Using Distributed Aspects to Reorder Online Application Workflows

• US 20090300138A1
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Schneider, James P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,881,304 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine

Abstract

One or more distributed aspect servers modify a sequence of online services provided by an application server that is remote from the aspect servers. A client sends a request to the application server. An aspect service is invoked if the request satisfies a criterion. The aspect service modifies the sequence of online services by performing at least one of adding a new online service, deleting one of the online services, or reordering the sequence of online services. The modified sequence of online services is provided to the client without incurring a change to the application server.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a request from a client, the request being directed to an application server that provides a sequence of online services to the client;

in response to a determination that the request satisfies a criterion, invoking an aspect service on a host that is remote from the application server, the aspect service modifying the online services by performing at least one of adding a new online service, deleting one of the online services, or reordering the sequence of online services; and

providing a modified sequence of online services to the client without incurring a change to the application server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequence of online services is a sequence of web pages presented to the client.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the request for a first online service in the sequence of online services; and

providing a second online service in response to the request without informing the application server of the request.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the request for a first web page in the sequence of online services;

providing a second web page to the client in response to the request, the second web page soliciting information from the client;

receiving the information solicited by the second web page from the client;

storing the information in data storage; and

retrieving the information from data storage and sending the information to the application server when the application server provides the second web page according to the sequence of online services.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a modified request in response to the request from the client;

receiving a response to the modified request from the application server, the response including a web page that has been provided to the client as a result of reordering the sequence of online services;

retrieving the information from data storage, the information solicited by the web page; and

sending the information to the application server without informing the client of the response from the application server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request from a client further comprises:

initiating a session in association with the request;

using a session identifier associated with the session to store information provided by the client; and

receiving an additional request from the client, the additional request including a reference to the information; and

in response to the additional request, retrieving the information for the application server using the session identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming a Message Authentication Code (MAC) with data submitted by the client;

storing the data with the MAC;

receiving an additional request from the client, the additional request including a Universal Resource Locator (URL) annotated with the MAC; and

retrieving the data using the MAC to provide the data to the application server.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein forming a MAC further comprises:

forming the MAC with the data submitted by the client and a requested URL to which the data submitted by the client is directed.

9. A system comprising:

a data store to store information submitted by a client;

one or more aspect servers coupled to the data store, the aspect servers to;

receive a request from the client, the request being directed to an application server that provides a sequence of online services to the client;

modify the sequence of online services by performing at least one of adding a new online service, deleting one of the online services, or reordering the sequence of online services; and

provide a modified sequence of online services to the client without incurring a change to the application server; and

a session manager coupled to the data store, the session manager to store and retrieve the information with an identifier that identifies the information.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the sequence of online services is a sequence of web pages presented to the client.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a proxy server coupled to the application server and the one or more aspect servers, the proxy server to determine whether to invoke aspect service provided by the one or more aspect servers and which of the one or more aspect servers to forward a message.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the session manager is located in the one or more aspect servers, the session manager to store and retrieve the information with a session identifier that identifies a session established by the request of the client.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the session manager is located in the one or more aspect servers, the session manager to compute a Message Authentication Code (MAC) and to use the MAC embedded in a URL (Universal Resource Locator) to store and retrieve the information.

14. A computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a client, the request being directed to an application server that provides a sequence of online services to the client;

in response to a determination that the request satisfies a criterion, invoking an aspect service on a host that is remote from the application server, the aspect service modifying the online services by performing at least one of adding a new online service, deleting one of the online services, or reordering the sequence of online services; and

providing a modified sequence of online services to the client without incurring a change to the application server.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the sequence of online services is a sequence of web pages presented to the client.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the request for a first online service in the sequence of online services; and

providing a second online service in response to the request without informing the application server of the request.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the request for a first web page in the sequence of online services;

providing a second web page to the client in response to the request, the second web page soliciting information from the client;

receiving the information solicited by the second web page from the client;

storing the information in data storage; and

retrieving the information from data storage and sending the information to the application server when the application server provides the second web page according to the sequence of online services.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein retrieving the information from data storage and sending the information to the application server further comprises:

receiving an indication from the application server that the information solicited by a plurality of input fields of the second web page contains an error in a given input field; and

re-sending the second web page to the client with the information, the second web page being presented to the client to allow correction only to the given input field.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

initiating a session in association with the request;

using a session identifier associated with the session to store information provided by the client; and

receiving an additional request from the client, the additional request including a reference to the information; and

in response to the additional request, retrieving the information for the application server using the session identifier.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

forming a Message Authentication Code (MAC) with data submitted by the client;

storing the data with the MAC;

receiving an additional request from the client, the additional request including a Universal Resource Locator (URL) annotated with the MAC; and

retrieving the data using the MAC to provide the data to the application server.