Flexible code generation

• US 20050155016A1
• Filed: 01/13/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Bender, Joachim
• Granted Patent: US 7,650,590 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven

Abstract

There are methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for a flexible generation framework. The generation framework encapsulates a variety of different code generation technologies within a common interface. This allows various types of generator cores operating in various development environments to be integrated into the framework, and enables the generation of code using various generating technologies.

Claims

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in an information carrier, for a generation framework, the computer program product comprising instructions operable to cause data processing apparatus to:

provide a common interface to a plurality of different types of generator cores corresponding to different systems and operating in different development environments;

receive a request to generate software code from one of the generator cores operating in one of the development environments;

determine a generation task associated with the request, the generation task corresponding to one of a plurality of different generation technologies; and

generate the software code using the generation task.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to define parameters used for the generation task using a configuration file.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the generation tasks are associated with a template or a class.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein one of the different systems is associated with a Web Dynpro system, a data dictionary system, or a common model system.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein one of the development environments is associated with an Eclipse IDE, an ANT environment, or a console environment.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein one of the generation technologies is associated with Velocity, XSLT, or a Java class.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a request to generate code for an application element, the request including a reference to a generation unit and one or more context values associated with the generation unit;

determining a generation task corresponding to the generation unit;

generating a call appropriate for a generation technology corresponding to the generation task; and

generating the code using the one or more context values.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the generation task comprises reading a configuration.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising passing back the generated code to an entity making the request.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether declarative data representing the application element is valid.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether generated code is needed.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether generating the code is successful.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising invoking the generation task, using the one or more context values.

14. A generation framework comprising:

an interface module configured to accept input from a plurality of different types of generator cores, each type being associated with particular generation units;

a selection module in communication with the interface module, the selection module configured to select a generation task from a plurality of different generation tasks based on one of the particular generation units associated with a generator core requesting generation of software code for a particular application element; and

an invocation module in communication with the selection module, the invocation module configured to invoke the selected generation task using a generation technology associated with the selected generation task.

15. The generation framework of claim 14, wherein the selection module is further configured to read a configuration defining one or more templates associated with the one of the particular generation units.

16. The generation framework of claim 14, wherein the interface module is further configured to pass back to the entity sending the input a reference to a generated output.

17. The generation framework of claim 14, wherein the generation tasks are associated with a template or class.

18. The generation framework of claim 14, wherein one of the different systems is associated with a Web Dynpro system, a data dictionary system, or a common model system.

19. The generation framework of claim 14, wherein one of the development environments is associated with an Eclipse IDE, an ANT environment, or a console environment.

20. The generation framework of claim 14, wherein one of the generation technologies is associated with Velocity, XSLT, or a Java class.