Asynchronous Data Manipulation

• US 20140330896A1
• Filed: 07/21/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Addala, Viswanadh, Hsu, Melody Hsinli
• Granted Patent: US 9,729,631 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Methods, program products, and systems of synchronizing data while the data is being edited by a user are disclosed. A web application system implementing a notification-based web application framework can allow a user to focus or edit data in a browser on a client device while the data displayed in the browser is being synchronized with data stored on a database server. The user edit and the synchronization can be asynchronous with one another, where editing can occur before a response from the database server is received. Accordingly, user perceived response time is improved over a conventional system where a user must wait for the response from the server before the user can proceed to edit the data.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

submitting, by a client device comprising one or more processors and to an instant web publishing engine comprising a web-side application server and a database-side application server, a request for synchronization conditions, the synchronization conditions to be associated with a data field displayed in a web browser of the client device and indicating whether asynchronous user actions are allowed on the data field, the asynchronous user actions being actions performed on data displayed in the data field before synchronizing the data with data stored in a database hosted on a database server backend of the instant web publishing engine is completed;

receiving, by the client device, a user action on the data field;

determining whether the user action is one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field as specified in the synchronization conditions received from the instant web publishing engine in response to the request;

upon determining that the user action is not one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field, synchronizing the data and allowing the user action to proceed after finishing synchronizing the data; and

upon determining that the user action is one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field, synchronizing the data and allowing the user action to proceed while synchronizing the data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the asynchronous user actions include at least one of editing the data or focusing on the data field, wherein focusing on the data field comprises tabbing to the data field, clicking on the data field, or touching the data field.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the asynchronous user actions are allowed upon if a state of the data stored on a database server will not change during the user action or that a probability that a state of the data stored on a database server will change during the user action is below a pre-specified threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if the data field is a text field and if the text field lacks a script trigger and lacks data formatting information.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if that the data is not a portal object and if the data field is not displayed in a list view.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if the client device is the only client device connected to the database.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising, after allowing the user action to proceed while synchronizing the data:

receiving a result of the synchronizing that conflicts with the user action; and

in response, overriding the user action using the result of the synchronizing.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the user action includes editing the data;

the result includes an indicator that the data is locked by another client device during the editing; and

overriding the user action comprises reverting the editing.

9. A non-transitory storage device storing a computer program product, the product operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

submitting, by a client device comprising one or more processors and to an instant web publishing engine comprising a web-side application server and a database-side application server, a request for synchronization conditions, the synchronization conditions to be associated with a data field displayed in a web browser of the client device and indicating whether asynchronous user actions are allowed on the data field, the asynchronous user actions being actions performed on data displayed in the data field before synchronizing the data with data stored in a database hosted on a database server backend of the instant web publishing engine is completed;

receiving, by the client device, a user action on the data field;

determining whether the user action is one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field as specified in the synchronization conditions received from the instant web publishing engine in response to the request;

upon determining that the user action is not one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field, synchronizing the data and allowing the user action to proceed after finishing synchronizing the data; and

upon determining that the user action is one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field, synchronizing the data and allowing the user action to proceed while synchronizing the data.

10. The non-transitory storage device of claim 9, wherein the asynchronous user actions include at least one of editing the data or focusing on the data field, wherein focusing on the data field comprises tabbing to the data field, clicking on the data field, or touching the data field.

11. The non-transitory storage device of claim 10, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the asynchronous user actions are allowed upon if a state of the data stored on a database server will not change during the user action or that a probability that a state of the data stored on a database server will change during the user action is below a pre-specified threshold.

12. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if the data field is a text field and if the text field lacks a script trigger and lacks data formatting information.

13. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if that the data is not a portal object and if the data field is not displayed in a list view.

14. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if the client device is the only client device connected to the database.

15. The non-transitory storage device of claim 9, the operations comprising, after allowing the user action to proceed while synchronizing the data:

receiving a result of the synchronizing that conflicts with the user action; and

in response, overriding the user action using the result of the synchronizing.

16. The non-transitory storage device of claim 15, wherein:

the user action includes editing the data;

the result includes an indicator that the data is locked by another client device during the editing; and

overriding the user action comprises reverting the editing.

17. A system comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory storage device storing a computer program product, the product operable to cause the one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising;

submitting, by a client device comprising one or more processors and to an instant web publishing engine comprising a web-side application server and a database-side application server, a request for synchronization conditions, the synchronization conditions to be associated with a data field displayed in a web browser of the client device and indicating whether asynchronous user actions are allowed on the data field, the asynchronous user actions being actions performed on data displayed in the data field before synchronizing the data with data stored in a database hosted on a database server backend of the instant web publishing engine is completed;

receiving, by the client device, a user action on the data field;

determining whether the user action is one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field as specified in the synchronization conditions received from the instant web publishing engine in response to the request;

upon determining that the user action is not one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field, synchronizing the data and allowing the user action to proceed after finishing synchronizing the data; and

upon determining that the user action is one of the asynchronous user actions allowed on the data field, synchronizing the data and allowing the user action to proceed while synchronizing the data.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the asynchronous user actions include at least one of editing the data or focusing on the data field, wherein focusing on the data field comprises tabbing to the data field, clicking on the data field, or touching the data field.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the asynchronous user actions are allowed upon if a state of the data stored on a database server will not change during the user action or that a probability that a state of the data stored on a database server will change during the user action is below a pre-specified threshold.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if the data field is a text field and if the text field lacks a script trigger and lacks data formatting information.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if that the data is not a portal object and if the data field is not displayed in a list view.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the synchronization conditions specify that the state of the data stored on a database server will not change if the client device is the only client device connected to the database.

23. The system of claim 17, the operations comprising, after allowing the user action to proceed while synchronizing the data:

receiving a result of the synchronizing that conflicts with the user action; and

in response, overriding the user action using the result of the synchronizing.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the user action includes editing the data;

the result includes an indicator that the data is locked by another client device during the editing; and

overriding the user action comprises reverting the editing.