142 defines its Graphical Format for TTCN (GFT). The specification of these formats is outside the scope of this Recommendation. The core language serves three purposes:1) as a generalized text-based test language;2) as a standardized interchange format of TTCN test suites between TTCN tools;3) as the semantic basis (and where relevant, the syntactical basis) for the various presentation formats.The core language may be used independently of the presentation formats. However, neither the tabular format nor the graphical format can be used without the core language. Use and implementation of these presentation formats shall be done on the basis of the core language.Since the first publication of ITU-T Recs Z.140 and Z.141 in July 2001, several major updates to TTCN-3 Core Language have been made and included in this Recommendation:1) corrections to examples and other editorials;2) restructuring of the Recommendation for easier understandability;3) Annex B, Operational Semantics, has been moved into a separate specification; |
