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ETSI Standard
Methods for Testing and Specification (MTS);
TPLan: A notation for expressing Test Purposes
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2 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
Reference
RES/MTS-00100[2]-TPLan
Keywords
methodology, testing, TTCN
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3 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 5
Foreword . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 6
3 Definitions and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviations . 7
4 Introduction . 8
4.1 TPLan: A formal notation for expressing test purposes . 8
4.2 Extensibility of TPLan . 8
4.3 The Test Suite Structure . 8
4.4 Areas of application. 8
4.5 Limitations of TPLan . 9
5 TPLan keywords, comments and identifiers . 9
5.1 TPLan keywords . 9
5.2 Comments. 10
5.3 TPLan identifiers . 10
5.4 Uniqueness of identifiers . 11
5.5 Including files . 11
6 TSS Header . . 11
6.1 Standard TSS header entries . 11
6.2 User-defined TSS Header entries . 12
7 External references . 12
8 User definitions . 13
8.1 User-defined words . 13
8.2 User-defined headers . 13
8.3 User-defined test entities . 13
8.4 User-defined events and parameters . 13
8.5 User-defined values . 14
8.6 User-defined units . 14
8.7 User-defined conditions . 15
8.8 Constraining keywords to specific contexts . 15
9 Groups . 16
10 TP Header . 17
10.1 Standard TP Header entries . 17
10.2 User-defined TP Header entries . 18
11 TP body . 18
11.1 TP body structure . 18
11.2 TP pre-conditions . 19
11.3 TP stimuli . 19
11.4 TP responses . 20
11.5 Precedence of TPLan statements . 20
11.6 Temporal ordering of TPLan statements . 20
11.7 Using user-defined test entities, conditions and words. 21
11.8 Glue words and readability . 21
Annex A (normative): The TPLan Grammar . 22
ETSI
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4 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
A.1 Syntactic Rules . 22
A.2 TPLan EBNF Productions . 22
Annex B (informative): Use of the IPT Testing Framework . 27
B.1 IPT naming conventions . 27
B.1.1 IPT identifiers . 27
B.1.2 The Requirements Identifier . 27
B.1.3 The Configuration Identifier. 27
B.1.4 The Test Purpose Identifier . 27
B.1.5 The Test Case Identifier . 27
B.1.6 The Test Description Identifier . 28
B.2 IPT cross references . 28
B.2.1 References to the Requirements Catalogue . 28
B.2.2 References to test configurations . 28
Annex C (informative): A guide to using TPLan in a communications testing environment . 29
C.1 General considerations . 29
C.1.1 Introduction . 29
C.1.2 Structure of a TPLan specification . 29
C.1.3 Choosing a suitable text editor . 30
C.2 The TPLan header . 31
C.2.1 TSS Header . 31
C.2.2 Cross-references . 31
C.2.2.1 Requirement sources . 31
C.2.2.2 Configurations . 31
C.2.3 User-defined extensions to TPLan . 32
C.2.3.1 General layout of user definitions . 32
C.2.3.2 Header fields . 33
C.2.3.3 Entities . 33
C.2.3.4 Events . 34
C.2.3.5 Conditions . 34
C.2.3.6 Values . 35
C.2.3.7 Units. 35
C.2.3.8 Keywords . 35
C.2.3.9 Syntactical context . 36
C.3 Test Purposes . 36
C.3.1 Grouping TPs . 36
C.3.1.1 TP header . 37
C.3.1.2 TP Body . 38
C.3.1.2.1 Preconditions . 38
C.3.1.2.2 Stimulus and response . 38
C.3.1.2.2.1 The when and then construct . 38
C.3.1.2.2.2 Identifying the contents of message events . 39
C.3.1.2.2.3 Interactions with the user . 40
C.3.1.2.2.4 Establishing the order of a sequence of events . 40
C.3.1.2.2.5 The "do nothing" response . 41
Annex D (informative): Some communications testing examples . 42
D.1 IPv6 Interoperability Test Purposes . 42
D.2 QSIG Interoperability Test Purposes . 46
D.3 ISDN Conformance Test Purposes . 49
Annex E (informative): Bibliography . 51
History . 52
ETSI
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5 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
Intellectual Property Rights
IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI Web
server (http://webapp.etsi.org/IPR/home.asp).
