Document message state management engine

• US 20040205136A1
• Filed: 03/28/2003
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Whittenberger, Kevin, Jackson, Sonja, Ladwig, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 8,112,481 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A state management sub-system that assists in transmitting and processing documents and messages between two applications in a sequentially correct order through an integration server is disclosed. The state management subsystem analyzes the message and enters state information about the message into a state management table. Once the message is transformed the state management subsystem check the status of the message in the state management table, and checks all waiting parameters. Depending on the status of the check, the state management subsystem changes the state of message in the table. Only when all messages have passed the waiting parameters check is a message posted to the destination system.

Claims

1. A method for controlling posting of messages from a source system to a destination system through an integration control component, comprising the steps of:

receiving at a receive function of the integration control component a message from the source system;

identifying waiting parameters for the message in the preprocessor;

processing the message through the integration control component;

checking for any waiting parameters associated with the message; and

posting the message to the destination system based on the check of the waiting parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a copy of the message to a preprocessor; and

wherein the identifying step identifies the waiting parameters in the preprocessor.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the message comprises:

receiving a processed version of the message at a pipeline component of the integration control component.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying waiting parameter comprises:

writing the identified waiting parameters as an entry for the message in a wait state table in a state management subsystem.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein posting comprises:

if checking for waiting parameters indicates that no waiting parameters were found, then posting the message; and

if checking for waiting parameters indicates that the waiting parameters were satisfied, then posting the message.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein posting further comprising:

retrying the message if the waiting parameters are not satisfied.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to identifying any waiting parameters, setting a message state for the message in a state management table.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein setting a message state comprises:

setting the message state is set to a state of submitted.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein prior to posting the message, changing the message state in the state management table.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a confirmation from the destination system of a status of the processed message in the destination system; and

changing the message state in the state management table based on the confirmation.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein if the status received in the confirmation is successful, changing the state of the message in the state management table to posted.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein if the status received in the confirmation is fail, changing the state of the message in the state management table to failed.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein if checking for waiting parameters indicates that the waiting parameters are met, changing the state of the message in the state management table to posting.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein if checking for waiting parameters indicates that the waiting parameters are not met, changing the state of the message in the state management table to retry.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of processing further includes:

analyzing a portion of the message to identify any external links that are required to be satisfied prior to posting the message to the destination system; and

if the external links are not satisfied, changing the state of the message in the state management table to retriable.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein if checking for waiting parameters indicates that the state of the message is retriable, then after the receiving step, changing the state of the message in the state management table retriable to retry.

17. The method of claim 6 wherein retrying the message includes submitting a copy of the message for processing through the integration control component.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the copy of the message is a version of the message as received from the first system.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein checking for the waiting parameters includes checking for a parent/child relationship between two or more messages.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein checking for the waiting parameter is based upon checking for a related entity existing or posting prior to the message.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein checking for the waiting parameter is based upon checking for an unrelated entity existing or posting prior to the message.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein checking for the waiting parameter further includes a message order based upon an order in which a plurality of messages were received from the source system.

23. The method of claim 22 further including:

writing the message order waiting parameter to a message order table.

24. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

identifying from a portion of the message a number of channels that the message is to be routed through; and

for each channel identifying waiting parameters for the message in that channel; and

wherein writing the identified waiting parameters as an entry for the message in the wait state table includes writing an entry for each channel identified.

25. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving at a receive function of an integration control component a message from a source system;

identifying any waiting parameters for the message;

writing the identified waiting parameters as an entry for the message in a wait state table in a state management subsystem;

processing the message through the integration control component;

receiving a processed version of the message at a pipeline component of the integration control component;

checking the wait state table for any waiting parameters associated with the message;

posting the message to the destination system if no waiting parameters were found in the wait state table, or if the waiting parameters were satisfied; and

retrying the message if the waiting parameters are not satisfied.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25 further containing instructions to perform the steps of:

prior to identifying any waiting parameters, setting a state for the message in a state management table to a state of submitted.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26 further containing instructions to perform the steps of:

