System and method for manipulating and automatically updating enterprise application deployment descriptors

• US 7,506,327 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2004
• Issued: 03/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kovacs, Michael, Beust, Cedric
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, TUAN A
• Application Number:
  US10/772,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20040158571A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,867 Days
• Field of Search: 717101-102, 717/107, 717/118, 717/125, 717/170, 717/144, 709/230, 709/246, 707/10, 707/201, 707/1, 707100-102, 714/38, 704/1
• US Class Current: 717/144
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A system and method for updating at least one deployment descriptor, comprising creating a first representation of the at least one deployment descriptor; creating a second representation of a second at least one deployment descriptor based on one or more source files; comparing the first representation with the second representation; updating the first representation based on the second representation if the first representation is out-of-date; and wherein the method can be invoked from an integrated development environment.

Claims

1. A computer based system for automatically maintaining at least one deployment descriptor, comprising at least one computer and:

a parser operable to generate a representation of the at least one deployment descriptor;

a generator operable to create the at least one deployment descriptor;

a validator operable to validate the at least one deployment descriptor;

a graphical user interface (GUI) operable to at least invoke the parser;

wherein the GUI can include a user-selectable resource hierarchy, settings pane, message area, and toolbar and wherein when a node in the user-selectable resource hierarchy is selected, displaying at least one field in the GUI;

wherein the at least one field corresponds to a plurality of values in a plurality of deployment descriptor files;

wherein the system automatically generates a replacement deployment descriptor based on at least one application source code file associated with the at least one deployment descriptor if the at least one deployment descriptor is defective; and

wherein the system is operable to automatically deploy an application associated with the at least one deployment descriptor;

wherein the validator is further operable to

generate an error when it encounters a syntactic or semantic fault in the at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file,

use the GUI to display an error message to a user, the message being selectable by the user,

match the node corresponding to the error in the selectable message in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the message,

cause the fields of said node to be highlighted in the resource hierarchy, and

display a notification to the user in the GUI wherein the notification includes suggestions for the user to correct said fields.

2. The computer based system of claim 1 wherein:

the generator is further operable to produce the at least one deployment descriptor from at least one application source code file.

3. The computer based system of claim 1, further comprising:

a builder component operable to automatically update the at least one deployment descriptor to reflect one or more changes in at least one application source code file.

4. The computer based system of claim 1 wherein:

the representation can include information pertaining to at least one of;

a Java™

archive (JAR), a Web Archive (WAR), an Enterprise Archive (EAR), and a Java™

Connector Architecture Component (RAR).

5. The computer based system of claim 1 wherein:

the at least one deployment descriptor can be expressed as an Extensible Markup Language document.

6. A computer based system for automatically maintaining at least one deployment descriptor, comprising at least one computer and:

a parser operable to generate a first representation of the at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file;

a generator operable to create a second representation of deployment descriptor information based on at least one application source code file associated with the at least one deployment descriptor;

a graphical user interface (GUI) operable to at least invoke the parser;

wherein the GUI can include a user-selectable resource hierarchy, settings pane, message area, and toolbar and wherein when a node in the user-selectable resource hierarchy is selected, displaying at least one field in the GUI;

wherein the at least one field corresponds to a plurality of values in a plurality of deployment descriptor files;

a validator operable to validate the at least one deployment descriptor and further operable to

generate an error when it encounters a syntactic or semantic fault in the at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file,

use the GUI to display an error message to a user, the message being selectable by the user,

match the node corresponding to the error in the selectable message in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the message,

cause the fields of said node to be highlighted in the resource hierarchy, and

display a notification to the user in the GUI wherein the notification includes suggestions for the user to correct said fields;

a builder operable to compare the first representation with the second representation;

wherein the builder automatically updates the first representation to create an updated first representation based on the second representation if the builder determines that the at least one application source code file of the second representation has been modified;

wherein the system is operable to automatically generate a replacement deployment descriptor based on the at least one application source code file if the at least one deployment descriptor is defective; and

wherein the system generates new deployment descriptors from the updated first representation.