Pursuant to the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee
can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web
server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.
Foreword
This ETSI Standard (ES) has been produced by ETSI Technical Committee Methods for Testing and Specification
(MTS).
ETSI
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6 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
1 Scope
The present document specifies the syntax and use of a notation for the definition of Test Purposes, TPLan. This
notation provides a structure and a common set of English keywords for the specification of Test Purposes. The basic
notation is oriented towards testing of reactive, black-box communication systems and uses terminology derived from
ISO/IEC 9646-1 [3]. However, facilities are also included to allow users to extend the notation with application-specific
keywords of their own.
The use of TPLan as the means of specifying Test Purposes is optional but, if it is used, the requirements specified in
the present document shall be met.
2 References
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific.
• For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
• Non-specific reference may be made only to a complete document or a part thereof and only in the following
cases:
- if it is accepted that it will be possible to use all future changes of the referenced document for the
purposes of the referring document;
- for informative references.
Referenced documents which are not found to be publicly available in the expected location might be found at
http://docbox.etsi.org/Reference.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
2.1 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of the present document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For non-specific references, the latest edition of the referenced document
(including any amendments) applies.
[1] ETSI ES 201 873-1: "Methods for Testing and Specification (MTS); The Testing and Test Control
Notation version 3; Part 1: TTCN-3 Core Language".
[2] ETSI EG 202 568 (V1.1.3): "Methods for Testing and Specification (MTS); Internet Protocol
Testing (IPT); Testing: Methodology and Framework".
[3] ISO/IEC 9646-1: "Information Technology - Open Systems Interconnection - Conformance
Testing Methodology and Framework - Part 1: General concepts".
[4] ISO/IEC 9646-2: "Information Technology - Open Systems Interconnection - Conformance
Testing Methodology and Framework - Part 2: Abstract Test Suite specification".
2.2 Informative references
The following referenced documents are not essential to the use of the present document but they assist the user with
regard to a particular subject area. For non-specific references, the latest version of the referenced document (including
any amendments) applies.
Not applicable.
ETSI
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7 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
3 Definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions apply:
event: something observable (measurable) at a given place and time
NOTE: The cause of a stimulus or the result of a response.
notation: textual means of representing ideas
programming language: artificial language that can be used to control the behaviour of a machine
test case: specification of the actions required to achieve a specific test purpose, starting in a stable testing state, ending
in a stable testing state and defined in either natural language for manual operation or in a machine-readable language
(such as TTCN-3) for automatic execution
test description: systematic specification of the test steps (generally in tabulated text) that must be taken to reach a
specific test verdict
test purpose: description of a well-defined objective of testing, focussing on a single interoperability requirement or a
set of related interoperability requirements
test suite structure: logical grouping of test purposes or test cases which should be both relevant and convenient
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:
EBNF Extended Backus-Nauer Form
EUT Equipment Under Test
ICS Implementation Conformance Statement
IETF International Engineering Task Force
IP Internet Protocol
IPT Internet Protocol Testing
IUT Implementation Under Test
PICS Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement
QE Qualified Equipment
QSIG Q interface Signalling protocol
RFC Request For Comments
NOTE: IETF terminology for a draft standard.
RQ ReQuirement
TC Test Case
TD Test Description
TP Test Purpose
TPLan Test Purpose Notation
TSS Test Suite Structure
TTCN-3 Testing and Test Control Notation edition 3
ETSI
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8 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
4 Introduction
4.1 TPLan: A formal notation for expressing test purposes
ISO/IEC 9646-1 [3] and ISO/IEC 9646-2 [4] recommend that test specifications include a concise and unambiguous
description of each test which focuses on its purpose. These Test Purposes, or TPs, define what is to be tested rather
than how the testing is performed. The TPs are based on the requirements identified in the relevant standard (or
standards) from which the test specification is derived. The detailed coding of each Test Purpose is specified in a Test
Case. Often Test Cases, or TCs, are written in a test specification language such as TTCN-3 [1]. The specification of
Test Cases is outside the scope of the present document.
Generally, Test Purposes are written in prose (possibly displayed in a tabular format). There is considerable benefit to
be gained by having all TPs written in a similar and consistent way. With this in mind, a simple, structured notation
called TPLan has been developed for the expression of TPs. TPLan is defined with a minimal set of test-oriented
keywords but with the capability that permits users to define extensions to the notation. is an example of how TPLan
can be extended into a specific application area; in this case, telecommunications.
