Dynamic component activation method using a relational database as the repository for registration information

• US 20030023599A1
• Filed: 07/27/2001
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hunt, Joseph R., Garcia, Julio Cesar, OʼKeefe-Hyser, Amy
• Granted Patent: US 6,778,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4488 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/966 Distributed

Abstract

A method for allowing dynamic component activation using a database as a repository for registration information is disclosed. This method uses a Component Activation Manager (CAM), which is a singleton object that maps unique component ID'"'"'s to a Factory Creation Function (FCF). A purpose of the FCF is to create and register factories for the objects contained in a dynamic library. The factories created with the FCF are also registered with a database connection created by the CAM. Using this approach, the application only needs to create the CAM object, request a connection and then request a factory for the objects it needs. The CAM and the database connection find the dynamic library and the associated object factories through the use of database tables that contain a map of unique component ID'"'"'s and object FCF addresses.

Claims

1. A method for dynamic component activation using one or more databases as a repository for registration information in an application in a heterogeneous and distributed computing environment, comprising:

launching the application;

creating and initializing a Component Activation Manager (CAM);

opening a database connection using the CAM;

requesting a functionality not currently available in the application using the database connection;

using the CAM and the database connection to find and return the requested functionality; and

loading the requested functionality to extend the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein creating and initializing the Component Activation Manager (CAM) occurs during launching of the distributed and heterogeneous application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the CAM is contained in one or more dynamic libraries.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous and distributed application resides in a Microsoft Windows NT®

operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous and distributed application resides in a Unix operating system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous and distributed application contains a plurality of elements using a Microsoft Windows NT®

operating system, and a plurality of elements using a Unix operating system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more databases may be remote databases.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more databases may be relational databases.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the functionality is encapsulated in an object factory.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein opening the database connection using the CAM further comprises a database connection object, said database connection object containing a connection table, mapping a plurality of object identifiers to a plurality of factories for the database connection object.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each object identifier of the plurality of object identifiers are unique.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of object identifiers is a plurality of class identifiers (ID)'"'"'s in an object-oriented environment.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a Factory Creation Function (FCF) creates a plurality of images in memory of the plurality of objects referred to in the connection table, said plurality of images then being used as a factory for the plurality of objects.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein using the CAM and the database connection to find and return the requested object factory, further comprises:

the database connection object looking up the requested object factory in the connection table;

the database connection object returning the requested object factory if said requested object factory is in the connection table;

the database connection object sending a message to the CAM to obtain the FCF for the requested object if said requested object factory is not in the connection table;

if requested factory object is not associated with the current database connection, the database connection object sending a message to the dynamic library to create an instance of the object factory using the FCF; and

if requested factory object is not associated with the current database connection, the database connection object receiving the instance of the object factory.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the message between the database connection object and the CAM contain a class ID of the requested factory object.

16. The method of claim 14, the database connection object sending a message to the CAM to obtain the FCF for the requested object if said requested object factory is not in the connection table, further comprising:

the CAM determining whether it has the FCF for the requested object;

if the CAM does not have the FCF for the requested object, the CAM querying the database for the current connection to obtain the dynamic library corresponding to the class ID;

if the CAM does not have the FCF for the requested object, the CAM sending a message to the dynamic library to load the library and obtain the FCF; and

the CAM returning the FCF to the database connection object.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the CAM determining whether it has the FCF for the requested object, further comprises looking in a table that maps a plurality of class ID'"'"'s to a plurality of FCF addresses.

18. A method for dynamic component activation using one or more databases as the repository for registration information in a heterogeneous and distributed application, comprising:

launching the application;

creating and initializing a Component Activation Manager (CAM) object;

creating and initializing a database connection object;

the application opening a database connection using the CAM object;

the application requesting an object factory using the database connection object;

the database connection object looking up the requested object factory in the connection table;

the database connection object returning the requested object factory if said requested object factory is in the connection table;

if said requested object factory is not in the connection table, then the method further comprising;

the CAM determining whether it has the FCF for the requested object;

if the CAM does not have the FCF for the requested object, the CAM querying the database for the current connection to obtain the dynamic library corresponding to the class ID;

if the CAM does not have the FCF for the requested object, the CAM sending a message to the dynamic library to load the library and obtain the Factory Creation Function;

the CAM returning the FCF to the database connection object;

if requested factory object is not associated with the current database connection, then the method further comprising;

the database connection object sending a message to the dynamic library to create an instance of the object factory using the FCF;

the database connection object receiving the instance of the object factory; and

loading the requested object factory to extend the functionality of the application.

19. A structure for dynamic component activation using databases as the repository for registration information in an application in a heterogeneous computing environment, comprising:

the application coupled to a plurality of objects that provide the functionality for dynamic component activation;

one or more database connection objects, coupled to one or more local databases and coupled to one or more remote databases, said one or more database connection objects coupled to the application;

a Component Activation Manager (CAM), coupled to the one or more database connection objects;

a plurality of dynamic libraries, coupled to the one or more local databases and coupled to the one or more remote databases;

a plurality of factory creation objects, said plurality of factory creation objects contained in the plurality of dynamic libraries and coupled to the CAM via the one or more database connection objects; and

a plurality of class objects, said plurality of class objects created through the use of the plurality of factory creation objects and the plurality of dynamic libraries, said plurality of class objects coupled to the application via the one or more database connection objects.

20. The structure of claim 19, wherein each of the one or more database connection objects comprise a mapping between a plurality of class object identifiers coupled to the plurality of class objects and a plurality of factory creation functions (FCFs).

21. The structure of claim 19, wherein the CAM contains a map between a plurality of class object identifiers coupled to the plurality of class objects and a plurality of object factories.

22. The structure of claim 19, wherein each of the one or more local databases and each of the one or more remote databases contains a mapping between a plurality of class object identifiers coupled to the plurality of class objects and the plurality of dynamic libraries contained on a local system.