System for ordering software methods within an object to be used in a computer network testing scenario
First Claim
1. A system to facilitate the arrangement of methods within an object built using an object oriented programming framework, the system comprising:
- a plurality of methods comprising an object, each method consisting of a software module;
a control center comprising a graphical user interface to facilitate ordering the methods by a person who is one of a developer and a user;
an object workbench invoked by the person opening a code file, the object workbench displayed by the graphical user interface and comprising a window that contains a text list of the individual methods comprising the object;
a pointing device to select an individual method in the list;
a dialog box displayed by the graphical user interface when the individual method in the list is selected;
an editable field within the dialog box for entry by the person of a designation for the selected method corresponding to a desired place within a sequence in which the methods are to be performed; and
an intelligent mechanism whereby method software modules can self organize within the object, thereby permitting automation of the specification of the object;
whereby the system enables a developer or a relatively unsophisticated user to specify the order in which the methods are to be executed.
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Abstract
A system for facilitating the arrangement of software methods within an object built using an object oriented programming framework. The order of the methods is specified within a graphical user interface adapted for organizing the methods. Selecting an object in a list causes a dialog box to appear. Within the dialog box is an editable field that enables a unique sequential integer ascending from the number “1” to be entered corresponding to a method in the list. After an integer is assigned to a method, the object can then be selected and dragged and dropped into a window. Each method of the dropped object, to which an integer has been assigned, appears as an icon in the window in the order previously specified using the editable field. The methods are automatically arranged from the top of the window towards the bottom of the window in the order previously specified from lowest number to highest. The methods are executed in the specified order when the object is run, for example, in a scenario for testing and monitoring the response or performance of a computer network.
19 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A system to facilitate the arrangement of methods within an object built using an object oriented programming framework, the system comprising:
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a plurality of methods comprising an object, each method consisting of a software module;
a control center comprising a graphical user interface to facilitate ordering the methods by a person who is one of a developer and a user;
an object workbench invoked by the person opening a code file, the object workbench displayed by the graphical user interface and comprising a window that contains a text list of the individual methods comprising the object;
a pointing device to select an individual method in the list;
a dialog box displayed by the graphical user interface when the individual method in the list is selected;
an editable field within the dialog box for entry by the person of a designation for the selected method corresponding to a desired place within a sequence in which the methods are to be performed; and
an intelligent mechanism whereby method software modules can self organize within the object, thereby permitting automation of the specification of the object;
whereby the system enables a developer or a relatively unsophisticated user to specify the order in which the methods are to be executed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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19. A method to effectively re-order available methods within an object, the method comprising the steps of:
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opening a code file corresponding to an object;
invoking an object workbench in response to opening the code file;
causing a window to appear in response to invoking the object workbench, the window displaying a text list of individual methods comprising the object;
providing a pointing device;
selecting an individual method in the list with the pointing device;
causing a dialog box to appear in response to selecting the method in the list;
providing an editable field within the dialog box;
entering a designation for the selected method in the editable field corresponding to a desired place in an order in which the selected method is to be performed; and
conforming the structured ordering of the code so that the method is performed at the designated place in the order;
thereby enabling modularized methods aggregated within an object to be ordered using a dialog box for configuring the object.
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Specification