System and method for providing interpreter applications access to server resources in a distributed network

• US 6,496,865 B1
• Filed: 03/12/1997
• Issued: 12/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Sumsion, John G., Echols, Grant G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr., William C.
• Application Number:
  US08/815,544
• Time in Patent Office: 2,106 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/330, 709/203, 709/319, 709/315, 709/219, 709/218, 709/217, 709/331, 709/225, 709/316, 709/328, 709/329, 709/310, 709/314, 707/10, 707/103, 717/5, 717/7, 717/108, 717/116, 717/136, 717/139, 717/162, 717/163, 717/164, 717/165, 717/166, 717/107, 713/167, 713/2
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A resource access system and method for providing interpreters with the ability to provide interpreter applications access to any desired server resource regardless of type of server and current capability of the client node to access such server resources. The invention is an application-level extension of the interpreter, enabling the interpreter to provide server resource access independently of the type of operating system implemented in the client node. In addition, the invention utilizes existing techniques to communicate with the server, such as a distributed object system or an existing client redirector, enabling the invention to provide such access with minimal modifications to the client or server nodes, accommodating the client node'"'"'s current capability to access the server resources. Also, the resource access system provides access without having to use a foreign application interface.

Claims

1. An interpreter system for use in a network having a client node with an interpreter application and a server node with a resource, the interpreter system comprising:

an interpreter engine for translating the interpreter application to system-level instructions appropriate for an operating system on the client node; and

an interpreter library for providing the interpreter application access to server resources that require access to be performed through an installable file system on the client node, wherein the interpreter library defines an application programming interface that is configured to perform functions utilized by the interpreter application to access resources, wherein said interpreter library includes a resource access system comprising;

a resource locator residing on the client node and being configured to interrogate the server node to obtain from the server node access information related to the resource; and

a resource accessor residing on the client node and being configured to create an object based on the access information obtained by the resource locator that can utilize methods existing on the server node to access the resource, wherein the created object includes a stream object that is configured to access the server resource using the access information provided by the resource locator to allow a server stream object to be used interchangeably with a related application stream object.

2. The interpreter system of claim 1, wherein said resource locator and said resource accessor are implemented as object-oriented libraries that supplement said interpreter library.

3. The interpreter system of claim 1, wherein the resource locator and resource accessor are implemented in the same programming language as the interpreter.

4. The interpreter system of claim 1, wherein said resource access system resides on the client node and a second resource access system resides on the server node.

5. The interpreter system of claim 4, wherein resource access requests generated by the interpreter application are transferred between said resource access system and said second resource access system using distributed object technology.

6. The interpreter system of claim 1, wherein the client node further includes a redirector for accessing the resource, said redirector configured to format requests from the resource access system and forward the requests to the server node.

14. The interpreter system of claim 1, wherein the resource locator is configured to interrogate the server node to obtain the access information using resource location methods existing on the server node.

7. A resource access system for use in an interpreter system residing in a client node with an interpreter application, the client node connected to a network with a server node having server resources, the resource access system comprising:

a resource locator residing on the client node and being configured to interrogate the server node to obtain from the server node access information related to a resource; and

a resource accessor residing on the client node and being configured to create an object based on the access information obtained by the resource locator that can utilize methods existing on the server node to access the resource, wherein the created object comprises a stream object configured to access the server resource using the access information provided by the resource locator to allow a server stream object to be used interchangeably with a related application stream object.

8. The interpreter system of claim 7, wherein said resource locator and said resource accessor are implemented as object-oriented libraries that supplement an interpreter library.

9. The interpreter system of claim 7, wherein the resource locator and the resource accessor are implemented in the same programming language as the interpreter system.

15. The interpreter system of claim 7, wherein the resource locator is configured to interrogate the server node to obtain the access information using resource location methods existing on the server node.

10. A controller for enabling a processor to access server resources on a server computer system through an interpreter application, said controller comprising:

information access means for accessing the server resources from a client to derive access information from the server; and

resource access means for using said access information to create an object that can utilize methods existing on the server to access a particular server resource residing on the server, wherein the created object comprises an object configured to access the server resource using the access information provided by the information access means to allow a server object to be used interchangeably with a related application object.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a client computer system to access resources on a server computer system through an interpreter application, said computer program product comprising:

information access means for accessing the server resources from the client to derive access information from the server; and

resource access means for using said access information to create an object that can utilize methods existing on the server to access a particular server resource residing on the server, wherein the created object comprises an object configured to access the server resource using the access information provided by the information access means to allow a server object to be used interchangeably with a related application object.

12. A method for providing an interpreter application on a client node access to a resource associated with a server node connected to the client node through a network, the method comprising the steps of:

interrogating the server node to obtain access information related to the resource; and

based on the obtained access information, creating an object on the client node that can utilize methods existing on the server node to access the resource, such that the created object allows the interpreter application on the client node to access the server resource without having to install a redirector in the client node.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of interrogating the server node to obtain access information related to the resource comprises interrogating the server node to obtain the access information using resource location methods existing on the server node.