Methods and Systems for Managing Data Service Specifications

• US 20140289702A1
• Filed: 08/18/2009
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: McMahon, Richard, Savage, Lea
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/88 Mark-up to mark-up conversion conversion for visualization in web browsing G06F16/9577
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44 Arrangements for executing specific programs

Abstract

Development of network-based computing resources can be enhanced through the use of methods and systems that allow for controlled editing of specification data used in an automated build process in a user-friendly way. Particularly, one or more software tools can be used to allow editing of application proramming interfaces (API) specification data such as Web Application Description Language (WADL) or Web Service Description Language (WSDL) and/or to allow editing of elements used to generate software development kit (SDK) documentation relied upon by an automatic build system. This editing ability may lead to improved workflows whereby development personnel may have more direct access to portions of the API specification and may readily see the results of their efforts.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

accessing specification data for a data service, wherein the specification data comprises a plurality of structured markup files each corresponding to an application programming interface provided by the data service;

identifying a portion of the specification data to be edited based on a tag type of the portion, a user role of a user, and permissions associated with the user role, wherein the portion of the specification data is a section of an individual file of the plurality of structured markup files;

converting the identified portion from a first structured markup file format into a second structured markup file format;

generating an interface for editing the specification data in the second structured markup file format;

receiving data representing an edited version of the portion of specification data in the second structured markup file format;

based on the received data, updating the specification data; and

triggering an automated build to update some or all components of the data service using the specification data as updated.

3. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality of web pages pertaining to the data service, the plurality of pages comprising at least one definition page corresponding to the application programming interface and at least one documentation page for the data service;

wherein identifying the portion of the specification data to be edited comprises receiving an edit command referencing (i) the definition page or (ii) the documentation page and, in response, selecting a portion of (i) the first structured markup file or the second structured markup file for the application programming interface corresponding to the definition page or a portion of (ii) a constituent element comprising text and markup for use in generating the documentation page.

4. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein the portion for editing comprises documentation for the data service embedded in the first structured markup file or second structured markup file.

5. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein the interface for editing the specification data comprises an HTML page.

6. The method set forth in claim 5, wherein the HTML page includes an embedded text editor.

7. The method set forth in claim 5, wherein the HTML page comprises code for suggesting a parameter value for inclusion in the specification data.

21. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein the identifying of the portion includes parsing the specification data to identify one or more tag types editable by the user.

22. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein the identified portion in the first structured markup file format includes information utilized in generating the interface for editing.

2. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. A computer system comprising a processor with access to a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium tangibly embodying program components that configure operation of the computer system, the program components comprising:

a user interface module configured to provide a plurality of web pages for a data service;

a selection module configured to identify a portion of specification data of the data service for editing based on an Xpath expression and a user role of a user role, wherein the specification data comprises a plurality of structured markup files each corresponding to an application programming interface provided by the data service, wherein the portion of the specification data is a section of an individual file of the plurality of structured markup files;

a conversion module configured to parse the specification data and convert the portion from a first structured markup file format to a second structured markup file format;

an editing interface module configured to provide an interface to allow editing of the portion while in the second structured markup file format; and

a version control module configured to identify a desired change to the specification data based on an edit to the specification data received via the editing interface, adjust the specification data based on the desired change, and trigger an automated build process to update some or all components of the data service based on the adjusted specification data.

10. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the user interface module is configured to provide a plurality of web pages, the web pages comprising at least one definition page corresponding to the application programming interface and at least one documentation page for the data service;

wherein the selection module is responsive to selection of an edit command referencing the definition page to identify the portion corresponding to the application programming interface; and

wherein the selection module is responsive to selection of an edit command referencing the documentation page to identify the portion in a constituent element comprising text and markup for use by an automated build system in generating the documentation page.

11. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the editing interface module is configured to generate an HTML page comprising an embedded text editor.

13. The system set forth in claim 11, wherein the editing interface module is configured to generate the HTML page so that the page includes code for suggesting a parameter value.

14. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the user interface module is configured to receive data identifying the user.

15. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the selection module is configured to create a new portion in specification data of the data service in response to input identifying a new application programming interface or a new documentation page.

12. (canceled)

16. A computer program product comprising non-transitory program code embodied in a computer-readable medium, the program code comprising:

program code for accessing specification data for a data service, wherein the specification data comprises a plurality of structured markup files each corresponding to an application programming interface provided by the data service;

program code for identifying a portion of the specification data to be edited based on a tag type of the portion, a user role of a user, and permissions associated with the user role, the portion defined in a first structured markup file format and comprising a section of an individual file of the plurality of structured markup files;

program code for converting the identified portion into a second structured markup file format;

program code for generating an interface for editing the specification data in the second structured markup file format wherein generating the interface is based at least in part on the user permissions associated with the identified portion;

program code for receiving data representing an edited version of the specification data in the second structured markup file format;

program code for updating the specification data in the first structured markup file format based on the received data; and

program code for triggering an automated build to update some or all components of the data service using the specification data as updated.

17. The computer program product set forth in claim 16, wherein the program code further comprises program code for providing a plurality of web pages pertaining to the data service, the plurality of pages comprising at least one definition page corresponding to the application programming interface and at least one documentation page for the data service;

and

wherein identifying the portion of the specification data to be edited comprises receiving an edit command referencing (i) the definition page or (ii) the documentation page and, in response, selecting a portion of (i) the structured markup file for the application programming interface corresponding to the definition page or a portion of (ii) a constituent element comprising text and markup for use in generating the documentation page based at least in part on user permissions associated with the specification data.

18. The computer program product set forth in claim 16, wherein the interface for editing the specification data comprises an HTML page.

19. The computer program product set forth in claim 18, wherein the HTML page includes an embedded text editor.

20. The computer program product set forth in claim 16, further comprising:

program code for responding to a request made by the interface for editing the specification data and requesting a suggested parameter value.