System and Method for Sharing Objects Between Applications in a Virtual Runtime Environment

• US 20100070957A1
• Filed: 11/20/2009
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Trowbridge, Sean E., Dussud, Patrick H., Mariani, Rico, Brumme, Christopher W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,245,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/148
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44563 Sharing

Abstract

The techniques and mechanisms described herein are directed at sharing objects between applications executing in a virtual runtime environment. The techniques include compiling a cpu-independent file to create executable instructions that are associated with an application that is executable in a virtual runtime environment. A constructor associated with a shareable class defined within the cpu-independent file is executed to create an instance of a shareable object. The shareable object is then persisted in a manner such that other applications executing in the virtual runtime environment may access the shareable object. The technique may be performed during pre-JIT compilation or just-in-time compilation of the cpu-independent file. The execution of the constructor is performed at a restricted security level that prevents access to changeable information when generating static data for the static members of the shareable object.

Claims

1. A method for sharing objects between applications executing in a virtual runtime environment, the method comprising:

compiling a cpu-independent file to create executable instructions associated with an application, the application being executable in a virtual runtime environment;

executing a constructor during creation of the executable instructions, the constructor being associated with a shareable class defined within the cpu-independent file and being configured to create at least one shareable object associated with the shareable class, wherein the constructor is executed under tightened security restrictions; and

persisting shareable object information associated with the shareable objects, the persisted shareable object information associated with the shareable object available to each application to execute in a common virtual runtime environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein compiling is performed by a just-in-time compiler.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein persisting shareable object information comprises copying the shareable objects from a heap to a restricted memory area.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the restricted memory area is designated as a read only memory area.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising locking the shareable objects before copying and unlocking the shareable objects once the shareable object information is copied.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein compiling is performed by a pre-JIT compiler.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the pre-JIT compiler outputs a native image after compiling the cpu-independent file, the native image being compatible with a local operating system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the shareable object information is stored in a file associated with the native image.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying that each shareable object is safe to share before persisting object information associated with the shareable object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the security restrictions do not allow access to changeable information when generating static data for static members of the shareable object.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a dynamic entry structure associated with the shareable class;

updating an entry in a shareable object table to reference the dynamic entry structure;

creating an entry within an object array for each of the shareable objects, the entry identifying a location for the respective shareable object within a heap; and

populating the object array and the heap during execution of the constructor.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

compiling a cpu-independent file to create executable instructions associated with an application, the application being executable in a virtual runtime environment;

executing a constructor during creation of the executable instructions, the constructor being associated with a shareable class defined within the cpu-independent file and being configured to create at least one shareable object associated with the shareable class, wherein the constructor is executed under tightened security restrictions, the shareable objects beings stored on a heap; and

sharing the shareable objects with other applications executing in the virtual runtime environment, the virtual runtime environment being common to the application and the other applications.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising verifying that each shareable object is safe to share before sharing the object.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the security restrictions do not allow access to changeable information when generating static data for static members of the shareable objects.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

creating a dynamic entry structure associated with the shareable class;

updating an entry in a shareable object table to reference the dynamic entry structure;

creating an entry within an object array for each of the shareable objects, the entry identifying a location for the respective shareable object within a heap; and

populating the object array and the heap during execution of the constructor.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein sharing comprises:

locking access to the shareable objects;

deep copying the shareable objects on the heap to a writable portion of a read only memory;

copying a dynamic entry referencing a location for the shareable object to the writable portion of the read only memory;

setting the writable portion to read only;

updating an entry in a shareable ID map to point to the shareable object within the read only memory;

updating the entry in the shareable table to point to the shareable object within the read only memory; and

unlocking access to the shareable objects.

17. A system configured to share objects between applications executing in a virtual runtime environment, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory into which a plurality of instructions are loaded, the plurality of instructions performing a method comprising;

compiling a cpu-independent file to create executable instructions associated with an application, the application being executable in the virtual runtime environment;

executing a constructor during creation of the executable instructions, the constructor being associated with a shareable class defined within the cpu-independent file and being configured to create at least one shareable object associated with the shareable class, wherein the constructor is executed under tightened security restrictions; and

persisting shareable object information associated with the shareable objects in a manner that allows other applications, executing in a virtual runtime environment common to the virtual runtime environment that the application is executable in, to access the shareable objects.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein compiling is performed by a just-in-time compiler.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein persisting shareable object information comprises copying the shareable objects from a heap to a restricted memory area.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the restricted memory area is designated as a read only memory area.