XML Application Framework

• US 20120167039A1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Williams, Antony S., Szyperski, Clemens A., Wittenberg, Craig
• Granted Patent: US 8,793,649 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

The present invention relates to an XML application framework (XAF). XAF applications are data driven such that all operations with the computer system are data focused. In addition, the components used in the XAF application are instantiated and connected according to how the data is displayed and what type of data is used. Applications within XAF comprise a user interface (UI) connector, an action module, and a data connector. UI connectors receive UI events and connect the UI event to an action module. The action module generates a standard format action from the UI event and sends it to the data connector. The data connector translates the standard format action into a data-specific action that changes data in a data store. A data connector then sends a standard format data representation corresponding to the changed data back to the UI connector to provide the changed data to the UI.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium on which is stored computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of configuring a software application for performing one or more functions of the software application, the method executed by the computer executable instructions comprising:

providing a plurality of application components;

connecting by an application description engine each of the plurality of application components to at least one other of the plurality of application components via a common interface for allowing data to pass between components of different types;

determining a structure of a graph of connected components based on at least one data event received by the application, wherein determining the structure of the graph of connected components comprises determining which of the plurality of application components are inter-connected;

configuring a portion of the plurality of application components as the graph of connected components for providing a first function of the application;

in response to receiving a data event by one of the plurality of application components, invoking a processing by at least one application component of the plurality of application components; and

in response to invoking the processing by at least one application component of the plurality of application components, dynamically reconfiguring the graph of connected components for performing a second function of the application, wherein reconfiguring the graph of connect components comprises at least one of the following;

adding at least one first component from the plurality of application components and removing at least one second component from the plurality of application components.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein configuring the portion of the plurality of application components as the graph of connected components further comprises:

instantiating by the application description engine the graph of connected components, including any connections between connected components in the graph of connected components, for enabling the graph of connected components to perform the first function of the application.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein determining the structure of the graph of connected components and which of the plurality of application components are connected to form the graph of connected components based on at least one data event received by the application includes determining which of the plurality of application components should be grouped together as a unit of connected components within the graph of connected components where the unit of connected components is required for performing at least one function of the application in response to the at least one data event received by the application;

and

wherein configuring the portion of the plurality of application components as the graph of connected components for providing the first function of the application includes configuring the plurality of components that should be grouped together as the unit of connected components as a component domain for performing the at least one function of the application in response to the at least one data event received by the application.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein invoking the processing by at least one application component of the plurality of application components includes, in a first processing phase, reading a data associated with the data event responsible for invoking the processing and requesting any data representing any required reconfiguration of the graph of connected components;

and

in a second processing phase, reconfiguring the graph of connected components for performing the second function of the application.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, further comprising:

wherein invoking the processing by at least one application component of the plurality of application components includes invoking a processing by the component domain associated with the data event;

reading, in a first processing phase of the component domain, a data associated with the data event responsible for invoking the processing and requesting any data representing any required reconfiguration of the component domain; and

reconfiguring, in a second processing phase in the component domain, the component domain for performing the second function of the application.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the components configured together as the component domain for performing the at least one function of the application in response to the at least one data event received by the application act as a unit of application execution for a lifetime spanning from a time the component domain is configured to a time the component domain is reconfigured in response to the at least one data event requiring reconfiguration of the component domain.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein instantiating by the application description engine the graph of connected components includes instantiating the graph of connected components by the application description engine operative to receive from the application at least one application description that describes the first function, and further comprising interpreting the at least one application description by the application description engine for determining which of the plurality of components should be connected for forming the graph of connected components.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving via the application descriptions at least one declarative rule for composing and structuring the graph of connected components wherein the application description engine is further operative to instantiate the graph of connected components according to the at least one declarative rule received via the application descriptions.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein instantiating the graph of connected components by the application description engine operative to receive from the application the at least one application description that describes the first function includes instantiating the graph of connected components by the application description engine operative to receive from the application the at least one application description structured according to the Extensible Markup Language that describes the first function;

and

wherein the application description engine is further operative to structure data for passing to at least one of the plurality of application components according to the Extensible Markup Language.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein prior to instantiating the graph of connected components by the application description engine, retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from a component library containing the plurality of components.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving the portion of the plurality of components from a library of components consisting of user interface connectors, action components, data connectors, accessor components, transformer components, and interface components.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving at least one user interface (UI) connector that receives at least one UI event and translates the at least one UI event into the data event and that receives standard format data representations corresponding to any changed data and that connects with a UI to provide the any changed data to the UI.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving at least one action component connected to the at least one UI connector that receives and transforms the data event into a standard format action.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving at least one data connector connected to both the at least one action component and the at least one UI connector that receives the standard format action and connects to a data store to complete the standard format action on the data and sends the standard format data representation to the at least one UI connector.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving at least one transformer that manipulates the standard format data representation into a UI-customized format.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving at least one accessor component that manipulates the standard format action into a standard format data-customized action.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein retrieving the portion of the plurality of components comprising the graph of connected components from the component library containing the plurality of components includes retrieving a third party component that implements an interface between at least two other components for enabling communication between the at least two other components.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising implementing an interface between the at least two other components for enabling communication between the at least two other components including implementing the interface according to at least one declarative rule for implementing the interface provided to the application description engine by the third party component.

19. A method of configuring a software application for performing at least one function of the software application, the method comprising:

providing, by a computer, a plurality of application components;

connecting by an application description engine each of the plurality of application components to at least one other of the plurality of application components via a common interface for allowing data to pass between components of different types;

instantiating by the application description engine a graph of connected components comprised of the plurality of application components, including any connections between connected components in the graph of connected components, to enable the graph of connected components to perform a first function of the application; and

dynamically reconfiguring the graph of connected components to enable the graph of connected components to perform a second function of the application, wherein reconfiguring the graph of connect components comprises at least one of the following;

adding at least one first component from the plurality of application components and removing at least one second component from the plurality of application components.

20. A method of configuring a software application for performing one or more functions of the software application, the method comprising:

providing, by a computer, a plurality of application components;

connecting by an application description engine each of the plurality of components to at least one other of the plurality of components via a common interface for allowing data to pass between components of different types via the common interface;

instantiating by the application description engine a graph of connected components comprised of the plurality of application components, including any connections between connected components in the graph of connected components, to enable the graph of connected components to perform a first function of the application when executed;

in response to receiving a data event by one of the plurality of components, invoking a processing by the at least one other of the plurality of components; and

in response to invoking the processing by the at least one other of the plurality of components, dynamically reconfiguring the graph of connected components for performing a second function of the application, wherein reconfiguring the graph of connect components for performing the second function of the application comprises at least one of the following;

adding at least one first component from the plurality of application components and removing at least one second component from the plurality of application components.