Message translation and parsing of data structures in a distributed component architecture

• US 20050097566A1
• Filed: 11/05/2004
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SeeBeyond Technology Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Waldorf, Jerry A., Srihari, Rangaswamy, Domingo, Samuel N., Watts, Lealon E. Jr., Inada, Nathan K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,526,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/547 Messaging middleware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

The present invention is related to systems and methods that parse and/or translate inbound messages into outbound messages such that disparate computer systems can communicate intelligibly. In one embodiment, a system recursively parses the inbound message such that relatively fewer outbound message structure definitions are required and advantageously decreases the usage of resources by the system. Further, one system in accordance with the present invention allows an operator to configure the identity of a delimiter in the inbound message. The delimiter can span multiple characters and includes the logical inverse of a set of delimiters. The outbound message can be accessed at nodes within a hierarchy, as well as at leaves. Thus, a user need not know the precise location of data within the outbound message. A set of updating rules further permits the updating of an outbound message without having to re-parse an entire inbound message.

Claims

1. A method for writing data into a message structure, comprising:

receiving an inbound message having one or more delimiters;

determining whether a modifier list is to be used when parsing the inbound message into a message structure;

if a modifier list is to be used, parsing the message into the inbound message structure, wherein the inbound message structure is defined by one or more elements in the modifier list; and

if a modifier list is not to be used, parsing the message into the inbound message structure, wherein the inbound message structure is defined with default definitions for the one or more delimiters.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading an event definition, wherein the event definition includes a description of the message structure.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

reading the event definition includes reading the message structure; and

determining whether a modifier list is to be used when parsing the inbound message includes determining whether nodes in the message structure correspond to a modifier list.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the message structure has configurable nodes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

parsing the message into the inbound message structure includes loading data from a field in the inbound message into a node of the message structure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving an inbound message having one or more delimiters includes receiving an inbound message having one or more delimiters marking an end of a field.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving an inbound message having one or more delimiters includes receiving an inbound message having one or more delimiters marking a beginning of a field.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an ordered list of the one or more delimiters, wherein the delimiters are listed in a hierarchical order.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to:

read an event definition, wherein the event definition includes a description of the message structure.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein:

the instructions operable to cause a processor to read the event definition include instructions operable to read the message structure; and

the instructions operable to cause a processor to determine whether a modifier list is to be used when parsing the inbound message include instructions operable to determine whether nodes in the message structure correspond to a modifier list.

9. A method for writing data in an inbound message to an outbound message structure, comprising:

receiving an inbound message having delimiters, where the delimiters are described in an event definition;

determining whether for a field in the event definition the delimiters correspond to elements in a modifier list;

parsing the inbound message to an inbound message structure, including parsing with the one or more elements of the modifier list for the determined field and using a default definition for a node in the inbound message structure otherwise, wherein parsing the inbound message defines the inbound message structure; and

mapping the inbound message structure to an outbound message structure.

10. An apparatus for storing a message, comprising:

a memory for storing a message structure, the message structure having a hierarchical format, including;

one or more leaves, wherein each leaf stores child data; and

one or more nodes, wherein each leaf is connected to a node and is a child of the node;

wherein each node is configured to store the child data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

one or more of the nodes is a child node to a parent node, and the child data stored in each child node is stored the parent node.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the child data stored in each leaf is stored in a parent node connected to the leaf.

13. A method of parsing a message, comprising:

receiving an inbound message having data;

retrieving an event definition adapted to define a method of parsing the inbound message; and

parsing the inbound message according to the event definition, the parsing including parsing the data to a hierarchical message structure having nodes and leaves, each leaf corresponding to a node, the parsing including parsing the data of the inbound message to each node and at least a portion of the data in each node to a leaf associated with the node, such that the data in a leaf is also in an associated node.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

parsing the inbound message includes parsing to one or more nodes that are child nodes to a parent node such that data in the child nodes are in the parent node.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein:

parsing the inbound message includes determining whether to parse to a node or a leaf.

16. A method for updating a message structure, comprising:

receiving a message having updated content;

relating the message with a message structure storing data;

parsing at least a portion of the message to the message structure such that the updated content is parsed to the message structure and replaces data stored in the data structure, wherein the updated content is parsed to one or more child fields in the data structure; and

indicating that contents of a parent field corresponding to the one or more child fields storing the updated content are invalid.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

populating the parent field with the updated content when the parent field is accessed.

18. A method of mapping a message from a first format to a second format, comprising:

receiving an event definition having a description of a first delimiter and a second delimiter, the second delimiter indicating a repeating message substructure;

receiving a message, wherein the message has the first delimiter and the second delimiter; and

parsing the message according to the event definition, such that data from the message is stored in leaves and nodes of a message structure, the step of parsing including;

determining a field in the inbound message as a string of characters ending with a delimiter;

determining whether the delimiter is a first delimiter or a second delimiter;

if the delimiter is a first delimiter, storing data in a leaf; and

if the delimiter is a second delimiter, appending the repeating message substructure to the message structure.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a preliminary data structure to which the repeating message substructure is appended during the step of parsing.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the message structure is a hierarchy with a plurality trees each comprising at least one node, the method further comprising:

allocating a separate array memory location for each leaf and node that is a child of a single node.

21. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for writing data into a message structure, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive an inbound message having one or more delimiters;

determine whether a modifier list is to be used when parsing the inbound message into a message structure;

if a modifier list is to be used, parse the message into the inbound message structure, wherein the inbound message structure is defined by one or more elements in the modifier list; and

if a modifier list is not to be used, parse the message into the inbound message structure, wherein the inbound message structure is defined with default definitions for the one or more delimiters.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein:

the message structure has configurable nodes.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein:

the instructions operable to cause a processor to parse the message into the message structure include instructions operable to cause a processor to load data from a field in the inbound message into a node of the message structure.

26. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein:

the instructions operable to cause a processor to receive an inbound message having one or more delimiters include instructions operable to cause a processor to receive an inbound message having one or more delimiters marking an end of a field.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein:

the instructions operable to cause a processor to receive an inbound message having one or more delimiters include instructions operable to cause a processor to receiving an inbound message having one or more delimiters marking a beginning of a field.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive an ordered list of the one or more delimiters, wherein the delimiters are listed in a hierarchical order.

29. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for writing data in an inbound message to an outbound message structure, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive an inbound message having delimiters, where the delimiters are described in an event definition;

determine whether for a field in the event definition the delimiters correspond to elements in a modifier list;

parse the inbound message to an inbound message structure, including parsing with the one or more elements of the modifier list for the determined field and using a default definition for a node in the inbound message structure otherwise, wherein parsing the inbound message defines the inbound message structure; and

map the inbound message structure to an outbound message structure.

30. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for parsing a message, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive an inbound message having data;

retrieve an event definition adapted to define a method of parsing the inbound message; and

parse the inbound message according to the event definition, the parsing including parsing the data to a hierarchical message structure having nodes and leaves, each leaf corresponding to a node, the parsing including parsing the data of the inbound message to each node and at least a portion of the data in each node to a leaf associated with the node, such that the data in a leaf is also in an associated node.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein:

the instructions operable to cause a processor to parse the inbound message include instructions operable to cause a processor to parse to one or more nodes that are child nodes to a parent node such that data in the child nodes are in the parent node.

32. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein:

the instructions operable to cause a processor to parse the inbound message includes instructions operable to cause a processor to determine whether to parse to a node or a leaf.

33. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for updating a message structure, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive a message having updated content;

relate the message with a message structure storing data;

parse at least a portion of the message to the message structure such that the updated content is parsed to the message structure and replaces data stored in the data structure, wherein the updated content is parsed to one or more child fields in the data structure; and

indicate that contents of a parent field correspond to the one or more child fields storing the updated content are invalid.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to:

populate the parent field with the updated content when the parent field is accessed.

35. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for mapping a message from a first format to a second format, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive an event definition having a description of a first delimiter and a second delimiter, the second delimiter indicating a repeating message substructure;

receive a message, wherein the message has the first delimiter and the second delimiter; and

parse the message according to the event definition, such that data from the message is stored in leaves and nodes of a message structure, the step of parsing including;

determine a field in the inbound message as a string of characters ending with a delimiter;

determine whether the delimiter is a first delimiter or a second delimiter;

if the delimiter is a first delimiter, store data in a leaf; and

if the delimiter is a second delimiter, append the repeating message substructure to the message structure.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

receiving a preliminary data structure to which the repeating message substructure is appended during the step of parsing.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the message structure is a hierarchy with a plurality trees each comprising at least one node, the method further comprising:

allocating a separate array memory location for each leaf and node that is a child of a single node.

38. A system for writing data into a message structure, comprising:

an inbound message structure database for storing inbound message structures;

a parsing module to receive the inbound message structure and an inbound message having one or more delimiters, wherein the parsing module is configured to determine whether a modifier list is to be used when parsing the inbound message into the message structure, if a modifier list is to be used, the parsing module parses the message into the inbound message structure, wherein the inbound message structure is defined by one or more elements in the modifier list, and if a modifier list is not to be used, the parsing module parses the message into the inbound message structure, wherein the inbound message structure is defined with default definitions for the one or more delimiters; and

a memory to store the inbound message structure having content from the inbound message.

39. A system for storing a message, comprising:

a memory for storing a message structure, the message structure having a hierarchical format, including;

one or more leaves, wherein each leaf stores child data; and

one or more nodes, wherein each leaf is connected to a node and is a child of the node;

wherein each node is configured to store the child data; and

a parsing module for parsing content from a message into the message structure.