System and method for application flow integration in a portal framework

• US 7,240,280 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2002
• Issued: 07/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Giridhar, Sathyanarayana, Patadia, Jalpesh, Griffin, Philip B., Jolley, Chris, Howes, Jason, O'Neil, Edward K.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUTTON JR, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US10/279,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20030149722A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,713 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/80 of semi-structured data, e.g. markup language structured data such as SGML, XML or HTML content-based retrieval of web data G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1012 to domains
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1015 to users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1064 Restricting content processing at operating system level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1073 Conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1076 Revocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/18 : Delegation of network management function, e.g. customer network management [CNM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 : comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 : providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0884 : by delegation of authentication, e.g. a proxy authenticates an entity to be authenticated on behalf of this entity vis-à-vis an authentication entity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 : Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 : for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 : specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 : Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 : Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2871 : Implementation details of single intermediate entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 : involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 : Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 : Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 : Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 : Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 : Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 : Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 : Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 : Version management

Abstract

A system and a method for providing application flow integration in a portal framework. In accordance with one embodiment, the invention comprises a portal servlet, which handles all incoming servlet requests and determines whether the incoming request represents a request either for a portal page or for a non-portal page; and, a portal processor which handles all portal page requests passed by the portal servlet, and executes an appropriate webflow to update the current state of the portal page, depending on a current set of events. Each of a plurality of portlets may have an individual webflow associated with it.

Claims

1. A system for providing application flow integration in a portal framework, comprising:

a portal that provides a central access point and common look-and-feel for users of the portal to applications running at the portal;

a portal state object which represents the current state of the portal for a current user;

a portal servlet, which handles all incoming servlet requests and determines whether the incoming request represents a request either for a portal page or for a non-portal page; and

,

a portal processor which handles all portal page requests passed by the portal servlet, and executes an appropriate webflow, including detecting a current set of events and the current state of the portal, to update the current state of the portal page and a flow of application logic within the portal, depending on the current set of events.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said portal processor includes a webflow executor for receiving portal page requests and handling said portal page requests at the portal processor.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said portal processor is used to invoke webflow namespaces for the portal and any portlets to be rendered for the request, and to provide a URL to the portal servlet which is then used to forward the request to an appropriate servlet or Java Server Page as determined by the webflow.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a portal manager which provides an interface between persisted portal data and the clients of that data, by assembling a portal state object for the current user and returning it to the client.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein each of a plurality of portlets has an individual webflow associated with the portlet.

6. A method for providing application flow integration in a portal framework, comprising the steps of:

providing a portal that provides a central access point and common look-and-feel for users of the portal to applications running at the portal;

representing the current state of the portal for a current user in a portal state object;

determining whether an incoming servlet request represents a request either for a portal page or for a non-portal page; and

,

passing all portal page requests to a portal processor, and executing an appropriate webflow, including detecting a current set of events and the current state of the portal, to update the current state of the portal page, and a flow of application logic within the portal, depending on the current set of events.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said portal processor includes a webflow executor for receiving portal page requests and handling said portal page requests at the portal processor.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising the steps of:

invoking webflow namespaces for the portal and any portlets to be rendered for the request; and

,

providing a URL to the portal servlet which is used to forward the request to an appropriate servlet or Java Server Page as determined by the webflow.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of:

assembling a portal state object for the current user and returning it to the client to provide an interface between persisted portal data and the clients of that data.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein each of a plurality of portlets has an individual webflow associated with the portlet.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein each webflow is specified as a set of entries in a portlet webflow configuration file.

12. A system for providing application flow integration in a portal framework, comprising:

a portal servlet which handles all incoming servlet requests and determines whether they represent a request for either a portal page or a non-portal page;

a portal processor which handles all portal page requests, and for each request

obtains the current portal state object for the request, which represents the current state of the portal for a current user,

detects a current set of events and the current state of the portal,

executes appropriate framework logic to adjust the current state depending on the current set of events, and to modify the flow of application logic within the portal,

invokes webflow namespaces for the portal and all portlets to be rendered for the request, wherein the webflow namespaces declaratively cause execution of appropriate business logic for the given request, and,

provides a URL to the portal servlet which is used to forward the request to the appropriate servlet or Java Server Page;

a portal session which maintains the current portal page for the user and the content jsp page for each portlet; and

,

a portal manager which provides an interface between persisted portal data and the clients of that data, by assembling a portal state object for the current user and returning it to the client.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein each of a plurality of portlets has a webflow associated with it.

14. A method for providing application flow integration in a portal framework, comprising the steps of:

handling all incoming servlet requests and determining whether they represent a request for either a portal page or a non-portal page;

for each request

obtaining the current portal state object for the request, wherein the current portal state object represents the current state of the portal for a current user,

detecting a current set of events and the current state of the portal,

executing appropriate framework logic to adjust the current state depending on the current set of events, and to modify the flow of application logic within the portal,

invoking webflow namespaces for the portal and all portlets to be rendered for the request, wherein the webflow namespaces declaratively cause execution of appropriate business logic for the given request, and,

providing a URL to the portal servlet which is used to forward the request to the appropriate servlet or Java Server Page;

representing the current state of the portal for the current user;

maintaining the current portal page for the user and the content jsp page for each portlet; and

,

providing an interface between persisted portal data and the clients of that data, by assembling a portal state object for the current user and returning it to the client.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein each of a plurality of portlets has a webflow associated with it.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein each webflow is specified as a set of entries in a configuration file.