Methods and computer systems for data conversion

• US 20050080803A1
• Filed: 09/03/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sauermann, Volker
• Granted Patent: US 7,873,666 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

Methods and computer systems are provided for data conversion. In one embodiment, a conversion engine receives from an application a conversion request for data stored in a database and invokes the database to export the data into a conversion source file. The conversion engine may receive a set of rules from the application and convert the data of the conversion source file according to the set of rules. Thereafter, the converted data may be stored in a conversion target file.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for data conversion, the method comprising:

receiving from an application a conversion request for data stored in a database;

invoking the database to export the data into a conversion source file by bypassing interfaces between the application and the database;

obtaining a set of rules from the application;

converting the data of the conversion source file according to the set of rules; and

storing the converted data in a conversion target file.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the application upon completion of the converting step.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining from the application an update request to update the data in the database with the converted data of the conversion target file; and

instructing the database to execute the update request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting step comprises:

reading the data from the conversion source file; and

applying the set of rules to the data.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the conversion source file and the conversion target file are separate files stored in a file system.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the conversion source file and the conversion target file are the same file stored in a file system.

7. The method according of claim 3, wherein the invoking and instructing steps are executed by generating a first and second script, respectively.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion request in the receiving step comprises metadata for the data

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the export and the update of the data is executed by an import/export tool of the database.

10. A computer program product for data conversion comprising a plurality of instructions that when loaded into a memory of a computer system cause at least one processor of the computer system to perform a method comprising:

receiving from an application a conversion request for data stored in a database;

invoking the database to export the data into a conversion source file by bypassing interfaces between the application and the database;

obtaining a set of rules from the application;

converting the data of the conversion source file according to the set of rules; and

storing the converted data in a conversion target file.

11. A computer system for data conversion comprising an application, a database, and a separate conversion engine, where the application communicates with the database over a network by using a corresponding database interface and a corresponding SQL interface, respectively, the conversion engine being operable to invoke the database to export data into a conversion source file by bypassing the database interface and the SQL interface upon receiving a conversion request for the data from the application, the application comprising a set of rules that is provided to the conversion engine, and the conversion engine being operable to convert the data of the conversion source file according to the set of rules and to store the converted data in a conversion target file.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the application and the conversion engine have corresponding remote interfaces for remote communication.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the application further comprises metadata for the data that is provided to the conversion engine.

14. The computer system of claims 12, wherein the conversion engine is operable to notify the application through the remote interfaces upon having stored the converted data.

15. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein the conversion engine is operable to obtain from the application an update request to update the data in the database with the converted data of the conversion target file, and further is operable to instruct the database to execute the update request.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the database comprises an import/export tool to execute the export and the update of the data.