Dynamic extension of network-accessible services

• US 20060031441A1
• Filed: 04/30/2004
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Davis, Douglas B., Gerken, John K. III
• Granted Patent: US 7,418,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Services deployed in a network computing environment (such as a Web services implementation model) are transparently extended. Preferably, handler components in an engine that processes requests and responses provide the extensions. A handler for outgoing messages adds the extensions to a response message that is created responsive to receiving a request message that asks for a service'"'"'s available operations. A client receiving this response message can then invoke one of the extensions, without knowing that it is an extension. A handler for incoming messages checks received requests: if a request for an extension is received, the handler routes that message to a location other than the service itself; otherwise, incoming requests for operations that are actually available from the service are routed thereto. Extensions may provide additional operations such as, but not limited to, management operations, dynamic enabling/disabling of service operations, and/or controlled access to service operations—even though the service itself might contain no operations for these.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically extending operations available from a network-accessible service, comprising steps of:

creating, responsive to a request for a service'"'"'s available operations, a response that specifies operations that were originally deployed for the service; and

programmatically annotating the response to also specify one or more additional operations, such that the one or more additional operations now appear as if they were originally deployed for the service and, along with the originally-deployed operations, comprise the operations that are the available operations of the service.

2. A method of dynamically extending operations available from a network-accessible service, comprising steps of:

creating, responsive to a request for a service'"'"'s available operations, a response that specifies a first set of one or more operations that are available by invoking the service; and

programmatically annotating the response to also specify a second set of one or more operations that are to be dynamically added to the service, such that the response specifies the first set and the second set as the operations that are available by invoking the service.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of sending the programmatically-annotated response to a sender of the request.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the second set is determined by consulting a data structure.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the second set comprises management operations for managing the service.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the first set; and

invoking the particular operation on the service.

7. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the second set; and

invoking the particular operation from a location other than the service.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the programmatically annotating step is performed by a handler component of an engine that processes requests and responses for the service.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the invoking step is performed by a service that is dynamically selected at run-time by a handler component that detected the request to invoke the particular operation from the second set.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein the second set comprises status-changing operations that operate to dynamically change availability of the operations in the first set.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein one of the status-changing operations is an operation that must be invoked to dynamically enable use of any of the operations in the first set.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein one of the status-changing operations is an operation that, when invoked, dynamically disables use of any of the operations in the first set.

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on a role of a sender of the request.

14. The method according to claim 2, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on permissions of a sender of the request.

15. The method according to claim 2, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on authorization of a sender of the request.

16. The method according to claim 2, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on current run-time information.

17. The method according to claim 9, wherein the subsequently-received request is rejected by the handler component, instead of the dynamically-selected service performing the invoking step, if the sender is not authorized to invoke this subsequently-received request.

18. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the second set;

determining, by a handler component of an engine that processes requests and responses for the service, whether the sender is authorized to invoke this subsequently-received request;

invoking the particular operation from a location other than the service, if the determining step has a positive result; and

not invoking the particular operation otherwise.

19. A system for dynamically extending operations available from a network-accessible service, comprising:

means for creating, responsive to a request for a service'"'"'s available operations, a response that specifies a first set of one or more operations that are available by invoking the service; and

means for programmatically annotating the response to also specify a second set of one or more operations that are to be dynamically added to the service, such that the response specifies the first set and the second set as the operations that are available by invoking the service.

20. The system according to claim 19, further comprising means for sending the programmatically-annotated response to a sender of the request.

21. The system according to claim 20, further comprising:

means for subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the first set or the second set; and

means for invoking the particular operation on the service if the subsequently-received request is for a particular operation from the first set and for invoking the particular operation from a location other than the service if the subsequently-received request is for a particular operation from the second set.

22. The system according to claim 19, wherein the means for programmatically annotating is performed by a handler component of an engine that processes requests and responses for the service.

23. The system according to claim 21, wherein the invocation from the other location is performed by a service that is dynamically selected at run-time by a handler component that detected the request to invoke the particular operation from the second set.

24. The system according to claim 19, wherein the second set comprises status-changing operations that operate to dynamically change availability of the operations in the first set.

25. The system according to claim 19, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on a role, permissions, or an authorization of a sender of the request.

26. The system according to claim 19, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on current run-time information.

27. The system according to claim 20, further comprising:

means for subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the second set;

means for determining, by a handler component of an engine that processes requests and responses for the service, whether the sender is authorized to invoke this subsequently-received request;

means for invoking the particular operation from a location other than the service, if the determining step has a positive result; and

means for not invoking the particular operation otherwise.

28. A computer program product for dynamically extending operations available from a network-accessible service, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for creating, responsive to a request for a service'"'"'s available operations, a response that specifies a first set of one or more operations that are available by invoking the service; and

computer-readable program code means for programmatically annotating the response to also specify a second set of one or more operations that are to be dynamically added to the service, such that the response specifies the first set and the second set as the operations that are available by invoking the service.

29. The computer program product according to claim 28, further comprising computer-readable program code means for sending the programmatically-annotated response to a sender of the request.

30. The computer program product according to claim 29, further comprising:

computer-readable program code means for subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the first set or the second set; and

computer-readable program code means for invoking the particular operation on the service if the subsequently-received request is for a particular operation from the first set and for invoking the particular operation from a location other than the service if the subsequently-received request is for a particular operation from the second set.

31. The computer program product according to claim 28, wherein the computer-readable program code means for programmatically annotating is performed by a handler component of an engine that processes requests and responses for the service.

32. The computer program product according to claim 30, wherein the invocation from the other location is performed by a service that is dynamically selected at run-time by a handler component that detected the request to invoke the particular operation from the second set.

33. The computer program product according to claim 28, wherein the second set comprises status-changing operations that operate to dynamically change availability of the operations in the first set.

34. The computer program product according to claim 28, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on a role, permissions, or an authorization of a sender of the request.

35. The computer program product according to claim 28, wherein the operations in the second set are dynamically selected based on current run-time information.

36. The computer program product according to claim 29, further comprising:

computer-readable program code means for subsequently receiving, from the sender, a request for a particular operation from the second set;

computer-readable program code means for determining, by a handler component of an engine that processes requests and responses for the service, whether the sender is authorized to invoke this subsequently-received request;

computer-readable program code means for invoking the particular operation from a location other than the service, if the determining step has a positive result; and

computer-readable program code means for not invoking the particular operation otherwise.