System and method for inventory services

• US 20050268282A1
• Filed: 05/03/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Laird, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,735,077 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/121
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for determining a select set of changes from a set of changes made to an application instance to propagate to one or more other application instances. These mechanisms and methods can enable embodiments to propagate changes from a first application instance in a first environment to a second application instance in a second environment. For example, an embodiment can enable changes to be made to a test version in a test environment, tested and then propagated to a production version of the application residing in a production environment. The ability of embodiments to propagate changes to other application instances across environments can enable easy capture and transferal of changes to an application.

Claims

1. A method for propagating changes to an application between a first environment and a second environment, the method comprising:

generating a first inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to a first version of the application residing in the first environment;

generating a second inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the application residing in the second environment; and

determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference, wherein the difference indicates changes made to the first version of the application that are able to be propagated to the second version of the application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more changes made to the first version of the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference comprises:

determining a logical difference by comparing logical attributes of the data items reflected in the unique identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference comprises:

comparing an extensible markup language (XML) format file comprising the unique identifiers for the first inventory with an extensible markup language (XML) format file comprising the unique identifiers for the second inventory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference comprises:

determining a reason for a difference by comparing logical attributes of the data items reflecting a reason for a change in the unique identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a second inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the application residing in the second environment comprises:

generating a unique identifier in the second inventory corresponding to a unique identifier in the first inventory save for reflecting changes to the data item due to changes made to the second version to accommodate the second environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first version of the application comprises a test version in a test environment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second version of the application comprises a production version in a production environment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a first inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to a first version of the application residing in the first environment comprises:

generating a first inventory of data sources storing information about at least one of;

a state of the first version of the application, user customization data, render information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference comprises:

storing a proposed change in a change manifest; and

prompting a user to accept the proposed change.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second version is formed by migrating the first version of the application to the second environment.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein environment comprises a set of characteristics of a computer configuration, including at least one of hardware characteristics and software characteristics.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein an application comprises at least one of a data entry, an update, a query or a program, which processes data on behalf of a user.

14. A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for propagating changes to an application between a first environment and a second environment, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

generating a first inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to a first version of the application residing in the first environment;

generating a second inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the application residing in the second environment; and

determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference, wherein the difference indicates changes made to the first version of the application that are able to be propagated to the second version of the application.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions for carrying out the step of:

receiving one or more changes made to the first version of the application.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference include instructions for carrying out the step of:

determining a logical difference by comparing logical attributes of the data items reflected in the unique identifier.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference include instructions for carrying out the step of:

comparing an extensible markup language (XML) format file comprising the unique identifiers for the first inventory with an extensible markup language (XML) format file comprising the unique identifiers for the second inventory.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference include instructions for carrying out the step of:

determining a reason for a difference by comparing logical attributes of the data items reflecting a reason for a change in the unique identifier.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for generating a second inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the application residing in the second environment include instructions for carrying out the step of:

generating a unique identifier in the second inventory corresponding to a unique identifier in the first inventory save for reflecting changes to the data item due to changes made to the second version to accommodate the second environment.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first version of the application comprises a test version in a test environment.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the second version of the application comprises a production version in a production environment.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for generating a first inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to a first version of the application residing in the first environment include instructions for carrying out the step of:

generating a first inventory of data sources storing information about at least one of;

a state of the first version of the application, user customization data, render information.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference include instructions for carrying out the steps of:

storing a proposed change in a change manifest; and

prompting a user to accept the proposed change.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the second version is formed by migrating the first version of the application to the second environment.

25. An apparatus for managing applications, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

generating a first inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to a first version of the application residing in the first environment;

generating a second inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the application residing in the second environment; and

determining a set of changes to be made to the second version by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine a difference, wherein the difference indicates changes made to the first version of the application that are able to be propagated to the second version of the application.

26. A method for propagating changes to an application between a first environment and a second environment, the method comprising:

generating a first inventory of data items by associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to a first version of the application residing in the first environment; and

propagating to a second version of the application, a set of changes determined by comparing corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and a second inventory generated for the second version of the application, wherein the comparing determines differences indicating changes made to the first version of the application that are to be propagated to the second version of the application.