Method and system for updating application design

• US 20060150178A1
• Filed: 12/21/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jerrard-Dunne, Stanley Kieran, Looby, Bill
• Granted Patent: US 8,196,099 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A method and system for updating templated application design, which facilitates the later ‘undoing’ of the design update is provided. The method intercepts all design update requests and automatically creates and stores a description of the pre-update version of the application. When a developer intends to apply an update to a design of an application, the application is first asked to provide a description of itself, e.g. a template. If the application comprises a plurality of components, each application component provides a description. Thus a point-in-time design description of the application is created. This is stored and can later be used for an undo method or even multi-level rollback, as required.

Claims

1. A method of updating the design of an application, the application comprising a set of at least one component, the method comprising the steps of:

intercepting design update requests by an application update manager;

in response to the receipt of a design update request by the application update manager requesting a description of the current design of the application;

receiving and storing the description of the current design; and

applying the new design.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

creating a template of the current application design and storing the template.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein creating a template comprises identifying the set of components forming the current application design and also configurable elements which can be assigned values when deploying said set of components

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising determining pre-requisite resources required by the current application design and identifying said determined pre-requisite resources in said template.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising accessing a template interface implemented by said set of components to permit access to content encapsulated in said set of components.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising accessing, through a proxy, content encapsulated in a component within said set of components which has not implemented a template interface.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein applying the new design comprises deploying a new design template.

8. A system for updating an application design, the system comprising:

an application update manager for intercepting design update requests, requesting a description of the current version of the application and applying the new design; and

a data store for storing the description of the current version of the application.

9. The system according to claim 8, further comprising:

a template interface for exposing content included within components implementing said template interface, and also for deploying said components implementing said template interface.

10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising:

a template creation process coupled to said template interface, said template creation process being operable to create a template including a reference to a set of components and also configurable elements of said set of components.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said template includes a reference to a pre-requisite resource required by the application.

12. A computer program product including a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon program code for updating the design of an application, the application comprising a set of at least one component, the program code comprising:

program code for intercepting design update requests by an application update manager;

program code for, in response to the receipt of a design update request by the application update manager requesting a description of the current design of the application;

program code for receiving and storing the description of the current design; and

program code for applying the new design.

13. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, the computer data signal having program code stored thereon for updating the design of an application, the application comprising a set of at least one component, the program code comprising:

program code for intercepting design update requests by an application update manager;

program code for, in response to the receipt of a design update request by the application update manager requesting a description of the current design of the application;

program code for receiving and storing the description of the current design; and

program code for applying the new design.

14. A system for updating the design of an application, the application comprising a set of at least one component, comprising:

means for intercepting design update requests by an application update manager;

means for, in response to the receipt of a design update request by the application update manager requesting a description of the current design of the application;

means for receiving and storing the description of the current design; and

means for applying the new design.