System for managing logical process flow in an online environment

• US 20020138556A1
• Filed: 07/18/2001
• Published: 09/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Smithline, Neil, Giridhar, Sathyanarayana
• Granted Patent: US 7,051,069 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/31 Programming languages or programming paradigms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

The invention uses a state machine to control the flow throughout a Web site including the execution of business logic, error handling and dispatching based on both user and programming events. This state machine is used as input to a flow processor and therein guides the system. The flow processor controls a series of online functions including HTML links, HTML form submissions, form processing, business logic execution, and business logic exceptions into one simple-to-manage element. Any required change to the logic flow of the system can be made by modifying just the flow processor itself, without necessary changes to the referenced online functions.

Claims

1. A system for managing the logic flow of a user application in an online environment, comprising:

an index of logical elements for use in said user application; and

,

a control module, which uses said index of logical elements to determine which logical elements of said user application are presented to a user in the online environment.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said index of logical elements comprises an entry for each logical element of the user application.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said entry for each logical element of the user application comprises a source location and a target location representing a logical sequence of application steps.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the source location and the target location may be modified to reflect a different logical sequence of application steps.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the logical element comprises an application pipeline which performs a series of application steps.

6. A method of managing the logic flow of a user application in an online environment, comprising:

providing an index of logical elements for use in said user application; and

,

consulting said index to determine which logical elements of said user application are presented to a user in the online environment.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said index of logical elements comprises an entry for each logical element of the user application.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said entry for each logical element of the user application comprises a source location and a target location representing a logical sequence of application steps.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the source location and the target location may be modified to reflect a different logical sequence of application steps.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the logical element comprises an application pipeline which performs a series of application steps.

11. A system for managing the flow of an application wherein the application includes a plurality of application nodes, comprising:

a webflow properties file for storing a plurality of origin event pairs, wherein each of said origin event pairs comprises a set of origin nodes within the application together with a set of event-based transitions between said nodes; and

,

a webflow processor for parsing said webflow properties file on a request of said application, to determine the flow of said application throughout said application nodes.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said webflow processor is called by said application during an event, together with an origin event pair, in order to parse said webflow properties file, locate said origin event pair, determine said transition and manage said application flow.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said webflow processor parses said webflow properties file dynamically, to determine said application flow in real-time.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said webflow properties file may be modified, by modifying one or more of said origin event pairs, to effect a dynamic change in said application flow.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein said application nodes include a presentation node for presenting static information between events.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein said application nodes includes an action node for generating events based upon data received at said application.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said action node is an input processor for examining said received data, and determining origin event pairs based on said examining.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a pipeline session for storing said data for use by other nodes.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said action node is a pipeline for operating on said data to create a new data, and storing said new data in said pipeline session.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said pipeline comprises a plurality of pipeline components, each of which may modify said data according to a predefined business function.

21. The system of claim 11 wherein said application is a Web application.

22. The system of claim 11 wherein said Web application comprises a plurality of Web pages, further wherein each of said plurality of Web pages is represented by an application node.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein said Web pages include any of HTML, or JSP code.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein said application comprises a plurality of Web pages, further wherein each of said plurality of Web pages is represented by an application node, and wherein said input processor examines data received at a form on one of said Web pages.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein said application comprises a plurality of Web pages, further wherein each of said plurality of Web pages is represented by an application node, and wherein said pipeline operates on data received at a form on one of said Web pages.

27. The method of claim 26 including:

calling said webflow processor during an event, together with an origin event pair, in order to parse said webflow properties file, locate said origin event pair, determine said transition and manage said application flow.

28. The method of claim 27 including

parsing said webflow properties file dynamically, to determine said application flow in real-time.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein said webflow properties file may be modified, by modifying one or more of said origin event pairs, to effect a dynamic change in said application flow.

30. The method of claim 26 wherein said application nodes include a presentation node for presenting static information between events.

31. The method of claim 26 wherein said application nodes includes an action node for generating events based upon data received at said application.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein said action node is an input processor for examining said received data, and determining origin event pairs based on said examining.

33. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

storing said data in a pipeline session for use by other nodes.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein said action node is a pipeline and includes the step of:

operating on said data to create a new data, and storing said new data in said pipeline session.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein said pipeline comprises a plurality of pipeline components, each of which may modify said data according to a predefined business function.

36. The method of claim 26 wherein said application is a Web application.

37. The method of claim 26 wherein said Web application comprises a plurality of Web pages, further wherein each of said plurality of Web pages is represented by an application node.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein said Web pages include any of HTML, or JSP code.

39. The method of claim 32 wherein said application comprises a plurality of Web pages, further wherein each of said plurality of Web pages is represented by an application node, and wherein said input processor examines data received at a form on one of said Web pages.

40. The method of claim 34 wherein said application comprises a plurality of Web pages, further wherein each of said plurality of Web pages is represented by an application node, and wherein said pipeline operates on data received at a form on one of said Web pages.

26. A method for managing the flow of an application, wherein the application includes a plurality of application nodes, comprising:

storing in a webflow properties file a plurality of origin event pairs, wherein each of said origin event pairs comprises a set of origin nodes within the application together with a set of event-based transitions between said nodes; and

,

parsing at a webflow processor said webflow properties file on a request of said application, to determine the flow of said application throughout said application nodes.