Embedded Application Communication

• US 20130167157A1
• Filed: 08/25/2009
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Berdahl, Eric, Sandman, James G. Jr., Daumling, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for embedded application communication. In one aspect, a method includes providing a first Application Programming Interface (API) in the host application, where the first API is configured to interact with a virtual machine object model of the virtual machine to allow the host application to set and get properties of one or more first class instances residing in a virtual machine memory space, and to invoke methods on the first class instances, and providing a second API in the virtual machine configured to interact with a host application object model in the host application.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving registrations of first callback functions or methods in a first Application Programming Interface (API) provided for a host application to expose a host application object model to a program embedded in a virtual machine embedded in the host application;

receiving registrations of second callback functions or methods in a second API provided for the virtual machine to expose a virtual machine object model, which is associated with the embedded program, to the host application; and

wherein the first callback functions or methods are used to allow the embedded program to set and get properties of one or more first class instances residing in a host application memory space and to invoke methods on the one or more first class instances, the second callback functions or methods are used to allow the host application to set and get properties of one or more second class instances residing in a virtual machine memory space and to invoke methods on the one or more second class instances, and the first and second APIs do not alter a format of data retrieved from the host application and virtual machine memory spaces using the first and second callback functions or methods.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first API and the second API are each configured to provide access to a respective name space that encompasses class names in the host application object model and the virtual machine object model, respectively.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein an object model specifies how class instances are stored in a memory space and semantic properties of the class instances.

4. The method of claim 3 where the host application object model is different from the virtual machine object model.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising using the first API and the second API to support actions comprising:

instantiating, by the host application, a first object in the host application memory space that references a first object in the virtual machine memory space;

invoking, by the host application, a method on the first object in the host application memory space to retrieve a property from the first object in the virtual machine memory space;

instantiating, by the embedded program, a second object in the virtual machine memory space that references a second object in the host application memory space; and

invoking, by the embedded program, a method on the second object in the virtual machine memory space to retrieve a property from the second object in the host application memory space.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein instantiating the second object in the virtual memory space comprises downcasting a pointer for the second object in the host application memory space to a subclass in the virtual machine object model having a same class name as a corresponding class of the second object in the host application memory space.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the second API to invoke a method on a class instance in the virtual machine from the host application or using the first API to invoke a method on a class instance in the host application from the virtual machine, wherein the first and second callback functions use pointer references to objects, and the pointer references are passed as atoms between objects used by the host application and the embedded program, without being de-referenced.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first API is further configured to allow the host application to control a lifespan of a class instance in the virtual machine.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second API is further configured to allow the virtual machine to send events to the host application and wherein the first API is further configured to allow the host application to receive events from the virtual machine.

10. A system comprising:

a computer-readable storage device including a computer program product;

one or more processors configured to interact with the storage device and execute the program product to perform operations comprising;

receiving registrations of first callback functions or methods in a first Application Programming Interface (API) provided for a host application to expose a host application object model to a program embedded in a virtual machine embedded in the host application;

receiving registrations of second callback functions or methods in a second API provided for the virtual machine to expose a virtual machine object model, which is associated with the embedded program, to the host application; and

wherein the first callback functions or methods are used to allow the embedded program to set and get properties of one or more first class instances residing in a host application memory space and to invoke methods on the one or more first class instances, the second callback functions or methods are used to allow the host application to set and get properties of one or more second class instances residing in a virtual machine memory space and to invoke methods on the one or more second class instances, and the first and second APIs do not alter a format of data retrieved from the host application and virtual machine memory spaces using the first and second callback functions or methods.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the first API and the second API are each configured to provide access to a respective name space that encompasses class names in the host application object model and the virtual machine object model, respectively.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein an object model specifies how class instances are stored in a memory space and semantic properties of the class instances.

13. The system of claim 12 where the host application object model is different from the virtual machine object model.

14. The system of claim 13, further including operations comprising using the first API and the second API to support actions comprising:

instantiating, by the host application, a first object in the host application memory space that references a first object in the virtual machine memory space;

invoking, by the host application, a method on the first object in the host application memory space to retrieve a property from the first object in the virtual machine memory space;

instantiating, by the embedded program, a second object in the virtual machine memory space that references a second object in the host application memory space; and

invoking, by the embedded program, a method on the second object in the virtual machine memory space to retrieve a property from the second object in the host application memory space.

15. The system of claim 10, further including operations comprising using the second API to invoke a method on a class instance in the virtual machine from the host application or using the first API to invoke a method on a class instance in the host application from the virtual machine, wherein the first and second callback functions use pointer references to objects, and the pointer references are passed as atoms between objects used by the host application and the embedded program, without being de-referenced.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the first API is further configured to allow the host application to control a lifespan of a class instance in the virtual machine.

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

20. (canceled)

21. (canceled)

22. A computer-readable storage device encoding a computer program product that causes data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving registrations of first callback functions or methods in a first Application Programming Interface (API) provided for a host application to expose a host application object model to a program embedded in a virtual machine embedded in the host application;

receiving registrations of second callback functions or methods in a second API provided for the virtual machine to expose a virtual machine object model, which is associated with the embedded program, to the host application; and

wherein the first callback functions or methods are used to allow the embedded program to set and get properties of one or more first class instances residing in a host application memory space and to invoke methods on the one or more first class instances, the second callback functions or methods are used to allow the host application to set and get properties of one or more second class instances residing in a virtual machine memory space and to invoke methods on the one or more second class instances, and the first and second APIs do not alter a format of data retrieved from the host application and virtual machine memory spaces using the first and second callback functions or methods.

24. The computer-readable storage device of claim 22, where the host application object model is different from the virtual machine object model, and the operations further comprise using the first API and the second API to support actions comprising:

instantiating, by the host application, a first object in the host application memory space that references a first object in the virtual machine memory space;

invoking, by the host application, a method on the first object in the host application memory space to retrieve a property from the first object in the virtual machine memory space;

instantiating, by the embedded program, a second object in the virtual machine memory space that references a second object in the host application memory space; and

invoking, by the embedded program, a method on the second object in the virtual machine memory space to retrieve a property from the second object in the host application memory space.

25. The computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein instantiating the second object in the virtual memory space comprises downcasting a pointer for the second object in the host application memory space to a subclass in the virtual machine object model having a same class name as a corresponding class of the second object in the host application memory space.

26. The computer-readable storage device of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise using the second API to invoke a method on a class instance in the virtual machine from the host application or using the first API to invoke a method on a class instance in the host application from the virtual machine, wherein the first and second callback functions use pointer references to objects, and the pointer references are passed as atoms between objects used by the host application and the embedded program, without being de-referenced.

23. The computer-readable storage device of claim 23, wherein the first API and the second API are each configured to provide access to a respective name space that encompasses class names in the host application object model and the virtual machine object model, respectively.