Methods of using an integrated development environment to configure business applications

• US 20060242173A1
• Filed: 08/15/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stulski, Vitaliy, Tsyganskiy, Igor, Satsuta, Eugene, Scheinkman, Luiz, Liakh, Dmitri
• Granted Patent: US 7,720,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/72 Code refactoring

Abstract

An interactive configuration environment consistent with the present invention integrates and displays a table-based business application using a single, interactive display. When business application structures are displayed using object-oriented code structures, the business meaning of the object-oriented code structures may also be displayed in the integrated environment. Users can write a new business rule using object-oriented code, and that code may be converted into logic entities to apply the new rule in the business application. When a user rolls a mouse over an item in the object-oriented code, documentation of the underlying business meaning may be displayed in a pop-up box.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing configuration of a business application, comprising:

receiving a model representing the business application;

displaying the model using a developer interface;

receiving a change to the model through the developer interface; and

correlating the change to the model to a corresponding configuration change in the business application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying the corresponding configuration change to the business application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modeling, in the developer interface, how the corresponding configuration change would alter the business application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the model is an object-oriented programming construct representing the business application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying further comprises:

integrating information related to configuration of the business application and the model into an single display screen.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the model is in an object-oriented programming format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the business application is in a table-based format.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the business application is in a table-based format.

8. A method of analyzing configuration of a table-based business application, comprising:

receiving an object-oriented model representing the table-based business application;

displaying the object-oriented model and the table-based business application together in a single integrated configuration environment;

receiving a change to the object-oriented model through the integrated configuration environment;

correlating the change to the object-oriented model to a corresponding configuration change in the table-based business application; and

updating the single integrated configuration environment to show the object-oriented model and the table-based business application together after the change has been correlated.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

applying the corresponding configuration change to the business application to configure a part of the business application.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

modeling, in the integrated configuration environment, how the corresponding configuration change would alter the business application.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying further comprises:

displaying documentation from the business application together with its corresponding object-oriented structure.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying further comprises:

displaying a configuration tool in the integrated configuration environment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration tool is a pop-up window having instructions for creating a new object.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration tool is a drop down list of available programming constructs.

15. A system for analyzing configuration of a business application, comprising:

a receiving component configured to receive a model representing the business application;

a displaying component configured to display the model using a developer interface;

a receiving component configured to receive a change to the model through the developer interface; and

a correlating component configured to correlate the change to the model to a corresponding configuration change in the business application.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an applying component configured to apply the corresponding configuration change to the business application.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a modeling component configured to model, in the developer interface, how the corresponding configuration change would alter the business application.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the model is an object-oriented programming construct representing the business application.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the displaying component further comprises:

an integrating component configured to integrate information related to configuration of the business application and the model into an single display screen.