Multi-platform software interface and documentation generator

• US 20030200348A1
• Filed: 04/17/2002
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Humphries, Marshall Lee
• Granted Patent: US 7,188,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation

Abstract

An interface definition that specifies the functionality of humanly accessed functions within a software program is parsed into statements by a parser in conjunction with a dictionary. The parsed statements are converted to formatted statements by a plurality of formatters resulting in expression of the interface definition in a plurality of selected formats. The selected formats comprise source code formats and various documentation formats. Files generated from source code formatters, such as “C++” formatters, are included in the software build process and facilitate restricting software development to the specified functionality. Changes to the interface definition are propagated to the selected formats resulting in software functionality that is consistent with the various forms of documentation such as on-line help and printed documentation. The present invention was developed in response to the needs of multi-platform product development and facilitates timely and accurate coordination between software development and documentation efforts.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining consistency between the human interface of a software program and various forms of documentation on a plurality of computing platforms, the method comprising:

creating an interface definition that defines the functionality of the humanly accessed software functions within a program; and

automatically converting the interface definition to selected formats, the selected formats comprising a source code format and a plurality of documentation formats.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the interface definition to selected formats comprises parsing the interface definition into statements and formatting the statements into the selected formats.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising combining the selected formats into a plurality of platform specific products.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising combining the selected formats into a product.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising testing the product to detect errors.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising updating the interface definition to correct the detected errors.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the interface definition to a source code format comprises generating a source code file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the source code file comprises a header file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the interface definition comprises defining a command line interface.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the interface definition.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein validating the interface definition comprises invoking an XML parser and referencing a DTD file.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the interface definition comprises selectively invoking a plurality of formatters.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of documentation formats comprise on-line help formats and printed documentation formats.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of documentation formats are selected from SGML, PDF, RTF, HTML, XML, and ASCII text formats.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the interface definition comprises specifying platform specific definitions and converting the interface definition comprises converting platform specific definitions exclusively to specific formats.

16. An apparatus for maintaining consistency between the human interface of a software program and various forms of documentation on a plurality of computing platforms, the system comprising:

a parser configured to receive an interface definition and automatically parse the interface definition into statements; and

a plurality of formatters configured to automatically convert the statements to selected formats, the plurality of formatters comprising documentation formatters and at least one source code formatter, each source code formatter configured to convert the interface definition to a source code format, the documentation formatters configured to convert the interface definition to a plurality of documentation formats.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the parser is configured to selectively invoke the plurality of formatters, each formatter thereof corresponding to a specific format.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one source code formatter is configured to generate a source code file.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the source code file is a header file.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one formatter of the plurality of formatters comprises an XSL file.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one formatter of the plurality of formatters comprises a script driven executable.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the humanly accessed software functions comprise a command line interface.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the interface definition comprises an XML file.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a dictionary configured to specify a set of valid statements.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the dictionary is selected from a DTD file and a schema file.

26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the plurality of documentation formats comprise on-line help formats and printed documentation formats.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the on-line help formats are selected from web based formats, GUI formats, and command line formats.

28. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the plurality of documentation formats are selected from SGML, PDF, RTF, HTML, XML, and ASCII text formats.

29. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the interface definition includes platform specific statements and the parser is further configured to exclusively activate specific formatters.

30. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the interface definition is maintained in a source code control system.

31. A system for maintaining consistency between the human interface of a software program and various forms of documentation on a plurality of computing platforms, the system comprising:

an interface definition maintained within a source code control system;

a parser configured to automatically parse the interface definition into statements;

a plurality of formatters configured to automatically convert the statements to selected formats, the plurality of formatters comprising documentation formatters and at least one source code formatter, each source code formatter configured to convert the interface definition to a source code format, the documentation formatters configured to convert the interface definition to various documentation formats;

a build process configured to automatically build a software product; and

a test sequence configured to automatically detect errors in the software product.

32. A system for maintaining consistency between the human interface of a software program and various forms of documentation on a plurality of computing platforms, the system comprising:

means for storing and updating an interface definition;

means for automatically parsing the interface definition into statements;

means for automatically converting the statements to selected formats, the selected formats comprising a source code format and various documentation formats;

means for automatically conducting a software build; and

means for automatically detecting errors in the software product.