System and method for managing long names in an application programming interface

• US 20060173931A1
• Filed: 01/31/2005
• Published: 08/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Broadhurst, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,797 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45504 Abstract machines for programme code execution, e.g. Java virtual machine [JVM], interpreters, emulators

Abstract

Software managing long names in an application programming interface receives a request to perform a requested operation on one or more fields, the application comprising a first operation operable to perform the requested operation on at least one field type. The software determines whether the field type of any of the fields is incompatible with the first operation. If the field types of the one or more fields are compatible with the first operation, then the software performs the requested operation on the one or more fields using the first operation. If the software determines that the field type of at least one of the fields is incompatible with the first operation, then it converts the request into a call for a second operation operable to perform the requested operation on the one or more fields and performs the requested operation using the second operation.

Claims

1. A method for performing operations on fields, comprising:

receiving, at an application, a request to perform a requested operation on one or more fields, the application comprising a first operation operable to perform the requested operation on at least one field type;

determining whether the field type of any of the fields is incompatible with the first operation;

if the field types of the one or more fields are compatible with the first operation, performing the requested operation on the one or more fields using the first operation; and

if the field type of at least one of the fields is incompatible with the first operation;

converting the request into a call for a second operation operable to perform the requested operation on the one or more fields; and

performing the requested operation using the second operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more fields are character fields; and

at least one of the fields is a variable-length character field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the fields comprises a token representing additional information, wherein an expanded size of the at least one field with the additional information would exceed a maximum field size for the first operation; and

the second operation is operable to perform the requested operation on the at least one field with the additional information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested operation is selected from the group consisting of:

a Compare Logical Characters (CLC) operation and a Move Character (MVC) operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the field type of a particular field is incompatible comprises:

determining whether the particular field comprises a token; and

if the particular field comprises a token, determining based at least in part on the token whether the field type of the particular field is compatible with the first operation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the requested operation comprises a Move Character (MVC) operation requiring a moved character to be converted from a first character format to a second character format; and

the second operation comprises a character converter operable to convert the moved character from the first character format to the second character format.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the first character format is Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC); and

the second character format is Unicode.

8. Software embodied in a computer readable medium and operable when executed by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving a request to perform a requested operation on one or more fields, the application comprising a first operation operable to perform the requested operation on at least one field type;

determining whether the field type of any of the fields is incompatible with the first operation;

if the field types of the one or more fields are compatible with the first operation, performing the requested operation on the one or more fields using the first operation; and

if the field type of at least one of the fields is incompatible with the first operation;

converting the request into a call for a second operation operable to perform the requested operation on the one or more fields; and

performing the requested operation using the second operation.

9. The software of claim 8, wherein:

the one or more fields are character fields; and

at least one of the fields is a variable-length character field.

10. The software of claim 8, wherein:

at least one of the fields comprises a token representing additional information, wherein an expanded size of the at least one field with the additional information would exceed a maximum field size for the first operation; and

the second operation is operable to perform the requested operation on the at least one field with the additional information.

11. The software of claim 8, wherein the requested operation is selected from the group consisting of:

a Compare Logical Characters (CLC) operation and a Move Character (MVC) operation.

12. The software of claim 8, wherein the software operable to determine whether the field type of a particular field is incompatible comprises software operable to:

determine whether the particular field comprises a token; and

if the particular field comprises a token, determine based at least in part on the token whether the field type of the particular field is compatible with the first operation.

13. The software of claim 8, wherein:

the requested operation comprises a Move Character (MVC) operation requiring a moved character to be converted from a first character format to a second character format; and

the second operation comprises a character converter operable to convert the moved character from the first character format to the second character format.

14. The software of claim 13, wherein:

the first character format is Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC); and

the second character format is Unicode.

15. A system, comprising:

a client comprising at least one processor operable to execute an application, the application comprising;

a first operation operable to perform a requested operation on one or more fields and compatible with at least one field type; and

a second operation operable to determine whether any of the one or more fields has a field type incompatible with the first operation and further operable to request a server to perform the requested operation on the one or more fields in response to detecting that one or more of the fields has a field type incompatible with the first operation; and

the server, the server comprising at least one processor operable to execute a third operation, the third operation operable to perform the requested operation on the one or more fields and compatible with at least one field type incompatible with the first operation.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second operation is operable to determine whether one or more of the fields has a field type incompatible with the first operation when the particular one or more fields include a token representing additional information.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the requested operation comprises a Move Character (MVC) operation requiring a moved character to be converted from a first character format to a second character format; and

the second operation comprises a character converter operable to convert the moved character from the first character format to the second character format.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the requested operation comprises a Compare Logical Characters (CLC) operation.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the one or more fields comprise character fields;

the requested operation requires at least one of the fields to be converted from a first character format to a second character format; and

the third operation is operable to convert the at least one field from the first character format to the second character format.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the first character format is Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC); and

the second character format is Unicode.