Methods and apparatus providing remote operation of an application programming interface
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for accessing a second application programming interface in a second computing environment from a first process operating in a first computing environment that cannot natively access the second application programming interface, the method comprising the steps of:
- detecting a first function call made by the first process, the first function call including a first function call parameter, the first function call and the first function call parameter not being usable as generated by the first process to access the second application programming interface;
accessing a first application programming interface definition defining (i) a mapping of the first function call and the first function call parameter to corresponding meta parameters, a first meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call and being mapped to a second function call usable to access the second application programming interface, and a second meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call parameter and being mapped to a second function call parameter usable with the second function call to access the second application programming interface;
generating an encapsulated function call containing the meta parameters; and
sending the encapsulated function call from the first computing environment destined for the second computing environment.
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Abstract
A system can analyze an application programming interface definition to automatically produce software string generator and parser software components allowing remote access to functions within the application programming interface definition by processes that are not natively compatible with the computing system environment in which the application programming interface operates. A first string generator processes can produce an encapsulated function call from a first process, such as a Java-based process, that calls a first function in a first computing environment. A second parser process operates in a second computing environment to receive the encapsulated function call and to invoke a second function call in a second process, such as a C-based process. Results from the second function call are returned to a second string generator which produces an encapsulated response that is returned to a first parser process. The first parser process maps the encapsulated response back into first function call parameters for return to the first process, thus providing access to second functions of the application programming interface by the first process.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for accessing a second application programming interface in a second computing environment from a first process operating in a first computing environment that cannot natively access the second application programming interface, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting a first function call made by the first process, the first function call including a first function call parameter, the first function call and the first function call parameter not being usable as generated by the first process to access the second application programming interface; accessing a first application programming interface definition defining (i) a mapping of the first function call and the first function call parameter to corresponding meta parameters, a first meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call and being mapped to a second function call usable to access the second application programming interface, and a second meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call parameter and being mapped to a second function call parameter usable with the second function call to access the second application programming interface; generating an encapsulated function call containing the meta parameters; and sending the encapsulated function call from the first computing environment destined for the second computing environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer system, comprising:
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an interface; a memory; a processor; and an interconnection mechanism coupling the interface, the processor and the memory; wherein the memory is encoded with a first application programming interface string generator application and a first parser application that, when performed on the processor, produce a respective first application programming interface string generator process and first parser process that cause the computer system to access a second application programming interface in a second computing environment by a first process operating in the computer system by causing the computer system to perform the operations of; detecting a first function call made by the first process, the first function call including a first function call parameter, the first function call and the first function call parameter not being usable as generated by the first process to access the second application programming interface; accessing a first application programming interface definition defining (i) a mapping of the first function call and the first function call parameter to corresponding meta parameters, a first meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call and being mapped to a second function call usable to access the second application programming interface, and a second meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call parameter and being mapped to a second function call parameter usable with the second function call to access the second application programming interface; generating an encapsulated function call containing the meta parameters; and sending the encapsulated function call from the first computing environment destined for the second computing environment. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer system, comprising:
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an interface; a memory; a processor; and an interconnection mechanism coupling the interface, the processor and the memory; wherein the memory is encoded with logic instructions that, when executed on the processor in the computer system, provide the computer system with; means for detecting a first function call made by the first process, the first function call including a first function call parameter, the first function call and the first function call parameter not being usable as generated by the first process to access the second application programming interface; means for accessing a first application programming interface definition defining (i) a mapping of the first function call and the first function call parameter to corresponding meta parameters, a first meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call and being mapped to a second function call usable to access the second application programming interface, and a second meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call parameter and being mapped to a second function call parameter usable with the second function call to access the second application programming interface; means for generating an encapsulated function call containing the meta parameters; and means for sending the encapsulated function call from the first computing environment destined for the second computing environment.
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24. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium including computer program logic encoded thereon, that when executed on a computer system having a coupling of a memory and a processor, provides a method for accessing a second application programming interface in a second computing environment from a first process operating in a first computing environment that cannot natively access the second application programming interface by causing the processor to perform the operations of:
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detecting a first function call made by the first process, the first function call including a first function call parameter, the first function call and the first function call parameter not being usable as generated by the first process to access the second application programming interface; accessing a first application programming interface definition defining (i) a mapping of the first function call and the first function call parameter to corresponding meta parameters, a first meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call and being mapped to a second function call usable to access the second application programming interface, and a second meta parameter being an intermediate representation of the first function call parameter and being mapped to a second function call parameter usable with the second function call to access the second application programming interface; generating an encapsulated function call containing the meta parameters; and sending the encapsulated function call from the first computing environment destined for the second computing environment.
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Specification