Auditing data using observable and observer objects

• US 6,978,442 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2001
• Issued: 12/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lam, Thanh V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei Y.
• Application Number:
  US09/848,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20020165878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 717127-131, 717/116, 717/120
• US Class Current: 717/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases

Abstract

An observable object represents a feature to be audited. The observable object provides a decentralized location that includes logic responsible for auditing its own data. Should the audit detect a change in the data, a modifier object is created, which includes modify logic to accommodate the change. The modifier object is added to a pool of modifier objects, and at the appropriate time, one or more observers retrieve the modifier object and run the modify logic.

Claims

1. A method of auditing data of data entry forms, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of a data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its corresponding field;

auditing data of the plurality of fields using the plurality of observable objects; and

further comprising building a modifier object for a corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a specified event related to the corresponding field has occurred.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of observable objects provide decentralized locations for auditing the data of the plurality of fields.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified event includes a change in the data of the corresponding field.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding the modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

retrieving, by an observer, the modifier object from the pool; and

running a modifier method of said modifier object to accommodate the specified event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the modifier method comprises a modify method, and running the modify method causes changed data to be stored in a storage medium.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising informing the observer that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the observer is a test observer used for debugging.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the modifier method comprises a test method used for debugging.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically building a modifier object for each field of said plurality of fields that includes changed data, as determined by the auditing.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of observable objects provide decentralized locations for auditing the data of the plurality of fields, and wherein each observable object includes logic for use in auditing only data of its corresponding field.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising building a modifier object for a corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a specified event related to the corresponding field has occurred, wherein the building comprises automatically generating a modifier object for the corresponding field.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising registering at least one observer object with the plurality of observable objects, and wherein the method further comprises automatically forwarding each modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects, retrieving by the at least one observer object the modified object from the pool, and automatically running a modifier method of the modifier object to accommodate the specified event.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one observer object comprises a plurality of observer objects, and wherein the method further comprises automatically informing the plurality of observer object that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects, and wherein the plurality of observer objects collaborate to avoid executing the modifier method of the modifier object multiple times.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more modifier objects are to be processed in a designated order, and wherein the method further comprises associating a tag with each modifier object to enable the plurality of observer objects to retrieve modifier objects from the pool in a specified order.

16. A method of auditing data of a data entry form, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of the data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its corresponding field;

auditing data of the plurality of fields using the plurality of observable objects;

automatically building a modifier object for each corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a change has occurred in the data of the corresponding field;

automatically forwarding each modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects;

automatically informing an observer object that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects;

automatically retrieving, by the observer object, the modifier object from the pool; and

automatically running, by the observer object, a modify method of the modifier object to accommodate the change in the data of the corresponding field.

17. A method of auditing data of components of a self-monitoring framework, said method comprising:

providing an observable object for each component of a plurality of components of multiple components of said self-monitoring framework to be audited, each observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its associated component;

auditing data of said each component using the observable object corresponding to that component; and

further comprising building a modifier object for each component of said plurality of components determined by the auditing to have had a specified event for that component occur.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the specified event for a component is related to one or more operating conditions of the component.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising forwarding each modifier object to a pool of modifier objects.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

retrieving, by one or more observers, the one or more modifier objects of the pool; and

running, by the one or more observers, one or more modify methods of the one or more modifier objects retrieved from the pool to accommodate one or more specified events.

21. A system of auditing data of data entry forms, said system comprising:

means for providing a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of a data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its corresponding field;

means for auditing data of the plurality of fields using the plurality of observable objects; and

further comprising means for building a modifier object for a corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a specified event relating to the corresponding field has occurred.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the observable objects provide decentralized locations for auditing the data of the plurality of fields.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the specified event includes a change in the data of the corresponding field.

24. The system of claim 21, further comprising means for forwarding the modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

means for retrieving, by an observer, the modifier object from the pool; and

means for running a modifier method of said modifier object to accommodate the specified event.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the modifier method comprises a modify method, and the modify method causes changed data to be stored in a storage medium.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising means for informing the observer that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the observer is a test observer used for debugging.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the modifier method comprises a test method used for debugging.

30. The system of claim 21, further comprising means for automatically building a modifier object for each field of said plurality of fields that includes changed data, as determined by the auditing.

