Advanced techniques for web applications

• US 20030182305A1
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Exigen Properties, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Exigen Group
• Inventors: Dolgopiatova, Elena, Leman, Andrew, Leyfer, Alex, Finkelsteyn, Sergey, Balva, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 7,290,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/103R
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Methods and extended URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) schemes for advanced web applications. In one aspect, the extended URI scheme enables an application to employ multiple resources to service a request, wherein parameters corresponding to each of the resources may be passed via a URI string from a client to an application used to service the client. In accordance with other aspects, the extended URI scheme achieves (a) natural external reference-ability of internal application resources, eliminating the need for intermediate mapping, (b) separation of functional and data navigation states, and (c) separation of parameters of individual resources involved in request processing, de-risking name conflicts and increasing usability.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a plurality of resources to be used to serve a request in a web-based application environment, comprising:

defining an extended uniform resource identifier (URI) scheme via which resource identification information corresponding to the plurality of resources may be embedded in a URI string;

defining a set of parsing rules by which resource identification information may be extracted from a URI string corresponding to the extended URI scheme; and

in response to receiving a request,

parsing a URI string corresponding to the extended URI scheme that pertains to the request based on the parsing rules to extract the resource identification information; and

using resources specified by the extracted resource identification information to service the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the extended URI scheme enables parameters to be passed to respective resources among the plurality of resources by including the parameters in the URI string.

3. A method for externalizing a navigation state of an application, comprising:

defining an extended uniform resource identifier (URI) scheme via which resource identification information corresponding to each of a plurality of resources may be embedded;

identifying a plurality of resources that define a current navigation state of the application;

building a modified URI based on the extended URI scheme, said modified URI containing information by which the plurality of resources may be identified; and

serving the modified URI to a client.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the extended URI scheme comprises an extension of the HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol) URL (Uniform Resource Locator) semantic in which resource identifiers corresponding to at least a first portion of the plurality of resources are embedded in a path portion of a URL.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein resource identifiers corresponding to a second portion of the plurality of resources are embedded in a query portion of the URL.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the extended URI scheme enables the modified URI to reflect a client navigation state that is independent of an application navigation state corresponding to an application that is used to service the client.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the resources available to the application are configured in a resource tree and a current client navigation state corresponds to a node in the resource tree, and wherein the modified URI includes information identifying the current client navigation state and multiple resources along a resource tree path to the node corresponding to the current client navigation state, said multiple resources being used to service a request corresponding to the current client navigation state.

8. The method of claim 7, further wherein the modified URI enables parameters to be passed to each of the multiple resources.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the modified URI further includes information identifying at least one additional resource comprising a child resource of a resource corresponding to the current client navigation state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the modified URI further enables parameters to be passed to said at least child resource.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the modified URI may further include information identifying resources that are on a separate branch of the resource tree than the branch on which the node corresponding to the current client navigation state resides.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the modified URI further enables parameters to be passed to the resources on the separate branch of the resource tree.

13. A method for processing source XML content, comprising:

performing a first extensible Style Sheet (XSL) transformation to transform the source XML content into an intermediate form comprising XML elements corresponding to a predefined set of user-interface (UI) control primitives; and

performing a second XSL transformation to transform the intermediate form into a target channel-specific form comprising markup-language elements corresponding to a set of channel-specific primitives.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the channel-specific form comprises HTML (hyper-text markup language), and the set of channel-specific primitives comprises HTML elements.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the channel-specific form comprises WML (wireless markup language), and the set of channel-specific primitives comprises WML elements.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the channel-specific form comprises VXML (voice extended markup language), and the set of channel-specific primitives comprises VXML elements.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

defining a set of XML business entities that may be used in a targeted presentation context;

defining a set of UI control primitives to be used in the targeted presentation context;

defining a set of presentation definition XSLT templates to transform each XML business entity into one or more UI control primitives; and

applying the set of presentation definition XSLT templates during the first XSL transformation to transform XML business entities in the source XML content into corresponding UI control primitives.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

defining a set of channel definition XSLT templates to transform each UI control primitive into one or more channel-specific primitives; and

applying the set of channel definition XSLT templates during the second XSL transformation to transform the UI control primitives in the intermediate form into corresponding channel-specific primitives.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the operations of the method are performed on a server.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the operations of the method are performed in a client-server environment, wherein the first XSL transformation is performed on a server and the second XSL transformation is performed on a client.