CHANGING DOCUMENTS TO INCLUDE CHANGES MADE TO SCHEMAS

• US 20080005182A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Petri, John Edward, Gauthier, Charles S., Herbeck, David Gerard
• Granted Patent: US 7,865,481 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

In an embodiment, an upgrade rule associated with a configuration set is found, and a document associated with the upgrade rule is found. The configuration set includes a schema and an upgrade transformation, and the upgrade transformation specifies a change that was made to the schema. The document includes a lifecycle state and an element. If the upgrade rule indicates an automatic upgrade, then a mutability rule associated with the lifecycle state of the document is found and a decision is made whether the mutability rule allows the document to be changed. If the mutability rule allows the document to be changed, the element in the document is changed to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation at a time specified by the upgrade rule. If the mutability rule prevents the document from being changed, a new document is created with an initial lifecycle state, the document is copied to new document, and the element is changed in the new document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

finding an upgrade rule associated with a configuration set, wherein the configuration set comprises a schema and an upgrade transformation, wherein the upgrade transformation specifies a change that was made to the schema;

finding a document associated with the upgrade rule, wherein the document comprises a lifecycle state and an element;

if the upgrade rule indicates an automatic upgrade, finding a mutability rule associated with the lifecycle state of the document and deciding whether the mutability rule allows the document to be changed; and

if the mutability rule allows the document to be changed, changing the element in the document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the mutability rule prevents the document from being changed, creating a new document, copying the document to the new document, and changing the element in the new document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation, wherein the new document comprises an initial lifecycle state.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding the configuration set to an operational environment in response to a promote action.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the changing further comprises:

changing the element at a time specified by the upgrade rule.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the time comprises the time of a first access of the document after the adding.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the time comprises the time of the adding.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

if the upgrade rule indicates a manual upgrade, sending a message to a client that sent the promote action, wherein the message comprises an instruction to manually change the element in the document.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the message further comprises the upgrade transformation.

9. A signal-bearing medium encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions when executed comprise:

receiving a promote action and an identifier of a configuration set, wherein the configuration set comprises a schema and an upgrade transformation, wherein the upgrade transformation specifies a change that was made to the schema, wherein the schema describes a format of the document;

finding a document type definition associated with the configuration set, wherein the document type definition comprises an upgrade rule;

finding a document associated with the document type definition, wherein the document comprises a lifecycle state and an element;

if the upgrade rule indicates an automatic upgrade, finding a mutability rule associated with the lifecycle state of the document and deciding whether the mutability rule allows the document to be changed; and

if the mutability rule allows the document to be changed, changing the element in the document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation.

10. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, further comprising:

if the mutability rule prevents the document from being changed, creating a new document, copying the document to the new document, and changing the element in the new document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation, wherein the new document comprises an initial lifecycle state.

11. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, further comprising:

adding the configuration set to an operational environment in response to the promote action.

12. The signal-bearing medium of claim 11, wherein the changing further comprises:

changing the element at a time specified by the upgrade rule.

13. The signal-bearing medium of claim 12, wherein the time comprises the time of a first access of the document after the adding.

14. The signal-bearing medium of claim 12, wherein the time comprises the time of the adding.

15. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, further comprising:

if the upgrade rule indicates a manual upgrade, sending a message to a client that sent the promote action, wherein the message comprises an instruction to manually change the element in the document, wherein the message further comprises the upgrade transformation.

16. A method for configuring a computer, comprising:

configuring the computer to receive a promote action and an identifier of a configuration set, wherein the configuration set comprises a schema and an upgrade transformation, wherein the upgrade transformation specifies a change that was made to the schema, wherein the schema describes a format of the document;

configuring the computer to find a document type definition associated with the configuration set, wherein the document type definition comprises an upgrade rule;

configuring the computer to find a document associated with the document type definition, wherein the document comprises a lifecycle state and an element;

configuring the computer to, if the upgrade rule indicates an automatic upgrade, find a mutability rule associated with the lifecycle state of the document and decide whether the mutability rule allows the document to be changed;

configuring the computer to, if the mutability rule allows the document to be changed, change the element in the document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation; and

configuring the computer to, if the mutability rule prevents the document from being changed, create a new document, copy the document to the new document, and change the element in the new document to include the change specified by the upgrade transformation at a time specified by the upgrade rule, wherein the new document comprises an initial lifecycle state.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

configuring the computer to add the configuration set to an operational environment in response to the promote action.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the time comprises the time of a first access of the document after the add of the configuration set to the operational environment.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the time comprises the time of the add of the configuration set to the operational environment.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

configuring the computer to, if the upgrade rule indicates a manual upgrade, send a message to a client that sent the promote action, wherein the message comprises an instruction to manually change the element in the document, wherein the message further comprises the upgrade transformation.