Method of integrating application programs to form or modify suite, and a suite integration toolkit to perform same

• US 6,473,771 B1
• Filed: 03/27/2000
• Issued: 10/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zimniewicz, Jeff A., Marino, Phillip J., Johnson, Crista
• Primary Examiner(s): RONES, CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US09/536,484
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 717/11, 395/212, 701/104
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Presented is a system and method for creating, extending, or otherwise modifying an application program suite. Specifically, by writing setup database files for each individual application to be included in a suite in accordance with the data structure required by the Suite Integration Toolkit (SIT), these applications may be combined to form, or added to, a suite. Components for a suite are listed in several sections of the setup database file. Since this list is not set to any fixed number of components, the list can be changed at any time before setup.exe is run. Once setup.exe is run, the file is parsed for the information in the relevant sections. The data in these fields is used without any understanding of the specifics of the suite, which allows the SIT engine/technology to be ignorant of the specifics of the suite. As a result, the suite owner/writer is afforded the maximum flexibility in creating or modifying a suite of applications. In addition to integrating the applications into a suite thereby allowing a single seamless install/setup, the SIT engine of the instant invention also provides proper dependency checking and error recovery. During the installation of the suite, the SIT engine determines the superset of information needed by each application for acquisition from the user. If a single application requires different information for a particular field than that required by the other programs, a separate entry for that particular program will be generated and will supply that information only to that particular program.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an application program suite setup database file having a data structure, comprising:

a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in an application program suite;

a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program suite; and

a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program suite.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the step of replacing the application setup database file and the existing suite setup database file with the extended suite setup database file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing an additional application program including an application setup database file comprises the step of segregating information required for application program installation and setup into a plurality of standard sections to form the application setup database file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of providing an existing application program suite including a suite setup database file comprises the step of segregating information required for suite program installation and setup into a plurality of standard sections to form the suite setup database file.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of combining the suite setup database file with the application setup database file to form the extended suite setup database file conforming to the standard format comprises the step of copying information from each of the plurality of standard sections of the application setup database file into corresponding standard sections of the suite setup database file.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of combining the suite setup database file with the application setup database file to form the extended suite setup database file conforming to the standard format comprises the steps of:

creating the extended suite setup database file in accordance with the standard format having a plurality of standard sections therein;

copying information from each of the plurality of standard sections of the suite setup database file into corresponding standard sections of the extended suite setup database file; and

copying information from each of the plurality of standard sections of the application setup database file into corresponding standard sections of the extended suite setup database file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of combining the suite setup database file with the application setup database file to form the extended suite setup database file conforming to the standard format is performed by using a text editor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of combining the suite setup database file with the application setup database file to form the extended suite setup database file conforming to the standard format is performed automatically by an automated tool.

2. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an application program suite, comprising:

a first application program;

a second application program; and

a suite setup database file, the suite setup database file having a data structure comprising

a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in an application program suite;

a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program suite; and

a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program suite.

3. A method of extending an existing application program suite with an additional application, comprising the steps of:

providing an existing application program suite, the existing application program suite including a suite setup database file for the existing application program suite, the suite setup database file constructed in accordance with a standard format having a data structure including a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in the application program suite, a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program suite, and a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program suite;

providing an additional application program, the additional application program including an application setup database file for the additional application, the application setup database file constructed in accordance with the standard format;

combining the suite setup database file with the application setup database file to form an extended suite setup database file, the extended suite setup database file conforming to the standard format; and

including the additional application program with the existing application program suite to form an extended application program suite including the extended suite setup database file.

11. A method of forming an application program suite, comprising the steps of:

providing a first application program, the first application program including a first setup database file for the first application program, the first setup database file constructed in accordance with a standard format having a data structure including a first data field containing data representing a complete component list of all applications included in the application program, a second data field containing data representing an install order of all of the applications included in the application program, and a third data field containing data representing a component display of all of the applications included in the application program;

providing a second application program, the second application program including a second setup database file for the second application, the second setup database file constructed in accordance with the standard format;

combining the first setup database file with the second setup database file to form a suite setup database file, the suite setup database file conforming to the standard format; and

including the first application program with the second application program suite to form an application program suite including the suite setup database file.

12. The method of claim 11, further including the step of replacing the first setup database file and the second setup database file with the suite setup database file.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing the first application program including the first setup database file comprises the step of segregating information required for the first application program installation and setup into a plurality of standard sections to form the first setup database file.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of providing the second application program including the second setup database file comprises the step of segregating information required for the second program installation and setup into a plurality of standard sections to form the second setup database file.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of combining the first setup database file with the second setup database file to form the suite setup database file conforming to the standard format comprises the step of copying information from each of the plurality of standard sections of the first setup database file into corresponding standard sections of the second setup database file.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of combining the first setup database file with the second setup database file to form the suite setup database file conforming to the standard format comprises the steps of:

creating the suite setup database file in accordance with the standard format having a plurality of standard sections therein;

copying information from each of the plurality of standard sections of the first setup database file into corresponding standard sections of the suite setup database file; and

copying information from each of the plurality of standard sections of the second setup database file into corresponding standard sections of the suite setup database file.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of combining the first setup database file with the second setup database file to form the suite setup database file conforming to the standard format is performed by using a text editor.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of combining the first setup database file with the second setup database file to form the suite setup database file conforming to the standard format is performed automatically by an automated tool.