PROVIDING AN IMPROVED WEB USER INTERFACE FRAMEWORK FOR BUILDING WEB APPLICATIONS

• US 20150046915A1
• Filed: 08/05/2014
• Published: 02/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Oliver, Gordon, Abbott, Freeland Knight III
• Granted Patent: US 9,524,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for updating a web application displayed on a client machine. In some implementations, a server maintains a database of application identifiers identifying instances of one or more web applications. The server receives, from a first client machine, a communication identifying a first web application and a first application identifier, the instance of the first web application being associated with one or more components. The server determines that the first application identifier is not included in the database of application identifiers, and generates an updated application identifier for the instance of the first web application based on component version identifiers of the one or more components. The server stores the updated application identifier and transmits a notification to the first client machine indicating that the instance of the first web application is out-of-date.

Claims

1. A system for updating a web application displayed on a client machine, the system comprising:

one or more servers comprising one or more processors operable to;

maintain, on one or more storage media, a database of application identifiers identifying instances of one or more web applications on one or more client machines;

receive, from a first client machine, a communication identifying a first web application and a first application identifier for an instance of the first web application on the first client machine, the instance of the first web application on the first client machine being associated with a first one or more components, each of the first one or more components associated with a component version identifier indicating a version of the component;

determine that the first application identifier is not presently included in the database of application identifiers;

generate an updated application identifier for the instance of the first web application on the first client machine based on the component version identifier or identifiers of the first one or more components;

store the updated application identifier as one of the application identifiers in the database; and

transmit a notification to the first client machine, the notification indicating that the instance of the first web application on the first client machine is out-of-date, the notification comprising the updated application identifier.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determination that the first application identifier is not presently included in the database of application identifiers indicates that the instance of the first web application on the first client machine comprises at least one out-of-date component.

3. The system of claim 1, the one or more processors further operable to:

determine that the updated application identifier is different from the first application identifier.

4. The system of claim 1, the one or more processors further operable to:

receive, from the first client machine, a request for an updated instance of the first web application; and

transmit a response to the first client machine, the response comprising one or more component identifiers for the first one or more components to be included in an updated instance of the first web application.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein for each of the first one or more components, the one or more processors are further operable to:

receive, from the first client machine, a component request for a definition of a component; and

transmit an updated component definition to the first client machine to be rendered in a user interface at the first client machine.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein maintaining the database of application identifiers comprises:

determining that a component has been updated;

identifying, in the database, one or more application identifiers associated with web applications comprising the updated component; and

removing the identified application identifiers from the database.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein determining that a component has been updated comprises receiving a notification from a component database that a component has been updated, the notification comprising an updated component version identifier, and wherein the updated application identifier is generated based in part on the updated component version identifier for the updated component.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first one or more components are selected from a set of components associated with the first web application based on one or more criteria, the one or more criteria comprising one or more of:

a role of a user of the instance of the first web application, a position of the user, or a personalization setting of the user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the received communication is an XHR (XMLHttpRequest) request configured to trigger an action on the one or more servers.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the updated application identifier is stored and indexed in the database according to an attribute of the first web application, the attribute being an application name or an application descriptor.

11. A computer-implemented method for updating a web application displayed on a client machine, the method comprising:

maintaining, on one or more storage media, a database of application identifiers identifying instances of one or more web applications on one or more client machines;

receiving, from a first client machine, a communication identifying a first web application and a first application identifier for an instance of the first web application on the first client machine, the instance of the first web application on the first client machine being associated with a first one or more components, each of the first one or more components associated with a component version identifier indicating a version of the component;

determining that the first application identifier is not presently included in the database of application identifiers;

generating an updated application identifier for the instance of the first web application on the first client machine based on the component version identifier or identifiers of the first one or more components;

storing the updated application identifier as one of the application identifiers in the database; and

transmitting a notification to the first client machine, the notification indicating that the instance of the first web application on the first client machine is out-of-date, the notification comprising the updated application identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determination that the first application identifier is not presently included in the database of application identifiers indicates that the instance of the first web application on the first client machine comprises at least one out-of-date component.

13. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

determining that the updated application identifier is different from the first application identifier.

14. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

receiving, from the first client machine, a request for an updated instance of the first web application; and

transmitting a response to the first client machine, the response comprising one or more component version identifiers for the first one or more components to be included in an updated instance of the first web application.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein for each of the first one or more components, the method further comprises:

receiving, from the first client machine, a component request for a definition of a component; and

transmitting an updated component definition to the first client machine to be rendered in a user interface at the first client machine.

16. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code including instructions configured to cause:

maintaining, on one or more storage media, a database of application identifiers identifying instances of one or more web applications on one or more client machines;

receiving, from a first client machine, a communication identifying a first web application and a first application identifier for an instance of the first web application on the first client machine, the instance of the first web application on the first client machine being associated with a first one or more components, each of the first one or more components associated with a component version identifier indicating a version of the component;

determining that the first application identifier is not presently included in the database of application identifiers;

generating an updated application identifier for the instance of the first web application on the first client machine based on the component version identifier or identifiers of the first one or more components;

storing the updated application identifier as one of the application identifiers in the database; and

transmitting a notification to the first client machine, the notification indicating that the instance of the first web application on the first client machine is out-of-date, the notification comprising the updated application identifier.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the determination that the first application identifier is not presently included in the database of application identifiers indicates that the instance of the first web application on the first client machine comprises at least one out-of-date component.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, the instructions further configured to cause:

determining that the updated application identifier is different from the first application identifier.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, the instructions further configured to cause:

receiving, from the first client machine, a request for an updated instance of the first web application; and

transmitting a response to the first client machine, the response comprising one or more component version identifiers for the first one or more components to be included in an updated instance of the first web application.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein for each of the first one or more components, the instructions are further configured to cause:

receiving, from the first client machine, a component request for a definition of a component; and

transmitting an updated component definition to the first client machine to be rendered in a user interface at the first client machine.