Automatic content completion of valid values for method argument variables

• US 20060026559A1
• Filed: 07/26/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mendel, Gili, Kulp, Richard L., Walker, Peter A., Gunturi, Srimanth, Schaller, Rebecca J., Winchester, Joseph R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,865,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/315 Object-oriented languages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors

Abstract

The invention is directed to a method which derives from metadata definitions the allowable values for a method argument, where said allowable values are a subset or a restricted set of values from a defined range of values for that type of method argument. The subset of allowable values is then converted into a fragment of source code that can be used to initialise the argument variable with one of the allowable values when the method is invoked. The fragment of source code is inserted into the source code for that method argument using an editor tool. A system for implementing the method may comprise an integrated development environment (IDE) program.

Claims

1. A method for developing source code for a computer program;

wherein the method comprises the steps of;

accessing a portion of source code through a code editor;

identifying code comprising a method argument, said method argument being of a type that has a defined range of values; and

inserting code into said method argument code, said inserted code defining allowable values for said method argument, said allowable values comprising a subset of said defined range of values for that type of method argument.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subset comprising allowable values comprises a set of values that is determined as being acceptable to an application programming interface (API) of the method to which the argument. belongs.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of identifying code comprising a method argument comprises a developer manipulating the editor to highlight a graphical or textual representation of the method argument code on a screen display of the editor.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of identifying code comprising a method argument comprises the editor automatically recognising source code comprising a method argument.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the editor highlights a graphical or textual representation of the identified method argument code on a screen display thereof.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the editor invokes a code builder to perform the step of inserting code into the method argument code responsive to the method argument code being identified.

7. A method as claimed claim 1, wherein the step of inserting code into the method argument code comprises the steps of:

invoking a property editor class method associated with the identified method argument to access the method argument variable;

invoking a property editor to display a list of allowable values for the method argument variable;

invoking a code generating method to return a snippit of source code that can be used to initialise the method argument variable with one of the allowable values; and

inserting the snippit of code into the method argument code.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the source code is developed using the Java programming language.

9. A system for developing source code for a computer program, wherein the system comprises:

an editor tool for accessing a portion of source code from a source code file;

means for identifying code comprising a method argument, said means being arranged to identify a method argument of a type that has a defined range of values; and

means for inserting code into said method argument code, said means being arranged to insert code defining allowable values for said method argument, said allowable values comprising a subset of said defined range of values for that type of method argument.

10. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the code inserting means is arranged to insert code defining a subset of said defined range of values where the subset comprises a set of values that is determined as being acceptable to an application programming interface (API) of the method to which the argument belongs.

11. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the editor tool is manually manipulatable to highlight a graphical or textual representation of the method argument code on a screen display of the editor tool.

12. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means for identifying code comprising a method argument comprises the editor tool which is arranged to automatically recognise source code comprising a method argument.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the editor tool is arranged to highlight a graphical or textual representation of the identified method argument code on a screen display thereof.

14. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the editor tool invokes a code builder tool to perform the step of inserting code into the method argument code responsive to the method argument code being identified.

15. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means for inserting code into the method argument code comprises:

processor means for invoking a property editor class method associated with the identified method argument to access the method argument variable;

processor means for invoking a property editor to display a list of allowable values for the method argument variable;

processor means for invoking a code generating method to return a snippit of source code that can be used to initialise the method argument variable with one of the allowable values; and

processor means for inserting the snippit of code into the method argument code.

16. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the system is arranged to develop the source code using the Java programming language.

17. A computer for developing source code for a computer program, wherein the computer comprises:

a machine readable medium for storing program code executable by a processor; and

an editor tool for accessing a portion of source code from a source code file;

wherein the processor executes the stored machine code in order to identify code comprising a method argument, said processor being arranged to identify a method argument of a type that has a defined range of values and for inserting code into said method argument code, and to insert code defining allowable values for said method argument, said allowable values comprising a subset of said defined range of values for that type of method argument.

18. A machine readable medium comprising code executable by a processor of a computer for implementing the steps of:

accessing a portion of source code through a code editor;

identifying code comprising a method argument, said method argument being of a type that has a defined range of values; and

inserting code into said method argument code, said inserted code defining allowable values for said method argument, said allowable values comprising a subset of said defined range of values for that type of method argument.