Method and apparatus to extend a program

• US 7,448,045 B1
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Issued: 11/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Extreme Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Extreme Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Ackner, Larry, Flagg, Tim, Lu, Zihong
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng-Ai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoang, Phuong N.
• Application Number:
  US10/137,772
• Time in Patent Office: 2,380 Days
• Field of Search: 719/330, 719/315, 715/760, 709/201, 717/108, 717/116, 707/1
• US Class Current: 719/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques

Abstract

A program may be extended to another program in accordance with information stored in a meta data file. A parent program is associated with the meta data file, and a child program is associated with a child description file created to conform to the information provided in the meta data file. The child description file is stored in a well-known location where it may be accessed by the parent program to learn how communicate with the child program, including which arguments and parameters to use, advantageously providing parent programs with a consistent user interface when interfacing with various child programs as well as the flexibility to add or change child description files to describe new or changed child programs as the need arises.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for extending a parent program to include the functionality of a child program, comprising:

selecting a child description file from a plurality of child description files, wherein the child description file contains fully customizable information describing how to invoke the child program and establish communication between the parent program and the child program, the information conforming to the language constraints and rules defined in a meta data file associated with the parent program;

accessing an invoking method indicator in the child description file, the invoking method indicator specifying an invoking method;

accessing a communication method indicator in the child description file, the communication method indicator specifying a communication method;

accessing an invoking argument in the invoking method of the child description file, wherein the invoking argument is used to pass a parameter data between the parent program and the child program; and

providing a user interface to receive user input data for an the first invoking argument if the first invoking argument data for the first invoking argument is not provided in the child description file, wherein the input data is validated against an invoking argument description provided in the child description file or constrained by a choice list description provided in the child description file;

wherein the invoking argument specifies a description for the parameter data, the description including any of a name, type, precision, nullability, choice list, and default value.

invoking the child program from the parent program using the invoking method; and

establishing communication between the parent program and the child program using the communication method.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

placing a first child description file in a well-known location that is accessible to the parent program, wherein the parent program searches for the first child description file in the well-known location prior to invoking the child program and establishing communication between the parent program and the child program in absence of any standard interface shared by the parent program and child program.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, where the well-known location is a preset directory.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, were in the well-known location is a search path obtained from a configuration file.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the well-known location is a registry of an operating system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, when the operating system is Microsoft Windows.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication method is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, where the communication method is Uniform Datagram Protocol (UDP).

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication method is Inter-Process Communication (IPC).

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication method is named pipes.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication method is flat files.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising accessing a communication parameter in the child description file, wherein the communication parameter is used to pass communication data between the parent program and the child program.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the communication parameter specifies a description for the communication data, the description including any of a name, type, precision, nullability, choice list, and default value.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the child program is an external program.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the child program is an in-process component.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein invoking the child program from the parent program comprises adding the in-process component to the parent program'"'"'s process name space.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the metadata file comprises a file format.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the child description file corresponds to the meta data file by conforming to the file format.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the meta data file comprises a plurality of XML tags.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the child description file conforms to the collection of XML tags.

21. An apparatus for extending a parent program to include the functionality of a child program comprising:

a plurality of child description files, a processor;

wherein each of the plurality of child description files contains fully customizable information describing how to invoke the child program and establish communication between the parent program and the child program, the information conforming to the language constraints and rules defined in a meta data file associated with the parent program; and

the parent program configured to select a child description file from among a plurality of child description files, the child description file corresponding to a child program, the child description file comprising an invoking method indicator and a communication method indicator, the parent program being further configured to invoke the child program using an invoking method specified by the invoking method indicator and establish a communication between the parent program and the child program using a communication method specified by the communication method indicator accessing an invoking argument in the invoking method of the child description file, wherein the invoking argument is used to pass a parameter data between the parent program and the child program; and

providing a user interface to receive user input data for an the first invoking argument if the first invoking argument data for the first invoking argument is not provided in the child description file, wherein the input data is validated against an invoking argument description provided in the child description file or constrained by a choice list description provided in the child description file;

wherein the invoking argument specifies a description for the parameter data, the description including any of a name, type, precision, nullability, choice list, and default value.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

a well-known location that is accessible to the parent program, wherein the parent program searches for the child description file in the well-known location prior to invoking the child program.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the well-known location is a preset directory.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, when the well-known location is a search path obtained from a configuration file.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the well-known location is a registry of an operating system.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 when the operating system is Microsoft Windows.

27. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine accessible storage medium including instructions that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to;

invoke a parent program;

select a child description file from a plurality of child description files, wherein the child description file contains information describing how to invoke a child program and establish communication between the parent program and the child program, the information conforming to the language constraints and rules defined in a meta data file associated with the parent program;

access an invoking method indicator in the child description file, the invoking method indicator specifying an invoking method;

access a communication method indicator in the child description file, the communication method indicator specifying a communication method;

accessing an invoking argument in the invoking method of the child description file, wherein the invoking argument is used to pass a parameter data between the parent program and the child program; and

providing a user interface to receive user input data for an the first invoking argument if the first invoking argument data for the first invoking argument is not provided in the child description file, wherein the input data is validated against an invoking argument description provided in the child description file or constrained by a choice list description provided in the child description file;

wherein the invoking argument specifies a description for the parameter data, the description including any of a name, type, precision, nullability, choice list, and default value.

invoke the child program from the parent program using the invoking method; and

establish communication between the parent program and the child program using the communication method.

28. The article of claim 27 wherein the instructions further cause the machine to access the child description file in a well-known location.

29. The article of claim 28, wherein the well-known location is a preset directory.

30. The article of claim 28, wherein the well-known location is a search path obtained from a configuration file.

31. The article of claim 28, wherein the well-known location is a registry of an operating system.

32. The article of claim 31, wherein the operating system is Microsoft Windows.

33. The article of claim 27, when the meta data file comprises a plurality of XML tags.

34. The article of claim 33 when the child description file conforms to the plurality of XML tags.

35. The article of claim 27, comprising:

a machine accessible storage medium including instructions that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to;

invoke the child program and establish communication between the parent program and the child program in absence of any standard interface shared by the parent program and child program.