The
White Box Testing is also known as Structural Testing, Clear Box Testing, Open
Box Testing, etc. White
Box Testing is a technique where the tester tests the software’s internal
coding & structure. The reason behind its name is because in this type of
testing, in eyes of a tester the whole system is like a white box and the
tester can look everything happening inside with the code when the
system/software executes any task.
In
simple words, during White Box testing, the tester tests whether the code is
working perfectly. The tester should have a clear understanding about what
exactly the code does before starting any type of White Box testing.
The
tester in White Box Testing gives some input data and then check the data flow,
as well as how the system/software is reacting to the data supplied at each and
every point in the code. It is then compared with the pre-defined
functionalities of the system. Testing is done by giving various inputs and
checking whether the result is the pre-defined output or not.
Click here to read about Black Box Testing
White Box Testing Levels
White
Box testing methods are implemented in the following levels of testing:-
ü
Unit
Testing
ü
Integration
Testing
ü
System
Testing
White
Box testing methods are used more in the development and integration phase of
the system development.
Advantages
§
Thorough
testing is possible.
§
Testing
can be started as and when the code is ready, even before the front end is
created.
§
Through
White box techniques, even the smallest bugs can be tracked and later solved.
Disadvantages
§
White
Box Testing is essential but time & resource consuming.
§
This
type of testing can be really difficult and redundant if the requirements keep on
changing frequently.
§
Not
easy for testers to understand codes. The testers who don’t belong to the
programming background find it difficult to understand what a block of code wants
to say.
I hope this article will help the new comers to understand the concept clearly.