7. The computer based system of claim 6 wherein:

the generator is operable to produce the at least one deployment descriptor from the at least one application source code file.

8. The computer based system of claim 6 wherein:

a representation can include information pertaining to at least one of;

a Java™

archive (JAR), a Web Archive (WAR), an Enterprise Archive (EAR), and a Java™

Connector Architecture Component (RAR).

9. The computer based system of claim 6 wherein:

the at least one deployment descriptor can be expressed as an Extensible Markup Language document.

10. The computer based system of claim 6 wherein:

information is not deleted from the first representation after the first representation is updated.

11. The computer based system of claim 6 wherein:

information in the second representation that is not in the first representation is added to the first representation.

12. The computer based system of claim 6 wherein:

a user can modify information in the second representation.

13. A method for updating at least one deployment descriptor, comprising:

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) wherein the GUI can include a user-selectable resource hierarchy, settings pane, message area, and toolbar and wherein when a node in the user-selectable resource hierarchy is selected, displaying at least one field in the GUI;

wherein the at least one field corresponds to a plurality of values in a plurality of deployment descriptor files;

creating a first representation of the at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file;

creating a second representation of deployment descriptor information based on at least one application source code file associated with the at least one deployment descriptor;

comparing the first representation with the second representation; and

automatically updating the first representation to create an updated first representation based on the second representation if the at least one application source code file of the second representation has been modified;

generating new deployment descriptors from the updated first representation; and

validating the at least one deployment descriptor by a validator, wherein the validator is further operable to

generate an error when it encounters a syntactic or semantic fault in the at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file,

use the GUI to display an error message to a user, the message being selectable by the user,

match the node corresponding to the error in the selectable message in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the message,

cause the fields of said node to be highlighted in the resource hierarchy, and

display a notification to the user in the GUI wherein the notification includes suggestions for the user to correct said fields.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein:

the at least one deployment descriptor can include information pertaining to at least one of;

a Java™

archive (JAR), a Web Archive (WAR), an Enterprise Archive (EAR), and a Java™

Connector Architecture Component (RAR).

15. The method of claim 13 wherein:

the at least one deployment descriptor can be expressed as an Extensible Markup Language document.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein:

information is not deleted from the first representation after the first representation is updated.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein:

information in the second representation that is not in the first representation is added to the first representation.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein:

a user can modify information in the second representation.

19. A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor cause a system to:

provide a graphical user interface (GUI) wherein the GUI can include a user-selectable resource hierarchy, settings pane, message area, and toolbar and wherein when a node in the user-selectable resource hierarchy is selected, displaying at least one field in the GUI;

wherein the at least one field corresponds to a plurality of values in a plurality of deployment descriptor files;

create a first representation of at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file;

create a second representation of deployment descriptor information based on at least one application source code file associated with the at least one deployment descriptor;

compare the first representation with the second representation;

automatically update the first representation to create an updated first representation based on the second representation if the at least one application source code file of the second representation has been modified; and

generating new deployment descriptors from the updated first representation; and

validating the at least one deployment descriptor by a validator, wherein the validator is further operable to

generate an error when it encounters a syntactic or semantic fault in the at least one deployment descriptor'"'"'s file,

use the GUI to display an error message to a user, the message being selectable by the user,

match the node corresponding to the error in the selectable message in response to the user'"'"'s selection of the message,

cause the fields of said node to be highlighted in the resource hierarchy, and

display a notification to the user in the GUI wherein the notification includes suggestions for the user to correct said fields.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein:

the at least one deployment descriptor can include information pertaining to at least one of;

a Java™

archive (JAR), a Web Archive (WAR), an Enterprise Archive (EAR), and a Java™

Connector Architecture Component (RAR).

21. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein:

the at least one deployment descriptor can be expressed as an Extensible Markup Language document.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein:

information is not deleted from the first representation after the first representation is updated.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein:

information in the second representation that is not in the first representation is added to the first representation.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 19 wherein:

a user can modify information in the second representation.