Method and apparatus of parameter passing of structured data for stored procedures in a content management system

• US 7,082,455 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2002
• Issued: 07/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Richardson, Dwayne L., Hu, Tawei, Yaung, Alan T., Nelson, Kenneth C., Gallagher, Ed, Richardt, Randy, Lin, James J., Liang, Lily L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J.
• Application Number:
  US10/128,260
• Publication Number:
  US 20030200256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,554 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 719/330, 713/330
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/06 Notations for structuring of protocol data, e.g. abstract syntax notation one [ASN.1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A content management system is provided including a server computer and a client computer. The server includes a data repository and a stored procedure. The disclosed methodology provides a way of handling parameter passing of structured data for stored procedures in the system. The system is capable of both encoding data into a structured data format and decoding data from the structured data format. The structured data format employs a binary large object (BLOB) and character large object (CLOB) to achieve handling of fixed length binary data and variable length character data. Advantageously, the stored procedure interface need not be rewritten and customized for each stored procedure in the server.

Claims

1. A method of communicating one or more pieces of data between a stored procedure in a server and a client connected to the server, the method comprising:

calling a utility interface program in the server to encode the one or more pieces of data, the utility interface program being called by the stored procedure;

encoding the one or more pieces of data into a binary large object (BLOB)/character large object (CLOB) pair using the utility interface program, each of the one or more pieces of data corresponding to an element in the BLOB/CLOB pair; and

transmitting the BLOB/CLOB pair to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the BLOB/CLOB pair at the client; and

calling the utility interface program in the server to decode the BLOB/CLOB pair, the utility interface program being called by the client.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pieces of data are encoded into the BLOB/CLOB pair irrespective of whether the one or more pieces of data include only binary data, only character data, or a mixture of binary and character data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pieces of data include an array of integers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pieces of data include an array of character strings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pieces of data include an array of mixed data types.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pieces of data are of variable length.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each element in the BLOB/CLOB pair includes an element ID a data type, a data length, and a data value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the BLOB/CLOB pair is orthogonal.

10. A method of communicating one or more pieces of data between a client and a stored procedure in a server connected to the method comprising:

calling a utility interface program in the server to encode the one or more pieces of data, the utility interface program being called by the client;

encoding the one or more pieces of data into a binary large object (BLOB)/character large object (CLOB) pair using the utility interface program, each of the one or more pieces of data corresponding to an element in the BLOB/CLOB pair; and

transmitting the BLOB/CLOB pair to the stored procedure.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the BLOB/CLOB pair, the BLOB/CLOB pair being received by the stored procedure; and

calling the utility interface program in the server to decode the BLOB/CLOB pair, the utility interface program being called by the stored procedure.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more pieces of data are encoded into the BLOB/CLOB pair irrespective of whether the one or more pieces of data include only binary data, only character data, or a mixture of binary and character data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more pieces of data include an array of integers.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more pieces of data include an array of character strings.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more pieces of data include an array of mixed data types.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more pieces of data are of variable length.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein element in the BLOB/CLOB pair includes an element ID a data type, a data length, and a data value.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the BLOB/CLOB pair is orthogonal.

19. A content management system comprising:

a client; and

a server connected to the client, the server being responsive to the client, wherein the server includes;

a database repository,

a stored procedure, which when executed, interacts with and performs database operations on the database repository, and

a utility interface program, which when called by the stored procedure, encodes one or more pieces of data from the stored procedure into a binary large object (BLOB)/character large object (CLOB) pair, each of the one or more pieces of data corresponding to an element in the BLOB/CLOB pair.

20. The content management system of claim 19, wherein the one or more pieces of data are encoded into the BLOB/CLOB pair irrespective of whether the one or more pieces of data include only binary data, only character data, or a mixture of binary and character data.

21. A content management system comprising:

a client; and

a server connected to the client the server being responsive to the client, wherein the server includes;

a database repository,

a stored procedure, which when executed, interacts with and performs database operations on the database repository, and

a utility interface program, which when called by the client, encodes one or more pieces of data from the client into a binary large object (BLOB)/character large object (CLOB) pair, each of the one or more pieces of data corresponding to an element in the BLOB/CLOB pair.

22. The content management system of claim 21, wherein the one or more pieces of data are encoded into the BLOB/CLOB pair irrespective of whether the one or more pieces of data include only binary data, only character data, or a mixture of binary and character data.

23. The content management system of claim 21, wherein, in response to receiving the BLOB/CLOB pair the stored procedure calls the utility interface program to decode the BLOB/CLOB pair.

24. A computer program product for communicating one or more pieces of data between a stored procedure in a server and a client connected to the server, the computer program product including a computer readable medium comprising a plurality of computer executable instructions for:

calling a utility interface program in the server to encode the one or more pieces of data the utility interface program being called by the stored procedure;

encoding the one or more pieces of data into a binary large object (BLOB)/character large object (CLOB) pair using the utility interface program, each of the one or more pieces of data corresponding to an element in the BLOB/CLOB pair; and

transmitting the BLOB/CLOB pair to the client.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the computer readable medium is an optical disk.

26. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the computer readable medium is a magnetic disk.