Home

This wiki describes the E-ARK information package validation test corpus (hereafter called the test corpus).

In general the test corpus comprises a set of human readable and machine readable test cases which also includes E-ARK information packages that contain valid and invalid samples related to each of the requirements within the following specifications:

• the Common Specification for Information Packages (hereafter called CSIP)
• the E-ARK Specification for Submission Information Packages (hereafter called SIP)
• the E-ARK Specification for Dissemination Information Packages (hereafter called DIP)

What is a test case?

A test case consists of:

• an xml file
• a number of valid and/or invalid E-ARK packages.

The xml-file is named testCase.xml. It follows a certain structure due to a general xml xsd-schema. Its main purpose is to:

• describe a set of rules that are the fine grained tests needed to completely validate a requirement in one of the E-ARK specifications.
• describe packages that either conform to or violate the set of rules laid out in the test case.
• link to the name and location of the described packages.

For a detailed description of the elements and the structure of the testCase.xml see here

Why do we have a test corpus?

The test corpus has served and continues to serve these main purposes:

1. Every test case represents simple and implemented samples of E-ARK information packages that are either valid or invalid according to a requirement in a E-ARK specification. This way users of the E-ARK specifications can easily get hands and eyes on examples when trying to understand the specifications.
2. The test corpus provides a set of test cases and information packages that can be used to test software validators for the E-ARK specifications.
3. The development of the test corpus is an exploration of the testability of requirements – the development of the test corpus therefore produces a lot of feedback to the authors and owners of the E-ARK specifications.