System and method providing API interface between XML and SQL while interacting with a managed object environment

• US 20030236859A1
• Filed: 06/19/2002
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vaschillo, Alexander, Bolognese, Luca, Suver, Christopher Allen, Pfleiger, Todd F., Conrad, Andrew James, Burugapalli, Srinivasa Rao
• Granted Patent: US 7,275,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate data communications and data management between network entities operating in accordance with various data structures and operating environments. A managed class of application programming interfaces (API) are provided that support data communications between remote/local locations employing a first data structure and a second location supporting a second data structure (e.g., API for NET languages to access SQL Server via XML views). The managed class and associated APIs provide data transformations between such structures to facilitate communications and data management among various locations and architectures. In addition, the managed class and APIs facilitate operations between disparate object systems such as between managed and unmanaged object systems via interface support of a wrapper and associated marshalling technologies to bridge communications between such systems.

Claims

1. A system for processing data, comprising:

a managed class to transform data between a first data structure and a second data structure; and

a wrapper to facilitate interactions between the managed class and an unmanaged class in accordance with the transformed data.

2. The system of claim 1, the data is communicated between a remote system that communicates via the first data structure and a database system that communicates via the second data structure.

3. The system of claim 2, the first data structure is an XML format, and the second data structure is an SQL format.

4. The system of claim 2, the first and second data structures are adapted with at least one of binary, ascii, hex, HTML, and WML.

5. The system of claim 2, the managed class supports at least one of a query, an update, and a change of the data in the database system via the remote system.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising at least one of a diffgram and a bulkload class to specify desired updates and changes directed from the remote system to the database system.

7. The system of claim 2, further comprising one or more Application Program Interfaces (APIs) to facilitate interactions between the remote system and the database system.

8. The system of claim 7, the APIs describe at least one interface type including a command type to facilitate retrieving data from the database system, an adaptor type to facilitate sending changes and updates to the database system, a bulkload type to facilitate bulk updates to the database system, and a parameter type to specify options within the respective interface types.

9. The system of claim 1, the wrapper is a function that receives calls that are coded in accordance with a managed object platform and provides interface support to facilitate communications with an unmanaged object platform.

10. The system of claim 1, the wrapper employs marshalling processes to bridge communications between the unmanaged and managed classes.

11. The system of claim 1, the managed class operates as an interoperability layer on top of a data base provider to expose unmanaged interfaces to a managed protocol.

12. The system of claim 8, the APIs describe at least one of an SqlXmlCommand, an SqlXmlParameter to specify a value for a parameter in a command class, and an SqlXmlAdapter to populate a data set.

13. The system of claim 12, SqlXmlCommand interfaces with at least one of an ad hoc query, a stored procedure, an XPath query, an Xquery, and an XML template.

14. The system of claim 12, the SqlXmlCommand enables systems to send queries to the database system and retrieve results as at least one of a stream and an XmlReader object.

15. The system of claim 12, the SqlXmlCommand retrieves XML data via an ExecuteStream method, which returns XML data from the database system as a managed code stream instance.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising an annotated schema is that specifies tables and columns to query in SQL and the structure of a resulting XML format.

17. The system of claim 12, the SqlXmlAdapter is employed to update the database system via at least one of an XML diffgram, an annotated schema, an insert operation, an update operation, a delete operation, and a fill operation.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon to perform at least one of transforming the data and providing of claim 1.

19. The system of claim 2, further comprising at least one an HTTP Interface, an SQLXML OLE DB Provider, an SQLXML Managed Class, and a Simple Object Access Protocol to facilitate interactions between the remote system and the database system.

20. A method to facilitate interactions with a database, comprising:

defining a managed class to interact with the database;

defining at least one API to interact with the managed class; and

wrapping the API to bridge communications between a managed object environment and an unmanaged object environment.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising defining a first data structure in an XML format and a second data structure is an SQL format.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising directing at least one of a query, an update, and a change of data to the database system via a remote system.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising at least one of generating a diffgram and a bulkload class to specify desired updates and changes to the database.

24. The method of claim 20, the APIs describe at least one interface type including a command type to facilitate retrieving data from the database, an adaptor type to facilitate sending changes to the database, a bulkload type to facilitate bulk updates to the database system, and a parameter type to specify options within the interface types.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising processing calls that are coded in accordance with a managed object platform and providing interface support to facilitate communications with an unmanaged object platform.

26. The method of claim 20, further comprising marshalling communications between the unmanaged and managed object environments.

27. A system to facilitate data storage and retrieval, comprising:

means for converting data between a first data structure and a second data structure; and

means to interface between a managed class and an unmanaged class in accordance with the converted data.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising means for exchanging parameters between the managed and unmanaged class.

29. A signal to communicate data between at least two nodes, comprising:

a first data packet comprising;

a class component employed to transform data between at least two nodes, the nodes employing different data structures; and

a wrapper component to bridge communications between disparate object systems to facilitate the data transform.

30. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first data field containing at least on application program interface (API) to at least one of query and update a database, the query and the update employ a first data structure, and the database employs a second data structure; and

a second data field containing wrapper data associated with different object systems, the different object systems include at least one of a managed and an unmanaged object system.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, further comprises at least one of a command class, a parameter class, an adaptor class, a command type, and a bulkload class.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, the command class can be adapted with SqlXmlCommand interface to facilitate SQLXML requests and to obtain an XML result from a database having a different structural format.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, further comprising a namespace to define a location for the class component.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, the parameter class specifies at least one of a name, a value, and a property, the property including at least one of a get and a set property for adjusting class operations.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, the command type provides an API to enumerate supported class functionality, the enumerated type includes at least one of an execute statement, an execute query, an execute template, an execute template file, an execute updategram, an execute diffgram, and an execute query statement.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, the command class having at least one of associated properties, parameters, and command execution functions, the command class is provided as an SqlXmlCommand API to represent a command transformation utility.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, the SQLXML command API includes at least one of the following properties:

an SqlXmlCommandType, a CommandText a CommandStream, a namespace, a root tag, a schema path, an XSL path, a base path, an output encoding, and a client side specification.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, the SQLXML command API includes a function to execute a command returning at least one of a stream, a reader, and no result.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, the adaptor class having at least one of associated constructors, fill functions, and update functions, the adaptor class configured as an SqlXmlAdapter class utilizing managed classes with a data set.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, the constructors include at least one of a command specifier, a text specifier, a command type specifier, and a connection string specifier.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, the adaptor class utilizes a diffgram to perform at least one of the functions.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, the bulkload class interfaces with an SqlXmlBulkload to facilitate loading XML files into relational tables by shredding them according to a mapping schema.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, the bulkload class having at least one of associated properties, parameters, and command execution functions, the bulkload class provided as a managed wrapper for a native implementation of Bulkload functionality enabling data access from managed platforms.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, the properties include at least one of a connection string, a connection command, a null value, an identity value, a constraints value, a lock value, a fragment value, a transaction value, an ignore value, a schema generator value, a table value, an ID value, an error value, and a temporary path value.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, the execution functions including at least one of loading an XML file and streaming an XML file.