10/27/21, 10:54 PM What is WHITE Box Testing?

Techniques, Example & Types

What is WHITE Box Testing? Techniques, Example &

Types
By Thomas Hamilton Updated October 8, 2021

White Box Testing

White Box Testing is software testing technique in which internal structure, design and
coding of software are tested to verify flow of input-output and to improve design, usability
and security. In white box testing, code is visible to testers so it is also called Clear box
testing, Open box testing, Transparent box testing, Code-based testing and Glass box testing.

It is one of two parts of the Box Testing approach to software testing. Its counterpart,
Blackbox testing, involves testing from an external or end-user type perspective. On the
other hand, White box testing in software engineering is based on the inner workings of an
application and revolves around internal testing.

The term “WhiteBox” was used because of the see-through box concept. The clear box or
WhiteBox name symbolizes the ability to see through the software’s outer shell (or “box”)
into its inner workings. Likewise, the “black box” in “Black Box Testing” symbolizes not
being able to see the inner workings of the software so that only the end-user experience can
be tested.

In this white box testing tutorial, you will learn-

What is White Box Testing?

What do you verify in White Box Testing?
How do you perform White Box Testing?
WhiteBox Testing Example
White Box Testing Techniques
Types of White Box Testing
White Box Testing Tools
Advantages of White Box Testing
Disadvantages of WhiteBox Testing

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10/27/21, 10:54 PM What is WHITE Box Testing? Techniques, Example & Types

What do you verify in White Box Testing?

White box testing involves the testing of the software code for the following:

Internal security holes

Broken or poorly structured paths in the coding processes
The flow of specific inputs through the code
Expected output
The functionality of conditional loops
Testing of each statement, object, and function on an individual basis

The testing can be done at system, integration and unit levels of software development. One
of the basic goals of whitebox testing is to verify a working flow for an application. It involves
testing a series of predefined inputs against expected or desired outputs so that when a
specific input does not result in the expected output, you have encountered a bug.

Click here if the video is not accessible

How do you perform White Box Testing?

To give you a simplified explanation of white box testing, we have divided it into two basic
steps. This is what testers do when testing an application using the white box testing
technique:
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10/27/21, 10:54 PM What is WHITE Box Testing? Techniques, Example & Types

STEP 1) UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE CODE

The first thing a tester will often do is learn and understand the source code of the
application. Since white box testing involves the testing of the inner workings of an
application, the tester must be very knowledgeable in the programming languages used in
the applications they are testing. Also, the testing person must be highly aware of secure
coding practices. Security is often one of the primary objectives of testing software. The
tester should be able to find security issues and prevent attacks from hackers and naive
users who might inject malicious code into the application either knowingly or unknowingly.

Step 2) CREATE TEST CASES AND EXECUTE

The second basic step to white box testing involves testing the application’s source code for
proper flow and structure. One way is by writing more code to test the application’s source
code. The tester will develop little tests for each process or series of processes in the
application. This method requires that the tester must have intimate knowledge of the code
and is often done by the developer. Other methods include Manual Testing, trial, and error
testing and the use of testing tools as we will explain further on in this article.

WhiteBox Testing Example

Consider the following piece of code

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Printme (int a, int b) { ------------ Printme is

a function

int result = a+ b;

If (result> 0)

Print ("Positive", result)

Else

Print ("Negative", result)

} ----------- End of the

source code

The goal of WhiteBox testing in software engineering is to verify all the decision branches,
loops, statements in the code.

To exercise the statements in the above white box testing example, WhiteBox test cases
would be

A = 1, B = 1
A = -1, B = -3

White Box Testing Techniques

A major White box testing technique is Code Coverage analysis. Code Coverage analysis
eliminates gaps in a Test Case suite. It identifies areas of a program that are not exercised by
a set of test cases. Once gaps are identified, you create test cases to verify untested parts of
the code, thereby increasing the quality of the software product

There are automated tools available to perform Code coverage analysis. Below are a few
coverage analysis techniques a box tester can use:

Statement Coverage:- This technique requires every possible statement in the code to be
tested at least once during the testing process of software engineering.

Branch Coverage – This technique checks every possible path (if-else and other conditional
loops) of a software application.

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Apart from above, there are numerous coverage types such as Condition Coverage, Multiple
Condition Coverage, Path Coverage, Function Coverage etc. Each technique has its own
merits and attempts to test (cover) all parts of software code. Using Statement and Branch
coverage you generally attain 80-90% code coverage which is sufficient.

Following are important WhiteBox Testing Techniques:

Statement Coverage
Decision Coverage
Branch Coverage
Condition Coverage
Multiple Condition Coverage
Finite State Machine Coverage
Path Coverage
Control flow testing
Data flow testing

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Types of White Box Testing

White box testing encompasses several testing types used to evaluate the usability of an
application, block of code or specific software package. There are listed below —

Unit Testing: It is often the first type of testing done on an application. Unit Testing is
performed on each unit or block of code as it is developed. Unit Testing is essentially
done by the programmer. As a software developer, you develop a few lines of code, a
single function or an object and test it to make sure it works before continuing Unit
Testing helps identify a majority of bugs, early in the software development lifecycle.
Bugs identified in this stage are cheaper and easy to fix.
Testing for Memory Leaks: Memory leaks are leading causes of slower running
applications. A QA specialist who is experienced at detecting memory leaks is essential
in cases where you have a slow running software application.

Apart from above, a few testing types are part of both black box and white box testing. They
li t d b l
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10/27/21, 10:54 PM What is WHITE Box Testing? Techniques, Example & Types
are listed as below

White Box Penetration Testing: In this testing, the tester/developer has full information
of the application’s source code, detailed network information, IP addresses involved
and all server information the application runs on.  The aim is to attack the code from
several angles to expose security threats
White Box Mutation Testing: Mutation testing is often used to discover the best coding
techniques to use for expanding a software solution.

White Box Testing Tools

Below is a list of top white box testing tools.

Parasoft Jtest
EclEmma
NUnit
PyUnit
HTMLUnit
CppUnit

Advantages of White Box Testing

Code optimization by finding hidden errors.

White box tests cases can be easily automated.
Testing is more thorough as all code paths are usually covered.
Testing can start early in SDLC even if GUI is not available.

Disadvantages of WhiteBox Testing

White box testing can be quite complex and expensive.

Developers who usually execute white box test cases detest it. The white box testing by
developers is not detailed can lead to production errors.
White box testing requires professional resources, with a detailed understanding of
programming and implementation.
White-box testing is time-consuming, bigger programming applications take the time to
test fully.
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Ending Notes:
White box testing can be quite complex. The complexity involved has a lot to do with
the application being tested. A small application that performs a single simple
operation could be white box tested in few minutes, while larger programming
applications take days, weeks and even longer to fully test.
White box testing in software testing should be done on a software application as it is
being developed after it is written and again after each modification

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