Declarative representation for an extensible workflow model

• US 7,631,291 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2005
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mehta, Mayank, Shukla, Dharma K., Valegerepura, Kumarswamy P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Ted T
• Application Number:
  US11/047,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20060074734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,772 Days
• Field of Search: 717101-103, 717106-119, 717140-143
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/316 Aspect-oriented programming techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Representing a componentized workflow model via a declarative markup language. Each step of the workflow is modeled as an activity that has metadata to describe design time aspects, compile time aspects, and runtime aspects of the workflow step. A user selects and arranges the activities to create the workflow via user interfaces or application programming interfaces. The metadata associated with each of the activities in the workflow is collected to create a persistent representation of the workflow. Users extend the workflow model by authoring custom activities.

Claims

1. A computerized method for creating and compiling a declarative file, said declarative file having a plurality of activities therein, said plurality of activities being arranged to create a workflow defined by a user, said computerized method comprising:

accessing the workflow stored on the memory area of a computing device;

receiving the plurality of activities from the accessed workflow defined by the user from the memory area of the computing device;

associating a plurality of serializers with the received plurality of activities, each type of the plurality of serializers being associated with metadata of each of the plurality of activities;

identifying each of the plurality of associated serializers corresponding to each of the plurality of activities, each of the identified plurality of serializers being associated with at least one of the received plurality of activities;

executing the identified plurality of serializers to transfer the metadata for the plurality of activities;

creating a declarative representation of the workflow including the transferred metadata in response to the executed plurality of the serializers, said metadata defining functionality associated with each of the plurality of activities, said created declarative representation of the workflow includes an XOML file; and

responsive to instructions received from the user for modifying one or more of the plurality of activities, modifying the created declarative representation of the workflow based on the modification from the user.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises one or more of the following:

properties, methods, and events.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises software code, and further comprising:

retrieving the metadata from the declarative representation of the workflow;

compiling the software code; and

recreating the workflow as a function of the retrieved metadata and the compiled software code.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising mapping the transferred metadata to an extensible schema definition namespace for validation.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising compiling the declarative representation of the workflow to create an executable file.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising validating each of the plurality of activities.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising associating the metadata with one or more data sources.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising defining declarative data for association with each of the plurality of activities.

9. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable components for creating and compiling a declarative file, said declarative file having a plurality of activities therein, said plurality of activities being arranged to create a workflow defined by a user, said components comprising:

an interface component for accessing the workflow stored on the memory area of a computing device, wherein the interface component receives the plurality of activities from the accessed workflow defined by the user from the memory area of the computing device, said plurality of activities having a plurality of serializers associated with the plurality of activities, said each type of the plurality of serializers being associated with metadata of each of the plurality of activities, said plurality of serializers and metadata being an integrated part of the plurality of activities;

a metadata component for identifying each of the plurality of associated serializers corresponding to each of the plurality of activities, each of the identified plurality of serializers being associated with at least one of the plurality of activities received by the interface component; and

a serialization component for executing the plurality of serializers identified by the metadata component to transfer the metadata for the plurality of activities, said serialization component creates a declarative representation of the workflow including the transferred metadata in response to the executed plurality of the serializers, said metadata defining functionality associated with each of the plurality of activities, said created declarative representation of the workflow includes an XOML file,

wherein the interface component receives modifications to one or more of the plurality of activities and wherein the serialization component modifies the created declarative representation of the workflow according to the modification from the user.

10. The computer storage media of claim 9, further comprising a validation component for mapping the transferred metadata to an extensible schema definition namespace for validation.

11. The computer storage media of claim 9, wherein the interface component comprises one or more of the following:

a graphical user interface and an application programming interface.

12. A system for creating and compiling a declarative file having a plurality of activities therein, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing a workflow, the plurality of activities included in the workflow, said plurality of activities being arranged to create the workflow defined by a user, said memory area further storing a serializer for associating with metadata of each of said plurality of activities, said metadata defining functionality associated with each of the plurality of activities; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

accessing the workflow stored on the memory area;

retrieving the plurality of activities from the memory area, said plurality of activities corresponding to the workflow defined by the user;

identifying a plurality of serializers from the memory area, each of the identified plurality of serializers being associated with at least one of the received plurality of activities, said each of the identified plurality of serializers being an integrated part of each of the plurality of activities; and

executing the identified plurality of serializers to transfer the metadata for the plurality of activities from the memory area;

creating a declarative representation of the workflow including the transferred metadata in response to the executed plurality of the serializers, said created declarative representation of the workflow includes an XOML file,

wherein the processor receives from the user a modification to one or more of the plurality of activities and wherein the processor modifies the created declarative representation of the workflow according to the modification from the user.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising means for retrieving the plurality of activities from the memory area, said plurality of activities corresponding to the workflow defined by the user.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising means for identifying a plurality of serializers from the memory area, each of the identified plurality of serializers being associated with at least one of the received plurality of activities.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising means for executing the identified plurality of serializers to transfer the metadata for the plurality of activities from the memory area to a declarative representation of the workflow.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising a component model associated with each of the plurality of activities, said component model comprising:

an icon for visually representing the activity;

software code associated with the metadata; and

a runtime application program for executing the software code.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising a data structure representing the declarative representation of the workflow, said data structure comprising:

a manifest storing identification information for the workflow; and

a list of the plurality of activities, each of the plurality of activities having properties, methods, and events associated therewith to define the workflow.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the properties comprises common language runtime types.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the identification information comprises one or more of the following:

a name, a version, a description, and an identity.