Method for creating wrapper XML stored procedure

• US 20040049736A1
• Filed: 09/05/2002
• Published: 03/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Al-Azzawe, Abdul, Siegmund, Steffen
• Granted Patent: US 7,322,022 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/513
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method for automatically generating code for converting data from stored procedures to an XML format is performed by a wizard with which a client interfaces. The wizard receives a selection of a stored procedure, determines an output data format for the selected stored procedure, obtains a definition of an XML document which contains which portions of the output data format to include in the XML document, and generates code for a wrapper. The wrapper would call the stored procedure and generate the defined XML document. The XML document is then returned by the wrapper. In this manner, the code for converting data to the XML format need not be manually generated. The data also need not be manually converted to the XML format.

Claims

1. A method for automatically generating code for converting data from stored procedures to an XML format, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a wizard for generating code for a wrapper, wherein the wizard;

(a1) receives a selection of a stored procedure,

(a2) determines an output data format for the selected stored procedure, and

(a3) obtains a definition of an Extended Markup Language (XML) document, wherein the definition comprises which portions of the output data format to include in the XML document; and

(b) generating the code for the wrapper by the wizard for calling the selected stored procedure and for generating the defined XML document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receives step (a1) comprises:

(a1i) obtains existing stored procedures based upon search criteria; and

(a1ii) receives a selection of one of the existing stored procedures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determines step (a2) comprises:

(a2i) determines parameters and result sets for the selected stored procedure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determines step (a2i) comprises:

(a2iA) queries database catalogues for the parameters for the selected stored procedure.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(a2iB) obtains the result sets from a test run of the selected stored procedure.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(a2iB) receives a manual definition of the result sets for the selected stored procedure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtains step (a3) comprises:

(a3i) obtains a definition of the XML document, wherein the definition comprises parameters and result sets for the selected stored procedure to include in the XML document.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the obtains step (a3i) comprises:

(a3iA) receives a selection of parameters to include in the XML document; and

(a3iB) receives a selection of result sets to include in the XML document.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

(a3iC) receives a choice of whether multiple result sets are to be merged into one XML document.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

(a3iC) receives a marking of multiple result sets to be aggregated using primary and foreign key columns of the multiple result sets.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

(a3iC) receives a marking of a column in the selected result set for aggregation.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(c) creating a user defined function to reside on a database server for transforming the defined XML document to another data format.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the another data format comprises another XML document.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the wrapper converts output data from the selected stored procedure to a data structure comprising nested arrays of a structure, wherein the wrapper converts the data structure to the defined XML document.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the data structure comprises nested arrays of objects.

16. A computer readable medium with program instructions for automatically generating code for converting data from stored procedures to an XML format, comprising the instructions for:

(a) providing a wizard for generating code for a wrapper, wherein the wizard;

(a1) receives a selection of a stored procedure,

(a2) determines an output data format for the selected stored procedure, and

(a3) obtains a definition of an Extended Markup Language (XML) document, wherein the definition comprises which portions of the output data format to include in the XML document; and

(b) generating the code for the wrapper by the wizard for calling the selected stored procedure and for generating the defined XML document.

17. The medium of claim 16, wherein the receives instruction (a1) comprises:

(a1i) obtains existing stored procedures based upon search criteria; and

(a1ii) receives a selection of one of the existing stored procedures.

18. The medium of claim 16, wherein the determines instruction (a2) comprises:

(a2i) determines parameters and result sets for the selected stored procedure.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the determines instruction (a2i) comprises:

(a2iA) queries database catalogues for the parameters for the selected stored procedure.

20. The medium of claim 19, further comprising:

(a2iB) obtains the result sets from a test run of the selected stored procedure.

21. The medium of claim 19, further comprising:

(a2iB) receives a manual definition of the result sets for the selected stored procedure.

22. The medium of claim 16, wherein the obtains instruction (a3) comprises:

(a3i) obtains a definition of the XML document, wherein the definition comprises parameters and result sets for the selected stored procedure to include in the XML document.

23. The medium of claim 22, wherein the obtains instruction (a3i) comprises:

(a3iA) receives a selection of parameters to include in the XML document; and

(a3iB) receives a selection of result sets to include in the XML document.

24. The medium of claim 23, further comprising:

(a3iC) receives a choice of whether multiple result sets are to be merged into one XML document.

25. The medium of claim 23, further comprising:

(a3iC) receives a marking of multiple result sets to be aggregated using primary and foreign key columns of the multiple result sets.

26. The medium of claim 23, further comprising:

(a3iC) receives a marking of a column in the selected result set for aggregation.

27. The medium of claim 16, further comprising:

(c) creating a user defined function to reside on a database server for transforming the defined XML document to another data format.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the another data format comprises another XML document.

29. The medium of claim 16, wherein the wrapper converts output data from the selected stored procedure to a data structure comprising nested arrays of a structure, wherein the wrapper converts the data structure to the defined XML document.

30. The medium of claim 29, wherein the data structure comprises nested arrays of objects.