System and method for switching between stateful and stateless communication modes

• US 20090006539A1
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Halbedel, Ralf, Bohle, Holger, Degenkolb, Marko
• Granted Patent: US 7,743,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Methods and systems for specifying the state of an application interface during configuration of the business system are provided. A state controller can manage communication between application interfaces and interface proxies. Each interface proxy replicates the services exposed by an application interface associated with backend applications in a business system. The state controller allows each application to operate in a stateful mode, a stateless mode, or a combined mode. The mode for an application can be specified during configuration/installation of the business system, removing the need to specify communication modes for applications during design and development of the applications and business system. The use of an interface proxy allows user interface (frontend) application to be developed and/or configured individually, and without regard to the communication mode used by the backend applications.

Claims

1. A method for executing a request in a business system, comprising:

receiving a request directed to a backend application from an interface proxy;

identifying a communication mode associated with the backend application, the communication mode defining whether the backend application is to maintain state between consecutive requests generated by the same user operation;

opening a connection to the backend application;

sending the request to the backend application; and

if the backend application is to maintain state between consecutive requests, keeping the connection open until the user operation is complete.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication mode is selected from:

a stateful mode, a stateless mode, and a stateful-over-stateless mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if the communication mode is a stateful-over-stateless mode, the request is queued with previous requests generated by the same user operation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a plurality of previous requests to the backend application prior to sending the request to the backend application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the request to the backend application over a state boundary.

6. A method for executing a request in a business system, comprising:

receiving a request directed to a backend application interface from an interface proxy, the interface proxy replicating services exposed by the backend application;

identifying a communication mode for the application;

if the communication mode is a stateful mode;

opening a connection to the backend application interface;

sending the request to the backend application interface over the connection; and

if a second request is received for the same application interface, maintaining the connection, otherwise closing the connection;

if the communication mode is a stateful-over-stateless mode;

queuing the request in a command queue;

if the command queue contains previous requests for the same user interaction as the request, sending the previous requests to the application interface to establish a previous state of the application interface; and

sending the request to the backend application;

if the communication mode is a stateless mode;

opening a connection to the backend application interface;

sending the request to the backend application interface over the connection; and

closing the connection; and

receiving a response from the backend application interface; and

sending the response to the interface proxy.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying a communication mode for the application comprises reading a configuration file to identify a communication mode assigned to the backend application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration file is created during installation of the business system.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a command queue to collect communication requests from an interface proxy, the interface proxy replicating services exposed by a backend application interface;

a command bus to transport requests between the command queue and the backend application interface; and

a state handler to control connections and specify communication modes between the command bus and the application interface.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the state handler switches communication mode based on a configuration file specifying a communication mode for the backend application interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the command queue is to store requests associated with a single user operation.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the state handler is operable in stateful, stateless, and stateful-over-stateless communication modes.