Architectures and techniques for record protection and field management

• US 10,114,628 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2016
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Roy-Faderman, Avrom Irwin, Pringuey, Jean-Baptiste, Murthy, Haripriya, Ramanujapuram, Sricharan Anand, Kohr, Christopher A., Slettehaugh, Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Qing
• Application Number:
  US15/164,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20170344353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 888 Days
• Field of Search: 717174-178, 707783-788
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2291 User-Defined Types; Storage management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4451 User profiles; Roaming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements

Abstract

A software package having one or more custom metadata types is installed. The software package has computer-executable code that causes one or more processors to perform at least accessing the one or more custom metadata types. One or more protected records are accessed within the one or more custom metadata types. For the protected records, code in the installed package can read the protected records and can return the records whether protected or not. If the custom metadata types are in a separate base package, code in the base package can also read the records. Returned information is stored in the one or more custom metadata records that has been accessed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configurable to cause the one or more processors to:

install a base software package having one or more custom metadata types, wherein the base software package includes computer-executable code that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform one or more tasks that comprise at least accessing records of the one or more custom metadata types;

access one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, wherein, for the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, code in the base software package to read the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package and to return the accessed records of the one or more custom metadata types whether protected or not, and if an extension software package contains additional records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package, code in the base software package also to read the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the extension software package and to return the accessed records of the one or more custom metadata types whether protected or not, and wherein the extension software package is allowed to change values in protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the extension software package, but the extension software package is not allowed to change values in records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package; and

return information stored in the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types that have been accessed.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the base software package is installed in a subscriber organization that is separate from an originating organization providing the base software package.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the subscriber organization and the originating organization are both tenants within a single multitenant environment.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the information stored in the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types comprises an application program interface (API) key.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein protection for the API key is based on a subscription status.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein field editability is to be used to provide control of columns in a table and record protection is to be used to provide control of rows in the table.

7. A method comprising:

installing, by one or more processors, a base software package having one or more custom metadata types, wherein the base software package includes computer-executable code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform one or more tasks that comprise at least accessing records of the one or more custom metadata types;

accessing, by the one or more processors, one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, wherein, for the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, code in the base software package to read the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package and to return the accessed records of the one or more custom metadata types whether protected or not, and if an extension software package contains additional records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package, code in the base software package also to read the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the extension software package and to return the accessed records of the one or more custom metadata types whether protected or not, and wherein the extension software package is allowed to change values in protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the extension software package, but the extension software package is not allowed to change values in records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package; and

returning, by the one or more processors, information stored in the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types that have been accessed.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the base software package is installed in a subscriber organization that is separate from an originating organization providing the base software package.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the subscriber organization and the originating organization are both tenants within a single multitenant environment.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the information stored in the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types comprises an application program interface (API) key.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein protection for the API key is based on a subscription status.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein field editability is to be used to provide control of columns in a table and record protection is to be used to provide control of rows in the table.

13. A system comprising:

at least one memory; and

one or more processors coupled with the at least one memory, the one or more processors configurable to install a base software package having one or more custom metadata types, wherein the base software package includes computer-executable code that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform one or more tasks that comprise at least accessing records of the one or more custom metadata types, to access one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, wherein, for the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types, code in the base software package to read the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package and to return the accessed records of the one or more custom metadata types whether protected or not, and if an extension software package contains additional records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package, code in the base software package also to read the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the extension software package and to return the accessed records of the one or more custom metadata types whether protected or not, and wherein the extension software package is allowed to change values in protected records within the one or more custom metadata types in the extension software package, but the extension software package is not allowed to change values in records within the one or more custom metadata types in the base software package, and to return information stored in the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types that have been accessed.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the base software package is installed in a subscriber organization that is separate from an originating organization providing the base software package.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the subscriber organization and the originating organization are both tenants within a single multitenant environment.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the information stored in the one or more protected records within the one or more custom metadata types comprises an application program interface (API) key.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein protection for the API key is based on a subscription status.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein field editability is to be used to provide control of columns in a table and record protection is to be used to provide control of rows in the table.