Methods and systems for direct execution of XML documents

• US 7,340,728 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2001
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Philipp W. Kutter
• Original Assignee: Applied Formal Methods Institute., Inc.
• Inventors: Kutter, Philipp W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kiss; Eric B.
• Application Number:
  US09/921,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20020111965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,407 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 717/113, 717/114, 717/105, 717/109, 717/115, 717/139, 717/144, 717/146
• US Class Current: 717/139
• 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

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, system and apparatus for the direct execution of XML-documents by means of decoration of a XML-document, a document type definition (DTD) or their representation as structure tree, respectively, with textual or graphical flow charts. The structure of the XML-document'"'"' is reused for, and integrated with, the code processing the XML document.

Claims

1. A method for the direct execution of an XML-document in a data processing system, comprising:

defining a local behavior and process for each element of the XML-document;

integrating executable instructions within at least one from a group of the XML-document and a document type definition (DTD) corresponding to the XML-document; and

storing intermediate states of an execution process of the executable instructions in a memory of the data processing system by dynamically creating and redefining attributes of elements of the XML document, where the intermediate states define intermediate states of the execution process of the executable instructions.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

(a) integrating executable instructions by defining for each XML element definition and its instances an action made up of executable actions, and actions which are references to either the action defined for one of the components of the element or to an action defined for any other element of the XML document; and

(b) executing an XML-document by executing the action defined for the root of the XML document.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

defining the composition of the action for at least one XML-element definition or instance by graphical flow charts representing sequential or concurrent control- and/or data-flow.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

defining the composition of the action for at least one XML-element definition or instance in textual form representing sequential or concurrent control- and/or data-flow.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

defining a composition of the action for at least one XML-element definition or instance by graphical flow charts.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

defining the composition of the action for at least one XML-element definition or instance in textual form.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

representing system states in terms of n-dimensional data cubes;

providing an open interface by making the n-dimensional cubes readable and writeable for other programming and database systems; and

making data structures and functionalities of other programming and database systems accessible using executable instructions.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising modules stored in the memory of the data processing system that define a process for each element, where the modules are valid with respect to the following DTD (Document Type Definition), which is also stored in a memory of the data processing system:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

number CDATA “

1”

>

<

!element derived (argument*, expression)>

<

!attlist derived name CDATA>

<

!element argument EMPTY>

<

!attlist argument name CDATA>

<

!element state (action*, transition*)>

<

!attlist state name CDATA>

<

!element transition (expression, path)>

<

!element path (component?)>

<

!attlist path state CDATA “

initial”

>

<

!element component (component?)>

<

!attlist component 

 

name CDATA #REQUIRED  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

number CDATA “

1”

>

<

!element expression (path | self | src | trg | evalattr | getfirst | getnext | parent | root | apply | external | constant)>

<

!element action (setattr | ifthen | forall | external)>

<

!element src EMPTY>

<

!element trg EMPTY>

<

!element self EMPTY>

<

!element evalattr (expression?)>

<

!attlist evalattr attribute CDATA #REQUIRED>

<

!element getfirst (expression?)>

<

!attlist getfirst attribute CDATA #REQUIRED>

<

!element getnext (expression?)>

<

!element parent (expression?)>

<

!element root EMPTY>

<

!element apply (expression, expression?)>

<

!attlist apply op CDATA #REQUIRED>

<

!element external (expression*)>

<

!attlist external name CDATA language CDATA>

<

!element constant EMPTY>

<

!attlist constant value CDATA #REQUIRED>

<

!element setAttr (expression?, expression)>

<

!attlist setAttr attribute CDATA #REQUIRED>

<

!element ifihenelse (expression, action*)>

<

!element forall (action*)>

<

!attlist forall range CDATA “

all-elements”

variable CDATA>

.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modules stored in the memory of the data processing system that define a process for each element.

10. A method for the direct execution of XML documents comprising:

providing an execution specification including

a DTD;

graphical flow charts; and

transition rules;

providing an XML document instance including

an XML document;

using the DTD to validate the XML document;

constructing an attributed structure tree from the XML document;

decorating the attributed structure tree with the graphical flow charts to create a global flow chart; and

executing the global flow chart according to the transition rules to directly execute the XML document.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions for performing a method for the direct execution of XML, the method comprising:

providing an execution specification including

a DTD;

graphical flow charts; and

transition rules;

providing an XML document instance including

an XML document;

using the DTD to validate the XML document;

constructing an attributed structure tree from the XML document;

decorating the attributed structure tree with the graphical flow charts to create a global flow chart; and

executing the global flow chart according to the transition rules to directly execute the XML document.

12. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions for performing a method for the direct execution of XML-documents, the method comprising:

defining a local behavior and process for each element of the XML-document;

integrating executable instructions within at least one from a group of a document type definition (DTD) corresponding to the XML-document and the XML-document; and

storing intermediate states of an execution process of the executable instructions in a memory of the data processing system by dynamically creating and redefining attributes of elements of the XML document, where the intermediate states define intermediate states of the execution process of the executable instructions.