MECHANISMS TO SUPPORT OBJECT-ORIENTED VERSION CONTROL OPERATIONS

• US 20120078842A1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Novell Intellectual Property Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Grossbart, Zack, Lowry, Lee Edward, Scheuber-Heinz, Volker Gunnar, Vasudevan, Rajesh, Thurgood, Brent, Street, William, Lundberg, Karin Stella
• Granted Patent: US 8,429,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor

Abstract

Mechanisms to support object-oriented version control operations are provided. A user manipulates and views a project from an object viewpoint and within an object module. The user performs version control operations using object handles. The object handles are resolved to specific file references and the specific file references are used to process legacy version control commands utilizing a legacy version control system in a manner that is transparent to the user.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and for execution on a machine, the method comprising:

determining, on the machine, that a definition for the object spans multiple physical files;

changing, on the machine, the version control operation into multiple version control operations; and

processing, on the machine, the multiple version control operations against the multiple physical files.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving, on the machine, a system event raised within a project processing environment that identifies a user that submits the version control operation, the object, and the control operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further includes identifying the multiple physical files for the definition in response to an object type associated with the object.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising, consulting, on the machine, a specific object adapter to identify the multiple files, wherein the specific object adapter is identified in response to the object type associated with the object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein changing further includes identifying some of the multiple version control system operations as being associated with a different version control system, and interacting with the different version control system to process those particular version control system operations on behalf of the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein processing further includes processing the multiple version control system operations unbeknownst to the user and in a manner that is transparent to the user.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising,

supplying, on the machine, an object adapter with different files provided by a user in a different transaction;

receiving, on the machine, back from the object adapter one or more different object handles for one or more different objects defined in the multiple physical files; and

returning, on the machine, to the user the one or more different object handles.

8. A machine-implemented method implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and for execution on a machine, the method comprising:

detecting, on the machine, an attempt to execute a legacy version control operation against an object;

resolving, on the machine, the object to multiple references to multiple files that span different physical locations; and

translating, on the machine, the legacy version control operation into multiple version control operations; and

processing, on the machine, the multiple version control operations against the multiple files.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting further includes interacting with a proxy that provides an indication of the attempt.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting further includes identifying the legacy version control operation as one of:

a read operation, a load operation, a write operation, and an update operation.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting further includes identifying the legacy version control operation as one of:

an informational operation, a compare operation, and a history operation.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein resolving further includes determining the multiple references without the user being aware and wherein the user provides the legacy version control operation from an existing enterprise version control system.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising, processing the method on the machine as a front end to the existing enterprise version control system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein translating further includes producing the multiple version control operations from existing operations of the existing enterprise version control system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein processing further includes passing each of the multiple version control operations to the existing enterprise version control system for execution.

16. A machine-implemented method implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and for execution on a machine, the method comprising:

interposing processing of the method, on the machine, as a front end to an existing enterprise version control system;

intercepting, on the machine, a legacy control operation submitted by a user to the existing enterprise version control system using an object reference for an object;

resolving, on the machine, the object reference to multiple references to multiple physical files in different physical locations, the multiple physical files represent the object;

producing, on the machine, multiple legacy control operations to perform the legacy control operation on the multiple physical files; and

passing, on the machine, the multiple legacy control operations to the existing enterprise version control system to achieve the legacy control operation on the object on behalf of the user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein interposing further includes transparently acting as a front end to the existing enterprise version control system without the user being aware of the method.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein resolving further includes using a type extension for the object reference to assist in locating the multiple physical files.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein resolving further includes consulting an object adapter with the object reference to acquire the multiple physical files.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising, receiving multiple different physical file identifiers and returning a different object reference for a different object that is defined by the multiple different physical file identifiers.