AUTOMATICALLY CUSTOMIZING A COMPUTER-EXECUTABLE APPLICATION AT RUNTIME

• US 20140250428A1
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Published: 09/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Marks, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 9,304,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/126
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3672 Test management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of automatically customizing a computer executable application, such as a test automation harness, based on currently installed modules. The functionality of the application can be split in multiple modules. At runtime, the application can automatically detect the presence or absence of a module. If a module is available, it can automatically be integrated with the application such that the functionality, such as language-level features and constructs, provided by the module is active and/or exposed. If the module is absent, the application can continue executing without the functionality provided by the module.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of automatically customizing a computer executable application, the method comprising:

executing, via a processor, the computer executable application, wherein the computer executable application includes a set of application functionalities;

during execution, receiving a request to load a first module, the first module including a first set of functionalities comprising at least one of a language-level feature or a language-level construct; and

in response to determining that the first module is installed, adding the first set of functionalities to the set of application functionalities.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first set of functionalities includes at least one of command line parameters, event notifications, logging functionality, or symbol exports.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to determining that a functionality in the set of application functionalities is absent, handling an exception and continuing execution of the computer executable application.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

exposing the set of application functionalities including the first set of functionalities.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the first set of functionalities includes command line options, and wherein exposing the set of application functionalities further comprises:

displaying a list of command line options available in the computer executable application, the list of command line parameters including the command line parameters in the first set of functionalities.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the displaying occurs in response to receiving a request to display a list of command line options available in the computer executable application.

7. A manufacture comprising:

a processor;

a computer executable instruction stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium which, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform a method comprising;

executing a computer executable application including a set of application functionalities;

during execution, receiving a request to load a first module, the first module including a first set of functionalities comprising at least one of a language-level feature or a language-level construct; and

in response to determining that the first module is installed, adding the first set of functionalities to the set of application functionalities.

8. The manufacture of claim 7, the method further comprising:

in response to determining that a functionality in the set of application functionalities is absent, handling an exception and continuing execution of the computer executable application.

9. The manufacture of claim 7 further comprising:

exposing the set of application functionalities including the first set of functionalities.

10. The manufacture of claim 9, wherein the first set of functionalities includes logging functionality, and wherein exposing the set of application functionalities further comprises:

executing a logging feature to record execution data for a test application, wherein at least one execution data item from the recorded execution data is based on a logging functionality in the first set of functionalities.

11. The manufacture of claim 7, wherein receiving a request to load a first module is triggered by a request for a feature in the first module.

12. The manufacture of claim 7, wherein the computer executable application is a testing harness.

13. The manufacture of claim 7 further comprising:

during execution, receiving a request to load a second module, the second module including a second set of functionalities comprising at least one of a language-level feature or a language-level construct; and

in response to determining that the second module is installed, adding the second set of functionalities to the set of application functionalities.

14. The manufacture of claim 13, wherein receiving a request to load the second module is triggered by a request for a feature in the second module.

15. A system for automatically customizing a computer executable application, the system comprising:

a processor;

a first module configured to control the processor to, execute the computer executable application, wherein the computer executable application includes a set of application functionalities;

a second module configured to control the processor to load a first component during execution of the computer executable application;

a third module configured to control the processor to parse the first component to identify a first set of functionalities comprising at least one of a language-level feature or a language-level construct; and

a fourth module configure to control the processor to add the first set of functionalities to the set of application functionalities, wherein adding the functionalities occurs in response to determining that the first component is installed.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

a fifth module configured to control the processor to expose the set of application functionalities including the first set of functionalities.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first set of functionalities includes event notifications, and wherein exposing the set of application functionalities further comprises:

registering to receive at least one event notification defined in the set of application functionalities.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first set of functionalities includes symbol exports, and wherein exposing the set of application functionalities further comprises:

forcing the symbol in to the global namespace.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein loading a first component is triggered by at least one of an initialization phase or a request for a feature in the first component.

20. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

in response to determining that a functionality in the set of application functionalities is absent, handling an exception and continuing execution of the computer executable application.