System and method for providing shared web modules

• US 20050050155A1
• Filed: 08/28/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Morton, Michael John, McGee, Jason Robert, Peters, Brent A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,862,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/54 Link editing before load time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for sharing web modules amongst a plurality of other web applications are provided. With the system and method, shared web modules are stored in an archive data structure and are accessible for use with web applications. The web applications, and/or the web modules of the web applications, may include a shared web module designation file that identifies the shared web modules that are to be incorporated into the web modules for the web application. A runtime component is provided that determines, when the web application web modules are being loaded, whether the web application and/or web modules have a shared web module designation file that identifies shared web modules that are to be incorporated into the web modules of the web application. If so, the runtime component locates these shared web modules and logically merges them with the web modules of the web application taking into account precedence or priority of the shared web modules as designated by the shared web module designation file. The result is a logically merged web module that contains the shared web modules referenced in the shared web module designation file.

Claims

1. A method of generating a logically merged web module for a web application, comprising:

determining if the web application includes a reference to at least one shared web module that may be incorporated into a plurality of web applications;

identifying a location of the at least one shared web module; and

logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application, if any, to generate a logically merged web application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

loading the logically merged web application into a web container.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the web application includes a reference to at least one shared web module includes determining if the web application includes a shared web module designation file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the web application is an enterprise archive (EAR) and wherein the logically merged web application is a logically merged EAR.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one shared web module includes at least one of a web archive (WAR) file, an enterprise java bean (EJB) archive file, and a resource archive (RAR) file.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application includes:

determining a priority associated with the at least one shared web module; and

resolving any conflicts between shared web modules in the at least one shared web module and conflicts between the at least one shared web module and web modules of the web application, if any.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of determining, identifying, and logically merging are performed during an initialization process of a runtime environment for initializing the web application to be run on a server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein logically merging the at least one shared web module with the web modules of the web application includes using a service provider interface (SPI) that provides merge logic for merging different module types.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the container uses one or more application program interfaces (APIs) to identify a path to the at least one shared web module and loads the at least one shared web module when loading the logically merged web application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application includes at least one of relinking references to the at least one shared web module in the web modules of the web application, extrapolating policy information for the at least one shared web module from a policy file associated with the web application, and modifying a class path for the web application to include paths to each of the at least one shared web modules.

11. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for generating a logically merged web module for a web application, comprising:

first instructions for determining if the web application includes a reference to at least one shared web module that may be incorporated into a plurality of web applications;

second instructions for identifying a location of the at least one shared web module; and

third instructions for logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application, if any, to generate a logically merged web application.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

fourth instructions for loading the logically merged web application into a web container.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the first instructions for determining if the web application includes a reference to at least one shared web module include instructions for determining if the web application includes a shared web module designation file.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the third instructions for logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application include:

instructions for determining a priority associated with the at least one shared web module; and

instructions for resolving any conflicts between shared web modules in the at least one shared web module and conflicts between the at least one shared web module and web modules of the web application, if any.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the first, second and third instructions are executed during an initialization process of a runtime environment for initializing the web application to be run on a server.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the third instructions for logically merging the at least one shared web module with the web modules of the web application include instructions for using a service provider interface (SPI) that provides merge logic for merging different module resources.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the container uses one or more application program interfaces (APIs) to identify a path to the at least one shared web module.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the third instructions for logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application include at least one of instructions for relinking references to the at least one shared web module in the web modules of the web application, instructions for extrapolating policy information for the at least one shared web module from a policy file associated with the web application, and instructions for modifying a class path for the web application to include paths to each of the at least one shared web modules.

19. An apparatus for generating a logically merged web module for a web application, comprising:

means for determining if the web application includes a reference to at least one shared web module that may be incorporated into a plurality of web applications;

means for identifying a location of the at least one shared web module; and

means for logically merging the at least one shared web module with web modules of the web application, if any, to generate a logically merged web application.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

means for loading the logically merged web application into a web container.