Method and apparatus for metadata driven business logic processing

• US 20060143193A1
• Filed: 12/29/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lu, Yong, Miller, Michaeljon, Grewal, Jasjit, Thadani, Navin I., Thakkar, Jigar B., Peri, Jagan M., Zaytsev, Andrey A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,433,887 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A metadata driven system for supporting business application software required in the middle tier for a line of business applications includes a process metadata module adapted to store a process in metadata format, wherein the process object contains logic related to an entity of the application software. The system allows for persistence of various entities like accounts, incidents, etc., and allows an end user of the business application software to create new types of entities. The system also allows the end user to perform critical business logic operations even on the new entities defined by the end user after the deployment of the business application without requiring recompilation of the business application software. The metadata driven approach allows to easily make changes to business applications and to automate quality assurance of objects built on top of the business applications.

Claims

1. A method of representing an entity for an application platform, wherein the entity has an associated data structure, the method comprising defining a process in metadata format as a process metadata module, wherein the process contains logic related to the entity.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising storing a process executive in the process metadata module, wherein the process executive provides a routine for interpreting the logic related to the entity.

3. A method of claim 2, further comprising defining a plurality of properties related to the entity in metadata format as an entity metadata module.

4. A method of claim 3, further comprising defining an operation to be performed on the entity in metadata format as an operation metadata module.

5. A method of claim 4, further comprising:

(a) serializing at least one of;

(1) the process metadata module, (2) the entity metadata module and (3) the operation metadata module;

(b) communicating at least one of;

(1) the serialized process metadata module, (2) the serialized entity metadata module and (3) the serialized operation metadata module to the application platform;

(c) de-serializing at least one of;

(1) the serialized process metadata module, (2) the serialized entity metadata module and (3) the serialized operation metadata module at the application platform; and

(d) storing at least one of;

(1) the de-serialized process metadata module, (2) the de-serialized entity metadata module and (3) the de-serialized operation metadata module on the application platform.

6. A method of claim 5, wherein the operation performed on the entity is one of:

(1) create;

(2) update; and

(3) delete.

7. A method of claim 6, wherein the operation metadata includes information about the operation performed on the entity, the information comprising:

(a) whether the operation requires support for offline processing;

(b) whether the operation needs to be performed inside an atomic transaction; and

(c) whether the operation requires a one-step or two-step security permission.

8. A method of claim 3, wherein the operation performed on the entity is performed on a remote computing device disconnected from the application platform.

9. A method of claim 3, wherein the operation performed on the entity is a cascading operation.

10. A method of claim 3, wherein the process object includes at least one of:

(1) existing logic for the entity and (2) a new logic for a newly added entity.

11. A method of claim 3, further comprising creating a plurality of metadata driven extensions for the entity including at least one of:

(1) a validate extension;

(2) an inject defaults extension;

(3) a security extension;

(4) a workflow extension;

(5) a callout extension; and

(6) an offline extension.

12. A method of claim 11, wherein the process metadata module is further adapted to communicate with at least one of the plurality of metadata driven extensions.

13. A metadata driven system for managing an entity, the system comprising a process metadata module adapted to store a process in metadata format, wherein the process object contains logic related to the entity.

14. A system of claim 13, further comprising:

an entity metadata module adapted to store a plurality of properties of the entity in metadata format;

a base process metadata module adapted to store a plurality of basic data processes;

a serialization module adapted to serialize the entity metadata module, the process metadata module and the base process metadata module; and

a de-serialization module adapted to de-serialize the entity metadata module, the process metadata module and the base process metadata module.

15. A system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of basic data processes include at least one of:

(1) a create process;

(2) an update process; and

(3) a delete process.

16. A system of claim 15, wherein the process includes at least one of:

(1) existing logic for the entity and (2) a new logic for a newly added entity.

17. A system of claim 15, wherein:

the serialization module is further adapted to (a) communicate with an entity database and with a graphical user interface and (b) to serialize the entity metadata and the process metadata module into XML strings; and

the de-serialization module is further adapted to communicate with a remote client hosting a graphical user interface and with a server having an entity database.

18. A method of representing an entity for an application platform, wherein the entity has an associated data structure, the method comprising:

(a) defining a plurality of properties of the entity in metadata format as an entity metadata module;

(b) storing the de-serialized entity metadata module on the application platform;

(c) defining a process in metadata format as a process metadata module, wherein the process contains logic related to the entity;

(d) storing the de-serialized process metadata module on the application platform;

(e) defining an operation to be performed on the entity in metadata format as an operation metadata module; and

(f) storing the de-serialized operation metadata module on the application platform.

19. A method of claim 18, wherein the process represents a process added by the independent software vendor and to be performed on an entity added by the independent software vendor.

20. A method of claim 18, further comprising:

capturing an offline operation performed on the entity;

storing the offline operation in metadata format;

serializing the metadata format operation;

communicating the serialized operation to the application platform;

de-serializing the metadata format operation at the application platform; and

playing back the de-serialized metadata format operation at the application platform.