31. A system of auditing data of a data entry form, said system comprising:

means for providing a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of the data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its corresponding field;

means for auditing data of the plurality of fields using the plurality of observable objects;

means for automatically building a modifier object for each corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a change has occurred in the data of the corresponding field;

means for automatically forwarding each modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects;

means for automatically informing an observer object that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects;

means for automatically retrieving, by the observer object, the modifier object from the pool; and

means for automatically running, by the observer object, a modify method of the modifier object to accommodate the change in the data of the corresponding field.

32. A system of auditing data of components of a self-monitoring framework, said system comprising:

means for providing an observable object for each component of a plurality of components of multiple components of said self-monitoring framework to be audited, each observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its associated component;

means for auditing data of said each component using the observable object corresponding to that component; and

further comprising means for building a modifier object for each component of said plurality of components determined by the auditing to have had a specified event for that component occur.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the specified event for a component is related to one or more operating conditions of the component.

34. The system of claim 32, further comprising means for forwarding each modifier object to a pool of modifier objects.

35. The system of claim 34, further comprising:

means for retrieving, by one or more observers, the one or more modifier objects of the pool; and

means for running, by the one or more observers, one or more modify methods of the one or more modifier objects retrieved from the pool to accommodate one or more specified events.

36. A system of auditing data of a data entry form, said system comprising:

a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of the data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including auditing logic for auditing data of its corresponding field;

a modifier object automatically built for each corresponding field, in response to the auditing logic determining that a change has occurred in the data of the corresponding field;

a pool of one or more modifier objects to receive each modifier object; and

an observer informed that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects, wherein the observer retrieves the modifier object from the pool, and runs a modify method of the modifier object to accommodate the change in the data of the corresponding field.

37. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of auditing data of data entry forms, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of a data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its corresponding field;

auditing data of the plurality of fields using the plurality of observable objects; and

wherein said method further comprises building a modifier object for a corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a specified event related to the corresponding field has occurred.

38. The at least one program storage device of claim 37, wherein the plurality of observable objects provide decentralized locations for auditing the data of the plurality of fields.

39. The at least one program storage device of claim 37, wherein the specified event includes a change in the data of the corresponding field.

40. The at least one program storage device of claim 37, wherein said method further comprises forwarding the modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects.

41. The at least one program storage device of claim 40, wherein said method further comprises:

retrieving, by an observer, the modifier object from the pool; and

running a modifier method of said modifier object to accommodate the specified event.

42. The at least one program storage device of claim 41, wherein the modifier method comprises a modify method, and running the modify method causes changed data to be stored in a storage medium.

43. The at least one program storage device of claim 41, wherein said method further comprises informing the observer that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects.

44. The at least one program storage device of claim 41, wherein the observer is a test observer used for debugging.

45. The at least one program storage device of claim 44, wherein the modifier method comprises a test method used for debugging.

46. The at least one program storage device of claim 37, wherein said method further comprises automatically building a modifier object for each field of said plurality of fields that includes changed data, as determined by the auditing.

47. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of auditing data of a data entry form, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of observable objects, each observable object being provided for a different corresponding field of a plurality of fields of the data entry form to be audited, each said observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its corresponding field;

auditing data of the plurality of fields using the plurality of observable objects;

automatically building a modifier object for each corresponding field, in response to the auditing determining that a change has occurred in the data of the corresponding field;

automatically forwarding each modifier object to a pool of one or more modifier objects;

automatically informing an observer object that the modifier object has been added to the pool of one or more modifier objects;

automatically retrieving, by the observer object, the modifier object from the pool; and

automatically running, by the observer object, a modify method of the modifier object to accommodate the change in the data of the corresponding field.

48. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of auditing data of components of a self-monitoring framework, said method comprising:

providing an observable object for each component of a plurality of components of multiple components of said self-monitoring framework to be audited, each observable object including logic to be used for auditing data of its associated component;

auditing data of said each component using the observable object corresponding to that component; and

wherein said method further comprises building a modifier object for each component of said plurality of components determined by the auditing to have had a specified event for that component occur.

49. The at least one program storage device of claim 48, wherein the specified event for a component is related to one or more operating conditions of the component.

50. The at least one program storage device of claim 48, wherein said method further comprises forwarding each modifier object to a pool of modifier objects.

51. The at least one program storage device of claim 50, wherein said method further comprises:

retrieving, by one or more observers, the one or more modifier objects of the pool; and

running, by the one or more observers, one or more modify methods of the one or more modifier objects retrieved from the pool to accommodate one or more specified events.