Flexibly transferring typed application data

• US 20060123047A1
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vernal, Michael Steven, Wortendyke, David, Christensen, Erik Bo, Wolf, Kenneth David, Purdy, Douglas M., Sturgell, Ryan Thomas, Marucheck, Michael Jon, Coulson, Michael James, Jethanandani, Natasha Harish, Pharies, Stefan Harrington, Balayoghan, Vaithiakingam B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,296,354 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]

Abstract

The present invention extends to using Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”) to exchange typed objects, such as, for example, parameters for invoking methods. A computer system accesses typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object. The typed object is annotated with one or one more message contract attributes of a message contract model defining a mapping between typed object parameters and corresponding SOAP elements. The computer system utilizes the message contract attributes to map the typed object parameters into a SOAP element and inserts the SOAP element into a SOAP envelope. A receiving computer system accessing the SOAP element and utilizes the message contract attributes to map the SOAP element back into the typed object parameters.

Claims

1. At a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, a method of flexibly sending typed application data the method comprising:

an act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object, the typed object being annotated with one or one more message contract attributes of a message contract model, the one or more message contract attributes defining a mapping between typed object parameters and corresponding SOAP elements;

an act of mapping the accessed typed object parameters into a SOAP element in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes; and

an act of referring to the one or more message contract attributes to identify a location within a SOAP envelope;

an act inserting the SOAP element into the identified location within the SOAP envelope.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing a class that represents parameters to a method.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the act of accessing a class that represents parameters to a method comprises an act of accessing a public class that represents parameters to a Common Language Runtime method.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing a typed object that is annotated with an Action URI.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing a class that represents a method return value.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing a Common Language Runtime representation of a SOAP element.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing a typed message.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing an annotated typed object parameter that is annotated with a message contract attribute indicating that an XML representation of the typed object parameter is to be included in a SOAP envelope header.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing an annotated typed object parameter that is annotated with a message contract attribute indicating that an XML representation of the typed object parameter is to be included in a SOAP envelope body.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprises an act of accessing annotated typed object parameters, the annotated typed object parameters being annotated with one or more message contract attributes, the one or more message contract attributes being selected from among attributes that indicate a position within a SOAP envelope, a name, a namespace URI, whether a typed object parameter must be understood, whether a typed object parameter can be relayed, and an actor for the a typed object parameter.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of mapping the accessed typed object parameters into a SOAP element in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes comprises an act of serializing the accessed typed object parameters to a SOAP element.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of mapping the accessed typed object parameters into a SOAP element in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes comprises an act of mapping the accessed typed object parameters into corresponding XML elements.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of referring to the one or more message contract attributes to identify a location within a SOAP envelope comprises an act of referring to a message contract attribute that identifies a header portion of a SOAP envelope.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of referring to the one or more message contract attributes to identify a location within a SOAP envelope comprises an act of referring to a message contract attribute that identifies a body portion of a SOAP envelope.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of inserting the SOAP element into the identified location within the SOAP envelope comprise an act of inserting corresponding XML instructions into a header portion of the SOAP envelope.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of inserting the SOAP element into the identified location within the SOAP envelope comprise an act of inserting corresponding XML elements into a body portion of the SOAP envelope.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of encoding the SOAP envelope into raw octets; and

an act of sending the raw octets to a receiving computer system.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the act of encoding the SOAP envelope into raw octets comprises an act of encoding the SOAP envelope into raw octets wherein the size of the raw octets has no predefined limit.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the act of encoding the SOAP envelope into raw octets comprises an act of generating a text-based encoding of the SOAP envelope.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the act of encoding the SOAP envelope into raw octets comprises an act of using a Message-Transmission Optimization Mechanism to encode the SOAP envelope.

21. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the act of encoding the SOAP envelope into raw octets comprises an act of generating a binary-based encoding of the SOAP envelope.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the act of generating a binary-based encoding of the SOAP envelope comprises an act of substituting one or more SOAP terms and/or XML terms with substitute terms of reduced length such that the SOAP envelope can be transferred more efficiently.

23. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the act of sending the raw octets to a receiving computer system comprises an act of streaming the raw octets to the receiving computer system.

24. At a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, a method of flexibly receiving typed application data, the method comprising:

an act of accessing a SOAP element included in a SOAP envelope;

an act of identifying a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element, the typed object being annotated with one or more message contract attributes of a message contract model, the one or more message contract attributes defining a mapping between SOAP elements and corresponding typed object parameters; and

an act of mapping the accessed SOAP element into typed object parameters in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes, the typed object parameters for submission to the identified typed object.

