Method and system for processing data records having multiple formats

• US 7,111,075 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2000
• Issued: 09/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Pankovcin, Igor, Patton, Daniel C., Allor, Jason M.
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US09/739,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20020078216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,101 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/246, 707/101
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

A method and system for processing data records having multiple formats is provided, in which each format to be parsed has a plug-in module associated with it. Each plug-in module has a uniform interface that can be accessed by, for example, a parsing engine or other client. The parsing engine may, in turn, provide services for manipulating data to the plug-in modules in order to assist them in performing their respective tasks. A standard format is provided to allow data from the records to be stored in a database.

Claims

1. A method for processing data records of multiple formats, the method comprising:

providing by a parsing engine a uniform interface for multiple plug-in modules, wherein each plug-in module is adapted to parsing at least one of the multiple formats and to converting data contained in the data records from a non-standard format into a standard format;

parsing, by the multiple plug-in modules, the data records into results in accordance with at least two of the multiple formats;

converting, by the multiple plug-in modules, the data records from a non-standard format into a standard format; and

receiving at the parsing engine the results of parsing and converting operations from the multiple plug-in modules through the uniform interface.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing by the parsing engine services for manipulating data from the data records, wherein the services are invokable by the multiple plug-in modules to assist the multiple plug-in modules to performing their tasks.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the services include a service to retrieve a line of text.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding from the parsing engine the parsed results in the converted standard format for storage in a database.

2. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the method of clam 1.

6. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable data comprising:

plug-in module adapted to parsing at least one data record format for parsing data records into results in accordance with the at least one data record format and converting the data contained in the data records from a non-standard format into a standard format and passing the converted data through a uniform interface to a parsing engine so that it can be stored in a database;

wherein the plug-in module is capable of being loaded by the parsing engine when a data record of the at least one data record format is to be parsed and converted.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the plug-in module is adapted to parsing one particular data record format.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the plug-in module is a COM object.

9. A method for converting data from a non-standard format to a standard format, the method comprising:

retrieving the data from a record;

loading for a parsing engine plug-in module adapted to parsing at least one data record format;

parsing the data, using the plug-in module, to determine its contents, wherein the parsing is performed in accordance with the at least one data record format;

resolving inconsistencies between the data and the standard format, using the plug-in module, to convert the data to the standard format; and

,

passing the converted data from the plug-in module through a standard interface to the parsing engine for storage in a database in the standard format.

10. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 9.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the record is a log record and the data is converted into a standard log format.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the retrieving further comprises:

calling auxiliary services from the parsing engine to retrieve the data from the record.

13. A method for converting a test log into a standard format, the method comprising:

loading for a parsing engine a log parser plug-in module to interpret the test log, wherein the plug-in module is adapted to parsing at least one test log format and to converting log data into the standard format;

parsing, by the plug-in module, the test log in accordance with the at least one test log format to determine its contents;

converting, by the plug-in module, the test log into the standard format; and

,

passing the converted data from the plug-in module through a standardized interface to the parsing engine for storage in a database in the standard format.

14. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 13.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

converting a variety of types of PASS results contained in the test log into a single PASS category.

16. The method of claim 13, farther comprising:

converting a variety of types of FAIL results contained in the test log into a single FAIL category.

17. The method of claim 13, farther comprising:

tallying all PASS results to determine an overall PASS result according to the standard format.

18. The method of claim 13, farther comprising:

tallying all FAIL results to determine an overall FAIL result according to the standard format.

19. A system for converting test logs of a variety of test log formats into a single test log format, the test logs containing software test results, the system comprising:

a plurality of log parser plug-in modules, wherein each log parser plug-in module is adapted for parsing test logs of one of the variety of test log formats and for converting test log data into the single test log format, and wherein each log parser plug-in module includes an interface conforming to the single test log format;

a log parser engine for loading a correct log parser plug-in module for a given test log format, and for calling the interface of the loaded log parser plug-in module to parse the test logs in accordance with the one of the variety of test log formats and to obtain the converted test log data in the single test log format from the loaded log parser plug-in module; and

,

a database for storing the converted test log data in the single test log format so that the software test results are accessible to multiple users.

20. A system for converting test logs of a variety of test log formats into a single test log format, the test logs containing software test results, the system comprising:

means for parsing test logs of one of the variety of test log formats and for converting test log data into the single test log format;

means for loading the means for parsing test logs that is correct for a given test log format;

means for providing the converted test log data in the single test log format to the means for loading; and

,

a database for storing the converted test log data in the single test log format so that the software test results are accessible to multiple users.