Method and apparatus for marking code for data versioning

• US 20060161913A1
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Williamson, Paul Stuart, Brown, Michael Wayne, Barrs, John William
• Granted Patent: US 7,565,645 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3624 by performing operations on the source code, e.g. via a compiler
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer instructions for marking data versioning for code. Responsive to receiving an application programming interface call, a first marking statement in the code and a second marking statement are inserted in the code. A portion of code between the first marking statement and the second marking statement forms a marked section of code. A change made in data in an object caused by execution of the marked portion of code is detected. The detected change is tracked in manner such that the object may be restored to a prior state.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system marking data versioning for code, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a user input, inserting a first marking statement in the code and a second marking statement in the code, wherein a portion of code between the first marking statement and the second marking statement form a marked section of code;

detecting a change made in data in an object caused by execution of the marked portion of code; and

responsive to detecting the change, tracking the change, wherein the object may be restored to a prior state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting changes made in data in additional objects changed by the marked portion of code; and

tracking the changes made to the data in the additional objects.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the object and the additional objects form a set of objects and wherein each object in the set of objects may be restored to the prior state independently of other objects in the set of objects.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first marking statement and the second marking statement are tags.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the inserting steps are initiated from a call to a marking application programming interface.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to inserting, determining whether the object is a versionable object; and

responsive to a determination that the versionable object is absent, creating the versionable object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application programming interface call is made through a user interface.

8. A data processing system in a data processing system marking data versioning for code, the data processing system comprising:

inserting means, responsive to receiving a user input, for inserting a first marking statement in the code and a second marking statement in the code, wherein a portion of code between the first marking statement and the second marking statement form a marked section of code;

detecting means for detecting a change made in data in an object caused by execution of the marked portion of code; and

tracking means, responsive to detecting the change, for tracking the change, wherein the object may be restored to a prior state.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the detecting means is a first detecting means, and the tracking means is a first tracking means, further comprising:

second detecting means for detecting changes made in data in additional objects changed by the marked portion of code; and

second tracking means for tracking the changes made to the data in the additional objects.

10. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the object and the additional object form a set of objects and wherein the data in each object in the set of objects may be restored to the prior state independently of other objects in the set of objects.

11. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the first marking statement and the second marking statement are tags.

12. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the inserting means are initiated from a call to a marking application programming interface.

13. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

determining means, responsive to inserting, for determining whether the object is a versionable object; and

creating means, responsive to a determination that the versionable object is absent, for creating the versionable object.

14. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for marking data versioning for code, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, responsive to receiving a user input, for inserting a first marking statement in the code and a second marking statement in the code, wherein a portion of code between the first marking statement and the second marking statement form a marked section of code;

second instructions for detecting a change made in data in an object caused by execution of the marked portion of code; and

third instructions, responsive to detecting the change, for tracking the change, wherein the object may be restored to a prior state.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

fourth instructions for detecting changes made in data in additional objects changed by the marked portion of code; and

fifth instructions for tracking the changes made to the data in the additional objects.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the object and the additional object form a set of objects and wherein the data in each object in the set of objects may be restored to the prior state independently of other objects in the set of objects.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the first marking statement and the second marking statement are tags.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the inserting steps are initiated from a call to a marking application programming interface.

19. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising:

fourth instructions, responsive to inserting, for determining whether the object is a versionable object.; and

fifth instructions, responsive to a determination that the versionable object is absent, for creating the versionable object.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the application programming interface call is made through a user interface.