Method and computer system for generating process management computer programs from process models

• US 6,011,917 A
• Filed: 11/07/1996
• Issued: 01/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Leymann, Frank, Roller, Dieter
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chavis, John Q.
• Application Number:
  US08/737,259
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 395/701, 395/702
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06

Abstract

A method is described for generating computer programs from process models, e.g., C++ computer programs. The generation of a computer program is based linearizing a process graph with respect to the sequence of activity execution, associating process model constructs to classes and methods of an object-oriented programming technique, and representing activities and data items as instances of classes. The generated computer programs can be compiled into executables and executed on a computer system. Advantageously, process instances can be executed on a computer system with significantly less resource consumption for managing the process instances.

Claims

1. A computerized method for automatically generating computer programs for a process executed by one person at one time at one place consecutively and managed by a computer system (209), wherein

said process is represented by a process model (101), said process model (101) comprises process model constructs (104, 105, and 106), activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2306), and input and output containers,

said input and output containers comprise data items and are associated to said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2306), and

said method including an object oriented programming technique;

said method comprising the steps of;

starting from said process model (101),

linearizing said process model (101), so that said process model (101) including said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) are executed sequentially, associating said process model constructs to classes (104,

     105) of objects of said object oriented programming technique and to method calls (106) against said objects,

mapping said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) to instances of a first class (104) of objects, the activity class,

mapping said data items in said input and output containers to instances of a second class (105) of objects, the data item class,

generating objects (107) as instances of said classes of objects, and

compiling and linking (108) said generated objects (104,

     105) and said methods (106) into executable computer programs for executing (109) said process which is managed by said computer system (209).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said process model (101) further comprise:

control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) for controlling the sequence of said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306), and

data connectors (2321,

     2322) for exchanging data between said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306);

said method further comprises the steps of;

mapping said control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) to first method calls (106) corresponding to said control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) against said objects of said activity class (104), and

mapping said data connectors (2321,

     2322) to second method calls (106) corresponding to said data connectors (2321,

     2322) against said objects of said data item class (105).

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said process model (101) further comprise:

start conditions associated to said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) for determining under which condition said respective activity can be started, transition conditions (2321, 2322, and

     2323) associated to said control connectors (2312, 2313, and

     2315) for determining whether said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) can be started, and

exit conditions associated with said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) for determining whether said activity is executed again or whether said activity is terminated;

said method further comprises the steps of;

mapping said start conditions to third method calls (106) corresponding to said start conditions against objects of said activity class (104),

mapping said transition conditions to statements corresponding to said transition conditions with fourth method calls (106) against objects of said activity class (104) and against objects of said data item class (105), and

mapping said exit conditions to statements corresponding to said exit conditions with fifth method calls against objects of said data item class (105).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said process model (101) can be designed and/or varied graphically on a computer based process management system (202), especially on the IBM FlowMark system.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said second class (105) of objects, the data item class, is a data item base class, said data item base class comprises multiple data item classes, and said data item classes inherit from said data item base class.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said data item classes support different data types, particularly support three data types STRING, LONG, and FLOAT.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said process model (101) is a process graph (102), said process graph (102) is described using the IBM FlowMark Definition Language (FDL).

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said classes of objects are classes of objects of the C++ programming language.

13. A data carrier storing a computer program, wherein said computer program is controlling a computer system (209) according to any one of claims 10-11 carrying out a method according to any one of claims 1 or 2.

14. A data carrier storing a computer program, wherein said computer program is executable to control a computer system (209) according to claim 9 carrying out a method according to claim 1.

9. A first computer system (204) for automatically generating computer programs for a process executed by one user at one time at one place consecutively and managed by a second computer system (209), wherein

said first computer system (204) including an object oriented programming technique,

said process is represented by a process model (101) comprising a process graph (102),

said process graph (102) can be designed and/or varied, and is described using IBM FlowMark Definition Language, and

said process model (101) comprises process model constructs (104, 105, and 106), said process model constructs (104, 105, and 106) representing said process model (101);

said first computer system (204) comprising;

means for linearizing said process model (101) comprising said process graph (102), so that said process model (101) is executed sequentially,

means for associating said process model constructs to classes of objects (104,

     105) of said object oriented programming technique and to method calls (106) against said objects,

means for generating objects (107) as instances of said classes of objects, and

means for compiling and linking (108) said generated objects and said methods into executable computer programs for executing said process which is managed by said second computer system (209).

10. The first computer system (204) according to claim 9, wherein said process model constructs (104, 105, and 106) comprise activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2306),

said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2306) are associated with input and output containers,

said input and output containers are associated with data items, and

said input and output containers are associated to said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2306),

said linearizing said process model (101) is a linearizing so that said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2306) are executed sequentially;

said first computer system (204) further comprising;

means for mapping said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) to instances of a first class of objects (104), the activity class, and

means for mapping said data items in said input and output containers to instances of a second class of objects (105), the data item class.

11. The first computer system according to any one of claims 9-10, wherein

said process model constructs (104, 105, and 106) further comprise:

control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) for controlling the sequence of said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306), and

data connectors (2321,

     2322) for exchanging data between said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306),

start conditions associated to said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) for determining under which condition said respective activity can be started, transition conditions (2321, 2322, and

     2323) associated to said control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) for determining whether said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) can be started, and

exit conditions associated with said activities (2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and

     2306) for determining whether said activity is executed again or whether said activity is terminated;

said first computer system (204) further comprising;

means for mapping said control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) to first method calls (106) corresponding to said control connectors (2311, 2312, 2313, 2314, 2315, and

     2316) against said objects of said activity class (104),

means for mapping said data connectors (2321,

     2322) to second method calls (106) corresponding to said data connectors (2321,

     2322) against said objects of said data item class (105),

means for mapping said start conditions to third method calls (106) corresponding to said start conditions against objects of said activity class (104),

means for mapping said transition conditions (2321, 2322, and

     2323) to statements corresponding to said transition conditions (2321, 2322, and

     2323) with fourth method calls (106) against objects of said activity class (104) and against objects of said data item class (105), and

means for mapping said exit conditions to statements corresponding to said exit conditions with fifth method calls (106) against objects of said data item class (105).

12. The first computer system according to any one of claims 9-10, wherein

said process model (101) can be designed and/or varied graphically on a computer based process management system (202);

said second class of objects (105), the data item class, is a data item base class,

said data item base class (105) comprises multiple data item classes, and

said data item classes (105) inherit from said data item base class;

said data item classes support different data types, particularly support three data types STRING, LONG, and FLOAT; and

said classes of objects are classes (104, 105, and

     106) of objects of the C++ programming language.