Systems and Methods for Dynamic Configuration of Client-Side Development Environments Through Use of Application Servers

• US 20140289738A1
• Filed: 08/27/2009
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Paliwal, Sandeep, Kulkarni, Ramchandra
• Granted Patent: US 9,384,005 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/311
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44 Arrangements for executing specific programs

Abstract

A client-side integrated development environment (IDE) may rely on an application server for certain processing tasks, such as generating code or other output using server-side templates. The client-side IDE can itself be configured through use of the application server to handle events generated in the client-side IDE. This may allow developers to easily add and/or change IDE functionality without the need to be familiar with the IDE software architecture or programming language.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

accessing configuration data specifying functionality added to an integrated development environment (IDE) executing at a client device, the configuration data identifying an event and a code generation file to invoke at an application server in response to the identified event, wherein the configuration data further specifies application server identification information and one or more parameters to provide to the application server, wherein the code generation file is independent of a programming language used to implement the IDE;

monitoring the IDE to determine if the event occurs, wherein monitoring the IDE comprises listening to a plurality of events identified by the IDE; and

upon occurrence of the event, providing a call to the application server to invoke the code generation file mapped to the event.

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

receiving code generated by the application server; and

storing the received code as part of a project managed via the IDE.

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

determining whether one or more user interface (UI) generation rules are specified by the configuration data; and

responsive to a determination that one or more UI generation rules are specified, providing a UI element at the IDE for invoking the specified functionality based on the configuration data, wherein use of the UI element corresponds to the event that triggers providing the call to the application server.

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

receiving input via the UI element; and

providing the call to the application server to invoke the code generation file in response to receiving the input.

5. The method set forth in claim 4, further comprising receiving a parameter to pass to the server, and wherein providing a call to the application server comprises generating a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) post request to the application server, the HTTP post request including a form variable comprising an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-formatted set of information comprising the parameter.

6. The method set forth in claim 4, further comprising:

accessing the configuration data to identify a second UI element;

presenting an interface based on the second UI element;

receiving a parameter via the interface; and

providing the parameter to the application server.

7. The method set forth in claim 4, further comprising:

presenting a second UI element generated by the application server.

8. The method set forth in claim 4, further comprising:

receiving data identifying a second UI element from the application server in response to the call to invoke the code generation file;

presenting an interface based on the data identifying the second UI element;

receiving a parameter via the interface; and

providing the parameter to the application server.

9. The method set forth in claim 8, wherein the second UI element comprises a dialog box.

10. The method set forth in claim 8, wherein the second UI element comprises a Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) page presented via a browser included in the IDE.

11. The method set forth in claim 3, wherein the UI element comprises a contextual menu and the specified functionality comprises a server template selectable from a plurality of server templates identified in the contextual menu.

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

determining whether one or more user interface (UI) generation rules are specified by the configuration data;

transmitting, when determined that the one or more UI generation rules are not specified by the configuration data, a request to the application server;

receiving the one or more UI generation rules in response to the request;

providing a UI element at the IDE for invoking the specified functionality based on the one or more UI generation rules received; and

receiving input via the UI element, wherein said call to the application server comprises the input received via the UI element.

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

determining whether one or more user interface (UI) generation rules are specified by the configuration data;

responsive to a determination that one or more UI generation rules are not specified by the configuration data, transmitting a request to the application server;

receiving a UI component from the application server in response to the request; and

providing the UI component for display on the client device.

12. A computing system comprising a processor with access to a computer-readable medium embodying program components, the program components comprising:

a user interface module that configures the computing system to provide a user interface (UI) for receiving input and providing output from an integrated development environment (IDE);

a computing interface module that configures the computing system to maintain a connection to an application server identified in configuration data; and

an IDE extension manager that configures the computing system to;

access the configuration data specifying a function added to the IDE based at least in part on the configuration data, the configuration data identifying an event, a code generation file to invoke at the application server in response to the identified event, and one or more parameters to provide to the application server for use with the code generation file, wherein the code generation file is independent of a programming language used to implement the IDE;

monitor the IDE to determine if the event specified in the configuration data occurs, wherein monitoring the IDE comprises listening to a plurality of events identified by the IDE, and

provide a call to the application server to invoke the code generation file if the event occurs, wherein the specified function of the IDE comprises at least one UI element to be provided in a response from the application server.

13. The computing system set forth in claim 12, wherein the program components further comprise:

a dynamic UI module that determines whether one or more UI generation rules are specified by the configuration data, and

responsive to a determination that one or more UI generation rules are specified, provides a UI element in the user interface to invoke the specified function, wherein the event comprises receipt of input via the UI element.

14. The computing system set forth in claim 13, wherein the dynamic UI module further configures the computing system to present a second UI element generated by the application server in response to invoking the code generation file, wherein the at least one UI element comprises the second UI element.

15. The computing system set forth in claim 13, wherein the dynamic UI module further configures the computing system to present an element in the UI configured to receive a parameter to pass to the application server.

16. The computing system set forth in claim 12, wherein providing a call to the application server comprises generating a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) post request to the application server, the HTTP post request comprising Extensible Markup Language (XML)-formatted set of information comprising a parameter to pass to the application server.

17. A computer program product comprising a tangible non-transitory computer readable medium embodying program code executable by a computing system, the program code comprising:

program code for providing an integrated development environment (IDE) at a client device;

program code for accessing configuration data specifying functionality added to the IDE, the configuration data identifying a code generation file to invoke at an application server in response to an event, wherein the configuration data further specifies application server identification information and one or more parameters to provide to the application server, wherein the code generation file is independent of a programming language used to implement the IDE;

program code for monitoring the IDE to determine if the event occurs, wherein monitoring the IDE comprises listening to a plurality of events identifies by the IDE; and

program code for providing a call to the application server to invoke the code generation file mapped to the event upon occurrence of the event.

18. The computer program product set forth in claim 17, wherein the event comprises input received via a user interface (UI) element defined in the configuration data, the UI element provided by the IDE.

19. The computer program product set forth in claim 18, wherein the UI element comprises a contextual menu and the call to the application server invokes a code generation file providing a template.

20. The computer program product set forth in claim 17, further comprising:

program code for determining whether one or more user interface (UI) generation rules are specified by the configuration data;

program code for generating, based upon a determination that one or more UI generation rules are specified, a UI element in response to the call to invoke the code generation file program code for generating, based upon the determination that the one or more UI generation rules are specified, a UI element at the IDE for invoking the specified functionality based on the configuration data, wherein use of the UI element corresponds to the event that triggers providing the call to the application server.