Computer software development methods and systems

• US 20070288508A1
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Rau, Stefan, Wiechers, Volker, Goetz, Oliver, Wenneker, Stefan, Brunswig, Frank, Fiedler, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,770,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services

Abstract

A method is provided for providing one or more services by a service provider to a service consumer. The method may include defining a meta-model describing at least one core service and at least one compound service; creating a model for the core service based on the meta-model; and implementing the core service on the service provider based on the model. The method may also include implementing the compound service on the service provider and implementing a generic access interface on the service consumer to dynamically access the core service and the compound service.

Claims

1. A method for providing one or more services by a service provider to a service consumer, comprising:

defining a meta-model describing at least one core service and at least one compound service;

creating a model for the core service based on the meta-model;

implementing the core service on the service provider based on the model;

implementing the compound service on the service provider; and

implementing a generic access interface on the service consumer to dynamically access the core service and the compound service.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including:

implementing a model access interface on the service consumer to access only the core service based on the model.

3. The method according to claim 2, further including:

storing the meta-model in a repository on the service provider; and

deploying a first client application on the service consumer to access the service provider for at least one of the core service and the compound service.

4. The method according to claim 3, further including:

implementing a new service in the core service on the service provider; and

configuring the repository to make the new service available to the service consumer.

5. The method according to claim 4, further including:

accessing the new service using the generic access interface by the first client application on the service consumer.

6. The method according to claim 5, further including:

deploying a second client application to replace the first client application on the service consumer to access the service provider for the services, wherein the second client application has a model access interface corresponding to the new service.

7. A method for accessing one or more services provided by a service provider, comprising:

obtaining a service request by a service consumer to request a service provided by the service provider, wherein the service consumer includes a generic access interface and a model access interface;

determining whether the service requested is a core service or a compound service;

determining, if the service is a core service, whether the model access interface is available for accessing the core service; and

selecting the model access interface as a selected access interface for accessing the service provided by the service provider if the service is a core service and the model access interface is available.

8. The method according to claim 7, further including:

selecting the generic access interface as the selected access interface for accessing the service provided by the service provider if the service is a compound service or if the service is a core service and the model access interface is not available.

9. The method according to claim 8, further including:

performing a type check on the selected access interface; and

generating a data container to provide runtime memory space for the service request and the selected access interface.

10. The method according to claim 9, further including:

determining whether the service consumer and the service provider are on a same computer platform; and

invoking the selected access interface via a direct method invocation method if the service consumer and the service provider are on a same computer platform.

11. The method according to claim 10, further including:

accessing the selected access interface via a small object access protocol (SOAP) channel between the service consumer and the service provider if the service consumer and the service provider are not on the same computer platform.

12. A system, comprising:

a first computer configured to provide a service including at least one core service and at least one compound service;

a second computer configured to access the service provided by the first computer; and

one or more computer network connections configured to couple the first computer and the second computer,

wherein the first computer further includes a processor configured to;

create a model for the core service based on a meta-model describing the core service and the compound service,

implement the core service on the service provider based on the model,

implement the compound service on the service provider, and

store the meta-model in a repository on the first computer.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the second computer is further configured to:

implement a generic access interface on the second computer to dynamically access the core service and the compound service;

implement a model access interface on the second computer to access only the core service based on the model; and

deploying a first client application on the second computer to access the service provider for at least one of the core service and compound service using one of the generic access interface and the model access interface.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

implement a new service in the core service on the first computer; and

configure the repository to make the new service available.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the second computer is further configured to:

accessing the new service using the generic access interface by the first client application on the second computer.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the second computer is further configured to:

deploying a second client application to replace the first client application on the service consumer to access the core service on the first computer, wherein the second client application has a model access interface corresponding to the new service.

17. A computer-readable medium for use on a computer system configured for a service consumer accessing services provided by a service provider on the computer system, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

obtaining a service request by the service consumer to request a service provided by the service provider, wherein the service consumer includes a generic access interface and a model access interface;

determining whether the service requested is a core service or a compound service;

determining, if the service is a core service, whether the model access interface is available for accessing the core service; and

selecting the model access interface as a selected access interface for accessing the service provided by the service provider if the service is a core service and the model access interface is available.

18. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the method further include:

selecting the generic access interface as the selected access interface for accessing the service provided by the service provider if the service is a compound service or if the service is a core service and the model access interface is not available.

19. The computer-readable medium according to claim 18, wherein the method further include:

performing a type check on the selected access interface; and

generating a data container to provide runtime memory space for the service request and the selected access interface.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the method further include:

determining whether the service consumer and the service provider are both on the computer system;

invoking the selected access interface via a direct method invocation method if the service consumer and the service provider are both on the computer system; and

accessing the selected access interface via a small object access protocol (SOAP) channel between the service consumer and the service provider if the service consumer and the service provider are not both on the computer system.