System and method for pluggable URL pattern matching for servlets and application servers

• US 20030158895A1
• Filed: 01/16/2003
• Published: 08/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Mehra, Vinod, Spotswood, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,197,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The invention provides a system and method for providing pluggable pattern matching for servlets. This feature allows application servers that incorporate the invention to support non-J2EE pattern matching schemes in their http request resolution. The pluggable pattern matching feature is targeted primarily at customers who want to implement custom URL matching patterns. Since this feature is not J2EE compliant, some other form of configuration is necessary. In one embodiment an XML file (weblogic.xml) is used to configure the new pattern matching utilities. By modifying the settings in the weblogic.xml file, users are able to plug their own custom pattern matching utility classes into the weblogic server.

Claims

1. A system for allowing pluggable pattern matching in an application server environment, comprising:

an application server including a servlet container for receiving http requests;

a pattern matching interface for use in matching said http requests to a desired pattern for use with the application server; and

,

a configuration file for identifying a particular pattern matching interface to be used.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said http requests are received from a user operating a web browser application.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said http requests are received from a software application.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the configuration file is an extensible markup language file containing a plurality of entries defining the configuration of the application server environment.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the interface is specified as an entry in the extensible markup language file

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the application server is a weblogic server and said extensible markup language file is the weblogic.xml file.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the pattern matching interface is a Java class defining uniform resource indicator string patterns for use in matching.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the system includes a plurality of pattern matching interfaces and said configuration file is used to select said particular pattern matching interface from said plurality of pattern matching interfaces.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein said web server component includes a servlet for handling http requests.

9. A method of allowing pluggable pattern matching in an application server environment, comprising the steps of:

receiving http requests at a servlet container component for communication to the application server;

identifying in a configuration file a particular pattern matching interface to be used;

matching, using said particular pattern matching interface, said http requests; and

,

communicating said matched http requests to the application server.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said http requests are received from a user operating a web browser application.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein said http requests are received from a software application.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the configuration file is an extensible markup language file containing a plurality of entries defining the configuration of the application server environment.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the interface is specified as an entry in the extensible markup language file

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the application server is a weblogic server and said extensible markup language file is the weblogic.xml file.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the pattern matching interface is a Java class defining uniform resource indicator string patterns for use in matching.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of:

selecting said particular pattern matching interface from a plurality of pattern matching interfaces using said configuration file.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein said web server component includes a servlet for handling http requests.