Adapting business objects for searches and searching adapted business objects

• US 20040162815A1
• Filed: 02/13/2003
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Lu, Liwei, Irle, Klaus, Janssen, Tatjana, Kindsvogel, Uwe
• Granted Patent: US 7,475,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for performing text and attribute searches of data stores that include business objects and for searching business objects. A computer-implemented method, for adapting business objects for text searches, includes retrieving attribute data from a business object and storing the attribute data as linear text content of the business object. A computer program product, for searching business objects, includes instructions operable to cause a processor to receive search criteria. The product includes instructions to access a linear text of a business object, the linear text including attribute data from the business object. The product includes instructions to search the linear text to identify the received search criteria. The product is tangibly stored on machine-readable medium.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for adapting business objects for text searches, the method comprising:

retrieving attribute data from a business object; and

storing the attribute data as linear text content of the business object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

retrieving attribute data includes unrolling an attribute structure of the business object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

unrolling the attribute structure includes unrolling any combination of standard fields and customer specific fields.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

unrolling customer specific fields include unrolling any combination of customer specified fields of standard tables, customer specified tables, and customer specified data clusters.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving attribute data from business objects of different types.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

storing the attribute data as linear text content includes storing the attribute data as a linear text file that is included in the business object.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

indexing the linear text portion included in the business object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

indexing the linear text content of the business object.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

indexing includes indexing all attributes without discarding common words, whereby a search of a result of the index can dispositively show the absence of a particular business object.

10. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, for adapting business objects for text searches, the product comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to:

retrieve attribute data of a business object; and

store the attribute data as linear text content of the business object.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

unroll an attribute structure of the business object to retrieve the attribute data.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

unroll any combination of standard fields and customer specific fields.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

unroll any combination of customer specified fields of standard tables, customer specified tables, and customer specified data clusters.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

retrieve attribute data from business objects of different classes.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

store the attribute data as a linear text file that is included in the business object.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

index the linear text portion included in the business object.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

index the linear text content of the business object.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

index all attributes without discarding common words, whereby a search of a result of the index can dispositively show the absence of a particular business object.

19. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, for searching business objects, the product comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive search criteria;

access a linear text of a business object, the linear text including attribute data from the business object; and

search the linear text to identify the received search criteria.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

access the linear text including all attribute data from the business object.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

access the linear text portion of an object.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

access the linear text portion of the business object.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

access an index of linear text, the index indexing the linear text of the business object.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

index the index of linear text for searching.

25. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

receive a restriction specifying a format-dependent condition of a business object as the search criteria.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

receive the restriction specifying that the business object be of a particular class of business object.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

send the restriction to at least one search engine that accesses an index of business objects.

28. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

provide the search criteria to a search engine that accesses the linear text of the business object.

29. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

provide the search criteria to heterogeneous search engines, at least one of which accesses the linear text of the business object.

30. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

receive a request to edit the business object; and

provide write access to the business object.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

provide write access to the linear text of the business object.

32. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

amend the linear text of the business object to be in accordance with an edit of the business object.

33. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

access a second linear text of a second business object, the second business object being a different class of business object from the business object; and

search the second linear text to identify the received search criteria.