Facility for adding dynamism to an extensible markup language

• US 6,480,865 B1
• Filed: 10/05/1998
• Issued: 11/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Susan B., Sundaresan, Neelakantan
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US09/166,042
• Time in Patent Office: 1,499 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707/530, 707/523, 707/10, 707/512
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation

Abstract

A method for annotating eXtensible Markup Language (XML) documents with dynamic functionality. The dynamic functionality comprises invocations of Java objects. These annotations belong to a different name space, and thus a Dynamic XML-Java (DXMLJ) processor recognizes elements within the XML document that are tagged with DXMLJ prefix tags, processes each of these tags, and transforms the XML document accordingly.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for transforming an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document, comprising:

(a) identifying, in a computer, one or more annotations within the XML document, wherein;

(i) the XML document is specified in a fist namespace;

(ii) the annotations are specified in a second namespace within the XML document that is different from the fist namespace;

(iii) a dynamic processor in the computer is configured to identify the annotations as belonging to the second namespace;

(b) the dynamic processor invoking, in the computer, one or more functions associated with the identified annotations belonging to the second namespace, wherein;

(i) the functions perform one or more transformations on the XML document to produce a transformed XML document;

(ii) the transformed XML document replaces one or more portions of the XML document; and

(iii) the transformed XML document can be processed by an XML processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the annotations comprise tags within the XML document.

3. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the functions are defined in Java.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the invoking step further comprises the step of instantiating one or more class specifications corresponding to the functions as one or more objects.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the class specifications comprise Java class specifications and the instantiated class specifications comprise Java objects.

6. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the transformations comprise one or more replacements to be made in the XML document.

7. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the transformations are performed based on an evaluation of one or more conditions.

8. The method of claim 7 above, where the conditions comprise one or more predicates.

9. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the conditions include one or more filters.

10. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the functions comprise one or more functions selected from a group comprising map functions, copy functions, filter functions, and permutation functions.

11. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the functions are represented by tags in the annotation language.

12. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations include an identification attribute that uniquely identifies the annotation.

13. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations include a class identifier attribute that uniquely identifies a class specification for the function.

14. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations include a reference identification attribute that uniquely identifies a location of the XML document.

15. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations include an integer attribute that uniquely identifies an argument for the annotation.

16. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations include an replace attribute that identifies whether the annotation is to be replaced by the transformation.

17. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations comprise one or more convenience tags that represent generic operations to be performed on the XML document.

18. The method of claim 1 above, wherein the annotations comprise inline programming.

19. An apparatus for transforming an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document, comprising:

(a) a computer; and

(b) dynamic processor means, performed by the computer, for identifying one or more annotations within the XML document, wherein;

(i) the XML document is specified in a first namespace;

(ii) the annotations are specified in a second namespace within the XML document that is different from the first namespace;

(iii) the dynamic processor means is configured to identify the annotations as belonging to the second namespace; and

(iv) the dynamic processor is configured to invoke one or more functions associated with the identified annotations belonging to the second namespace, wherein;

(1) the functions perform one or more transformations on the XML document to produce a transformed XML document;

(2) the transformed document replaces one or more portions of the XML document; and

(3) the transformed document can be processed by an XML processor.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the annotations comprise tags within the XML document.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the functions are defined in Java.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for invoking comprises means for instantiating one or more class specifications corresponding to the functions as one or more objects.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the class specifications comprise Java class specifications and the instantiated class specifications comprise Java objects.

24. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein transformations comprise one or more replacements to be made in the XML document.

25. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the transformations are performed based on an evaluation of one or more conditions.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 above, wherein the conditions comprise one or more predicates.

27. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the conditions include one or more filters.

28. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the functions comprise one or more functions selected from a group comprising map functions, copy functions, filter functions, and permutation functions.

29. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the functions are represented by tags in the annotation language.

30. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations include an identification attribute that uniquely identifies the annotation.

31. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations include a class identifier attribute that uniquely identifies a class specification for the function.

32. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations include a reference identification attribute that uniquely identifies a location of the XML document.

33. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations include an integer attribute that uniquely identifies an argument for the annotation.

34. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations include an replace attribute that identifies whether the annotation is to be replaced by the transformation.

35. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations comprise one or more convenience tags that represent generic operations to be performed on the XML document.

36. The apparatus of claim 19 above, wherein the annotations comprise inline programming.

37. An article of manufacture embodying logic for performing a method for transforming an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document, the method comprising:

(a) identifying, in a computer, one or more annotations within the XML document, wherein;

(i) the XML document is specified in a first namespace;

(ii) the annotations are specified in a second namespace within the XML document that is different from the first namespace;

(iii) a dynamic processor in the computer is configured to identify the annotations as belonging to the second namespace; and

(b) the dynamic processor invoking, in the computer, one or more functions associated with the identified annotations belonging to the second namespace, wherein;

(i) the functions perform one or more transformations on the XML document to produce a transformed XML document;

(ii) the transformed XML document replaces one or more portions of the XML document; and

(iii) the transformed XML document can be processed by an XML processor.

38. The article of manufacture of claim 37, wherein the annotations comprise tags within the XML document.

39. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the functions are defined in Java.

40. The article of manufacture of claim 37, wherein the invoking step further comprises the step of instantiating one or more class specifications corresponding to the functions as one or more objects.

41. The side of manufacture of claim 40, wherein the class specifications comprise Java class specifications and the instantiated class specifications comprise Java objects.

42. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the transformations comprise one or more replacements to be made in the XML document.

43. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the transformations are performed based on an evaluation of one or more conditions.

44. The article of manufacture of claim 43 above, wherein the conditions comprise one or more predicates.

45. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the conditions include one or more filters.

46. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the functions comprise one or more functions selected from a group comprising map functions, copy functions, filter functions, and permutation functions.

47. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the functions are represented by tags in the annotation language.

48. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations include an identification attribute that uniquely identifies the annotation.

49. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations include a class identifier attribute that uniquely identifies a class specification for the function.

50. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations include a reference identification attribute that uniquely identifies a location of the XML document.

51. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations include integer attribute that uniquely identifies an argument for the annotation.

52. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations include an replace attribute that identifies whether the annotation is to be replaced by the transformation.

53. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations comprise one or more convenience tags that represent generic operations to be performed on the XML document.

54. The article of manufacture of claim 37 above, wherein the annotations comprise inline programming.