Systems and methods for persisting data between web pages

• US 20050256924A1
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yang, Ting-Hao, Howard, Robert M., Chory, Susan, Ebbo, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,026,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases

Abstract

The described systems and methods are directed at persisting data between web pages. A server receives object-related data associated with a first web page and a request for posting to a second web page from a client. The object-related data includes information about the objects in the first web page. Instances of the objects associated with the first web page are reconstructed based, at least in part, on the object-related data. The server generates rendering data of the second web page based, at least in part, on the reconstructed object instances. In this manner, the object-related data is allowed to persist from the first web page to the second web page.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first set of object-related data associated with objects in a first web page and a request for posting to a second web page, the first set of object-related data including information associated with the objects in the first web page;

reconstructing instances of the objects associated with the first web page based, at least in part, on the first set of object-related data; and

generating rendering data for the second web page based, at least in part, on the reconstructed object instances.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first web page includes at least one control and the first set of object-related data includes viewstate data representing a configuration of the control.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the configuration of the control includes at least one of a property, a state, or a behavior.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the control includes at least one of a checkbox, a textbox, a menu selector, a button, or a selectable area.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first set of object properties is not saved in persistent storage.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

computing a first value from the first set of object-related data, the value uniquely identifying the first set of object-related data;

determining a second value within the first set of object-related data;

if the first value and the second value do not match, determining that there is an error in the first set of object-related data.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the first value is a message authentication code (MAC) associated with the first set of object-related data.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the first set of object-related data is encrypted with a hash function that includes the MAC as a key.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a second set of object-related data representing configurations of objects in the second web page; and

sending the rendering data of the second web page and the second set of object-related data to a client.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein generating the rendering data includes obtaining programmatic access to at least one of the reconstructed object instances in the first web page.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising incorporating at least one of the reconstructed object instances in the second web page.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising serializing the second set of object-related data.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising sending the serialized data to a client in accordance with hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP).

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the serialized data is sent in an HTTP hidden field.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a user associated with a client possesses permission to access the first web page; and

if the user does not have the permission, returning an error message to the client.

16. One or more computer-readable memories containing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 1.

17. A method of communication between a client and a server comprising:

receiving, by the server from the client, a request for a first web page;

determining, by the server, control objects associated with the first web page;

determining, by the server, viewstate data associated the control objects, the viewstate data representing configurations associated with the control objects; and

sending, by the server to the client, the first web page and the viewstate data.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, by the client, a user input associated with the first web page that results in a post to a second web page; and

issuing, by the client to the server, a post request for the second web page and the viewstate data and user inputs.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

reconstructing, by the server, instances of the control objects associated with the first web page in accordance with the viewstate data received from the client;

generating, by the server, the second web page based, at least in part, on the instances of the reconstructed object; and

sending, by the server to the client, the second web page and viewstate data associated with the second web page.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

serializing, by the server, the viewstate data; and

sending, by the server to the client, the serialized data in accordance with hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP).

21. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

computing, by the server, a message authentication code (MAC) based, at least in part, on the viewstate data; and

sending, by the server to the client, the MAC along with the viewstate data.

22. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising encrypting, by the server, the viewstate data using a hashing function with the MAC as a key.

23. One or more computer-readable memories containing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 17.

24. A system comprising a client configured to receive object-related data associated with a first web page, the object-related data representing configurations of objects in the first web page, the client being further configured to determine to post from the first web page to a second web page and to include the object-related data along with a post request for a second web page.

25. The system as recited in claim 24, wherein the object-related data representing configurations of at least one control object in the first web page.

26. The system as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

a server configured to receive from the client the post request for the second web page and the object-related data, the server being further configured to reconstruct instances of the objects associated with the first web page with the configurations represented by the object-related data and to generate the second web page based, at least in part, on the reconstructed object instances.

27. The system as recited in claim 26, further comprising a data store having objects used by the server to generate web pages.

28. The system as recited in claim 27, wherein the objects in the data store are associated with dynamic content.

29. The system as recited in claim 28, wherein the dynamic content is stored in another server.

30. One or more computer-readable media having a data structure comprising:

a first data field including a request for posting from a first web page to a second web page; and

a second data field including object-related data associated with objects contained in the first web page.

31. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 30, wherein the request in the first data field includes input data associated with the first web page.

32. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 30, wherein the object-related data in the second data field includes viewstate data associated with control objects in the first web page.

33. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 30, further comprising a third data field including a value uniquely identifying object-related data in the second data field.

34. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 33, wherein the value in the third data field includes a message authentication code (MAC) derived from the object-related data in the second data field.

35. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 33, wherein the value in the third data field is used as a key to encrypt the object-related data in the second data field.

36. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 30, wherein the one or more computer-readable media are included in a message sent between a client and a server.

37. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving object-related data associated with a previous web page and a post to a requested web page from a client, the object-related data including information about the objects in the previous web page;

means for reconstructing instances of the objects associated with the previous web page based, at least in part, on the object-related data; and

means for generating rendering data of the requested web page based, at least in part, on the reconstructed object instances.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 37, further comprising:

means for computing a first MAC from the object-related data;

means for determining a second MAC within the object-related data;

means for determining that there is an error in the first set of object-related data if the first MAC and the second MAC do not match.

39. The apparatus as recited in claim 37, further comprising:

means for determining object-related data representing configurations of objects in the requested web page; and

means for sending the rendering data of the requested web page and the determined object-related data to the client.

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 37, further comprising:

means for determining whether a user associated with the client possesses permission to access the previous web page; and

means for returning an error message to the client if the user does not have the permission.