System and method and apparatus for using UML tools for defining web service bound component applications

• US 20070198968A1
• Filed: 02/02/2006
• Published: 08/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Shenfield, Michael, Kline, Rob
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,786 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system and method is provided for generating a software application including a plurality of components, a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the software application and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining a workflow of the software application. The software application is used for facilitating interaction with a schema-defined service by a terminal device over a network. The system and method comprise a workflow extractor for identifying a workflow sequence generated by a modeling tool in an output of the modeling tool. The workflow sequence is associated with at least one of a flow diagram or a relational diagram of the modeling tool for describing interactions between a pair of components of the first set of components. The system and method also include a workflow generator for generating a workflow mechanism based on the identified workflow sequence, the workflow mechanism for associating processing of the metadata descriptors of one component of the pair of components with the other component of the pair of components during execution of the software application. The workflow mechanism can be a component mapping expressed in the metadata descriptors of the first set of components or expressed as the series of scripted instructions.

Claims

1. A system for generating a software application including a plurality of components, a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the software application and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining at least a portion of a workflow of the software application, the software application for facilitating interaction with a schema-defined service by a device over a network, the system comprising:

a workflow extractor for identifying a workflow sequence generated by a modeling tool in an output of the modeling tool, the workflow sequence being based on at least one of a flow diagram and a relational diagram of the modeling tool for describing interactions between a pair of components of the first set of components; and

a workflow generator for generating a workflow mechanism based on the identified workflow sequence, the workflow mechanism configured for associating a processing of the metadata descriptors of one component of the pair of components with the other component of the pair of components during execution of the software application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow mechanism is selected from the group comprising:

a mapping for sharing one set of the metadata descriptors between each component of the pair of components; and

the series of scripted instructions.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a script template for use by the workflow generator in generation of the workflow mechanism, the script template including a set of generic workflow information for facilitating the generation of the series of scripted instructions.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the pair of components is selected from the group comprising:

a data component and a presentation component;

a data component and a message component; and

a message component and a presentation component.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the data component is configured to define data entities used by the software application, the presentation component is configured to define the appearance and behaviour of the software application to a user of the software application, and the message component is configured for use by the software application to define messages between other applications on the device or between the software application and the schema-defined service.

6. The system of claim 2 further comprising an update module coupled to the workflow extractor for updating the metadata descriptors of the pair of components to account for the mapping of the workflow mechanism.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the mapping is a stated relationship between the metadata descriptors of the pair of components selected from the group comprising:

said one component of the pair of components is a data component and said other component of the pair of components is a message component;

said one component of the pair of components is a data component and said other component of the pair of components is a presentation component; and

said one component of the pair of components is a message component and said other component of the pair of components is a presentation component.

8. The system of claim 6 further comprising a transformation module for transforming the plurality of components of the software application from the schema of the modeling tool to the structured definition language of the software application configured for interaction with the schema-defined service.

9. The system of claim 2 further comprising the workflow generator configured for manipulating the workflow sequence including code selected from the group comprising:

structural aspects of the plurality of components of the software application;

behavioural features of the plurality of components of the software application; and

deployment information including runtime elements of the plurality of components of the software application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the code of the workflow sequence is pseudo-code.

11. A method for generating a software application including a plurality of components, a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the software application and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining at least a portion of a workflow of the software application, the software application for facilitating interaction with a schema-defined service by a terminal device over a network, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying a workflow sequence generated by a modeling tool in an output of the modeling tool, the workflow sequence being based on at least one of a flow diagram and a relational diagram of the modeling tool for describing interactions between a pair of components of the first set of components; and

generating a workflow mechanism based on the identified workflow sequence, the workflow mechanism configured for associating a processing of the metadata descriptors of one component of the pair of components with the other component of the pair of components during execution of the software application.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of transforming the plurality of components of the software application from the schema of the modeling tool to the structured definition language of the software application configured for interaction with the schema-defined service.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of associating the identified workflow sequence as configured for representation as a mapping for sharing one set of the metadata descriptors between each component of the pair of components.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of identifying another of the workflow sequences from the modeling tool output and associating the another workflow sequence as configured for representation as the series of scripted instructions for a second pair of components of the first set of components.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of associating the identified workflow sequence as configured for representation as the series of scripted instructions.

16. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the step of identifying another of the workflow sequences from the modeling tool output and associating the identified workflow sequence as configured for representation as a component mapping for sharing one set of the metadata descriptors between each component of a second pair of components of the first set of components.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of using a script template in generation of the workflow mechanism, the script template including a set of generic workflow information for facilitating the generation of the series of scripted instructions.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of updating the metadata descriptors of the pair of components to account for the mapping.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the mapping is a stated relationship between the metadata descriptors of the pair of components selected from the group comprising:

said one component of the pair of components is a data component and said other component of the pair of components is a message component;

said one component of the pair of components is a data component and said other component of the pair of components is a presentation component; and

said one component of the pair of components is a message component and said other component of the pair of components is a presentation component.

20. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of manipulating the workflow sequence for generation of the workflow mechanism including code selected from the group comprising:

structural aspects of the plurality of components of the software application;

behavioural features of the plurality of components of the software application; and

deployment information including runtime elements of the plurality of components of the software application.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the code of the workflow sequence is pseudo-code.

22. A computer program product for generating a software application including a plurality of components, a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the software application and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining at least a portion of a workflow of the software application, the software application for facilitating interaction with a schema-defined service by a terminal device over a network, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium;

a workflow extractor module stored on the computer readable medium for identifying a workflow sequence generated by a modeling tool in an output of the modeling tool, the workflow sequence based on at least one of a flow diagram and a relational diagram of the modeling tool for describing interactions between a pair of components of the first set of components; and

a workflow generator module coupled to the workflow extractor module for generating a workflow mechanism based on the identified workflow sequence, the workflow mechanism configured for associating a processing of the metadata descriptors of one component of the pair of components with the other component of the pair of components during execution of the software application.