Methods, systems and computer program products for maintaining a separation between markup and data at the client

• US 20060195779A1
• Filed: 02/28/2005
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Yongcheng, Henderson, Roderick C., Ponzo, John J., McElroy, Thomas F., Hasson, Laurent D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,001,456 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for communicating data between a web application running on a server and a browser running on a client in a network environment. Information is requested at the client from the server. The requested information is received at the client. The requested information is separated into a data portion and a markup portion.

Claims

1. A method of communicating data between a web application running on a server and a browser running on a client in a network environment, comprising:

requesting information, at the client, from the server; and

receiving the requested information at the client, the requested information being separated into a data portion (instance data) and a markup portion (data model).

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a view of the requested information at the client based on the received information without any further interaction from the server, the generated view comprising a web page.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

requesting, at the client, an updated view of the web page;

receiving an updated version of the data portion of the information at the client without receiving an updated version of the markup portion of the information; and

generating an updated view of the web page at the client based on the updated version of the data portion of the information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the client is further configured to generate a view of the requested information based on the received information without any further interaction from the server and wherein the generated view comprises a web page.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the client is further configured to:

request an updated view of the web page;

receive an updated version of the data portion of the information without receiving an updated version of the markup portion of the information; and

generate an updated view of the web page based on the updated version of the data portion of the information.

4. A method of transmitting a web page from a server to a client, comprising:

receiving a request, at the server, for a web page from the client;

determining, at the server, a data set responsive to the request for the web page, the data set including raw data to be included on the requested web page at the client;

creating a data model for the determined data set at the server, the data model being associated with the determined data set;

providing, at the server, one or more controls associated with the data model, the one or more controls being used to manage graphical and textual presentation of the data model at the client; and

transmitting the data set, the data model and the one or more controls to the client, keeping each of the data set, data model and one or more controls separate, so as to allow a view of the requested web page to be generated at the client based on the transmitted data set, data model and one or more controls.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein transmitting is preceded by generating javascript library (JSL) artifacts based on the data set, the data model and the one or more controls and wherein transmitting further comprises transmitting a stream of JavaScript and HTML to the client.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving the stream of JavaScript and HTML at the client; and

generating the requested web page at the client based on the received stream of JavaScript and HTML.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, at the client, a request for an updated version of the web page;

requesting, at the client, an updated data set responsive to the request for the updated version of the web page;

receiving the updated data set without receiving an updated data model or updated one or more controls; and

generating the updated version of the web page based on the received updated version of the data set at the client.

8. A method for generating a web page at a client device, comprising receiving information associated with the web page responsive to a request for the web page at the client device, from a server, the information being separated into a data portion and a markup portion.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the received information comprises JavaScript and/or HTML.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the markup portion comprises a client-side representation of the model, view and controller elements associated with the server.

11. A system for communicating data between a web application running on a server and a browser running on a client in a network environment, wherein the client is configured to:

request information from the server; and

receive the requested information at the client, the requested information being separated into a data portion and a markup portion.

14. A system for transmitting a web page from a server to a client, wherein the server is configured to;

receive a request for a web page from the client;

determine a data set responsive to the request for the web page, the data set including raw data to be included on the requested web page at the client;

create a data model for the determined data set at the server, the data model being associated with the determined data set;

provide one or more controls associated with the data model, the one or more controls being used to manage graphical and textual presentation of the data model at the client; and

transmit the data set, the data model and the one or more controls to the client, keeping each of the data set, data model and one or more controls separate, so as to allow a view of the requested web page to be generated at the client based on the transmitted data set, data model and one or more controls.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server is further configured to:

generate javascript library (JSL) artifacts based on the data set, the data model and the one or more controls; and

transmit a stream of JavaScript and HTML to the client.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the client is further configured to:

receive the stream of JavaScript and HTML; and

generate the requested web page based on the received stream of JavaScript and HTML.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the client is further configured:

receive a request for an updated version of the web page;

request an updated data set responsive to the request for the updated version of the web page;

receive the updated data set without receiving an updated data model or updated one or more controls; and

generate the updated version of the web page based on the received updated version of the data set at the client.

18. A system for generating a web page at a client device, wherein the client device is configured to receive information associated with the web page responsive to a request for the web page, from a server, the information being separated into a data portion and a markup portion.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the received information comprises JavaScript and/or HTML.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the markup portion comprises a client-side representation of the model, view and controller elements associated with the server.

21. A computer program product of communicating data between a web application running on a server and a browser running on a client in a network environment, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program medium comprising;

computer readable program code configured to request information, at the client, from the server; and

computer readable program code configured to receive the requested information at the client, the requested information being separated into a data portion and a markup portion.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising computer readable program code configured to generate a view of the requested information at the client based on the received information without any further interaction from the server, the generated view comprising a web page.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to request, at the client, an updated view of the web page;

computer readable program code configured to receive an updated version of the data portion of the information at the client without receiving an updated version of the markup portion of the information; and

computer readable program code configured to generate an updated view of the web page at the client based on the updated version of the data portion of the information.

24. A computer program product for transmitting a web page from a server to a client, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program medium comprising;

computer readable program code configured to receive a request, at the server, for a web page from the client;

computer readable program code configured to determine, at the server, a data set responsive to the request for the web page, the data set including raw data to be included on the requested web page at the client;

computer readable program code configured to create a data model for the determined data set at the server, the data model being associated with the determined data set;

computer readable program code configured to provide, at the server, one or more controls associated with the data model, the one or more controls being used to manage graphical and textual presentation of the data model at the client; and

computer readable program code configured to transmit the data set, the data model and the one or more controls to the client, keeping each of the data set, data model and one or more controls separate, so as to allow a view of the requested web page to be generated at the client based on the transmitted data set, data model and one or more controls.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, further comprising computer readable program code configured to generate javascript library (JSL) artifacts based on the data set, the data model and the one or more controls and wherein the computer readable program code configured to transmit comprises computer readable program code configured to transmit a stream of JavaScript and HTML to the client.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to receive the stream of JavaScript and HTML at the client; and

computer readable program code configured to generate the requested web page at the client based on the received stream of JavaScript and HTML.

27. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to receive, at the client, a request for an updated version of the web page;

computer readable program code configured to request, at the client, an updated data set responsive to the request for the updated version of the web page;

computer readable program code configured to receive the updated data set without receiving an updated data model or updated one or more controls; and

computer readable program code configured to generate the updated version of the web page based on the received updated version of the data set at the client.

28. A computer program product for generating a web page at a client device, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program medium comprising;

a computer readable program code configured to receive information associated with the web page responsive to a request for the web page at the client device, from a server, the information being separated into a data portion and a markup portion.

29. The computer program product claim 28, wherein the received information comprises JavaScript and/or HTML.

30. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the markup portion comprises a client-side representation of the model, view and controller elements associated with the server.