Cross-platform development for devices with heterogeneous capabilities

• US 20040250238A1
• Filed: 06/04/2003
• Published: 12/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sankaran, Pasupathi, Ramesh, B.G., Singh, Uma Kant, Bhatt, Ankur, Arend, Thomas, S., Raghunandan
• Granted Patent: US 7,240,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code

Abstract

An application development system and method for generating applications for computing devices characterized by heterogeneous capabilities such as processing power, memory, resource, display capability, I/O capability, etc.

Claims

1. An system for generating a plurality of software applications respectively for a plurality of heterogeneous computing devices, each having an associated capability comprising:

a framework, wherein the framework provides common services for each of the plurality of applications;

a plurality of object types;

a modeling tool, wherein the modeling tool provides for customization of an application by receiving modeling information for the plurality of object types and wherein the modeling tool generates as output a metadata structure, the metadata structure representing the modeling information;

a plurality of generators associated respectively with each of the plurality of heterogeneous computing devices, wherein each generator;

receives as input the metadata structure;

selects at least a portion of the modeling information represented by the metadata structure as a function of the capability of the associated computing device;

generates at last one runtime component for the associated computing device as a function of the selected portion of modeling information;

wherein the framework and at least one runtime component collectively comprise the application.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the framework includes a user interface layer, a business object layer and a data access layer.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous computing devices include a mobile device and associated companion device.

4. A computing environment including a first computing device and a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is intended to function in a companion mode with the first computing device and provides a limited computing capability in relation to the first computing device comprising:

a first application for execution on the first computing device, the first application includes a runtime framework providing generic services and at least one first runtime component, the runtime component providing customized services for the application;

a second application for execution on the second computing device, the second application including the framework and at least one second runtime component, the second runtime component providing customized services for the second application;

a synchronization process, for transmitting data aggregated on the second computing device to the first computing device.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the data aggregated on the second computing device is input directly to the framework on the second computing device, the framework on the second computing device processing the data using at least one customized service.

6. A system for generating a software application for a first computing device and a second computing device, wherein the second device is intended to function in a companion mode with the first computing device and provides a limited computing capability in relation to the first computing device comprising:

a framework, wherein the framework provides common services for the first and second computing devices;

a plurality of object types;

a modeling tool, wherein the modeling tool provides for customization of an application by receiving modeling information for the plurality of object types and wherein the modeling tool generates as output a metadata structure, the metadata structure representing the modeling information;

a first and second generator associated respectively with the first and second computing device, wherein each generator;

receives as input the metadata structure;

selects at least a portion of the modeling information represented by the metadata structure as a function of the capability of the associated computing device;

generates at last one runtime component for the associated computing device as a function of the selected portion of modeling information;

wherein the framework and at least one runtime component collectively comprise the application.

7. A system for generating a software application for a plurality of computing devices having heterogeneous capabilities comprising:

a modeling tool for specifying instance information for a plurality of pre-defined object types, the object types associated with a runtime framework,

wherein the modeling tool stores the instance information as a metadata file;

at least one application generator, wherein each application generator is associated with one of the plurality of heterogeneous devices, wherein each generator reads the metadata file and generates at least one runtime component for the associated computing device.

8. A method for generating a software application for a mobile device and an associated companion device comprising:

defining a plurality of object types;

receiving instance information for at least one object type, wherein the instance information includes at least one logical operation, each of the at least one logical operation associated respectively with an object type;

storing metadata information, the metadata information associated with the instance information for the at least one object type;

defining a first generator process associated with the mobile device and a second generator process associated with the companion device, wherein the first generator process generates at least one first runtime component for the mobile device and the second generator process generates at least one second runtime component for the companion device.

9. A method for generating a software application for a first computing device, the first computing device having a first processing capability, and an associated second computing device, the second computing device a second processing capability, wherein the second processing capability is less than the first processing capability, comprising:

receiving first information relating to at least a plurality of software objects,

receiving second information relating to a user interface;

receiving third information relating to transaction information, the transaction information associating the software objects with a relational database;

receiving fourth information relating to at least one of a processing power, a resource capability and a memory capacity of the second computing device;

as a function of the first, second, and third information, generating application metadata, the application metadata including information to specify the behavior of the application with respect to the software objects, the user interface and the transaction information;

as a function of the application metadata, generating a first executable software application for the first computing device, the first executable software application including functionality based on the first;

second and third information;

as a function of the application metadata and the fourth information, generating an executable software application for the second computing device, wherein the software application includes at least a subset of functionality of the first executable software application.

10. A method for running a software application in an offline mode utilizing a mobile device and a companion device comprising:

based upon an application specification, generating application metadata, the application metadata relating to at least a plurality of software objects, a user interface and transaction information associating the software objects with a relational database;

as a function of the application metadata, generating a first executable software application for the mobile device;

as a function of the application metadata, generating an executable software application for the companion device, wherein the software application includes at least a subset of functionality of the first executable software application;

providing a first synchronization module on the companion device and a second synchronization module on the mobile devices, the first and second synchronization modules allowing exchange of data received on the companion device with the mobile device.