Method and system for referring to and binding to objects using identifier objects

• US 5,682,536 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 10/28/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Williams, Antony S., Atkinson, Robert G., Jung, Edward K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kriess, Kevin A.
• Application Number:
  US08/474,330
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• Field of Search: 395/680, 395/682, 395/683, 395/684, 395/685, 395/701, 395/702, 395/703, 395/705, 395/709, 395/710
• US Class Current: 717/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/12 Use of codes for handling textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/449 Object-oriented method invocation or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A method and system for referring to and binding to objects using a moniker object is provided. In a preferred embodiment, a moniker object contains information to identify linked source data and provides methods through which a program can bind to the linked source data. A binding method is provided that returns an instance of an interface through which the linked source data can be accessed. The moniker object can identify source data that is stored persistently or nonpersistently. In addition, moniker objects can be composed to form a composite moniker object. A composite moniker object is used to identify linked source data that is nested in other data. In a preferred embodiment, the moniker object provides other methods including a reducing method that returns a more efficient representation of the moniker object; equality and hash methods for comparing moniker objects; and inverse, common prefix, and relative-path-to methods for comparing and locating moniker objects from other moniker objects. Several implementations of a moniker object are provided including a file moniker, an item moniker, a genetic composite moniker, a pointer moniker, and an anti moniker. Each implementation is a moniker class and has a class identifier that identifies code to manage the moniker class.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for generating an inverse of an identifier object, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

creating an instance of the identifier object, the created identifier object having a class identifier that identifies code having an inverse function member for generating the inverse of the identifier object; and

generating the inverse of the identifier object instance by invoking the inverse function member to create an inverse identifier object, wherein the composition of the created inverse identifier object with the created identifier object results in a null reference.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of returning the created inverse identifier object.

3. A method in a computer system for generating an inverse identifier object of a composite identifier object of a composite identifier class wherein, when the inverse identifier object is composed with the composite identifier object, the result is annihilation of the composite identifier object, the composite identifier class having naming information, the naming information having a prefix portion for indicating a prefix identifier object and having a suffix portion for indicating a suffix identifier object, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

creating an instance of the composite identifier object with the prefix portion of the naming information designating a first identifier object and the suffix portion of the naming information designating a second identifier object, the first identifier object having a class identifier that identifies inverse code, the second identifier object having a class identifier that identifies inverse code;

invoking the inverse code identified by the class identifier of the first identifier object to generate an instance of the inverse first identifier object, wherein the result of composing the inverse first identifier object with the first identifier object is annihilation of the first identifier object;

invoking the inverse code identified by the class identifier of the second identifier object to generate an instance of the inverse second identifier object, wherein the result of composing the inverse second identifier object with the second identifier object is annihilation of the second identifier object;

creating a second instance of the composite identifier object;

setting the prefix portion of the naming information of the created second instance of the composite identifier object to the generated inverse second identifier object; and

setting the suffix portion of the naming information of the created second instance of the composite identifier object to the generated inverse first identifier object.

4. A method in a computer system for removing an identifier object from a composite identifier object, the composite identifier object having a plurality of components in sequence, each component designating an identifier object, the composite identifier object having a class identifier that identifies code having a composition function member for composing a requested identifier object with the composite identifier object to form a new composite identifier object, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

creating an anti-identifier object such that composition of the antiidentifier object with another identifier object results in a null reference; and

invoking the composition function member identified by the class identifier of the composite identifier object with the created anti-identifier object as the requested identifier object, such that the anti-identifier object cancels out the last component of the plurality of components of the composite identifier object and produces a new composite identifier object with the same components as the composite identifier object but with the last component removed.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the composition function member identified by the class identifier of the composite identifier object creates the new composite identifier object without structural knowledge of the identifier objects designated by the components of the composite identifier object.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the anti-identifier object has no structural information regarding the another identifier object that the anti-identifier object is composed with.