METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REUSING COMPONENTS OF A COMPONENT-BASED SOFTWARE SYSTEM

• US 20080295109A1
• Filed: 05/06/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zhu, Jun, Zhao, Wei, Huang, He Yuan, Li, Shih-Gong, Tan, Hua Fang
• Granted Patent: US 8,595,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services

Abstract

The present invention provides a component reuse method for reusing at least first component that is selected from a first software system to a second software system. The method comprises the steps of: analyzing the first software system, determining dependencies of the at least one first component of the first software system and acquiring relevant interface information; generating surrogates based on the dependencies and the interface information, which will be deployed in the first operating environment and in the second operating environment respectively, wherein the surrogates allow the second software system to invoke service provided by the at least one first component in the first operating environment and allow the at least one first component to invoke relevant service provided in the second software system.

Claims

1. A component reuse method comprising the steps of:

analyzing a first software system, determining dependencies of at least one first component of said first software system and acquiring relevant interface information;

generating surrogates which will be deployed in a first operating environment and in a second software system respectively based on said dependencies and said interface information,

wherein said surrogates allow said second software system to invoke service provided by said at least one first component in said first operating environment and allow said at least one first component to invoke relevant service provided in said second software system.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

determining in said first software system second components on which said at least one first component depends, and acquiring information on interfaces for invoking said at least one first component and information on an interface referenced by said at least one first component.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of:

generating a first surrogate which is associated with said at least one first component and which will be deployed in a second operating environment, a second surrogate which is associated with said at least one first component and which will be deployed in said first operating environment, and a third surrogates which are associated respectively with said second components and which will be deployed in said first operating environment,

wherein said first surrogate allows invocations from said software system to said at least one first component to be redirected to said second surrogate, said second surrogate allows invocations to said at least one first component, and said third surrogates allow invocations from said at least one first component to said first surrogate so that said first surrogate will redirect the invocations to a corresponding component of said second software system.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of:

packaging said at least one first component, said first surrogate, said second surrogate and said third surrogate to generate packages for deployment.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said second software system is an SCA-based software system.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first operating environment is an EJB operating environment, and said second operating environment is an SCA runtime operating environment.

7. The method according to claim 6, comprising the steps of:

generating an adapter for converting SCA-supported invocations into Web service invocations and an adapter for converting Web service invocations into SCA-supported invocations, which above two adapters are comprised by said first surrogate;

generating an adapter comprised by said second surrogate and for converting Web service invocations into EJB invocations; and

generating an adapter comprised by said third surrogates and for converting EJB invocations into Web service invocations.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein

said at least one first component comprises any component set selected from components of the first software system.

17. A computer program product for reusing at least one first component that is selected from a software system to a second software system, wherein said first software system is a component-based software system operating in a first operating environment and said second software system is a software system operating in a second operating environment with externalized dependencies, said computer program product being configured to implement a method according to claim 1.

9. A system of supporting component reuse, comprising:

a component selector selecting from a first software system at least one first component that will be reused in a second software system, said first software system being a component-based software system operating in a first operating environment and said second software system being a software system operating in a second operating environment with externalized dependencies;

an analyzer analyzing said first software system, determining dependencies of said at least one first component of said first software system and acquiring relevant interface information;

a generator generating surrogates which will be deployed in said first operating environment and in said second software system respectively based on said dependencies and said interface information, wherein said surrogates allow said second software system to invoke service provided by said at least one first component in said first operating environment and allow said at least one first component to invoke relevant service provided in said second software system.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein

said analyzer is further configured for determining in said first software system second components on which said at least one first component depends, and acquiring information on interfaces for invoking said at least one first component and information on an interface referenced by said at least one first component.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein

said generator is further configured for generating a first surrogate which is associated with said at least one first component and which will be deployed in said second operating environment, a second surrogate which is associated with said at least one first component and which will be deployed in said first operating environment, and a third surrogates which are associated respectively with said second components and which will be deployed in said first operating environment,

wherein said first surrogate allows invocations from said software system to said at least one first component to be redirected to said second surrogate, said second surrogate allows invocations to said at least one first component, and said third surrogates allow invocations from said at least one first component to said first surrogate so that said first surrogate will redirect the invocations to a corresponding component of said second software system.

12. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a packager packaging said at least one first component, said first surrogate, said second surrogate and said third surrogate to generate packages for deployment.

13. The system according to claim 9, wherein said second software system is an SCA-based software system.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein said first operating environment is an EJB operating environment, and said second operating environment is an SCA runtime operating environment.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said generator is further configured for:

generating an adapter for converting SCA-supported invocations into Web service invocations and an adapter for converting Web service invocations into SCA-supported invocations, which above two adapters are comprised by said first surrogate;

generating an adapter comprised by said second surrogate and for converting Web service invocations into EJB invocations; and

generating an adapter comprised by said third surrogates and for converting EJB invocations into Web service invocations.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein

said at least one first component comprises any component set selected from components of the first software system.