WCT: a wrapper for component testing

Within component based (CB) software development, testing becomes a crucial activity for interoperability validation, but enabling test execution over an externally acquired component is difficult and labor-intensive. To address such problem, we propose the WCT component, a generic test wrapper that dynamically adapts the component interfaces, making the test execution independent from any specific component implementation. The wrapper does not require that the component implements any specific interface for testing purposes, it permits to easily reconfigure the subsystem under test after the introduction/removal/substitution of a component, and helps optimize test reuse, by keeping trace of the test cases that directly affect the wrapped component.