System for generating a timeline of registry events

• US 10,108,403 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Neeman, Itay A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US15/421,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20170139692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178, 709203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/434 Pointers; Aliasing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/54 Link editing before load time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that facilitates developing applications in a component-based software development environment. This system provides an execution environment comprising instances of application components and a registry that maps names to instances of application components. Within the registry, each entry is associated with a list of notification dependencies that specifies component instances to be notified when the registry entry changes. Upon receiving a command to display notification dependencies for the registry, the system generates and displays a dependency graph containing nodes representing component instances and arrows between the nodes representing notification dependencies between the component instances. Upon receiving a command to display a timeline for with the registry, the system generates and displays a timeline representing events associated with the registry in chronological order.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

executing an environment comprising application features and a registry containing registry entries associating names with corresponding application features,

wherein one or more of the registry entries are associated with a dynamic pointer and a corresponding one of the application features;

upon receiving a command to display a set of historical events related to the registry, generating a timeline comprising nodes positioned along the timeline according to a time of corresponding events,

wherein one or more of the events comprise a modification to which of the application features the dynamic pointer corresponds or a modification of a value of the application feature with which the dynamic pointer corresponds; and

causing display of the timeline.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting the events based on one of a time period of interest, an application feature type of interest, a developer of interest, and an event type of interest.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection to arrange the events based on one of a time period of interest, an application feature type of interest, a developer of interest, and an event type of interest; and

arranging the events based on the selection.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each event in the timeline includes a visual indication that characterizes the event.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each event in the timeline includes a visual indication that characterizes the event based on an application feature, a developer that initiated the corresponding event, or an event type.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one node represents the modification to which of the application features the dynamic pointer corresponds.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one node represents the modification of the value of the application feature with which the dynamic pointer corresponds.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the application feature includes one of:

a visual element in a user interface (UI);

an input element in a UI;

a function that produces a data value;

a token containing a variable that holds a data value; and

another data source.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein upon receiving a call to register a mapping between a name and a corresponding application feature, the method further comprises updating the registry to include an entry for the mapping.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

executing an environment comprising application features and a registry containing registry entries associating names with corresponding application features,

wherein one or more of the registry entries are associated with a dynamic pointer and a corresponding one of the application features;

upon receiving a command to display a set of historical events related to the registry, generating a timeline comprising nodes positioned along the timeline according to a time of corresponding events,

wherein one or more of the events comprise a modification to which of the application features the dynamic pointer corresponds or a modification of a value of the application feature with which the dynamic pointer corresponds; and

causing display of the timeline of events.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising selecting the events based on one of a time period of interest, an application feature type of interest, a developer of interest, and an event type of interest.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a selection to arrange the events based on one of a time period of interest, an application feature type of interest, a developer of interest, and an event type of interest; and

arranging the events based on the selection.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein each event in the timeline includes a visual indication that characterizes the event.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein each event in the timeline includes a visual indication that characterizes the event based on an application feature, a developer that initiated the corresponding event, or an event type.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein at least one node represents the modification to which of the application features the dynamic pointer corresponds.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein at least one node represents the modification of the value of the application feature with which the dynamic pointer corresponds.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the application feature includes one of:

a visual element in a user interface (UI);

an input element in a UI;

a function that produces a data value;

a token containing a variable that holds a data value; and

another data source.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein upon receiving a call to register a mapping between a name and a corresponding application feature, the method further comprises updating the registry to include an entry for the mapping.

19. A system comprising:

at least one processor and at least one associated memory; and

an execution environment that executes on the at least one processor and comprises application features and a registry containing registry entries associating names with corresponding ones of the application features, wherein one or more registry entries are associated with a dynamic pointer and a corresponding one of the application features;

upon receiving a command to display a set of historical events related to the registry, generating a timeline comprising nodes positioned along the timeline according to a time of corresponding events, wherein one or more of the events comprise a modification to which of the application features the dynamic pointer corresponds or a modification of a value of the application feature with which the dynamic pointer corresponds; and

causing display of the timeline.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising selecting the events based on one of a time period of interest, an application feature type of interest, a developer of interest, and an event type of interest.

21. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving a selection to arrange the events based on one of a time period of interest, an application feature type of interest, a developer of interest, and an event type of interest; and

arranging the events based on the selection.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein each event in the timeline includes a visual indication that characterizes the event.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein each event in the timeline includes a visual indication that characterizes the event based on an application feature, a developer that initiated the corresponding event, or an event type.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one node represents the modification to which of the application features the dynamic pointer corresponds.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one node represents the modification of the value of the application feature with which the dynamic pointer corresponds.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the application feature includes one of:

a visual element in a user interface (UI);

an input element in a UI;

a function that produces a data value;

a token containing a variable that holds a data value; and

another data source.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein upon receiving a call to register a mapping between a name and a corresponding application feature, the method further comprises updating the registry to include an entry for the mapping.