Method and apparatus for computer program encapsulation

• US 5,075,847 A
• Filed: 05/26/1989
• Issued: 12/24/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Fromme, Brian D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cangialosi, Salvatore
• Application Number:
  US07/358,962
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 364/280.4,280.1, 364/286
• US Class Current: 717/136
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

A method and apparatus for encapsulating an application tool into a computer-aided software development system that includes a number of standard software development tools. The application tool is integrated into the software development system without modification of its code. An interface description file that defines desired operations in responding to predefined events received from the development tools and from a user interface is complied to generate a symbol table and a statement table. The symbol table and the statement table are evaluated to generate objects which define operations that are performed when responding to the predefined events. An event handler responds to the predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface by evaluating objects corresponding to the predefined events and executing the operations defined therein. Notifications received from the development tools can be utilized to trigger predefined operations by the application tool. A subprocess controller permits the application tool to be run locally or on a remote host computer.

Claims

1. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer-aided software development system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said software development system, said software development system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said system converting an interface description file that defines a predetermined behavior in responding to predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface into a set of software data structures for representing said behavior;

said system responding to said predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events; and

said system requesting action by said application tool when required by said portions of said data structures.

2. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of converting an interface description file includes the step of compiling the interface description file to generate a symbol table defining the symbols in the interface description file and a statement table defining the operations in the interface description file.

3. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 2 wherein the step of converting an interface description file includes the step of evaluating said symbol table and said statement table to generate objects containing events defining operations which are performed when responding to said predefined events.

4. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 3 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events includes the step of matching a received event to patterns stored in said data structures to identify an event corresponding to the received event.

5. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 4 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events further includes the step of evaluating and executing an operation contained in the stored event that matches the received event.

6. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 1 further including the step of said system responding to application events received from said application tool by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said application events.

7. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 1 further including the step of said system responding to system events received from said operating system by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said system events.

8. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of requesting action by said application tool includes the steps of;

determining whether the application tool is to be executed locally or on a remote host computer,

when the application tool is to be executed locally, forwarding a request directly to the application tool, and

when the application tool is to be executed on a remote host computer, forwarding a request to the remote host computer.

9. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 1 further including the step of said system responding to predefined notifications received from the development tools by triggering predefined operations that are defined in said data structures.

10. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events includes the step of communicating with the user through a window display controller.

11. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 3 wherein the step of generating objects includes the step of associating objects with events structures defining operations to be performed when responding to said predefined events.

12. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 11 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events further includes the steps of identifying an object corresponding to the received event and executing an operation contained in the event structure associated with the object.

13. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said computer system, said computer system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more standard software tools for performing predefined tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said computer system converting an interface description file that defines a predetermined behavior in responding to predefined events received from the standard software tools and from the user interface into a set of software data structures for representing said behavior;

said computer system responding to said predefined events received from the standard software tools and from the user interface by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events; and

said computer system requesting action by said application tool when required by said portions of said data structures.

14. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 13 wherein the step of converting an interface description file includes the step of compiling the interface description file to generate a symbol table defining the symbols in the interface description file and a statement table defining the operations in the interface description file.

15. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 14,/.wherein the step of converting an interface description file includes the step of evaluating said symbol table and said statement table to generate objects containing events defining operations which are performed when responding to said predefined events.

16. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 15 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events includes the step of matching a received event to patterns stored in said data structures to identify an event corresponding to the received event.

17. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 16/wherein the step of responding to said predefined events further includes the step of evaluating and executing an operation contained in the stored event that matches the received event.

18. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 13 wherein the step of requesting action by said application tool includes the steps of;

determining whether the application tool is to be executed locally or on a remote host computer,

when the application tool is to be executed locally, forwarding a request directly to the application tool, and

when the application tool is to be executed on a remote host computer, forwarding a request to the remote host computer.

19. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 13 further including the step of said computer system responding to predefined notifications received from the standard tools by triggering predefined operations that are defined in said data structures.

20. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer-aided software development system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said software development system, said software development system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said system converting an interface description file that defines a predetermined behavior in responding to predefined events received from the development tools into a set of software data structures for defining said behavior;

said system responding to predefined events received from the development tools by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events; and

said system requesting action by said application tool when required by said portions of said data structures.

21. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer-aided software development system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said software development system, said software development system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said system converting an interface description file that defines a predetermined behavior in responding to predefined events received from the user interface into a set of software data structures for defining said behavior;

said system responding to predefined events received from the user interface by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events; and

said system requesting action by said application tool when required by said portions of said data structures.

22. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer-aided software development system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said software development system, said software development system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said system compiling an interface description file that defines predetermined operations in responding to predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface to generate a symbol table defining symbols in the interface description file and a statement table defining operations in the interface description file;

said system evaluating said symbol table and said statement table to generate objects defining operations which are performed when responding to said predefined events;

said system responding to said predefined events received from the development tools and from the suer interface by evaluating objects corresponding to said predefined events and executing the operations defined therein; and

said system requesting action by said application tool when required by the operations contained in said objects.

23. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 22 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events includes the step of matching a received event to patterns stored in said data structures to identify an event corresponding to the received event.

24. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 23 wherein the step of responding to said predefined events further includes the step of evaluating and executing an operation contained in the stored event that matches the received event.

25. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 22 further including the step of said system responding to system events received from said operating system by evaluating portions of said objects corresponding to said system events.

26. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 22 wherein the step of requesting action by said application tool includes the steps of;

determining whether the application tool is to be executed locally or on a remote host computer,

when the application tool is to be executed locally, forwarding a request directly to the application tool, and

when the application tool is to be executed on a remote host computer, forwarding a request to the remote host computer.

27. A method for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 22 further including the step of said system responding to predefined notifications received from the development tools by triggering predefined operations that are defined in said objects.

28. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer-aided software development system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said software development system, said software development system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said system converting an interface description file that defines predetermined operations in responding to notifications received from the development tools into a set of software data structures representing said operations;

said system responding to a predefined notification received from one of the development tools by associating the predefined notification with one of the data structures and evaluating the corresponding data structure; and

said system executing an operation defined by the data structure.

29. Apparatus for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer-aided software development system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said software development system, said software development system including computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said apparatus comprising:

an electronic digital computer for operation with said computer software, including a central processing unit and a memory unit;

means for converting an interface description file that defines predetermined operations in responding to predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface into a set of software data structures for representing said operations;

means for responding to said predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events and executing the operations defined in said data structures; and

means for requesting action by said application tool when required by said portions of said data structures.

30. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 29 wherein said means for converting an interface description file includes means for compiling the interface description file to generate a symbol table defining the symbols in the interface description file and a statement table defining the operations in the interface description file.

31. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 30 wherein said means for converting an interface description file further includes means for evaluating said symbol table and said statement table to generate objects containing events defining operations which are performed when responding to said predefined events.

32. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 31 wherein said means for responding to said predefined events includes means for matching a received event to patterns stored in said data structures to identify an event corresponding to the received event.

33. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 32 wherein said means for responding to said predefined events further includes means for evaluating and executing an operation contained in the stored event that matches the received event.

34. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 29 further including means for responding to application events received from said application tool by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said application events.

35. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 29 further including means for responding to system events received from said operating system by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said system events.

36. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 29 wherein said means for requesting action by said application tool includes means for determining whether the application tool is to be executed locally or on a remote host computer, means for forwarding a request directly to the application tool when the application tool is to be executed locally, and means for forwarding a request to the remote host computer when the application tool is to be executed on the remote host computer.

37. Apparatus for encapsulating an application tool as defined in claim 29 further including means for responding to predefined notifications received from the development tools by triggering predefined operations that are defined in said data structures.

38. A method for encapsulating a computer software application tool into a computer system so that the encapsulated application tool functions in said computer system, said computer system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more standard software tools for performing predefined tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said computer system converting an interface description file that defines predetermined operations in responding to predefined events into a set of software data structures representing said operations; and

said computer system responding to predefined events by evaluating portions of said data structures that correspond to said predefined events and executing operations defined by said data structures.

39. A method for utilizing a computer software application tool in a computer system without modification of the application tool, said computer system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more standard software tools for performing predefined tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said computer system converting an interface description file that defines predetermined operations in responding to predefined events received from the standard software tools and from the user interface into a set of software data structures for defining said operations; and

said computer system responding to said predefined events received from the standard software tools and from the user interface by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events and executing the operations specified by said portions of said data structures.

40. A method for providing a predetermined functionality in a computer-aided software development system including an electronic digital computer and computer software for operating said computer, said computer software comprising a user interface, an operating system and one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

said system converting an interface description file that defines predetermined operations in responding to predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface into a set of software data structures for defining said operations; and

said system responding to said predefined events received from the development tools and from the user interface by evaluating portions of said data structures corresponding to said predefined events and executing the operations specified by said portions of said data structures.