Workflow code generator

• US 20030208743A1
• Filed: 01/17/2003
• Published: 11/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Chong, Kelvin, Mandyam, Srinivas, Vedati, Krishna
• Granted Patent: US 7,152,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/40 Transformation of program code

Abstract

A workflow code generator for generating executable code for multi-channel and/or multi-modal applications. The code generator may include a parser for reading application input files and creating internal representations of declarative statements within the input files. The code generator may further include a model analyzer, which processes the internal model to detect errors, perform optimization, and prepare for outputting the result. The code generator uses a symbol or mapping table for storing references to resources that have been used by the input application. The code generator assigns code fragments to object patterns, resolves data object references by referring to mapping table, and traverses the objects and emits code assigned to the objects.

Claims

1. A method for transforming an input file for multi-channel application into executable code, the method comprising the steps of:

analyzing declarative statements within the input file to form an intermediate model of the declarative statements;

analyzing the declarative statements to remove inconsistencies;

analyzing the intermediate model to provide optimizations;

appending additional information to objects in the intermediate model to aid in code generation; and

outputting code in an executable language.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of analyzing declarative statements within the input file to form an intermediate model comprises:

interpreting the declarative statements and mapping said statements to objects; and

interpreting the declarative statements to form relationships between objects.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of analyzing declarative statements to remove inconsistencies comprises:

traversing through the intermediate model to discover and remove unreachable objects.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of analyzing the intermediate model to provide optimizations comprises:

traversing through the intermediate model;

eliminating unused objects which have no relationships to other objects; and

replacing predefined object-to-object relationships with known optimized relationships.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of appending additional information comprises:

traversing through the intermediate model to discover resources used within the intermediate model;

storing discovered resources in a temporary storage; and

marking the location of the discovered resources in the temporary storage.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of outputting code comprises:

assigning code fragments to objects and object relationships; and

traversing through the intermediate model to assigned output code fragments.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of assigning code fragments includes:

mapping a particular object type with a code template that is to represent the object; and

resolving a resource used by an object by referring to a temporary storage in which the resource is stored.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of traversing through the intermediate model comprises:

going through each of the objects in a certain order;

outputting a code fragment assigned to each object; and

outputting the code fragment assigned to relationships from each object.

9. A method for-generating executable code for a multi-channel application, comprising the steps of:

receiving input files for the application;

reading the application input files with by use of a parser;

generating an internal model of declarative statements contained within the input files;

pre-processing the internal model;

traversing the pre-processed model and assigning code fragments for patterns of objects; and

traversing the objects and generating executable code assigned to each object.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

marking traversed objects so that the traversed objects are not revisited.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

outputting a file containing the generated executable source code to a compiler.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of pre-processing the internal model comprises:

removing unused objects;

eliminating unreachable code; and

replace patterns of objects with a known optimized pattern.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

marking references to data objects in a resource mapping table during pre-processing; and

resolving data object references by referring to a resource mapping table.

14. A system for generating executable code for a multi-channel application, comprising:

parsing means for receiving input files for the application and generating an intermediate model of the declarative statements within the input files;

pre-processing means for optimizing and removing inconsistencies from the intermediate model, thereby generating a pre-processed model;

means for traversing the pre-processed model and assigning code fragments for patterns of objects; and

code generating means for traversing the objects and generating executable code assigned to each object.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the pre-processing means comprises means for removing unused objects, eliminating unreachable code, and replacing patterns of objects with a known optimized pattern.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the pre-processing means further comprises means for marking references to data objects into a mapping table of resources;

and

wherein the system further comprises means for resolving data object references by referring to the mapping table of resources.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the code generating means comprises means for marking traversed objects so that the traversed objects are not revisited.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the code generating means comprises means for assembling the executable code into a file for outputting to a compiler.