Source service mapping for collaborative platforms

• US 10,726,036 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2016
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Schikora, Dave, Humke, Pit, Burwig, Michael, Lilienthal, Ole, Jensen-Pistorius, Leif, Wezowski, Martin, Spangemacher, Thomas, Hilgers, Peer
• Primary Examiner(s): Salomon, Phenuel S
• Application Number:
  US15/155,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20170329461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,534 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

Techniques are described for service mapping and other backend operations for a collaborative platform. A platform may access data objects from any suitable number of source services. The data model of the platform may be dependent on the data models of its associated source services as well as source service annotations, where such annotations describe the mapping onto the various data model elements. The process of mapping requests and results between the platform and the external data sources at runtime may employ a schema mapping data structure to minimize potential performance impacts. Implementations may employ a hierarchical class structure that is configured to achieve efficient traversal by shifting computational load to initialization time when the source service data models and annotations are processed. The initialization of the structure may be triggered at initialization time of the platform or whenever an administrative action causes changes to the schema mapping.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by at least one processor, the method comprising:

initializing, by the at least one processor, a schema mapping data structure in response to receiving a request to load a work routine (WR) into a user interface (UI), the WR including one or more data objects, wherein the schema mapping data structure includes a hierarchical structure of classes, wherein the data structure specifies, for each class, a uniform resource identifier (URI) of a respective source server corresponding to a respective data object;

for each of the one or more data objects, employing, by the at least one processor, the schema mapping data structure to generate a request for object data to populate the respective data object, wherein the object data is provided from the corresponding URI of the respective source service specified in a respective class of the hierarchical structure;

receiving, by the at least one processor, the object data for each of the one or more data objects from the respective source service; and

providing, by the at least one processor, the object data to be presented in the WR loaded into the UI.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating, by the at least one processor, the request for object data with a result that includes the object data from the respective source service, the associating based at least partly on the schema mapping data structure.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reinitializing, by the at least one processor, the schema mapping data structure in response to detecting an administrative action that indicates a schema mapping change.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for object data complies with a version of an Open Data (OData) protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing, by the at least one processor, a layout hypergraph that describes a saved state of the WR; and

loading, by the at least one processor, the WR into the UI based on the layout hypergraph.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the layout hypergraph includes:

a root node;

one or more nodes that each represents a data object in the WR; and

one or more hyperedges that each corresponds to a list of node references.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the WR further includes one or more tools that apply functionality to the one or more objects; and

the one or more tools and the one or more objects comply with a normalized object contract.

8. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

initializing a schema mapping data structure in response to receiving a request to load a work routine (WR) into a user interface (UI), the WR including one or more data objects, wherein the schema mapping data structure includes a hierarchical structure of classes that each specifies a uniform resource identifier (URI) of a respective source server corresponding to a respective data object;

for each of the one or more data objects, employing the schema mapping data structure to generate a request for object data, to populate the respective data object, the object data provided from the corresponding URI of the respective source service specified in a respective class of the hierarchical data structure;

receiving the object data for each of the one or more data objects from the respective source service; and

providing the object data to be presented in the WR loaded into the UI.

9. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

associating the request for object data with a result that includes the object data from the respective source service, the associating based at least partly on the schema mapping data structure.

10. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

reinitializing the schema mapping data structure in response to detecting an administrative action that indicates a schema mapping change.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the request for object data complies with a version of an Open Data (OData) protocol.

12. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

accessing a layout hypergraph that describes a saved state of the WR; and

loading the WR into the UI based on the layout hypergraph.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the layout hypergraph includes:

a root node;

one or more nodes that each represents a data object in the WR; and

one or more hyperedges that each corresponds to a list of node references.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the WR further includes one or more tools that apply functionality to the one or more objects; and

the one or more tools and the one or more objects comply with a normalized object contract.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

initializing a schema mapping data structure in response to receiving a request to load a work routine (WR) into a user interface (UI), the WR including one or more data objects, wherein the schema mapping data structure includes a hierarchical structure of classes that each specifies a uniform resource identifier (URI) of a respective source server corresponding to a respective data object;

for each of the one or more data objects, employing the schema mapping data structure to generate a request for object data, to populate the respective data object, the object data provided from the corresponding URI of the respective source service specified in a respective class of the hierarchical structure;

receiving the object data for each of the one or more data objects from the respective source service; and

providing the object data to be presented in the WR loaded into the UI.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

associating the request for object data with a result that includes the object data from the respective source service, the associating based at least partly on the schema mapping data structure.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

reinitializing the schema mapping data structure in response to detecting an administrative action that indicates a schema mapping change.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the request for object data complies with a version of an Open Data (OData) protocol.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

accessing a layout hypergraph that describes a saved state of the WR; and

loading the WR into the UI based on the layout hypergraph.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the layout hypergraph includes:

a root node;

one or more nodes that each represents a data object in the WR; and

one or more hyperedges that each corresponds to a list of node references.