XML to object translation

• US 20020073091A1
• Filed: 01/05/2001
• Published: 06/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Viquity Corp.
• Original Assignee: Viquity Corp.
• Inventors: Jain, Sandeep, Thakur, Sudheer
• Application Number:
  US09/755,501
• Publication Number:
  US 20020073091A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548

Abstract

Techniques are provided for accessing data stored in XML documents using objects defined in object-oriented languages, such as Java. In one embodiment, a translation tool identifies the data nodes in an XML DTD associated with an XML document. The translation tool converts each of the identified nodes to a corresponding Java class in which a top-level data node in the XML DTD corresponds to a top-level Java class. From the Java classes and data in the XML document, a Java object is instantiated. The Java object thus can be used to advantageously access the data in the XML document in the Java language domain.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating access to data stored in an XML documents, comprising the steps of:

identifying data nodes in an XML document type definition file;

for each data node of a set of data nodes identified in said XML document type definition file, automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class in an object-oriented programming language;

wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data includes automatically generating data that defines a particular class that corresponds a particular data node in said XML document type definition file;

wherein said particular data node encompasses all other data nodes in said set of data nodes; and

wherein said particular class includes properties for storing data associated with all other data nodes in said set of data nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:

instantiating objects based on said particular class; and

populating at least some of the properties of said objects from data contained in XML documents that are structured as specified in said XML document type definition file.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the object-oriented programming language is Java; and

the step of automatically generating class definition data includes generating one or more Java class files.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the set of data nodes includes all data nodes in said XML document type definition file; and

the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class in an object-oriented programming language includes automatically generating class definition data that defines a class for all data nodes in said XML document type definition file.

5. The method of claim 2 further including the step of accessing data contained in said XML documents by calling methods of objects that have been instantiated from said particular class and populated from data in said XML documents.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class includes the steps of:

establishing a data node within said XML document type definition file as a current data node;

determining whether the current data node is a top-level node;

if the current data node is a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to include top-level node import statements; and

if the current data node is not a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to without top-level node import statements.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class includes the steps of:

establishing a data node within said XML document type definition file as a current data node;

determining whether the current data node is a top-level node;

if the current data node is a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to include an input stream constructor; and

if the current data node is not a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to without an input stream constructor.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class includes the steps of:

generating standard import statements;

generating a Java class declaration;

generating Java class attribute variables;

generating Java class constructors;

generating Java accessor methods; and

generating Java common functions.

9. A computer-readable medium bearing instructions for facilitating access to data stored in XML documents, said instructions comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

identifying data nodes in an XML document type definition file;

for each data node of a set of data nodes identified in said XML document type definition file, automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class in an object-oriented programming language;

wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data includes automatically generating data that defines a particular class that corresponds a particular data node in said XML document type definition file;

wherein said particular data node encompasses all other data nodes in said set of data nodes; and

wherein said particular class includes properties for storing data associated with all other data nodes in said set of data nodes.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 further including instructions for performing the steps of:

instantiating objects based on said particular class; and

populating at least some of the properties of said objects from data contained in XML documents that are structured as specified in said XML document type definition file.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein:

the object-oriented programming language is Java; and

the step of automatically generating class definition data includes generating one or more Java class files.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein:

the set of data nodes includes all data nodes in said XML document type definition file; and

the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class in an object-oriented programming language includes automatically generating class definition data that defines a class for all data nodes in said XML document type definition file.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 further including instructions for performing the step of accessing data contained in said XML documents by calling methods of objects that have been instantiated from said particular class and populated from data in said XML documents.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class includes the steps of:

establishing a data node within said XML document type definition file as a current data node;

determining whether the current data node is a top-level node;

if the current data node is a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to include top-level node import statements; and

if the current data node is not a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to without top-level node import statements.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class includes the steps of:

establishing a data node within said XML document type definition file as a current data node;

determining whether the current data node is a top-level node;

if the current data node is a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to include an input stream constructor; and

if the current data node is not a top-level node, then generating said corresponding class to without an input stream constructor.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the step of automatically generating class definition data that defines a corresponding class includes the steps of:

generating standard import statements;

generating a Java class declaration;

generating Java class attribute variables;

generating Java class constructors;

generating Java accessor methods; and

generating Java common functions.