Mutation-Based Harmony Search Algorithm for Hybrid Testing of Web Service Composition

Web service composition is a method of developing a new web service from an existing one based on business goals. Web services selected for composition should provide accurate operational results and reliable applications. However, most alternative service providers have not yet fulfilled users' needs in terms of services and processes. Service providers, in fact, have focused on enhancing nonfunctional attributes, such as efficiencies of time, cost, and availability, which still face limitations. Furthermore, it remains advantageous to compose services and suitably plan them around business plans. Thus, this study introduces hybrid testing using a combination of the functional and nonfunctional testing approaches. The former was used to design a test case through the equivalence class partitioning technique, and the latter was used to select suitable services for the test results. We find defects and appropriate solutions for combining services based on business requirements. The mutation-based harmony search (MBHS) algorithm is proposed to select web services and to compose with minimum defects. The results of this study reveal that MBHS can support a combination of various services more efficiently and dramatically than other metaheuristic methodologies. Additionally, it helps find appropriate solutions to compose services based on business plans.