The benefits of using TPLan are:
• consistency in test purpose descriptions - less room for misinterpretation;
• clear identification of the TP pre-conditions, test body, and verdict criteria;
• automatic syntax checking and syntax highlighting in text editors;
• a basis for a TP transfer format and representation in tools.
4.2 Extensibility of TPLan
TPLan provides a framework for a consistent representation (format, layout, structure and logical ordering) and a
consistent use of words and patterns of words for expressing TPs. This is achieved without unnecessarily restricting the
expressive power of pure prose.
TPLan allows the use of keywords in combination with free-text strings (enclosed by single quotes). Thus, the TP writer
has considerable freedom of expression in the use of unstructured text between the keywords.
The basic set of pre-defined TPLan keywords has been kept to a minimum. These keywords are mainly concerned with
providing structure to the TPs. The intention is that this set of keywords is extended by the user for specific testing
applications through the use of user-defined keywords (see clause 8) which can be checked by automatic tools for
consistency and, to some extent, correctness.
4.3 The Test Suite Structure
Test Purposes should be grouped in a tree-like structure. This structure is known as the Test Suite Structure, or TSS.
The combination of structure and Test Purposes is known as the TSS&TP [3].
The general composition of a TPLan TSS&TP is as follows:
TSS Header -- title, author, version etc.
Cross References -- references to base standards, configuration descriptions etc.
Definitions -- user-defined words, events, test entities, conditions, headers etc.
TSS Groups -- if any and possibly nested
Test Purposes -- contained in the groups (if any)
4.4 Areas of application
TPLan is not specific to a particular type or area of testing. The fundamental set of predefined TPLan keywords is
oriented towards conformance and interoperability testing (keywords such as IUT, TESTER and TD) but the
extensibility of the language means that the user can adapt TPLan to a wide range of testing contexts.
ETSI
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9 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
4.5 Limitations of TPLan
The TPLan grammar provides limited syntax checking and an enhanced visual representation of the TP in, for example,
a syntax sensitive text editor. However, in order to retain expressive power, TPLan is only loosely defined in that no
strict relation between certain words (especially the user-defined words) is specified. Thus, it is possible to write
nonsensical constructions if care is not taken. Of course, appropriate tools may be able to identify such constructions
but there are no constructs for doing this explicitly in the notation.
5 TPLan keywords, comments and identifiers
5.1 TPLan keywords
Only those words listed in table 1 shall be considered to be valid TPLan keywords.
Table 1: TPLan keywords
TSS header keywords
author Author
date Date
title Title
TSS tss
version Version
Cross-references keywords
xref Xref
Definitions keywords
condition Condition
context Context
def Def
entity Entity
event Event
header Header
value Value
unit Unit
word Word
TP grouping keywords
end End
group Group
objective Objective
TP header keywords
config Config
id Id
ref Ref
role Role
RQ rq
summary Summary
TC tc
TD td
TP tp
TP body keywords
ensure Ensure
that That
with With
when When
then Then
Test entity keywords
IUT iut
TESTER tester
ETSI
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10 ETSI ES 202 553 V1.2.1 (2009-06)
TPLan glue words
a A
an An
as As
in In
is Is
no No
of Of
the The
Logical words
and And
not Not
or Or
Stimulus and Response words
receives Receives
sends Sends
Data-related words
containing Containing
indicating Indicating
Direction-related words
from From
to To
Time- and order-related words
after After
before Before
unordered Unordered
within Within
5.2 Comments
Comments shall be introduced by the string "--" and terminated at the end of the same line.
5.3 TPLan identifiers
Letters, numbers and special characters may be used in a TPLan identifier, as follows:
• alphabetic:
- a to z;
- A to Z.
• Numeric:
- 0 to 9.
• special characters:
- |._-&%$*@?!> Typical TPlan identifiers are TP identifier, event names, cross reference identifiers and requirements identifiers. For
example:
MyTSS&TP
TP_UMTS_0789_01
RQ_001_789
REQ3952.Arev2
CONF/HOST/INVALID/#75
CF_MOB_02
PICS_c.2
A TPLan id
...