receiving a confirmation from the destination system of a status of the processed message in the destination system;

changing the message state in the state management table to posted if the confirmation is successful; and

changing the message state in the state management table to failed if the confirmation is fail.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 26 wherein processing further includes:

analyzing a portion of the message to identify any external links that are required to be satisfied prior to posting the message to the destination system;

if the external links are not satisfied, changing the state of the message in the state management table to retriable; and

after the receiving step, changing the state of the message in the state management table form retriable to retry.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 26 wherein retrying the message includes submitting an unprocessed copy of the message for processing through the integration control component.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 26 further containing instructions to perform the steps of:

identifying from a portion of the message a number of channels that the message is to be routed through; and

for each channel identifying waiting parameters for the message in that channel; and

wherein writing the identified waiting parameters as an entry for the message in the wait state table writes an entry for each channel identified.

31. A method of setting a state of a message in a computer system used to transmit messages from a source system to a destination system, comprising:

receiving a call from a state management subsystem to change the state of the message;

identifying a present state of the message in a state management table;

identifying a desired state of the message; and

changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state in the state management table.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein changing the state further comprises:

determining if the state of the message can be changed from the present state to the desired state;

if the state can be changed, changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state; and

if the state can not be changed, changing the state of the message from the present state to a state of fail in the state management table.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein determining if the state of the message can be changed further comprises:

checking a time to live for the message;

determining if the message'"'"'s time to live has expired; and

if the message'"'"'s time to live has expired, changing the state of the message from the present state to a special state of fail.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein determining if the state of the message can be changed further comprises:

checking that the change from the present state to the desired state is a valid state change;

if the state change is valid, allowing the state change to proceed; and

if the state change is not valid, leaving the state unchanged in the state management table.

35. The method of claim 32 wherein determining if the state of the message can be changed further comprises:

checking an order indicator associated with the message;

determining from the order indicator whether there are other messages in a message ordering table that should be processed before the message;

if there are messages in the ordering table that are to be processed prior to the message, changing the state of the message from the present state to a state of retry; and

if there are no messages in the ordering table that are to be processed prior to the message, changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state.

36. The method of claim 32 wherein determining if the state of the message can be changed further comprises:

determining if a wait state exists for the message in a wait state table;

if a wait state exists, determining if a condition of the wait state is satisfied;

if the condition of wait state is satisfied, changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state; and

if the condition of the wait state is not satisfied, changing the state of the message from the present state to a state of retry.

37. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving a call from a state management subsystem to change a state of a message;

identifying a present state of the message in a state management table;

identifying a desired state of the message; and

changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state in the state management table by;

determining if the state of the message can be changed from the present state to the desired state;

if the state can be changed, changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state; and

if the state cannot be changed, changing the state of the message from the present state to a state of fail in the state management table.

38. The computer executable method of claim 37 wherein the instructions for determining if the state of the message can be changed further comprises instructions for:

determining if a time to live for the message has expired; and

if the message'"'"'s time to live has expired, changing the state of the message from the present state to a special state of fail;

if the message'"'"'s time to live has not expired;

checking an order indicator for the message to determine whether there are other messages in a message ordering table that should be processed before the message;

if there are messages in the ordering table that are to be processed prior to the message, changing the state of the message from the present state to a state of retry; and

if there are no messages in the ordering table that are to be processed prior to the message, changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state.

39. The computer executable message of claim 37 wherein the instructions for determining the state of the message can be changed further comprises instructions for:

checking to determine whether the change from the present state to the desired state is a valid state change; and

if the state change is not valid, leaving the state unchanged in the state management table.

40. The computer executable medium of claim 37 wherein the instructions for determining whether the state of the message can be changed further comprises instructions for:

determining if a wait state exists for the message in a wait state table;

if a wait state exists, determining if a condition of the wait state is satisfied;

if the condition of wait state is satisfied, changing the state of the message from the present state to the desired state; and

if the condition of the wait state is not satisfied, changing the state of the message from the present state to a state of retry.