DEVELOPMENT ARTIFACT SEARCHING IN AN INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

• US 20120124547A1
• Filed: 11/15/2010
• Published: 05/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Halbedel, Ralf
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,905 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/901 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures for retrieval from the web G06F16/951
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/903 Querying for retrieval from the web G06F16/953

Abstract

This disclosure provides various embodiments for searching one or more repositories hosting, storing, or maintaining a plurality of development artifacts. A search query for development artifacts is received through an interface of an integrated development environment, the search query identifying at least one search term. An index is used to identify a set of search results, the index identifying a plurality of development artifacts and including context data identifying, for each development artifact in the plurality of development artifacts, at least one attribute of the respective development artifact. The set of search results identify a subset of the plurality of development artifacts determined to potentially relate to the at least one search term. At least a portion of the set of search results are presented to a user, the listing including at least one development artifact in the subset of the plurality of development artifacts.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, through an interface of an integrated development environment, a search query for development artifacts, the search query identifying at least one search term;

using an index to identify a set of search results, the index identifying a plurality of development artifacts and including context data identifying, for each development artifact in the plurality of development artifacts, at least one attribute of the respective development artifact, the set of search results identifying a subset of the plurality of development artifacts determined to potentially relate to the at least one search term; and

presenting a listing of at least a portion of the set of search results to a user, the listing including at least one development artifact in the subset of the plurality of development artifacts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a crawler to identify the plurality of development artifacts in a plurality of repositories and context data associated with at least one of the plurality of development artifacts; and

building the index to include the plurality of development artifacts and the context data identified by the crawler.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user request to retrieve at least one particular development artifact from the subset of the plurality of development artifacts; and

retrieving the at least one particular development artifact for use in the integrated development environment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query is submitted by a user of the integrated development environment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the subset of the plurality of development artifacts includes identifying at least one attribute of the user, wherein the subset of the plurality of development artifacts is determined to potentially relate to the at least one search term based at least in part on the identified attribute of the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute identifies a development category associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute identifies at least one of a developer role of the user, user permissions, an organization associated with the user, or prior development artifacts used by the user.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying the subset of the plurality of development artifacts includes identifying at least one development artifact previously accessed by another user sharing the at least one attribute with the user.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the listing is ordered to present a first development artifact in the subset before a second development artifact in the subset based on a prediction that the first development artifact is more relevant to the use than the second development artifacts, the prediction based at least in part on the identified attribute of the user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a modification made by a user to a development artifact in the plurality of development artifacts; and

updating context data associated with the modified development artifact,

wherein identifying the modification and updating context data substantially immediately following the modification.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the modification is made in the integrated development environment.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the modification is made by a remote computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of search results is identified based at least in part on at least one search algorithm, the search algorithm including at least one of fuzzy, lexical, and cross-language searching.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying development documentation associated with at least one development artifact in the subset of the plurality of development artifacts, wherein the listing identifies the development documentation.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying at least one development project associated with at least one development artifact in the subset of the plurality of development artifacts, wherein the listing identifies the development project as associated with the corresponding development artifact in the subset.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying at least one developer who previously accessed at least one development artifact in the subset of the plurality of development artifacts, wherein the listing identifies the at least one developer as associated with the corresponding development artifact in the subset.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the context data includes unstructured and structured data.

18. A system comprising:

a plurality of repositories storing a plurality of development artifacts;

an integrated development environment implemented on at least one computer; and

a development artifact search engine implemented on at least one computer, the search engine operable to interact with the integrated development environment and the plurality of repositories and perform operations comprising;

using a crawler to identify a plurality of development artifacts in the plurality of repositories;

building an index identifying each identified development artifact and including context data identifying, for each identified development artifact, at least one attribute of the respective development artifact;

receiving, through an interface of the integrated development environment, a search query for development artifacts, the search query identifying at least one search term;

using the index to identify a subset of the plurality of development artifacts determined to potentially relate to the at least one search term based on at least one criterion;

sending a listing for presentation to a user, the listing identifying the subset of the plurality of development artifacts;

receiving a user request to retrieve at least one particular development artifact from the plurality of development artifacts; and

retrieving the at least one particular development artifact for use in the integrated development environment; and

an integrated development environment implemented on at least one computer and including a development artifact search tool, the search tool operable to interact with the search engine.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein at least one of the plurality of repositories is a remote repository and the at least one computer implementing the development artifact search engine is operable to interact with the remote repository through a data communication network.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the development artifact search engine is further adapted to filter, sort, or rank the listing according to an identified user attribute.

21. An article comprising a non-transitory, machine-readable storage device storing instructions operable to cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

using a crawler to identify a plurality of development artifacts in a plurality of repositories;

building an index identifying each identified development artifact and including context data identifying, for each identified development artifact, at least on attribute of the respective development artifact;

receiving, through an interface of an integrated development environment, a search query for development artifacts, the search query identifying at least one search term;

using the index to identify a subset of the plurality of development artifacts determined to potentially relate to the at least one search term based on at least one criterion;

sending a listing for presentation to a user, the listing identifying the subset of the plurality of development artifacts;

receiving a user request to retrieve at least one particular development artifact from the plurality of development artifacts; and

retrieving the at least one particular development artifact for use in the integrated development environment.