Architecture for dynamically monitoring computer application data

• US 20040083453A1
• Filed: 06/16/2003
• Published: 04/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Duck, Geoffrey Robert, Starkey, Michael, Knight, Christine N., Spatafora, Vito
• Application Number:
  US10/462,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20040083453A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data

Abstract

A dynamic application data monitoring architecture may include data collector, data provider, and widget software components. Data collectors convert application data from a native format into data instances having a logical hierarchical structure conforming to a schema which may be an XML schema. Data providers receive data instances from associated data collectors or other data providers and generate other data instances having a different logical hierarchical structure conforming to another schema which may be presentation-centric and may define features of a graphical data display mechanism (e.g. a line graph). The data provider may employ an external transform (e.g. an XSLT). Widgets receive logical, presentation-centric data instances from an associated data source (typically a data provider) and generate therefrom a displayable graphical representation of the received data according to an operative graphical data display mechanism. The data instances may be Document Object Model document instances.

Claims

1. A method of graphically displaying application data for dynamic monitoring comprising:

constructing from native format application data a presentation-centric data instance in which application data is represented as a hierarchy of logical elements representing features of a graphical data display mechanism for displaying said application data, said logical elements being defined in a presentation-centric schema to which said data instance conforms.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating from said presentation-centric data instance a displayable representation of said graphical data display mechanism having at least some of said features.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said constructing comprises:

receiving application data in a native format;

converting said received application data from said native format into another data instance different from said presentation-centric data instance; and

transforming said another data instance into said presentation-centric data instance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said receiving and said converting occur in a data collector software component, said transforming occurs in a transform data provider software component, and said generating occurs in a widget software component.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein said another data instance is an application-data-centric data instance in which application data is represented as another hierarchy of other logical elements representative of application data categories unrelated to a graphical data display mechanism for displaying said application data, said other logical elements being defined in an application-data-centric schema to which said another data instance conforms.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein said transforming is governed by a transform that is external to a software component implementing said transforming.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said transform is an eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transform (XSLT).

8. The method of claim 2 further comprising incorporating said displayable representation of said graphical data display mechanism in a dynamic world wide web page for display at a world wide web browser.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said constructing and said generating are triggered by a refresh of said world wide web browser.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said constructing and said generating occur at a server separate from a client computing device executing said world wide web browser.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said dynamic world wide web page is a Java™

Server Page (JSP™

) and wherein said constructing and said generating is performed by at least one object invoked from said JSP™

.

12. The method of claim 3 wherein said native format of application data comprises at least one application event notification.

13. The method of claim 3 wherein said native format of application data comprises an application log file.

14. The method of claim 2 wherein said displayable representation is a vector graphics representation.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said vector graphics representation is in a Scalable Vector Graphics format.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said presentation-centric schema is an extensible Markup Language (XML) schema.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said presentation-centric data instance is a Document Object Model (DOM) document instance.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said DOM document instance is compliant with the DOM Level 2 recommendation.

19. The method of claim 5 wherein said application-data-centric schema is an XML schema.

20. The method of claim 6 wherein said features include aesthetic features of said graphical data display mechanism that are configurable by amending said transform.

21. The method of claim 2, wherein said constructing occurs in a data collector software component and said generating occurs in a widget software component.

22. The method of claim 2 wherein said graphical data display mechanism is selected from the group consisting of a bar graph, a stacked bar graph, a line graph, a pie graph, and a rate indicator.

23. A computer program product having media including computer programmed instructions for directing a computing device to implement the method of any of claims 1 to 22.

27. A computing device comprising a processor and persistent storage memory in communication with said processor storing processor readable instructions for directing said device to undertake the method of any of claims 1 to 22.

24. A presentation-centric schema defining a hierarchy of logical elements representing features of a graphical data display mechanism for displaying application data.

25. A widget software component comprising programmed instructions for directing a computing device to:

receive from an associated data source a presentation-centric data instance in which application data is represented as a hierarchy of logical elements representing features of a graphical data display mechanism for displaying said application data, said logical elements being defined in a presentation-centric schema to which said data instance conforms; and

generate from said presentation-centric data instance a displayable representation of said graphical data display mechanism having at least some of said features.

26. The widget software component of claim 25 further comprising programmed instructions for directing a computing device to:

set said associated data source of said widget software component to a specified data source at run time.