Programmatically serializing complex objects using self-healing techniques

• US 20040039964A1
• Filed: 08/21/2002
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Reed, William `D., McHan, Samuel R. Jr., Russell, Feng-wei Chen
• Granted Patent: US 7,150,004 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for programmatically serializing complex objects (such as JavaBeans™). In contrast to prior art techniques, a manually-specified data type mapping specification is not required as input to the serialization process. Instead, the present invention programmatically generates this type mapping, responsive to encountering run-time exceptions during the serialization process. The serialization process is therefore “self-healing”. This approach is especially advantageous when serializing complex objects that may include complex data types and/or embedded objects. The programmatically-generated type mapping information is preferably used to generate a serialized version of the complex object, and can also be used during deserialization. In addition to improving serialization techniques, this type mapping information facilitates dynamic integration and transformation of data between heterogeneous formats.

Claims

1. A method of programmatically serializing complex objects, comprising steps of:

determining an object to be serialized;

invoking a serialization process on the object;

encountering one or more errors during the serialization process, due to missing type mappings;

programmatically resolving each encountered error; and

restarting the serialization process after each encountered error is resolved.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically resolving step further comprises programmatically generating the missing type mappings.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object is a JavaBean™

.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of storing the programmatically generated type mappings in a mapping registry for subsequent use.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of using selected ones of the stored type mappings when the serialization process is subsequently invoked for the determined object, thereby avoiding the errors during the subsequent invocation.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein output of the serialization process is a Simple Object Access Protocol (“

SOAP”

) encoded object.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the encountered errors generate exception messages, and wherein the programmatically resolving step further comprises the steps of:

programmatically analyzing each exception message to locate a class name corresponding to the missing type mapping;

performing introspection on a class having the located class name to determine type information for fields of the class; and

programmatically generating type mappings for the class using the determined type information.

8. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

determining a message to be deserialized; and

invoking a deserialization process on the message, wherein the deserialization process uses the stored type mappings to generate an object version of the message.

9. A system for programmatically serializing complex objects, comprising:

means for invoking a serialization process on an object to be serialized;

means for programmatically resolving each of one or more errors that are encountered during the serialization process, due to missing type mappings; and

means for restarting the serialization process after each encountered error is resolved.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the means for programmatically resolving further comprises means for programmatically generating the missing type mappings.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the object is a JavaBean™

.

12. The system according to claim 10, further comprising means for storing the programmatically generated type mappings in a mapping registry for subsequent use.

13. The system according to claim 12, further comprising means for using selected ones of the stored type mappings when the serialization process is subsequently invoked for the determined object, thereby avoiding the errors during the subsequent invocation.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein output of the serialization process is a Simple Object Access Protocol (“

SOAP”

) encoded object.

15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the encountered errors generate exception messages, and wherein the means for programmatically resolving step further comprises:

means for programmatically analyzing each exception message to locate a class name corresponding to the missing type mapping;

means for performing introspection on a class having the located class name to determine type information for fields of the class; and

means for programmatically generating type mappings for the class using the determined type information.

16. The system according to claim 12, further comprising:

means for determining a message to be deserialized; and

means for invoking a deserialization process on the message, wherein the deserialization process uses the stored type mappings to generate an object version of the message.

17. A computer program product for programmatically serializing complex objects, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for invoking a serialization process on an object to be serialized;

computer-readable program code means for programmatically resolving each of one or more errors that are encountered during the serialization process, due to missing type mappings; and

computer-readable program code means for restarting the serialization process after each encountered error is resolved.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the computer-readable program code means for programmatically resolving further comprises computer-readable program code means for programmatically generating the missing type mappings.

19. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the object is a JavaBean™

.

20. The computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising computer-readable program code means for storing the programmatically generated type mappings in a mapping registry for subsequent use.

21. The computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising computer-readable program code means for using selected ones of the stored type mappings when the serialization process is subsequently invoked for the determined object, thereby avoiding the errors during the subsequent invocation.

22. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein output of the serialization process is a Simple Object Access Protocol (“

SOAP”

) encoded object.

23. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the encountered errors generate exception messages, and wherein the computer-readable program code means for programmatically resolving step further comprises:

computer-readable program code means for programmatically analyzing each exception message to locate a class name corresponding to the missing type mapping;

computer-readable program code means for performing introspection on a class having the located class name to determine type information for fields of the class; and

computer-readable program code means for programmatically generating type mappings for the class using the determined type information.

24. The computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

computer-readable program code means for determining a message to be deserialized; and

computer-readable program code means for invoking a deserialization process on the message, wherein the deserialization process uses the stored type mappings to generate an object version of the message.