System and method for generating component based applications

• US 20060206861A1
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Shenfield, Michael, Goring, Bryan R., DeBruin, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,941,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57

Abstract

A system and method for generating an application based on a first component having definitions expressed in a structured definition language and a second component having a series of instructions. The component applications comprise data components, presentation components, and message components, which are written in XML code. The component applications further comprise workflow components which are written in a subset of ECMAScript, and are augmented with the XML code. The components define the processing on a device runtime environment of messages communicated over a network between the device and a datasource. The system and method have a data model for providing a persistent state of the application including the component definitions and the series of instructions. The system and method also have a code module for obtaining the components from the data model and for generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions. The system and method also have a mappings module for obtaining datasource mapping information from the data model and for generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the datasource mapping information, the mapping information for use in communication of the messages between the device runtime environment and the datasource. The system and method also have a resource module for collecting application resources and for generating a third application element including the resources, wherein the application elements are subsequently packaged as a deployable form of the application.

Claims

1. A system for generating an application based on a first component having definitions expressed in a structured definition language and a second component having a series of instructions, the components for defining the processing on a device runtime environment of messages communicated over a network between the device and a datasource, the system comprising:

a data model for providing a persistent state of the application including the component definitions and the series of instructions;

a code module for obtaining the components from the data model and for generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions;

a mappings module for obtaining datasource mapping information from the data model and for generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the datasource mapping information, the mapping information for use in communication of the messages between the device runtime environment and the datasource; and

a resource module for collecting application resources and for generating a third application element including the resources;

wherein the application elements are subsequently packaged as a deployable form of the application.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a backend connector for providing the message mapping information of the data source to the data model.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein features of the backend connector are selected from the group comprising:

connecting to a selected one from a plurality of the backend data sources;

providing an interface for accessing the description of the backend data source; and

providing for the identification of notification services configured for pushing notifications over the network to the device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the data source is a webservice or a SQL database and the description of the datasource includes messages, operations and datatype descriptions.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the resources are selected from the group comprising:

static dependencies including images, soundbytes, and media; and

localization information for each language supported by the application.

6. The system of claim 2 further comprising a validator module for confirming the data model representation of application messages is consistent with the datasource presentation of messaging operations.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the validator module has functionality selected from the group comprising workflow integrity of a workflow component;

consistency of parameters and field level mappings of the components;

consistency of screen control mappings of a screen component;

consistency of screen refresh messages of a screen component;

confirming a presence of message duplications in a message component;

confirming a presence of data duplications in components; and

validating the data model representation of datasource messaging relationships.

8. The system of claim 2 further comprising a generator module for optimizing field ordering of the component definitions.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the components are selected from the group comprising:

data components for defining data entities used by the application;

screen components for defining the appearance and behavior of the application as displayed on the device;

message components for defining the format of messages used by the application to communicate with the datasource; and

workflow components for defining application processing that occurs when an action is to be performed.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the data model contains model constituents selected from the group comprising:

Data Component Definitions;

Global Variable Definitions;

Message Component Definitions;

Resource Definitions;

Screen Component Definitions;

Scripts;

Style Definitions; and

Mapping Descriptors of the data source.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein features of the backend connector are selected from the group comprising:

connecting to a selected one from a plurality of the backend data sources;

providing an interface for accessing the description of the backend data source; and

providing for the identification of notification services configured for pushing notifications over the network to the device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the datasource is a webservice or a SQL database and the description of the datasource includes messages, operations and datatype descriptions.

11. A method for generating an application based on a first component having definitions expressed in a structured definition language and a second component having a series of instructions, the components for defining the processing on a device runtime environment of messages communicated over a network between the device and a datasource, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining the components from a data model and generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions, the data model for providing a persistent state of the application including the component definitions and the series of instructions;

obtaining datasource mapping information from the data model and generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the datasource mapping information, the mapping information for use in communication of the messages between the device runtime environment and the datasource; and

collecting application resources and generating a third application element including the resources;

wherein the application elements are subsequently packaged as a deployable form of the application.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of providing the message mapping information of the data source to the data model using a backend connector coupled to the datasource.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the resources are selected from the group comprising:

static dependencies including images, soundbytes, and media; and

localization information for each language supported by the application.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of confirming the data model representation of application messages is consistent with the datasource presentation of messaging operations.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of checking workflow integrity of a workflow component being the second component of the application.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of checking consistency of parameters and field level mappings of the components.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of checking consistency of screen control mappings of a screen component being the first component of the application;

20. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of checking consistency of screen refresh messages of a screen component being the first component of the application;

21. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of confirming a presence of message duplications in a message component being the first component of the application;

22. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of confirming a presence of data duplications in the components.

23. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of validating the data model representation of datasource messaging relationships.

24. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of optimizing field ordering of the component definitions.

25. The method of claim 12, wherein the components are selected from the group comprising:

data components for defining data entities used by the application;

screen components for defining the appearance and behavior of the application as displayed on the device;

message components for defining the format of messages used by the application to communicate with the datasource; and

workflow components for defining application processing that occurs when an action is to be performed.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the data model contains model constituents selected from the group comprising:

Data Component Definitions;

Global Variable Definitions;

Message Component Definitions;

Resource Definitions;

Screen Component Definitions;

Scripts;

Style Definitions; and

Mapping Descriptors of the data source.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the series of instructions is selected from the group comprising a programming language and a scripting language.

28. The system of claim 11, wherein the component definitions include script for inclusion with the generated code.

29. A computer program product for generating an application based on a first component having definitions expressed in a structured definition language and a second component having a series of instructions, the components for defining the processing on a device runtime environment of messages communicated over a network between the device and a datasource, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium;

a data model module stored on the computer readable medium for providing a persistent state of the application including the component definitions and the series of instructions;

a code module coupled to the data model module for obtaining the components from the data model and for generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions;

a mappings module coupled to the data model module for obtaining datasource mapping information from the data model and for generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the datasource mapping information, the mapping information for use in communication of the messages between the device runtime environment and the datasource; and

a resource module stored on the computer readable medium for collecting application resources and for generating a third application element including the resources;

wherein the application elements are subsequently packaged as a deployable form of the application.