PLATFORM FOR DISTRIBUTED APPLICATIONS

• US 20120174058A1
• Filed: 12/29/2010
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Winkler, Matthew R., Danton, Stephen M., Saraiya, Puravkumar B., Balasubramanian, Ramrajprabu, Shukla, Dhama, DeJarnatt, Alexander M., Bhandarkar, Aditya Gopal
• Granted Patent: US 9,286,037 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to providing an application model to deploy and manage composite applications and to providing model-driven software coding assistance. In an embodiment, a computer system instantiates an application design interface that is configured to display composite application components and relationships between the components. Each component includes information specifying how communication is to be conducted with the component. The computer system accesses an application manifest that includes the components and component relationships of the application. The computer system displays the composite application'"'"'s components and component relationships in the instantiated visual application design interface according to the application manifest.

Claims

1. At a computer system including at least one processor and a memory, in a computer networking environment including a plurality of computing systems, a computer-implemented method for providing an application model to deploy and manage composite applications, the method comprising:

an act of instantiating an application design interface that is configured to display composite application components and one or more relationships between the components, wherein each component includes information specifying how communication is to be conducted with the component;

an act of accessing an application manifest that includes the components and component relationships of the application; and

an act of displaying the composite application'"'"'s components and component relationships in the instantiated visual application design interface according to the application manifest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application design interface allows users to edit at least one of the following artifacts:

application definition, application manifest, and composition model.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the artifacts allow users to change deployment-time and runtime behavior of the composite application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the composite application is configured and deployed using the manifest file.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein components communicate with each other at runtime using the relationships indicated in the application manifest.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application design interface renders a deployed application to show a runtime visual of the composite application as defined by application manifest.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising an act of the application design interface providing a set of canonical application patterns that allow users to configure the components of the composite application according to predefined pattern.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the predefined pattern comprises an N-tier pattern, such that upon applying the N-tier pattern to the composite application, the composite application is formed in a tiered pattern.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the composite application is modifiable after the canonical pattern has been applied using software code.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein a plurality of canonical application patterns are layered together to configure the components of the composite application.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the application design interface provides textual hints while user inputs are being received for the application manifest, the textual hints comprising a contextual listing of manifest-specific items.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the textual hints only list valid connections between two components, based on the component relationships in the application manifest.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein manifest is dynamically updated as changes are made to software code corresponding to components of the composite application.

3. The method of claim 3, wherein the edited artifact is sent to a distributed runtime for execution of the application.

15. A computer program product for implementing a method for providing model-driven software coding assistance, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:

an act of accessing an application manifest that includes software components and one or more relationships between the components, wherein the manifest is editable by a user;

an act of receiving a user input indicating that at least one of a plurality of components is to be implemented as part of the composite application;

an act of determining one or more potential implementation options that are to be presented to the user as selectable options based on the components and relationships of the application manifest; and

an act of displaying the determined potential options for selection by the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the potential implementation options are displayed dynamically as the user is entering information.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the dynamically displayed potential components are different based on which composite application is currently being edited.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein only those implementation options that are contextually relevant are displayed to the user.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the potential implementation options are displayed as a list of selectable options.

20. A computer system comprising the following:

one or more processors;

system memory;

one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform a method for providing an application model to deploy and manage composite applications, the method comprising the following;

an act of instantiating an application design interface that is configured to display composite application components and one or more relationships between the components, wherein each component includes information specifying how communication is to be conducted with the component;

an act of accessing an application manifest that includes the components and component relationships of the application;

an act of the application design interface providing a set of canonical application pattern that allow users to configure the components of the composite application according to predefined pattern, wherein the composite application is modifiable after the canonical pattern has been applied using software code; and

an act of displaying the composite application'"'"'s components and component relationships in the instantiated visual application design interface according to the application manifest.