Method and system for enforcing ontological context rules for object-oriented programs

• US 20050289501A1
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infor Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Infor (US) Incorporated (Infor Incorporated)
• Inventors: Patton, Richard D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,614 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4484 Executing subprograms

Abstract

A method and apparatus for dynamically retrieving ontological context are described herein. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving pattern language code that includes definitions of business classes and field classes, wherein the field classes include ontological contexts. The method also includes generating high-level object-oriented code that includes the business classes and the field classes with ontological contexts.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving pattern language code that includes definitions of a business class and field classes, wherein the field classes include ontological context rules; and

generating high-level object-oriented code that includes the business classes and the field classes with ontological contexts.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the high-level object-oriented code includes Java code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ontological context rules indicate which of the field classes must be within the reachable ontological context of certain of the field classes.

4. A method comprising:

creating a definition for a first field class;

creating a definition for a second field class, wherein the second field class includes an ontological context rule, and wherein the ontological context rule uses the first field class; and

creating a definition for a business class that includes a second field and a first field, wherein the first field is within the reachable ontological context of the second field, wherein the first field is related to the first field definition, and wherein the second field is related to the second field definition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the definition for the first field class and the definition of the second field class are in the Java programming language.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

receiving a pattern language code segment.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a request to create a business class that includes a field that has an ontological context rule; and

creating an instance of the business class.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the business class includes one or more fields, and wherein the creating an instance of the business class includes,

creating an instance of each field;

and

enforcing ontological context rules.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the enforcing includes,

receiving from a first field an ontological context rule enforcement request about a second field, wherein the first field is in a first hierarchy group;

examining fields of the first hierarchy group to determine whether the second field is in the first hierarchy group;

if the second field is in the first hierarchy group, using the second field of the first hierarchical level;

if the second field is not included in the first hierarchy group, searching a second hierarchy group of a second hierarchical level to determine whether the second field is in the second hierarchical level; and

if the second field is in the second hierarchy-group, using the second field of the second hierarchical level.

10. A method comprising:

determining reachable ontological contexts for a plurality of field classes of a business class, wherein certain of the field classes include ontological context rules, and wherein each of the ontological context rules uses at least one of the plurality of field classes;

selecting one of the certain field classes, wherein the selected certain field class includes one of the ontological context rules, and wherein the one of the ontological context rules uses one of the plurality of field classes; and

determining whether the selected certain field class'"'"' reachable ontological context includes the one of the plurality of field classes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining a reachable ontological context includes:

creating a hierarchy tree representing ontological context relationships between the plurality of field classes of the business class.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of field classes and the business class are represented in pattern language code.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of field classes and the business class are represented in Java code.

14. A system comprising:

a persistent data store to store pattern language code that includes ontological context rules; and

a high-level object-oriented language generator and validator to generate high-level object-oriented language code from the pattern language code, wherein the high-level object-oriented language code includes definitions of business classes and field classes, wherein the field classes include ontological contexts.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the high-level object-oriented language code is Java.

16. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving pattern language code that includes definitions of a business class and field classes, wherein the field classes include ontological context rules; and

generating high-level object-oriented code that includes the business classes and the field classes with ontological contexts.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the high-level object-oriented code includes Java code.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the ontological context rules indicate which of the field classes must be within the reachable ontological context of certain of the field classes.

19. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

creating a definition for a first field class;

creating a definition for a second field class that includes an ontological context rule, wherein the ontological context rule uses the first field class; and

creating a definition for a business class that includes a second field and a first field, wherein the first field is in the reachable ontological context of the second field, wherein the first field is related to the first field definition, and wherein the second field is related to the second field definition.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the definition of the first field class and the definition of the second field class are in the Java programming language.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

receiving a pattern language code segment.

22. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request to create a business class that includes a field that has an ontological context rule; and

creating an instance of the business class.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the business class includes one or more fields, and wherein the business class creation includes,

creating an instance of each field;

and

enforcing ontological context rules.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the enforcing includes,

receiving from a first field an ontological context rule enforcement request about a second field, wherein the first field is in a first hierarchy group;

examining fields of the first hierarchy group to determine whether the second field is in the first hierarchy group;

if the second field is in the first hierarchy group, using the second field of the first hierarchical level;

if the second field is not included in the first hierarchy group, searching a second hierarchy group of a second hierarchical level to determine whether the second field is in the second hierarchical level; and

if the second field is in the second hierarchy-group, using the second field of the second hierarchical level.

25. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

determining reachable ontological contexts for a plurality of field classes of a business class, wherein certain of the field classes include ontological context rules, and wherein each of the ontological context rules uses at least one of the plurality of field classes;

selecting one of the certain field classes, wherein the selected certain field class includes one of the ontological context rules, and wherein the one of the ontological context rules uses one of the plurality of field classes; and

determining whether the selected certain field class'"'"' reachable ontological context includes the one of the plurality of field classes.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the determining a reachable ontological context includes:

creating a hierarchy tree representing ontological context relationships among the plurality of field classes of the business class.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the plurality of field classes and the business class are represented in pattern language code.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the plurality of field classes and the business class are represented in Java code.