25. The method as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

an act of receiving raw octets from a sending computer system; and

an act of decoding the raw octets into the SOAP envelope.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the act of receiving raw octets from a sending computer system comprises an act of receiving streamed raw octets.

27. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the act of decoding the raw octets into the SOAP envelope comprises an act of decoding a text-based encoding of the SOAP envelope.

28. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the act of decoding the raw octets into the SOAP envelope comprises an act of decoding a binary-based encoding of the SOAP envelope.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein the act of decoding a binary-based encoding of the SOAP envelope comprises an act of replacing reduced length substitute terms with original SOAP terms and/or XML terms such that the SOAP envelope is returned to a prior configuration.

30. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the act of decoding the raw octets into the SOAP envelope comprises an act of using a Message-Transmission Optimization Mechanism to decode the raw octets.

31. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of accessing a SOAP element included in a SOAP envelope comprises an act of accessing XML elements from a header portion of the SOAP envelope.

32. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of accessing a SOAP element included in a SOAP envelope comprises an act of accessing XML elementss from a body portion of the SOAP envelope.

33. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of identifying a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element comprises an act of comparing XML elements in the SOAP envelope to message contract attributes of an annotated class.

34. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of identifying a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element comprises an act of accessing a URI corresponding to the typed object.

35. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of identifying a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element comprises an act of identifying a class that represents parameters to a method.

36. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the act of identifying a class that represents parameters to a method comprises an act of accessing a public class that represents parameters to a Common Language Runtime method.

37. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the act of identifying a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element comprises an act of dispatching the SOAP envelope to an appropriate method.

38. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of mapping the accessed SOAP element into typed object parameters in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes comprises an act of deserializing the SOAP element into typed object parameters.

39. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein the act of mapping the accessed SOAP element into typed object parameters in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes comprises an act of mapping XML elements into corresponding into corresponding typed object parameters.

40. The method as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

an act of invoking a method with the typed object parameters.

41. A computer program product for use in a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, the computer program product for implementing a method of flexibly sending typed application data, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executables instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:

access typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object, the typed object being annotated with one or one more message contract attributes of a message contract model, the one or more message contract attributes defining a mapping between typed object parameters and corresponding SOAP elements;

map the accessed typed object parameters into a SOAP element in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes; and

refer to the one or more message contract attributes to identify a location within a SOAP envelope;

insert the SOAP element into the identified location within the SOAP envelope.

42. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to access typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to access a public class that represents parameters to a Common Language Runtime method.

43. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to access typed object parameters corresponding to a typed object comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to access a public class that represents a Common Language Runtime method return value.

44. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to map the accessed typed object parameters into a SOAP element in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to serialize the access typed object parameters to a SOAP element.

45. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to the one or more message contract attributes to identify a location within a SOAP envelope comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to refer to a message contract attribute that identifies a header portion of the SOAP envelope.

46. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to the one or more message contract attributes to identify a location within a SOAP envelope comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to refer to a message contract attribute that identifies a body portion of the SOAP envelope.

47. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to insert the SOAP element into the identified location within the SOAP envelope comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to insert the SOAP element in a header portion of the SOAP envelope.

48. The computer program product as recited in claim 41, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to insert the SOAP element into the identified location within the SOAP envelope comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to insert the SOAP element in a body portion of the SOAP envelope.

49. A computer program product for use in a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, the computer program product for implementing a method of flexibly receiving typed application data, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executables instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:

access a SOAP element included in a SOAP envelope;

identify a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element, the typed object being annotated with one or more message contract attributes of a message contract model, the one or more message contract attributes defining a mapping between SOAP elements and corresponding typed object parameters; and

mapping the accessed SOAP element into typed object parameters in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes, the typed object parameters for submission to the identified typed object.

50. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to access a SOAP element included in a SOAP envelope comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to a access XML elements from a header portion of the SOAP envelope.

51. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to access a SOAP element included in a SOAP envelope comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to a access XML elements from a body portion of the SOAP envelope.

52. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system refer to identify a typed object that corresponds to the SOAP element comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to a access a URI corresponding to the typed object.

53. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to map the accessed SOAP element into typed object parameters in accordance with the one or more message contract attributes comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the computer system to deserializing the SOAP element into typed object parameters.