SUPPORT FOR HETEROGENEOUS DATABASE ARTIFACTS IN A SINGLE PROJECT

• US 20120198416A1
• Filed: 02/02/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Winternitz, Fabian O., Sirr, Patrick E., McClenahan, Jill M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,726,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven

Abstract

A single software project can include heterogeneous types of artifacts. The artifact definition can be converted to a format compatible with a common model or information derived from the artifacts can be added to the common model so that tools that operate on the common model can provide information derived from the heterogeneous artifacts to developers during design time in an IDE. Build and deployment tools can operate over a more inclusive universe of data to provide a more accurate deployment plan. Build and deployment tools can operate within the context of the IDE or from the command line.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor and a memory of a computing device; and

a module on the computing device configured to cause the processor to;

receive a database artifact from a single software project, wherein the database artifact comprises one of a plurality of heterogeneous database artifacts; and

convert information associated with the received database artifact to a common model.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the artifact comprises a T-SQL file.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the artifact comprises an XSD file.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the artifact comprises a program code file.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the common model is accessed by auto-completion software.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the common model is accessed by refactoring software.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the common model is accessed by build and deployment software.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the common model is accessed by build and deployment software accessed via a command line.

9. A method comprising:

receiving an artifact of a plurality of heterogeneous artifacts in a single software project;

adding information associated with the artifact to a common model.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the artifact comprises a T-SQL artifact.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the artifact comprises an XSD artifact.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the artifact comprises a program code artifact.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the program code comprises one of VB.NET code or C# code or F# code.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the common model is accessed by auto-completion software.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the common model is accessed by refactoring software.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the common model is accessed by build and deploy software from within an integrated development environment or from a command line.

17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions which when executed cause at least one processor to:

receive an artifact of a plurality of heterogeneous artifacts; and

add information associated with the artifact to a common model accessed by integrated development environment tools.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, comprising further computer-executable instructions, which when executed cause the at least one processor to:

receive the artifact comprising a T-SQL artifact; and

add information extracted from the T-SQL artifact, the extracted information comprising a database element definition, to the common model.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, comprising further computer-executable instructions, which when executed cause at least one processor to:

receive the artifact comprising an XSD artifact;

extract a schema collection definition from the XSD artifact; and

add the extracted schema collection definition to the common model.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, comprising further computer-executable instructions, which when executed cause at least one processor to:

receive the artifact comprising a program file;

extract information associated with managed code objects from the program file;

determine relationships between the managed code objects; and

add definitions for the managed code objects and the determined relationships between the managed code objects to the common model.