Dynamic value sets in a service-oriented business framework

• US 20060080426A1
• Filed: 10/12/2004
• Published: 04/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Brunswig, Frank, Viegener, Johannes, Fiedler, Thomas, Koch, Wolfgang
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

A method includes receiving a representation of a service, the service including handling of a request for a context-dependent data set derived from one or more collections of data elements. The representation includes a specification of a first data field, a specification of an input data structure including two or more data fields and the first data field, the two or more data fields defining a context for the first data set, a specification of an output data structure, instances of the output data structure including the context-dependent data set, and a name of a service provider. The method stores the representation of the service in a repository, receives a request for the service by a software entity, the request including an instance of the input data structure, checks the request against the representation of the service, sends the request to the service provider, receives one or more instances of the output data structure from the service provider, and sends the one or more instances of the output data structure to the software entity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a representation of a service, the service comprising handling of a request for a context-dependent data set derived from one or more collections of data elements, the representation comprising;

a specification of a first data field;

a specification of an input data structure comprising two or more data fields and the first data field, the two or more data fields defining a context for the first data set;

a specification of an output data structure, instances of the output data structure comprising the context-dependent data set; and

a name of a service provider;

storing the representation of the service in a repository;

receiving a request for the service by a software entity, the request comprising an instance of the input data structure;

checking the request against the representation of the service;

sending the request to the service provider;

receiving one or more instances of the output data structure from the service provider; and

sending the one or more instances of the output data structure to the software entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service provider determines the context-dependent data set by matching the data elements of the one or more collections against the instance of the input data structure of the request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the matching comprises matching one or more fields of the data elements of the one or more collections against one or more fields of the instance of the input data structure of the request.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more fields of the instance of the input data structure are unspecified, and further wherein the data elements of the one or more collections are not matched against the unspecified one or more fields of the instance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the software entity controls a graphical user interface and the context-dependent data set is a set of help values for a user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the graphical user interface enables the user to select a value from the help values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more collections of data elements comprise data elements stored in a database.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

receiving a request for modifications to a collection from the one or more collections of data elements;

sending the request to a service provider, the service provider configured to store the modifications in a transaction buffer and subsequently update the database with the modifications.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a collection from the one or more collections of data elements comprises modifications to the data elements in the transaction buffer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the output data structure comprises a data structure of the context-dependent data set and a text description of each data element in the context-dependent data set.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data elements are text strings, and further wherein the instance of the input data structure in the request comprises a beginning of a text string and a wildcard symbol.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the service provider detects the wildcard symbol and determines the one or more instances of the output data structure by matching beginnings of the data elements in the one or more collections against the beginning of the text string of the instance of the input data structure.

13. A system comprising:

a first computer configured to execute a client program;

a second computer configured to execute a server program;

a network linking the first and second computers such that the server program is configured to execute the following;

receive a representation of a service, the service comprising handling of a request for a context-dependent data set derived from one or more collections of data elements, the representation comprising;

a specification of a first data field;

a specification of an input data structure comprising two or more data fields and the first data field, the two or more data fields defining a context for the first data set;

a specification of an output data structure, instances of the output data structure comprising the context-dependent data set; and

a name of a service provider;

store the representation of the service in a repository;

receive a request for the service by a software entity, the request comprising an instance of the input data structure;

check the request against the representation of the service;

send the request to the service provider;

receive one or more instances of the output data structure from the service provider; and

send the one or more instances of the output data structure to the software entity.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the service provider determines the context-dependent data set by matching the data elements of the one or more collections against the instance of the input data structure of the request.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the matching comprises matching one or more fields of the data elements of the one or more collections against one or more fields of the instance of the input data structure of the request.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein one or more fields of the instance of the input data structure are unspecified, and further wherein the data elements of the one or more collections are not matched against the unspecified one or more fields of the instance.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the software entity controls a graphical user interface and the context-dependent data set is a set of help values for a user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface enables the user to select a value from the help values.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more collections of data elements comprise data elements stored in a database.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

receiving a request for modifications to a collection from the one or more collections of data elements;

sending the request to a service provider, the service provider configured to store the modifications in a transaction buffer and subsequently update the database with the modifications.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein a collection from the one or more collections of data elements comprises modifications to the data elements in the transaction buffer.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the output data structure comprises a data structure of the context-dependent data set and a text description of each data element in the context-dependent data set.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the data elements are text strings, and further wherein the instance of the input data structure in the request comprises a beginning of a text string and a wildcard symbol.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the service provider detects the wildcard symbol and determines the one or more instances of the output data structure by matching beginnings of the data elements in the one or more collections against the beginning of the text string of the instance of the input data structure.