Method for establishing a new user interface via an intermingled user interface

• US 7,461,385 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2003
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QAD Incorporated
• Original Assignee: QAD Incorporated
• Inventors: Winter, Tony Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Ai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoang; Phuong N.
• Application Number:
  US10/430,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20040226027A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,037 Days
• Field of Search: 719/328, 717/114, 717/118, 717/105, 717/109, 717/134, 717/136, 711/328, 345/214, 345/594, 171/104, 171/134, 171/136, 171/137, 705/1, 703/27
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

A method of separating a function of the business logic of an application from a user interface of the application where the business logic and user interface of the application are intermingled is provided. The method includes providing a wrapper interface for the application. The method also includes providing a function of the business logic of the application separated from the user interface of the application through the wrapper interface.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a new user interface, the method comprising the steps of:

separating, using a wrapper interface, a function of business logic of an application from an intermingled user interface of the application;

hiding the intermingled user interface;

establishing a new user interface to a user such that the separated function of the business logic of the application is exposed to the user using the wrapper interface, wherein the step of establishing the new user interface includes sending a request, by a processing engine of the wrapper interface, to the intermingled user interface using the new user interface and verifying a response to the request sent by the processing engine;

emulating, by a rule processor using predetermined rules, interactions of the user; and

transforming, under the control of the rule processor, a request provided through the new user interface and the emulated interactions of the user to provide a transformed request, as the request sent by the processing engine to the intermingled user interface for processing by the intermingled user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing a wrapper interface includes wrapping the application with a Java interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of establishing the new user interface includes interacting, by the user, with the business logic of the application through the new user interface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of establishing the new user interface includes providing the new user interface as an HTML interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing an XML representation of at least a portion of the intermingled user interface from the application to a resource.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

converting the XML representation of the portion of the intermingled user interface to an HTML representation using the resource and a style sheet defining the HTML representation.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

providing the HTML representation to the user through a web browser.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

processing an interaction between the business logic of the application and the user of the application.

9. The method of the claim 8, wherein the step of processing includes at least one of processing a data entry, a data retrieval, a data update, a data removal, an error notification, or a data contention between the business logic of the application and the user of the application.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising wrapping, by the wrapper interface, each of a plurality of applications included in an enterprise resource planning application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of separating the function of business logic of an application includes providing the business logic of the application as an API separated from the intermingled user interface of the application.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

receiving, at the API, an electronic message related to an interaction between the application and an electronic message sender.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving, at the API, an XML based electronic message related to the interaction between the application and the electronic message sender.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

determining an identity of the electronic message; and

correlating the electronic message to the application using the identity.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of determining includes determining a name and a version number of the electronic message.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

determining rules for conducting the interaction between the application and the electronic message sender based on the identity of the electronic message.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

converting the electronic message to an XML format before the electronic message is received by the API.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending the request by the processing engine includes validating the request by the rule processor prior to sending the request.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of verifying the response to the request sent by the processing engine includes notifying the user of an error, if the response to the sent request is not verified.

20. A computer storage medium for storing computer program instructions when executed by a computer to cause the computer to implement the method of establishing a new user interface, the method comprising the steps of:

separating, using a wrapper interface, a function of business logic of an application from an intermingled user interface of the application;

hiding the intermingled user interface;

establishing a new user interface to a user such that the separated function of the business logic of the application is exposed to the user using the wrapper interface,

wherein the step of establishing the new user interface includes sending a request, by a processing engine of the wrapper interface, to the intermingled user interface using the new user interface and verifying a response to the request sent by the processing engine;

emulating, by a rule processor using predetermined rules, interactions of the user; and

transforming, under the control of the rule processor, a request provided through the new user interface and the emulated interactions of the user to provide a transformed request, as the request sent by the processing engine to the intermingled user interface for processing by the intermingled user interface.

21. A computer storage medium for storing computer program code including a wrapped application when executed by a computer to causes the computer to execute a method of separating business logic of an application from a user interface of the application, the wrapped application, comprising:

application code having an intermingled user interface and business logic, the intermingled user interface being hidden;

wrapper code for wrapping the application such that a function of the business logic of the application is separated from the intermingled user interface of the application through the wrapper code;

new user interface code for exposing to the user the business logic of the application using the wrapper code, the new user interface code including processing code for a sending request to the intermingled user interface and for verifying a response to the sent request such that if the response to the sent request is not unverified, the new user interface code notifies the user of an error;

emulation code for emulating, by a rule processor using predetermined rules, interactions of the user; and

transformation code for transforming, under the control of the rule processor, a request provided through the new user interface and the emulated interactions of the user to provide a transformed request, as the request sent by the processing engine to the intermingled user interface for processing by the intermingled user interface.