Method, system, and program for transferring data from an application engine

• US 20030023472A1
• Filed: 07/30/2001
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yaung, Alan Tsu-I, Lee, Taejae
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,427 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Provided is a method, system, and program for enabling access to resource objects in an application engine. A request is received from a calling entity for resource objects of a specified type in the application engine. A request to the application engine is generated for information on available resource objects of the specified type. In response to receiving the information from the application engine, a collection object is generated including one metadata element for each resource object of the specified type in the application engine. The generated collection object is returned to the calling entity.

Claims

1. A method for enabling access to resource objects in an application engine, comprising:

receiving a request, from a calling entity, for resource objects of a specified type in the application engine;

generating a request to the application engine for information on available resource objects of the specified type;

in response to receiving the information from the application engine, generating a collection object including one metadata element for each resource object of the specified type in the application engine; and

returning the generated collection object to the calling entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling entity comprises an application program.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling entity issues the request from a client and wherein the request is received on a server including the application engine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the application engine is one of a plurality of service engines enabling access to service resources, wherein the request for the resource objects from the calling entity comprises a method that is a member of a service class implementation of the application engine, wherein each service engine provides one service class implementation of methods and objects from a same abstract service class.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the application engine and other service engines comprise workflow products from different vendors.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the workflow service class implementations from different vendors each include methods and objects from a same abstract workflow service class specifying methods and objects to include in all workflow service class implementations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application engine comprises a workflow engine and wherein the specified type of the requested resource objects comprises one of workflow objects, workflow templates and work lists defined in the application engine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection object is generated using methods from a collection object class, further comprising:

receiving a retrieve method in the collection object class from the calling entity requesting the resource object represented by one selected metadata element in the collection object;

generating an additional request to the application engine for the resource object requested in the retrieve method;

receiving the requested resource object from the application engine; and

returning the requested resource object to the calling entity invoking the retrieve method.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the calling entity uses methods from the collection object class to access the collection object.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the generated additional request to the application engine is in a service class implemented by the application engine including methods and objects to access the application engine.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the application engine is one of a plurality of service engines enabling access to service resources, wherein each service engine provides one collection object class implementation of methods from a same abstract collection object class used to instantiate and manipulate a collection object including metadata on resource objects available at the application engine.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection object is generated using methods from a collection object class and wherein the request for the resource object from the calling entity is in a service class implemented by the application engine that includes methods and objects to access the application engine.

13. A system for enabling access to resource objects, comprising:

an application engine including resource objects;

means for receiving a request, from a calling entity, for resource objects of a specified type in the application engine;

means for generating a request to the application engine for information on available resource objects of the specified type;

means for generating a collection object including one metadata element for each resource object of the specified type in the application engine in response to receiving the information from the application engine; and

means for returning the generated collection object to the calling entity.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the calling entity comprises an application program.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the calling entity comprises a client and wherein the means for receiving the request comprises a server including the application engine.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the application engine is one of a plurality of service engines enabling access to service resources, wherein the means for requesting the resource objects from the calling entity uses a method that is a member of a service class implementation of the application engine, wherein each service engine provides one service class implementation of methods and objects from a same abstract service class.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the application engine and other service engines comprise workflow products from different vendors.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the workflow service class implementations from different vendors each include methods and objects from a same abstract workflow service class specifying methods and objects to include in all workflow service class implementations.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the application engine comprises a workflow engine and wherein the specified type of the requested resource objects comprises one of workflow objects, workflow templates and work lists defined in the application engine.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the collection object is generated using methods from a collection object class, further comprising:

means for receiving a retrieve method in the collection object class from the calling entity requesting the resource object represented by one selected metadata element in the collection object;

means for generating an additional request to the application engine for the resource object requested in the retrieve method;

means for receiving the requested resource object from the application engine; and

means for returning the requested resource object to the calling entity invoking the retrieve method.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the calling entity uses methods from the collection object class to access the collection object.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for generating the additional request to the application engine comprises a method in a service class implemented by the application engine including methods and objects to access the application engine.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a plurality of service engines enabling access to service resources, including the application engine, wherein each service engine provides one collection object class implementation of methods from a same abstract collection object class used to instantiate and manipulate a collection object including metadata on resource objects available at the application engine.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the means for generating the collection object uses methods from a collection object class and wherein the means for requesting the resource object from the calling entity uses methods in a service class implemented by the application engine that includes methods and objects to access the application engine.

25. An article of manufacture including code for enabling access to resource objects in an application engine by:

receiving a request, from a calling entity, for resource objects of a specified type in the application engine;

generating a request to the application engine for information on available resource objects of the specified type;

in response to receiving the information from the application engine, generating a collection object including one metadata element for each resource object of the specified type in the application engine; and

returning the generated collection object to the calling entity.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the calling entity comprises an application program.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the calling entity issues the request from a client and wherein the request is received on a server including the application engine.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the application engine is one of a plurality of service engines enabling access to service resources, wherein the request for the resource objects from the calling entity comprises a method that is a member of a service class implementation of the application engine, wherein each service engine provides one service class implementation of methods and objects from a same abstract service class.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the application engine and other service engines comprise workflow products from different vendors.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 29, wherein the workflow service class implementations from different vendors each include methods and objects from a same abstract workflow service class specifying methods and objects to include in all workflow service class implementations.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the application engine comprises a workflow engine and wherein the specified type of the requested resource objects comprises one of workflow objects, workflow templates and work lists defined in the application engine.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the collection object is generated using methods from a collection object class, further comprising:

receiving a retrieve method in the collection object class from the calling entity requesting the resource object represented by one selected metadata element in the collection object;

generating an additional request to the application engine for the resource object requested in the retrieve method;

receiving the requested resource object from the application engine; and

returning the requested resource object to the calling entity invoking the retrieve method.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 32, wherein the calling entity uses methods from the collection object class to access the collection object.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 33, wherein the generated additional request to the application engine is in a service class implemented by the application engine including methods and objects to access the application engine.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 32, wherein the application engine is one of a plurality of service engines enabling access to service resources, wherein each service engine provides one collection object class implementation of methods from a same abstract collection object class used to instantiate and manipulate a collection object including metadata on resource objects available at the application engine.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the collection object is generated using methods from a collection object class and wherein the request for the resource object from the calling entity is in a service class implemented by the application engine that includes methods and objects to access the application engine.