Method, system, and program for making objects available for access to a client over a network

• US 20040019596A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Taylor, Brandon E., Connor, William H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,107,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and program for making resources available for access to a client. A list is provided indicating a plurality of resources to make available for access to clients over a network and the list is processed to determine resources. Attributes of the resources are determined and reference codes are generated for the determined resources based on the determined attributes. The reference codes are associated with the resources for which the codes were generated. In response to receiving a request to one reference code from the client, a determination is made from the resource associated with the requested reference code and returning the determined resource to the requesting client.

Claims

5. The method of 4, further comprising:

adding information on a new variable resource and attributes thereof to the list during runtime.

18. A system for making resources available for access to a client, comprising a storage;

means for providing a list indicating a plurality of resources in the storage to make available for access to clients over a network;

means for processing the list to determine resources;

means for determining attributes of the resources;

means for generating reference codes for the determined resources based on the determined attributes;

means for associating the reference codes with the resources for which the codes were generated; and

means for receiving a request to one reference code from the client and determining from the association the resource associated with the requested reference code and returning the determined resource to the requesting client.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the list indicates a hierarchical relationship of class loaders that load programs associated with the resources.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the attributes used to generate the reference codes indicate a host and port at which the request for the reference code is received.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the resources comprise class files encapsulated in an archive file including an index to a plurality of archive files including the class files.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the archive file includes domestic classes that are not needed by the requesting clients and exportable classfiles that the request clients need to process objects.

23. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for copying files implementing the resource to a location in the storage, wherein associating the reference codes with the resources further comprising associating the reference codes with the location of the files implementing the resources for which the reference codes were generated.

24. An article of manufacture for making resources available for access to a client, wherein the article of manufacture is capable of causing operations, the operations comprising

providing a list indicating a plurality of resources to make available for access to clients over a network;

processing the list to determine resources;

determining attributes of the resources;

generating reference codes for the determined resources based on the determined attributes;

associating the reference codes with the resources for which the codes were generated; and

in response to receiving a request to one reference code from the client, determining from the association the resource associated with the requested reference code and returning the determined resource to the requesting client.

1. A method for making resources available for access to a client, comprising

providing a list indicating a plurality of resources to make available for access to clients over a network;

processing the list to determine resources;

determining attributes of the resources;

generating reference codes for the determined resources based on the determined attributes;

associating the reference codes with the resources for which the codes were generated; and

in response to receiving a request to one reference code from the client, determining from the association the resource associated with the requested reference code and returning the determined resource to the requesting client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the list indicates a hierarchical relationship of class loaders that load programs associated with the resources.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the list comprises an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file and each resource to make available for access comprises an XML element.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the list indicates a plurality of fixed and variable resources, wherein the fixed resources include common interfaces that enable communication, wherein the variable resources include interfaces needed to process specific objects, and wherein the class loaders that load the variable resources are at a lower order in the hierarchical relationship than the class loaders that load the fixed resources.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises a set of one or more classes of computer programs the requesting client needs to process objects.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes used to generate the reference codes indicate a host and port at which the request for the reference code is received.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes used to generate the reference codes include a name and version of files including the resources.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference codes comprise Universal Resource Locators (URL).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the resources comprise class files encapsulated in an archive file including an index to a plurality of archive files including the class files.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the archive file includes domestic classes that are not needed by the requesting clients and exportable classfiles that the request clients need to process objects.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the resources are associated with classfiles, and wherein the request is from a client employing dynamic class loading to download classfiles for objects passed from remote services that are not locally available at the client.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the client uses Remote Method Invocation (RMI) to communicate requests.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

loading the resources associated with the list into a runtime environment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein loading the resources associated with the list further comprises:

constructing a class loader for each resource indicated in the list; and

calling each constructed class loader to load at least one resource for which the class loader is constructed.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

copying files implementing the resource to a location, wherein associating the reference codes with the resources further comprising associating the reference codes with the location of the files implementing the resources for which the reference codes were generated.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein returning the associated resource to the requesting client further comprises:

returning an archive file included in the resource file at the location associated with the received reference code to the client.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the list indicates a hierarchical relationship of class loaders that load programs associated with the resources.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the list comprises an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file and each resource to make available for access comprises an XML element.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the list indicates a plurality of fixed and variable resources, wherein the fixed resources include common interfaces that enable communication, wherein the variable resources include interfaces needed to process specific objects, and wherein the class loaders that load the variable resources are at a lower order in the hierarchical relationship than the class loaders that load the fixed resources.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 27, further comprising:

adding information on a new variable resource and attributes thereof to the list during runtime.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the resource comprises a set of one or more classes of computer programs the requesting client needs to process objects.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the attributes used to generate the reference codes indicate a host and port at which the request for the reference code is received.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the attributes used to generate the reference codes include a name and version of files including the resources.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the reference codes comprise Universal Resource Locators (URL).

33. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the resources comprise class files encapsulated in an archive file including an index to a plurality of archive files including the class files.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 33, wherein the archive file includes domestic classes that are not needed by the requesting clients and exportable classfiles that the request clients need to process objects.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the resources are associated with classfiles, and wherein the request is from a client employing dynamic class loading to download classfiles for objects passed from remote services that are not locally available at the client.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the client uses Remote Method Invocation (RMI) to communicate requests.

37. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein loading the resources associated with the list further comprises:

constructing a class loader for each resource indicated in the list; and

calling each constructed class loader to load at least one resource for which the class loader is constructed.

38. The article of manufacture of claim 24, further comprising:

copying files implementing the resource to a location, wherein associating the reference codes with the resources further comprising associating the reference codes with the location of the files implementing the resources for which the reference codes were generated.

39. The article of manufacture of claim 38, wherein returning the associated resource to the requesting client further comprises:

returning an archive file included in the resource file at the location associated with the received reference code to the client.

36-1. The article of manufacture of claim 24, further comprising:

loading the resources associated with the list into a runtime environment.