System for managing logical process flow in an online environment

• US 20060143267A1
• Filed: 02/17/2006
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Smithline, Neil, Giridhar, Sathyanarayana
• Granted Patent: US 7,487,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/31 Programming languages or programming paradigms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

The invention uses a state machine to control the flow throughout a Web site including the execution of business logic, error handling and dispatching based on both user and programming events. This state machine is used as input to a flow processor and therein guides the system. The flow processor controls a series of online functions including HTML links, HTML form submissions, form processing, business logic execution, and business logic exceptions into one simple-to-manage element. Any required change to the logic flow of the system can be made by modifying just the flow processor itself, without necessary changes to the referenced online functions.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a software application that includes a functionality based on nodes within the software application;

a configuration file that comprises a plurality of origin event pairs, wherein each one of the plurality of origin event pairs includes an origin node, destination node, and event-based transition between the origin node and the destination node; and

wherein the system receives requests to access the software application, and upon receiving each request parses the configuration file to determine a flow of the software application throughout the nodes and hence the functionality of the software application.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the functionality of the software application is created for use during an interactive session by a user, and wherein the flow is determined by the requests and the configuration file during the interactive session.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein each request specifies an origin node and an event, and upon receiving each request the system parses the configuration file to determine a corresponding destination node.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the configuration file is a webflow properties file that defines the flow of the software application in a Web environment.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the Web environment includes a Web site that hosts an appearance of the software application, and that is accessible to a user.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the system comprises a servlet that receives the requests from the user when accessing the Web site and upon receiving the requests parses the configuration file to determine the flow of the software application, including modifying the appearance of the software application on the Web site.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein each request from the user when accessing the Web site specifies an origin node that corresponds to a page on the Web site, and wherein upon receiving each request the system parses the configuration file to determine the destination node.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the system includes presentation nodes and action nodes, wherein the presentation nodes are displayable on the Web site as pages, and wherein a request includes selecting by the user a one of the presentation nodes or pages.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the system parses the configuration file dynamically, upon receiving each request, to determine the flow of the software application in real-time.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the configuration file is modified to edit one or more of the plurality of origin event pairs, to make a real-time change to the flow of the software application.

11. A method, comprising the steps of:

providing a software application that includes a functionality based on nodes within the software application;

providing a configuration file that comprises a plurality of origin event pairs, wherein each one of the plurality of origin event pairs includes an origin node, destination node, and event-based transition between the origin node and the destination node; and

receiving requests to access the software application, and upon receiving each request parsing the configuration file to determine a flow of the software application throughout the nodes and hence the functionality of the software application.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the functionality of the software application is created for use during an interactive session by a user, and wherein the flow is determined by the requests and the configuration file during the interactive session.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein each request specifies an origin node and an event, and upon receiving each request the system parses the configuration file to determine a corresponding destination node.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the configuration file is a webflow properties file that defines the flow of the software application in a Web environment.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the Web environment includes a Web site that hosts an appearance of the software application, and that is accessible to a user.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises providing a servlet that receives the requests from the user when accessing the Web site and upon receiving the requests parses the configuration file to determine the flow of the software application, including modifying the appearance of the software application on the Web site.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein each request from the user when accessing the Web site specifies an origin node that corresponds to a page on the Web site, and wherein upon receiving each request the system parses the configuration file to determine the destination node.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the nodes include presentation nodes and action nodes, wherein the presentation nodes are displayable on the Web site as pages, and wherein a request includes selecting by the user a one of the presentation nodes or pages.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the method includes parsing the configuration file dynamically, upon receiving each request, to determine the flow of the software application in real-time.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the method includes modifying the configuration file to edit one or more of the plurality of origin event pairs, to make a real-time change to the flow of the software application.