Data interfaces

• US 20070094647A1
• Filed: 08/29/2005
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Silver, Amanda, Beckman, Brian, Meijer, Henricus, Vick, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,779,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/437 Type checking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/44 Encoding

Abstract

A computer-implemented system for accessing data stored in a computer-readable format comprises a data source indicator that identifies least one datum of a data source to be typed. The system also includes a type definition component that defines a strongly typed view of the at least one datum. Methods of using the system are also provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for accessing data stored in a computer-readable format, comprising:

a data source indicator that identifies least one datum of a data source to be typed; and

a type definition component that defines a strongly typed view of the at least one datum.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one datum is untyped.

3. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, further comprising a wrapper module that includes the data source indicator and the type definition component to couple the data source indicator with the type definition module.

4. The computer-implemented system of claim 3, further comprising a type conversion module that uses the wrapper module to strongly type the at least one untyped datum.

5. The computer-implemented system of claim 4, wherein the wrapper module provides a default implementation to strongly type the at least one untyped datum.

6. The computer-implemented system of claim 4, wherein the wrapper module provides a user-supplied implementation to strongly type the at least one untyped datum.

7. The computer-implemented system of claim 5, wherein the wrapper module is compositional.

8. The computer-implemented system of claim 6, wherein the wrapper module is compositional.

9. A computer-executable method for providing a strongly-typed view of an untyped datum, comprising:

creating a first interface component that obtains an untyped datum from an underlying data source; and

creating a second interface component that accesses the first template component to assign a predefined type to the untyped datum.

10. The computer-executable method of claim 9, wherein creating a second interface component includes creating a member of the second template component that defines a cast of a datum to a desired type.

11. The computer-executable method of claim 10, further comprising using the second interface component to strongly type the untyped datum.

12. The computer-executable method of claim 11, wherein using the second interface component to strongly type the untyped datum includes compiling source code that refers to the untyped datum.

13. The computer-executable method of claim 12, wherein compiling source code includes erasing a type associated with the second interface component.

14. The computer-executable method of claim 9, wherein creating a second interface component includes at least one of supplying a default implementation for strongly typing the untyped datum and supplying a user-created implementation for strongly typing the untyped datum.

15. A computer-implemented system for providing a strongly-typed view of an untyped datum, comprising:

creating a first interface component that obtains an untyped datum from an underlying data source; and

creating a second interface component that accesses the first template component to assign a predefined type to the untyped datum.

16. The computer-implemented system of claim 15, wherein creating a second template component includes creating a member of the second interface component that defines a cast of a datum to a desired type.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 16, further comprising using the second interface component to strongly type the untyped datum.

18. The computer-implemented system of claim 17, wherein using the second interface component to strongly type the untyped datum includes compiling source code that refers to the untyped datum.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 18, wherein compiling source code includes erasing a type associated with the second interface component.

20. The computer-implemented system of claim 15, wherein creating a second interface component includes at least one of supplying a default implementation for strongly typing the untyped datum and supplying a user-created implementation for strongly typing the untyped datum.