GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE METADATA EVOLUTION TOOL

• US 20090217250A1
• Filed: 02/27/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Fu, Chen, Xie, Qing, Grechanik, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,516,442 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/136
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

A metadata migration tool helps GUI application developers keep track of institutional knowledge that may be lost between application versions. The maintenance and transference of this knowledge from one application version to another aids developers in conforming future applications to restrictions and requirements imposed on previous versions that may not be immediately apparent. The architecture and processes facilitate the migration of this institutional knowledge, thus greatly reducing the time, cost, and resource expenditures spent re-creating similar components in an updated application and updated scripts to test those application components.

Claims

1. A product comprising:

a memory; and

graphical user interface (GUI) metadata processing logic stored in the memory, the GUI metadata processing logic comprising;

communication logic operable to obtain a GUI element type specification message;

parsing logic operable to parse the GUI element type specification message to extract a GUI element identifier and a GUI type identifier from the GUI element type specification message; and

type processing logic operable to maintain a GUI element type metadata record using the GUI element identifier and the GUI type identifier in a GUI element metadata repository.

2. The product of claim 1, where the communication logic is further operable to obtain the GUI element type specification message from a GUI typing system.

3. The product of claim 1, where the parsing logic is further operable to parse the GUI element type specification message to extract a GUI application (GAP) alias.

4. The product of claim 1, where the type processing logic is operable to store the GUI type identifier in the GUI element type metadata record.

5. The product of claim 1 where the communication logic is further operable to obtain a GUI element mapping specification message;

the parsing logic is further operable to parse the GUI element mapping specification message to extract a source GUI element identifier and a destination GUI element identifier from the GUI element mapping specification message; and

the memory further comprises mapping processing logic operable to maintain a GUI mapping metadata record using the source GUI element identifier and the destination GUI element identifier.

6. The product of claim 5 where the communication logic is further operable to obtain a GUI element mapping specification message from a GUI mapping system.

7. The product of claim 5, where the parsing logic is further operable to:

parse the GUI element mapping specification message for a source GUI application (GAP) alias and a destination GAP alias, and where;

the mapping processing logic is further operable to maintain the GUI mapping metadata record by creating a GUI element version mapping record comprising;

the source GAP alias;

the source GUI element identifier;

the destination GAP alias; and

the destination GUI element identifier.

8. The product of claim 5, where the parsing logic is further operable to:

parse the GUI element mapping specification message for a source GUI application (GAP) alias and a destination GAP alias, and where;

the mapping processing logic is further operable to maintain the GUI mapping metadata record by;

locating a source GAP metadata record using the source GAP alias and storing

the destination GUI element identifier in the source GAP metadata record; and

locating a destination GAP metadata record using the destination GAP alias and

storing the source GUI element identifier in the destination GAP metadata record.

9. The product of claim 1 where the communication logic is further operable to obtain a GUI element notation message;

and where

the parsing logic is further operable to parse the GUI element notation message for a GUI application (GAP) alias, a GUI element notation identifier, and a GUI element notation; and

where the memory further comprises;

notation processing logic operable to maintain a GUI element notation metadata record using the GAP alias, the GUI element notation identifier, and the GUI notation in the GUI element metadata repository.

10. The product of claim 9, where the notation processing logic is further operable to locate the GUI element notation metadata record using the GAP alias.

11. A method of maintaining a graphical user interface (GUI) metadata repository, the method comprising:

obtaining a GUI element type specification message;

parsing the GUI element type specification message to extract a GUI element identifier and a GUI type identifier from the GUI element type specification message; and

maintaining a GUI element type metadata record using the GUI element identifier and the GUI type identifier in a GUI element metadata repository.

12. The method of claim 11, where the GUI element type specification is obtained from a GUI typing system.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising parsing the GUI element type specification message to extract a GUI application (GAP) alias.

14. The method of claim 11, where maintaining the GUI element type metadata record comprises storing the GUI type identifier in the GUI element type metadata record.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

obtaining a GUI element mapping specification message;

parsing the GUI element mapping specification message to extract a source GUI element identifier and a destination GUI element identifier from the GUI element mapping specification message; and

maintaining a GUI mapping metadata record using the source GUI element identifier and the destination GUI element identifier.

16. The method of claim 15, where the GUI element mapping specification is obtained from a GUI mapping system.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising parsing the GUI element mapping specification message for a source GUI application (GAP) alias and a destination GAP alias, and maintaining a GUI mapping metadata record comprises creating a GUI element version mapping record comprising:

the source GAP alias;

the source GUI element identifier;

the destination GAP alias; and

the destination GUI element identifier.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

parsing the GUI element mapping specification message for a source GUI application (GAP) alias and a destination GAP alias;

locating a source GAP metadata record using the source GAP alias and storing the destination GUI element identifier in the source GAP metadata record; and

locating a destination GAP metadata record using the destination GAP alias and storing the source GUI element identifier in the destination GAP metadata record.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

obtaining a GUI element notation message;

parsing the GUI element notation message for a GUI application (GAP) alias, a GUI element notation identifier, and a GUI element notation; and

maintaining a GUI element notation metadata record using the GAP alias, the GUI element notation identifier, and the GUI notation in the GUI element metadata repository.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising locating the GUI element notation metadata record using the GAP alias.

21. A product comprising:

a memory;

metadata migration logic stored in the memory and operable to;

locate a source graphical user interface (GUI) application (GAP) metadata record;

locate a destination GAP metadata record;

identify orphan GUI element metadata present in the source GAP metadata record; and

migrate the orphan GUI element metadata to the destination GAP metadata record.

22. The product of claim 21, where the metadata migration logic is further operable to:

analyze a GUI element version mapping to determine a destination GUI element identifier.

23. The product of claim 22, where the metadata migration logic is further operable to:

locate a GUI element metadata record within the destination GAP metadata

record that matches the destination GUI element identifier; and

migrate the orphan GUI element metadata to the GUI element metadata record.

24. The product of claim 21, where the metadata migration logic is further operable to:

analyze a GUI element version mapping to determine a destination GAP alias.

25. The product of claim 24, where the metadata migration logic is further operable to:

migrate the orphan GUI element metadata to the destination GAP metadata record corresponding to the destination GAP alias.