Software Testing Technique & Different Types: The Specification Software Testing Technique also has some synonyms like Behavior-Based Testing of Black box testing or input/output-driven testing techniques.
Specification Testing comes under black box testing because, during the testing process, the tester does not know the component’s structure or the codes of that module or unit.
In this Software Testing Technique, the testers concentrate on what the software or application is doing, not how it does it. If you look at the definition of specification-based Testing, it mentions both functional testing and non-functional testing.
In Functional Testing, we are trying to test or verify whether the application is working as expected; that is what the system does in its features or functions. In Non-Functional Testing, we are trying to verify the application performance, usability, portability or maintainability, etc.; in simple words, we can say how well the system does.
The Specification-based techniques are appropriate for all levels of testing ( Unit Testing, Integration testing, System Testing, or Acceptance testing ) where some specifications exist.
As we know that exhaustive testing is impossible, the software testing technique helps us design better test cases. These techniques help us reduce the number of test cases when we try to increase test coverage.
In this post, we will discuss certain testing techniques we are implementing as part of the manual testing to get a better test case. So, we are using those test techniques per the requirement and best suited for the specific scenario. Some of the techniques that we are used mostly:
Software Testing Technique
Different Types of Specification-Based Testing Techniques
- Boundary Value Analysis (BVA)
- Equivalence Class Partitioning
- Decision Table based testing.
- State Transition
- Error Guessing
Boundary Value Analysis (BVA)
it is based on the testing of valid and invalid boundary values. Every partition has minimum and maximum benefits, which are the boundaries for a partition.
If the value comes within the boundary, that’s a valid value; if the value comes out of the boundary value, then that is invalid. So, boundary values include maximum, minimum, inside and outside boundaries, valid and invalid values.
When a tests an application, he can find that most errors occur while verifying the boundary values rather than valid ones. So, during this technique, we are mostly focused on the test cases that exercise on the boundary values.
This technique is based on the principle that if a system works well for the boundary values, then it will work perfectly for all those values that come between two boundary values.
If there is an input condition between two boundaries, the test cases should be written in such a way that it can consider the values of the boundary, boundary value + 1 and boundary value -1
Example: suppose the input value is 2, 9
Then the boundary value should be 1, 2, 3 and 8,9,10
Equivalence Class Partitioning (ECP)
It is also called Equivalence Partitioning. It is also one type of black-box testing technique. In equivalence partitioning, the input data given to the application is divided into equivalence classes.
This technique helps us test the software within a short time period by using less effective test cases. So this technique should be used first because, in this technique, we are testing one condition for each partition; if that works, then all will work, and if one does not work from that partition, none of that from the partition will work.
Example: Suppose an input field accepts values between 5-9
Valid Values- 5, 6,7,8,9
Invalid Values- Except Valid Values
Decision Table-based testing
It is a good way to deal with a different combination of input data. In this technique, we store all the behavior in a tabular form of input combinations and their corresponding results. This table is also called cause-effect.
Decision table testing is a black-box technique to determine the test scenario for the complex business logic. BVA and ECP are used for that system when we are getting the same result for a large set of values, and Decision tables are used when we get a different result for each set of inputs.
This table can be used to develop functionalities since it is easy to understand and covers all the possible combinations.
State Transition
It is also a black box testing where you can observe the changes in an application under test (AUT) if you change the input condition. During this testing technique, the testers give both positive and negative inputs and record the output.
Error Guessing
This technique is also a black box testing technique. In this technique, the testers guess about the error in the code, and it is also an experience-based testing technique where the testers have good knowledge and experience based on that application and domain. According to that, he can guess the problematic part of the testing application. Based on the experience, the testers write test cases for possible errors.
