Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Functional Testing

Meenakshi D’Souza

International Institute of Information Technology

Bangalore.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Black-box testing: Recap

White-box testing techniques done so far:

Graphs and graphs coverage criteria as applied to code and
design sequencing constraints.
Logic coverage criteria as applied to code and design models
as FSMs.
Symbolic testing.
Black-box testing involves testing a code/design without
knowledge about its internals (like the actual code structure,
statement, design details etc.)
Deals only with inputs and outputs applied to
code/design/requirements.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Functional Testing

The term functional testing was introduced by W. E. Howden

in the late 1970s.
A program P is viewed as a function transforming inputs to
outputs. Given inputs xi , P computes outputs yi such that
yi = P(xi ).
Examples:
A sorting program: the input xi is an array of numbers and the
output yi is the array in sorted order.
A compiler: the input is a program and the output is the
resulting object code.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Functional testing: Important steps

1 Precisely identify the domain of each input and each output

variable.
2 Select values from the data domain of each variable having
important properties.
3 Consider combinations of special values from different input
domains to design test cases.
4 Consider input values such that the program under test
produces special values from the domains of the output
variables.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Testing a function in context

Even though functional testing is a black-box testing

technique, sometimes, we need to know minimal context
information to get relevant values for inputs and outputs.
Consider a program P and a function f in P as shown in the
figure below.

x P

x
x ≥ 20 f
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Testing a function in context, contd.

Suppose x is a floating point variable and we are unaware of

the predicate x ≥ 20.
We are likely to test for the following input values for x:
x = +k, x = −k, x = 0, where k is a number with a large
magnitude.
The function f will be invoked just once, for x = +k.
The valid range for input x with respect to testing f will be
x = k where k is a number much larger than 20, x = y ,
where 20 < y < k and x = 20.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Types of functional testing

Equivalence class partitioning

Boundary value analysis
Decision tables
Random testing
Pair-wise testing: Orthogonal arrays
Cause-effect diagram
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Equivalence class partitioning

If the input domain is too large for all its elements to be used
as test cases, the input domain is partitioned into a finite
number of sub-domains for selecting test inputs.
Each sub-domain is known as an equivalence class.
One sub-domain serves as a source for selecting one test
input, any one input from each domain is good enough.
All inputs from one sub-domain have the same effect in the
program, i.e., output will be the same.
We will do equivalence class partitioning in detail in the next
lecture.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Equivalence class partitioning: Example

Consider a software system that computes income tax based on

adjusted gross income (AGI) according to the following rules:
If AGI is between $1 and $29,500, the tax due is 22% of AGI.
If AGI is between $29,501 and $58,500, the tax due is 27% of
AGI.
If AGI is between $58,501 and $100 billion, the tax due is 30%
of AGI.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Equivalence class partitioning: Example, contd.

We get five partitions as below:

1 ≤ AGI ≤ 29,500: Valid input.
AG1 < 1: Invalid input.
29,501 ≤ AGI ≤ 58,500: Valid input.
58,501 ≤ AGI ≤ 100 billion: Valid input.
AGI > 1 billion: Invalid input.
Five test cases, each containing one number for AGI in the above
range will suffice for testing the tax requirement based on AGI.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Boundary value analysis

Boundary Value Analysis (BVA) is about selecting test inputs

near the boundary of a data domain so that the data both
within and outside an equivalence class are selected.
BVA produces test inputs near the boundaries to find failures
caused by incorrect implementation at the boundaries.
Once equivalence class partitioning partitions the inputs,
boundary values are chosen on and around the boundaries of
the partitions to generate test input for BVA.
Programmers often make mistakes at boundary values and
hence BVA helps to test around the boundaries.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Guidelines for BVA

The partition specifies a range: Construct test cases by

considering the boundary points of the range and the points
just beyond the boundaries of the range.
The partition specifies a number of values: Construct test
cases for the minimum and the maximum value of the
number. In addition, select a value smaller than the minimum
and a value larger than the maximum.
The partition specifies an ordered set: Consider the first and
last elements of the set.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

BVA: An example

Consider the AGI and the five partitions that were identified for
equivalence class partitioning.
BVA test cases for the partitions will be as follows:
1 ≤ AGI ≤ 29,500: BVA values will be 0, 1, -1, 1.5, 29,499.5,
29,500, 29,500.5.
AG1 < 1: BVA values will be 0,1,-1, -100 billion.
29,501 ≤ AGI ≤ 58,500: BVA values will be 29,500, 29,500.5,
29,501, 58,499, 58,500, 58,500.5, 58,501.
58,501 ≤ AGI ≤ 100 billion: BVA values will be 58,500,
58,500.5, 58,501, 100 billion, 101 billion.
AGI > 1 billion: BVA values will be 100 billion, 101 billion,
10000 billion.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Decision tables

Equivalence partitioning considers each input separately, we

cannot combine conditions.
Decision tables handle multiple inputs by considering different
combinations of equivalence classes.
Very popular to test several different categories of software.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Decision table

Rules or Combinations
Conditions Values R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8
C1 Y, N, – Y Y Y Y N N N N
C2 Y, N, – Y Y N N Y Y N N
C3 Y, N, – Y N Y N Y N Y N
Effects
E1 1 2 1
E2 2 1 2 1
E3 2 1 3 1 1
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Decision table

A decision table has

A set of conditions and a set of effects arranged in a column.
Each condition has possible value (yes (Y), no(N), don’t
care(–)) in the second column.
For each combination of the three conditions there are a set
of rules from R1 to R8 . Each rule has a Y/N/– response and
contains an associated set of effects (E1 , E2 and E3 ).
For each effect, an effect sequence number specifies the order
in which the effect should be carried out if the associated set
of conditions are satisfied. For e.g., if C1 and C2 are true but
C3 is not true, then E2 should be followed by E3 .
combinations the decision table represents.
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Decision table: Example

Conditions Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Repayment amount has Y Y N N
been mentioned
Terms of loan Y N Y N
has been mentioned
Effects
Process loan amount Y Y – –
Process term Y – Y –
Error message – – – Y
Functional Testing: Basics Functional testing: Types Equivalence class partitioning Boundary value analysis Decision Tables Ran

Random testing

In random testing, test inputs are selected randomly from the

input domain.
Example: Consider computing sqrt(x), where x is an integer
that takes values from 1 to 108 with equal likelihood and that
the result must be accurate to within 2 × 10−4 .
To test this program, one can generate uniformly distributed
pseudo-random inputs t and obtain outputs z.
For each t, we compare outputs z and z 2 and compare z 2
with t. If any of the outputs fails to be within 2 × 10−4 of the
desired results, the program must be fixed and test repeated.