SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR CONTROLLING A PROCESS USING A PROCESS MAP

• US 20130086591A1
• Filed: 05/15/2012
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Haven, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 9,038,074 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44 Arrangements for executing specific programs

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for controlling a process using a process map. These mechanisms and methods for controlling a process using a process map can enable process operations to execute in order without necessarily having knowledge of one another. The ability to provide the process map can avoid a requirement that the operations themselves be programmed to follow a particular sequence, as can further improve the ease by which the sequence of operations may be changed.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method, the method comprising:

identifying, for a process, a process map mapping each tag in an ordered list of tags to a different functional operation included in the process; and

recursively executing a process control operation to use the ordered list of tags to initiate the functional operations.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the functional operations are asynchronous.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the functional operations are synchronous,

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the tags are each a different string.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein a different one of the tags is passed into the process control operation for each of a plurality of calls to the process control operation.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the process control operation uses the process map to determine a next tag to the passed in tag in the ordered list of tags.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the process control operation is recursively called until a last tag in the ordered list of tags is passed into the process control operation.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the process control operation is recursively called by:

(a) calling the process control operation with one of the tags passed into the process control operation;

(b) determining from the process map, by the process control operation, a next tag in the ordered list of tags;

(c) calling the functional operation mapped to the next tag with the first next passed in to the first functional operation;

(d) receiving the next tag as output of the functional operation to indicate completion of execution of the functional operation;

(e) repeating (a)-(d) with the output next tag passed into the process control operation.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising, prior to recursively calling of the process control operation:

calling the process control operation, without one of the tags passed in, to initiate execution of the process;

determining from the process map, by the process control operation, a first tag in the ordered list of tags;

calling the first functional operation mapped to the first tag with the first tag passed in to the first functional operation;

receiving the first tag as output of the first functional operation o indicate completion of execution of the first functional operation;

recursively calling the process control operation for each next tag in the process map.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising creating the process map for the process, such that the process map is identified for the process based on the creation of the process map.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the process map is created by a user.

12. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the process is automatically modified by modifying the process map.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein modifying the process by modifying the process map enables the process to be modified without modifying the functional operations.

14. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the process control operation includes a timeout.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the timeout is used by the process control operation to terminate the process.

16. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the process control operation is capable of being called by a fault handler of each of the functional operations.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the fault handler reports an error to the process control operation when calling the process control operation.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the process control operation performs a preconfigured action upon receiving the error from the fault handler.

19. A method, comprising:

identifying, for a process, a process map mapping each tag in an ordered list of tags to a different functional operation included in the process; and

recursively executing a process control operation to use the ordered list of tags to initiate the functional operations.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor for;

identifying, for a process, a process map mapping each tag in an ordered list of tags to a different functional operation included in the process; and

recursively executing a process control operation to use the ordered list of tags to initiate the functional operations.

21. A method for transmitting code, comprising:

transmitting code for identifying, for a process, a process map mapping each tag in an ordered list of tags to a different functional operation included in the process; and

transmitting code for recursively executing a process control operation to use the ordered list of tags to initiate the functional operations.