Black-box testing

Blackbox diagram.

Black box testing takes an external perspective of the test object to derive test cases. These tests can be functional or non-functional, though usually functional. The test designer selects valid and invalid inputs and determines the correct output. There is no knowledge of the test object's internal structure.

This method of test design is applicable to all levels of software testing: unit, integration, functional testing, system and acceptance. The higher the level, and hence the bigger and more complex the box, the more one is forced to use black box testing to simplify. While this method can uncover unimplemented parts of the specification, one cannot be sure that all existent paths are tested.

Compare with white box testing.

Test design techniques

Typical black box test design techniques include:

• Equivalence partitioning
• Boundary value analysis
• Decision table testing
• Pairwise testing
• State transition tables
• Use case testing
• Cross-functional testing

Hardware

Functional testing devices like power supplies, amplifiers, and also many other simple function electrical devices is common in the electronics industry. Automated functional testing of specified characteristics is used for production testing, and part of design validation.

See also

Software Testing portal

• Sanity testing
• Smoke testing
• Software testing
• Stress testing
• Test automation
• Web Application Security Scanner
• White box testing
• Boundary testing
• Fuzzing
• Acceptance testing

External links

• BCS SIGIST (British Computer Society Specialist Interest Group in Software Testing): Standard for Software Component Testing, Working Draft 3.4, 27. April 2001.