APPLICATION MODIFICATION FRAMEWORK

• US 20100281458A1
• Filed: 04/30/2009
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: Business Objects SA (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Zhou, Aileen, Nash, Kamal, Paladino, Gaetano, Marcella, Al J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,327,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for an application modification framework used in an integrated technology platform are shown, which allows hot deployment of modifications, including a modification component, a hot deployment component, and a package manager component. The framework provides various editors to allow a developer of the base application or a custom client application to edit files and features associated with the application. Managers are provided to control each of the editors and for maintenance of historical information to allow auditing and modification monitoring. Hot deployment controls the ability of the user to implement modifications and changes, wherein changes are identified as to origin and purpose, allowing smart debug to identify if error(s) occurred during custom modification, base modification or otherwise.

Claims

1. A method in a distributed computing system, using a computing system including one or more machines, to perform one or more of the following acts,

initiating a server application on a central server in the distributed computing environment, wherein server application code includes instructions for implementing the server application at the central server;

generating client application code from the server application;

transmitting the client application code to a client computing device in the distributed computing system, wherein the client application code includes instructions for implementing the client application code at the client computing device;

implementing the client application code at the client computing device;

modifying the client application code at the client computing device;

transmitting the modified client application code from the client computing device to the central server;

translating the modified client application code to generate modified server application code;

storing at least one file associated with the modified client application code to operate with the server application at the central server;

storing an identifier for the at least one file to enable tracking of modifications to the server application; and

hot deploying the modified server application code at the central server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a first timestamp to the server application on initiating the server application;

applying a second timestamp to the client application code on modifying the client application code; and

translating the modified client application code to generate modified server application code when the second timestamp is later than the first timestamp.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein timestamps are applied to files when stored in a file server associated with the server application and the method further comprises:

auditing the server application to identify modifications received from the client computing device by comparing timestamps of files in the file server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the auditing is to isolate files associated with an error occurring in operation of the server application, and to determine when the error occurred for application of modifications from client computing devices to the server application.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

on identification of a first file associated with the error;

determining a timestamp associated with implementation of the first file;

reverting to a previous version of the server application having a timestamp prior to the timestamp associated with implementation of the first file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein reverting to the previous version of the server application further comprises hot deploying a second file to replace the first file in the file server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing the modified server application code comprises applying a version identifier to the modified server application code.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein implementing the modified server application code further comprises storing a timestamp corresponding to a time of implementation.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

searching for a version of the server application code prior to a first time, the version identified by the timestamp of a first modified server application code; and

implementing the first modified server application code at the central server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the client application code comprises:

receiving a modified named query from the client computing device;

transporting the modified named query to a file server associated with the server application; and

hot deploying the modified named query.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the client application code further comprises:

receiving a modified database schema from the client computing device;

transporting the modified database schema to a file server associated with the server application; and

hot deploying the modified database schema.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating a sandbox environment for modification of the application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing the modified server application code at the central server, further comprises implementing the modified server application code while maintaining operation of the application.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the modified server application code is implemented without reinstalling the server application.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a data dictionary describing the server application schema; and

modifying the data dictionary to amend the server application schema.

16. A system for modifying applications in a distributed computing environment, the system comprising a plurality of modules, each module comprising instructions retained on at least one machine-readable storage medium, that when executed by a machine perform identified operations, wherein the modules comprise:

a modification module to implement modifications to an application;

a package manager module to receive modified client application code and translate the modified client application code to generate modified server application code;

a file store to store versions of the server application; and

a hot deployment module to implement the modified server application code to the application while maintaining operation of the application.

17. A method, comprising:

initiating a server application on a central server in the distributed computing environment, wherein server application code includes instructions for implementing the server application at the central server;

generating client application code from the server application, wherein the client application code includes instructions for implementing the client application code at the client computing device;

receiving modified client application code from a client computing device;

translating the modified client application code to generate modified server application code; and

implementing the modified server application code at the central server while maintaining operation of the application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

implementing the modified server application code comprises applying a version identifier to the modified server application code and storing a timestamp corresponding to a time of implementation,

the method further comprises auditing the server application to identify a first modified server application code prior to a first timestamp and implementing the first modified server application code.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising storing versions of the server application, along with the version identifiers and timestamps in a file store.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

auditing versions of the server application stored in the file store by searching for a version of the server application code prior to a first time, the version identified by the timestamp of a first modified server application code; and

implementing the first modified server application code at the central server.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the modified client application code includes modifications to a named query of the server application.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the modified client application code further includes modifications to a database schema of the server application.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the modified server application code is implemented without reinstalling the server application.

24. A method, comprising:

initiating a server application on a central server in the distributed computing environment, wherein server application code includes instructions for implementing the server application at the central server;

generating client application code from the server application, wherein the client application code includes instructions for implementing the client application code at the client computing device;

receiving modified client application code from a client computing device;

translating the modified client application code to generate modified server application code; and

implementing the modified server application code at the central server while maintaining operation of the application.

25. A machine-readable storage medium embodying instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

initiating a server application on a central server in the distributed computing environment, wherein server application code includes instructions for implementing the server application at the central server;

generating client application code from the server application, wherein the client application code includes instructions for implementing the client application code at the client computing device;

receiving modified client application code from a client computing device;

translating the modified client application code to generate modified server application code; and

implementing the modified server application code at the central server while maintaining operation of the application.

26. A method in a distributed computing system, using a computing system including one or more machines, to perform one or more of the following acts,

receiving client application code at a client computing device in the distributed computing system, wherein the client application code includes instructions for implementing the server application at the client computing device;

implementing the client application code at the client computing device;

initiating a sandbox environment at the client computing device while the server application is operating;

modifying the client application code at the client computing device; and

transmitting the modified client application code from the client computing device to a central server, wherein the server application implements the modified client application code while the server application is operating.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the modified client application code includes modifications to a named query.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the modified client application code includes modifications to database schema.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the modified client application code includes modifications to text strings.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising auditing the server application to identify an operational point prior to a first timestamp, and implementing a version of the server application prior to the first timestamp.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the server application implements the modified client application code while the server application is operating by replacing at least one application file with a new file.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the server application implements the modified client application code while the server application is operating by replacing application data with a new application data.

33. An enterprise architecture platform, comprising:

an application server to implement a server application, the server application configured according to an application schema,

an application database schema unit storing information describing the application schema; and

a file system to store files associated with the server application;

wherein the application server comprises;

a package manager to receive client modifications and to process the client modifications to the server application; and

a hot deployment publisher to publish the client modifications in the file system.

34. The enterprise architecture platform of claim 33, wherein the file system stores JAVA files, wherein the JAVA files are hot fixed to a deployment location in the file system.