Type and property definition support for software

• US 20080282224A1
• Filed: 05/11/2007
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Currier, Jeffrey R., DeNeui, Alexander W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management

Abstract

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to type and property definition support for software. In aspects, new types can be added to an application model after the software has been created without changing the software. After software is created and embodied in computer code, a new type definition may be received by a user type service. The user type service may then place the new type definition in a data store in which other types native to the software are located. The software may then use the new type definitions and properties associated therewith in queries and in user interfaces provided by the software.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform actions, comprising:

receiving a definition of a new type after a version of software is created, the new type defining a property, the software, when created, supporting a first application model that includes a first set of objects, types, and methods; and

adding the new type to the first application model of the software to obtain a second application model that the software supports, the second application model including a second set of objects, types, and methods including the new type.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising providing access to the property via the software.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein providing access to the property via the software comprises displaying data corresponding to the property in a user interface and allowing a user to change the data via the user interface.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the property is derived from another property of another type of the second application model.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein adding the new type to the first application model comprises adding a reference to the other property and an indication of how to derive the property from the other property.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication of actions to take in conjunction with updating data associated with the property.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the actions, when taken, indicate whether the data is valid.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the actions comprise business logic created after the version of the software was created.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second set of objects, types, and methods is a superset of the first set of objects, types, and methods.

10. A method implemented at least in part by a computer, the method comprising:

receiving a definition of a query, the definition indicating a type to provide when the query is executed, the software, when created, supporting an application model that includes a set of objects, types, and methods, the type being added to the application model after the software was created without modifying the software; and

storing the definition of the query in a data store.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the type indicated in the definition of the query is not included in the set of objects, types, and methods supported by the software, when created.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein a type comprises a set of one or more properties.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the definition of the query comprises one or more conditions on the set of one or more properties.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the conditions indicates an operator including greater than, less than, equal to, not equal to, greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, like, not like, a string comparison operator, a date comparison operator, and a set operator.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the definition of the query includes an indication of one or more views associated with the query, each view indicating a different subset of the properties of the type.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising executing the query and indicating one of the views associated with the query.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising displaying data corresponding to the subset of properties indicated by the one of the views indicated.

18. In a computing environment, an apparatus, comprising:

a type service operable to receive a definition of a new type to be supported by software, the new type being received after the software has been embodied in computer code;

a data store operable to store the definition of the new type; and

a query service operable to receive a definition of a query that uses the new type.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the new type was not defined before the software was embodied in computer code.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a view definition service operable to associated a view definition with a query definition, the view indicating a subset of properties of the new type to display when the query is executed.