Application description language

• US 20060248112A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hristov, Vladimir H., Gittleman, Arye, Williams, Antony S., Danton, Stephen M., Aitken, William E., Jayadevan, Siddharth, Spencer, Sam, Hackmann, Christopher D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,418,132 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A method and system for creating and modifying computer applications using an application description language based on a markup language is provided. An engine creates, connects, and initializes objects corresponding to entities, and specified by entity tags. A factory may be specified by an entity tag and used to create a plurality of entities. Applications are specified in a plaintext descriptive language using a markup language such as XML, enabling applications to be easily developed using object oriented techniques and abstraction. Altering preexisting applications is also simplified. Finally, an application may be dynamically reconfigured when the application'"'"'s data changes. Type checking and conditional creation of entities is supported.

Claims

1. A method for computationally configuring an application comprising:

receiving a description identifying one or more entity tags corresponding to one or more entities and at least one specification of relationship between the entities;

creating a plurality of objects corresponding to the entity tags; and

connecting the objects to each other according to the relationship.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

initializing the objects for use.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting comprises processing one or more tag parameters corresponding to the entity.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising type checking one or more parameters.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a data state; and

creating objects based on the data state.

6. A method as defined in claim 5 wherein the act of identifying a data state identifies a change in data state and wherein the act of creating object based on the change in data state further comprises connecting objects based on the data state.

7. A method as defined in claim 6 wherein the change in data state causes a reconfiguration.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein connecting the object further comprises creating a graph of connections between the object and a plurality of objects.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein connecting the object further comprises checking for circular dependencies and eliminating circular dependencies.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said processing the entity tag corresponding to the entity includes creating one or more factories to provide on-demand instantiation of an entity.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said processing the entity tag corresponding to the entity includes creating one or more factories to handle branching.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein visibility of a new data value is scheduled to enable out-of-order execution of instructions.

13. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein an entity tag specifies a factory for creating a plurality of objects.

14. A method for dynamically reconfiguring an application defined by an application description language, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting a change in application data;

marking one or more affected data values;

analyzing the one or more affected data values and a set of existing objects;

building a dependency chain;

analyzing said dependency chain;

adding new objects as needed, based on said dependency chain; and

removing obsolete objects as needed, based on said dependency chain.

15. A method as defined in claim 14, wherein said detecting a change in application data comprises detecting a change in a data value.

16. A method as defined in claim 14, wherein said detecting a change in application data comprises detecting a change in a data type.

17. A method as defined in claim 14, wherein said detecting a change in application data is performed using a listener.

18. A method for computationally configuring an application, comprising the steps of:

providing a configuration service;

receiving an entity tag corresponding to an entity;

processing the entity tag corresponding to the entity;

creating an object corresponding to the entity;

connecting the object to the configuration service; and

initializing the object for use.

19. A method as defined in claim 18 further comprising:

receiving parameters values; and

binding data based on parameter values to the initialized object.

20. A method as defined in claims 18 further comprising:

receiving an event notification; and

reconfiguring the object in response to the event notification.