COMMAND LINE SHELL COMMAND GENERATION BASED ON SCHEMA

• US 20110296373A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Young, Edwin, Calev, Joseph, Kamdar, Nirav A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,244,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

A code generator tool capable of creating command shell commands at compile time or runtime from a schema such as an XSD schema is provided. The code generator generates classes to represent data defined by a schema and the command shell generation code may use knowledge of the classes to generate appropriate command shell classes to manipulate the data. Plug-ins may be inserted following optimization of a model of classes generated by the code generation tool. The plug-ins can modify the model, insert their own code, or disable code generation and generate their own code from the model.

Claims

1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for automatic command shell command code generation based on a schema, the method comprising:

receiving the schema;

generating a model for classes associated with the schema;

optimizing the model to enable direct translation of the schema to an application programming interface (API); and

generating code for a command for enabling manipulation of data structured according to the schema based on classes defined by the optimized model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing the received schema.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the model includes at least one from a set of:

a class name, a property, and a data type associated with the classes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the model further includes information associated with at least one of:

choices and enumerations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the choices are handled by implementing an interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the command is a cmdlet for the command shell.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inserting a plug-in following the optimization of the model, wherein the plug-in performs at least one from a set of;

modifying the model, inserting a plug-in code, disabling code generation, and generating the plug-in code.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plug-in modifies the model and inserts plug-in generated code into the classes of the model representing the data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the plug-in disables a default code generation and employs the model to generate a cmdlet for the command shell.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the plug-in employs an object model exposed by a class generator to provide information about generated classes and interfaces.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the class generator is product independent, and the plug-in is product dependent.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plug-in generates a command shell cmdlet without parsing the schema.

13. A computing device for providing automatic command shell command code generation based on a schema, the computing device comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor executes a code generator tool configured to;

receive the schema;

generate a model for classes associated with the schema;

optimize the model to enable direct translation of the schema to an application programming interface (API);

if a plug-in is provided, insert the plug-in, wherein the plug-in is configured to;

modify the model,

disable code generation,

generate a plug-in code, and

insert the plug-in code; and

generate code for a command for enabling manipulation of data structured according to the schema based on classes defined by the optimized model.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the schema is an XSD schema.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the code generator tool is further configured to generate classes based on the generated model, and the classes enable one of:

serialization and deserialization employing an Xelement.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the Xelement is automatically updated in response to an update to at least one property in a corresponding class.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the classes further enable validation of constraints contained in the schema.

18. A computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon for automatic command shell cmdlet code generation based on a schema, the instructions comprising:

receiving the schema defining a structure for data to be manipulated;

generating a model for classes associated with the schema;

optimizing the model to enable direct translation of the schema to an application programming interface (API);

if a plug-in is provided, inserting the plug-in, wherein the plug-in performs at least one from a set of;

modifying the model, disabling code generation, generating a plug-in code for the cmdlet, and inserting the plug-in code; and

generating code for the cmdlet for enabling manipulation of the data structured according to the schema based on classes defined by the optimized model.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

enabling manipulation of the data through the API.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

one of;

serializing and deserializing employing an Xelement that is automatically updated in response to an update to at least one property in a corresponding class.