Model extension framework

• US 20060101445A1
• Filed: 10/22/2004
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Loi, Lok Tin, Klicnik, Vladimir, Carbajales, Sebastian
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,555 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented

Abstract

Techniques for implicitly extending an object model, even those that do not provide an extension mechanism, in a manner that is transparent, independent, and non-disruptive to the model itself. An “extension” is preferably created for each object to be extended, and comprises a reference to the object and contains an “extension object” that specifies the particular extensions.

Claims

1. A method of extending an object model, comprising steps of:

creating an extension object that specifies one or more extensions to a particular object of the object model;

linking the extension object to the particular object; and

using the link to determine how the particular object is extended.

2. A method of extending objects of an object model, comprising steps of:

creating, for each object to be extended, an extension object that specifies one or more extensions to the object to be extended;

creating, for each of the objects to be extended, linkage between the extension object and the object to be extended; and

using the linkage to determine how the objects to be extended are extended.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the linkage is stored as a list of links, each link pertaining to one of the extension objects and one of the objects to be extended.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the using step further comprises determining how a particular object is extended by traversing the list until finding the link pertaining to the particular object.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the using step further comprises determining how a particular object is extended by searching the linkage until finding the extension object for the particular object.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the using step further comprises determining how a particular object is extended by specifying the particular object as a key in an invocation that returns, as a value of the key, that one of the extensions objects that is linked to the particular object.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the object model does not provide for extensibility.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the extension objects are persisted separately from the object model.

9. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of persisting the extension objects and the linkage separately from the object model.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of subsequently reloading the object model, as extended by the persisted extension objects.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the subsequently reloading step further comprises the steps of:

loading the object model;

loading the persisted extension objects; and

using the persisted linkage to establish how objects of the loaded object model are to be extended by the loaded extension objects.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein the linkage comprises, for each object to be extended, a reference to the object and containment of the extension object that specifies the one or more extensions of the object.

13. A system for extending objects of one or more object models, comprising:

means for creating, for each object to be extended from the one or more object models, an extension object that specifies one or more extensions to the object to be extended;

means for creating, for each of the objects to be extended, linkage between the extension object and the object to be extended; and

means for creating, for each of the objects to be extended, a reference to the object and containment of the extension object that specifies the one or more extensions of the object.

14. The system according to claim 13, further comprising means for persisting the extension objects and the linkage separately from the object model.

15. The system according to claim 13, further comprising means for subsequently reloading the object model, as extended by the extension objects.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the means for subsequently reloading further comprises:

means for reloading the object model;

means for reloading the extension objects; and

means for using the linkage to establish how objects of the reloaded object model are to be extended by the reloaded extension objects.

17. A system for extending objects of an object model, comprising:

for each object to be extended from the object model, an extension object that specifies one or more extensions to the object to be extended;

for each of the objects to be extended, linkage between the extension object and the object to be extended; and

for each of the objects to be extended, a reference to the object and containment of the extension object that specifies the one or more extensions of the object.

18. A computer program product for extending objects of an object model, wherein the computer program product is embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprises computer-readable instructions for:

creating, for each object to be extended, an extension object that specifies one or more extensions to the object to be extended;

creating, for each object to be extended, linkage between the extension object and the object to be extended; and

creating, for each object to be extended, a reference to the object and containment of the extension object that specifies the one or more extensions of the object.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising computer-readable instructions for persisting the extension objects and the linkage separately from the object model.

20. The computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising computer-readable instructions for subsequently reloading the object model, as extended by the extension objects.

21. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the computer-readable instructions for subsequently reloading further comprises computer-readable instructions for:

reloading the object model;

reloading the extension objects; and

using the linkage to establish how objects of the reloaded object model are to be extended by the reloaded extension objects.

22. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the extensions specify additional properties of the object to be extended.

23. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the extension objects are created as elements of one or more structured markup language documents.

24. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the extension objects and the linkage are persisted in one or more structured markup language documents.

25. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the extension objects are non-intrusive and non-disruptive to the object model of the objects being extended.