We received several emails to ask how to initialize the initial state from an external source recently, this post introduces a good pattern to do it. We can implement our own data loader to load data from external source, and use this loader to initialize...

Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.5 Now Available! Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.5 Hello! We are delighted to announce the newest version of Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.5. Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.5 contains new features, improved documentation...

Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.4 Now Available! Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.4 Hello!  We are delighted to announce the newest version of Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.4. Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.4 contains new features, improved documentation...

Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.3 Hello again! We are proudly announcing the newest version of Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.3. The next step has been taken from being resident on DevLabs to being a Power Tool on Visual Studio gallery where you can find...

The Calculator The core calculator model is a simple four function calculator. But infix calculators aren't entirely simple, because calculators demonstrate rich variations in outputs depending upon the exact order of input sequences of numbers, operations...

These are key concepts in Spec Explorer. Unfortunately sometimes they are used almost interchangeably. For now, let's clear up what they are and how they differ. To be fair, our documentation does a good job of using the correct terms but even so it pays...

Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.2 Hello!  We are delighted to announce the newest version of Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.2. Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.2 contains new and enhanced features, improved documentation, plus over 110 bug fixes. It runs...

The full video series for the modeling class is available on Channel 9! It’s the recording of a two-half-day course Wolfgang and I gave on the Microsoft Redmond campus. The training is long (about 8 hours), but we have split it for your viewing convenience...

    Spec Explorer 2010 Release 3.1 Note: Now obsolete. Please use Release 3.2 . Greetings!  Today we are proud to announce of the newest version of Spec Explorer 2010, Release 3.1.   Running only on Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate...

In case you are capable of the German language, Christian Binder has posted an interview with me taken during TechED 2009 in Berlin, and we augmented it with an extended Webcast of using Spec Explorer, including its application by Microsoft for the Protocol...

Junfeng Dai has written an article about customizing Spec Explorer for using NUnit as the test execution engine instead of VSTT a few month ago. The same general approach can be used for simpler scenarios, for example to add custom test initialization...

Several advanced users have expressed interest to process the test suite generated by Spec Explorer in a different way from the built-in test code generation. The Spec Explorer object model allows to do that. This article provides an introduction to its...

Many Spec Explorer users have asked the question of how and when to choose between static or instance-based at the time of creating a model. The Base Solution Wizard (Visual Studio File menu -> New -> Project… -> Visual C# -> Spec Explorer...

Spec Explorer supports two topologies for connecting generated test cases to the implementation of your System Under Test (SUT). They can be either connected directly or through a test adapter. Connecting them directly means to declare the actual methods...

I posted a personal account of the history of Spec Explorer on my blog: how it is related to AsmL, Spec#, NModel, etc. Take a look if you are interested.

I know there are people out there who found out about Spec Explorer 2010 as a great testing tool, but are wondering what all that "Model-Based Testing" buzz is about. If you are in this group, this post should be a good place to start. Of course...

Spec Explorer is a Model-Based Testing tool from Microsoft. It extends the Visual Studio integrated environment with the ability to define a model describing the expected behavior of a software system. Using this model you can generate tests automatically...