Data flow diagram

As explained in Software Testing with Generative AI

A diagram that represents how data moves through processes, components, and storage within a system.

A data flow diagram models how data moves through a specific application function. In testing, it exposes the handling steps that can be translated into focused prompts for identifying risks. section 5.3.1

A booking-list flow can represent these stages:

• An administrator requests a list of bookings and attaches a session token. section 5.3.1
• The system extracts the token and validates it against valid sessions. section 5.3.1
• A valid session produces a positive response, after which bookings are collated and returned. section 5.3.1

Turning the model into a testing prompt

A prompt can ask an LLM to generate risks for an application using session-based tokens to authorize access to booking lists. Candidate risks include predictable token generation, token leakage, unsafe storage, and session hijacking; each output still requires tester verification. section 5.3.1

The diagram clarifies data handling but omits other perspectives. Combining it with component, sequence, or use case diagrams can reveal architectural and user-flow risks that a single data flow view misses. section 5.3.2

Figure 5.4 A visual model of an application

Use the visual model to trace the booking-list request, token validation, and returned data. section 5.3.1

How Software Testing with Generative AI covers it

How deep it goes

Traces a booking request through token validation and response, but stops short of representing all application perspectives.

Examples

Uses a booking-list request involving session tokens, valid-session checks, booking collation, and LLM-generated security risks.

What it assumes

Assumes a defined application flow and testing goal, while teaching how to express that flow as a model.

What you can do after

Apply it to model a focused application function and generate targeted risk prompts for tester review.

How it connects

Connects data handling with risk analysis, session-based authentication, UML component diagrams, sequence diagrams, and use case diagrams.

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Related concepts

• application decompositionused by · Application decomposition is the analysis of an application’s structure, components, and interactions for security assessment.
• data flowuses · Data flow is the movement and transformation of data through the components, operations, or processing stages of a system or program.
• formal modelkind of · An explicitly defined model that uses established symbols, rules, or notation to represent a system.
• model developmentkind of · Model development is the process of designing, constructing, training, evaluating, and refining a computational or statistical model for a defined task.
• language modelkind of · A language model is a computational model that represents patterns in linguistic tokens to estimate sequence probabilities and predict or generate language from context.
• data transformationuses · A data transformation is an operation or function that maps input data or its representation to modified data or a different representation.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Software Testing with Generative AI. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.