System and method for persisting and resolving application assembly binds

• US 20030105889A1
• Filed: 12/05/2001
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Parthasarathy, Srivatsan, Shi, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 6,981,268 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/331
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions

Abstract

A system and method are presented that persist assembly bind information for applications at each stage of execution of the assembly policy. New assembly bind history files are created and persisted to disc when changes in assembly bind policy results in a change in the assemblies with which the application binds. This persisted information is used to reconfigure assembly binds to a prior state when operation of the application conformed to a user'"'"'s desires. Since this assembly bind reconfiguration is on a per application basis, only the binding of the selected application is affected. Likewise, the assembly bind history files are associated with a particular user to allow personalized execution of applications on a system.

Claims

1. A method of persisting assembly bind information for an application, comprising the steps of:

recording assembly bind request information;

recording assembly redirect information resulting from an application of assembly binding policy;

determining if the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information should be persisted in an assembly bind history file; and

persisting the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information in the assembly bind history file when the step of determining is affirmative.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recording assembly redirect information comprises the steps of recording assembly redirect information for each bind redirection at each level of bind policy redirection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recording assembly redirect information comprises the step of recording assembly redirect information for all assemblies for which the application requests binds.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information should be persisted comprises the step of determining if the bind history file is currently being persisted for the application based on a prior assembly bind.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining if the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information should be persisted further comprises the step of determining that no previous bind history file exists, and wherein the step of persisting comprises the step of storing the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information in an in-memory data structure until application shutdown.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of determining that additional assembly bind request information and assembly redirect information for another assembly bind by the application is stored in memory, and persisting the additional assembly bind request information and assembly redirect information for the another assembly bind in the assembly bind history file.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining if the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information should be persisted further comprises the step of determining that a previous bind history file exists, further comprising the steps of determining that no difference exists between the previous bind history file and the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information, and wherein the step of persisting comprises the step of storing the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information in an in-memory data structure.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining if the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information should be persisted further comprises the steps of determining that a previous bind history file exists, and determining that a difference exists between the previous bind history file and the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of determining that additional assembly bind request information and assembly redirect information for another assembly bind by the application is stored in memory, and persisting the additional assembly bind request information and assembly redirect information for the another assembly bind in the assembly bind history file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of persisting the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information in the assembly bind history file comprises the step of recording temporal information for the assembly bind.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of indexing the assembly bind history file by the temporal information.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of persisting the assembly bind request information and the assembly redirect information in the assembly bind history file comprises the step of associating the assembly bind history file with user information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of associating the assembly bind history file with user information comprises the step of storing the assembly bind history file in a non-roaming user-profile directory.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of retrieving the assembly bind history file, and binding all assemblies for the application in accordance with the assembly bind history file.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a plurality of assembly bind history files are persisted, and wherein the step of retrieving comprises the step of retrieving all of the plurality of assembly bind history files, further comprising the step of receiving a user selection of one of the plurality of assembly bind history files, and wherein the step of binding comprises the step of binding all assemblies for the application in accordance with the one of the plurality of assembly bind history files.

16. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps, comprising:

recording assembly bind information;

determining if the assembly bind information should be persisted in an assembly bind history file; and

persisting the assembly bind information in the assembly bind history file when the step of determining is affirmative.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising the steps of retrieving the assembly bind history file, and binding all assemblies for the application in accordance with the assembly bind history file.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein a plurality of assembly bind history files are persisted, and wherein the step of retrieving comprises the step of retrieving all of the plurality of assembly bind history files, further comprising the step of receiving a user selection of one of the plurality of assembly bind history files, and wherein the step of binding comprises the step of binding all assemblies for the application in accordance with the one of the plurality of assembly bind history files.

19. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising a first data field containing temporal data relating to an assembly bind of an application, a second data field containing assembly name data for an assembly for which the application completed a bind request;

and a third data field associated with the second data field containing assembly bind information for each stage of assembly bind policy.

20. The data structure of claim 19, further comprising the second and the third data field for each assembly for which a bind request is made by the application.

21. The data structure of claim 19, further comprising a fourth data structure containing data identifying the application.

22. A method of reconfiguring assembly binds for an application, comprising the steps of:

retrieving an assembly bind history file for the application containing information of assembly binds from a previous execution of the application having at least one assembly bind that differs from a current assembly bind;

reconfiguring an assembly bind policy to ensure binding with the assembly binds contained in the assembly bind history file.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of retrieving an assembly bind history file comprises the step of retrieving a plurality of bind history files, each containing information of assembly binds from previous executions of the application having at least one assembly binding that differs from a prior execution of the application.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of selecting one of the plurality of bind history files, and wherein the step of reconfiguring comprising the step of reconfiguring the assembly bind policy to ensure binding with the assembly binds contained in the selected assembly bind history file.

25. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a user interface selection device, a method of providing and selecting from a menu on the display, comprising the steps of retrieving a listing of applications having at least one assembly bind history file, and displaying the listing on the display for user selection.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of receiving a user selection of one of the applications, retrieving a most recent assembly bind history file for the selected application containing information of assembly binds from a previous execution of the application having at least one assembly bind that differs from a current assembly bind for that application, and displaying information on the display indicating temporal information of the most recent assembly bind history file and providing a user confirmation selection.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the steps of displaying an advanced reconfiguration option selection, receiving a user selection of the advanced reconfiguration option, retrieving all of the assembly bind history files for the selected application, and displaying a listing of all of the assembly bind history files for user selection.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the steps of receiving a user selection of one of the assembly bind history files, and reconfiguring an assembly bind policy for the application to ensure assembly binding in accordance with the selected assembly bind history file.