{"id":14532,"date":"2023-08-09T14:58:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T12:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.btc-embedded.com\/?p=14532"},"modified":"2024-01-17T10:26:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T08:26:34","slug":"what-you-shoud-know-about-testing-variants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.btc-embedded.com\/de\/what-you-shoud-know-about-testing-variants\/","title":{"rendered":"What you should know about testing variants"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Creating <\/span>different variants of a software <\/span>component<\/span> is an efficient <\/span>way of<\/span> reus<\/span>ing<\/span> existing and developed features for different versions of a specific <\/span>component<\/span> or controller.\u00a0<\/span>Thus, testing variants is an\u00a0<\/span>ubiquitous <\/span>task in the automotive industry <\/span>that <\/span>needs to be <\/span>taken into account<\/span> during <\/span>testing.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How are variants created in a Model-based Software development process?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When looking at the development process, we can distinguish between different moments in which the decision for a concrete variant gets \u201cfrozen\u201d:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

  1. During Model construction<\/span><\/b>: The variant binding is realized by model adaptation. Only the active variant is visible in tools like Simulink or TargetLink. In this way, the model and the generated code are tailored to the current variant configuration.<\/span>
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  2. During Code generation<\/span><\/b>: All variants are present in the model, but only one variant is\u00a0considered during code generation. As above, the generated code contains only one variant<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
  3. During Compilation<\/span><\/b>: The variant configuration is done before compilation by preprocessor macros. The C Code contains all variants, but the binary code (=object code) reflects the variant configuration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
  4. At runtime<\/span><\/b>: The variant is selected at or before runtime, i.e. by changing a calibration variable or by configuring a piece of configuration memory. In this case, the same binary code is used for all variants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

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    From the code perspective, variants 1 and 2 are identical. For variants 3 and 4, you will have one code file but for variant 3 the variant will be fixed during compilation while for variant 4 it can be modified later by setting the appropriate calibration values (even during runtime).<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    What does this mean for testing variants?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    First things first. Before talking about the different aspects to consider during testing, let\u2019s define the term \u2018test project\u2019. A test project in the context of this article contains:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>