Method and apparatus for automatically providing network services

• US 20040193635A1
• Filed: 03/27/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wendker, Andreas, Jouaux, Francois, Turner, Melissa, Lue-Sang, Ron, Kim, Ernest, Hsu, Karl
• Granted Patent: US 7,457,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5015 Service provider selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention is directed to a method and apparatus for automatically providing network services in a way that improves upon the prior art. Systems implementing aspects of the invention can, for instance, provide developers with a mechanism for creating Web Services without having to write low-level SOAP, XML, or WSDL code. The system utilizes a rule-based approach to provide a mechanism for dynamically reconfiguring the system with requiring redeployment of the entire system.

Claims

1. A network services assistant embodied in a computer program executed in a tangible medium of expression said computer program comprising computer program code configured to:

obtain a database schema of a database;

analyze said database schema to determine a hierarchical structure within a plurality of database fields in said database;

generate a set of operation rules for utilizing said database fields;

generate a set of operation rules for translating an output of a query to said database into one of a plurality of data communication languages.

2. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code configured to analyze said database schema further comprises computer program code configured to provide an object description for building entities to store data.

3. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code configure to analyze said database schema further comprises computer program code configured to provide an object description for accessing data in said database.

4. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code configure to analyze said database schema further comprises computer program code configured to generate a hierarchical structure involving multiple database tables.

5. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code is further configured to generate a set of operation rules for querying said database fields.

6. The network services assistant of claim 5 wherein said computer program code configured to generate said set of operation rules for querying said database fields further comprises computer program code configured to provide a data type for each of said database fields.

7. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code is further configured to generate a set of operation rules for modifying said database fields.

8. The network services assistant of claim 7 wherein said computer program code configured to generate said set of operation rules for modifying said database fields comprises computer program code configured to provide controls for handling database transactions.

9. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code is further configured to generate a set of operation rules for accessing said database fields.

10. The network services assistant of claim 9 wherein said computer program code configured to generate said set of operation rules for accessing said database fields further comprises computer program code configured to handle user privileges at run time.

11. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code configured to generate a set of operation rules for translating said output further comprises computer program code configured to generate data compatible with SOAP.

12. The network services assistant of claim 1 wherein said computer program code configured to generate a set of operation rules for translating said output further comprises computer program code configured to generate data compatible with Web Services Description Language.

13. A method for providing web services comprising:

analyzing a schema of a data source;

generating a plurality of descriptors for a plurality of web services based on said schema;

generating a plurality of operational rules associated with said plurality of web services; and

providing one of said plurality of web services upon receiving a request containing at least one of said plurality of descriptors, by executing said plurality of operational rules, building a request for accessing said data source, accessing said data source and returning data in a data form based on a web services protocol.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said data source further comprises a relational database having a plurality of tables and a plurality of relationships linking said plurality of tables.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said data source further comprises a data source using directory services.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein said generating a plurality of descriptors further comprises generating a publishable name to describe each one of said plurality of web services.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein said generating a plurality of descriptors further comprises automatically generating a set of operations for accessing said plurality of web services.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said automatically generating a set of operations further comprises automatically generating a set of functions for accessing said data source.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said set of functions further comprises at least one function for adding data to said data source.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said set of functions further comprises at least one function for deleting data from said data source.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein said generating said plurality of operational rules further comprises generating a set of conditional statements each of which are combined with an execution statement.

22. The method of claim 13 wherein said plurality of operational rules comprises a hierarchical structure defining the precedence of each rule within said plurality of operational rules.

23. A method for automatically providing web services comprising:

receiving a request comprising a web service and at least one argument datum;

generating a request object;

checking said request object against a plurality of operational rules using a rule engine;

generating a query to a data source;

obtaining data from said data source by submitting said query;

building a response data entity;

generating a response object;

generating response data while utilizing said rule engine; and

transmitting said response data to said client.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said receiving said request further comprises receiving a function name and zero or more arguments.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein said receiving said request further comprises receiving an alias associated with said web service.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein said receiving said request further comprises determining whether said request requires dynamic handling.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein said receiving said request further comprises examining a header contained in said request, said header bearing information for requesting access to said web service.

28. The method of claim 23 wherein said request object further comprises a data structure for storing request information contained in said request.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein said request object further comprises at least one function for accessing and manipulating said request information.

30. The method of claim 23 wherein said performing said checking further comprises verifying a name of said web service.

31. The method of claim 23 wherein said performing said checking further comprises verifying a type for said zero or more arguments.

32. The method of claim 23 wherein said building said response data entity further comprises generating said data entity using web services description language.