System and method for caching type information for un-typed web service requests

• US 7,664,826 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2003
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kunisetty, Sunil
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): GOLD, AVI M
• Application Number:
  US10/428,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20040221008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,483 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for caching type information for parts (e.g., parameters) of an operation passed in a web service request. When an untyped request (i.e., a request in which the data types of operation parts are omitted) is received at a web service server from a client, a cache is examined to determine if type information for the requested operation'"'"'s parts exists. If not, a cache entry specific to that operation is created and populate with the necessary type information (e.g., from a WSDL document corresponding to the web service). The type information for the operation, and any global type information (i.e., for data types global to the web service), is merged for use in unmarshalling the untyped request. The operation is invoked, and any results are returned to the client.

Claims

1. A method of caching data type information for parts of a web service operation, comprising:

receiving at a web service provider a web service request, the web service request identifying a first web service operation and one or more parameters associated with the first operation, wherein data type information of the one or more parameters is omitted from the web service request;

identifying an operation name of the first operation identified by the web service request;

determining whether a first local mapping registry for the first operation exists in a cache on the web service provider;

responsive to the first local mapping registry not existing in the cache, creating the first local mapping registry for the first operation in the cache,

wherein the first local mapping registry is populated with data type information from a web service description document, the data type information being associated with the one or more parameters of the first operation, and

wherein the first local mapping registry is specific to the first operation;

creating a merged mapping registry from a global mapping registry for a plurality of operations and the cached first local mapping registry;

un-marshalling the web service request using the data type information in the merged mapping registry; and

executing the first operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first local mapping registry is configured to store only data type information associated with the one or more parameters of the first operation.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

creating the first local mapping registry only after the web service request is received.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of a plurality of web service operations other than the first operation, creating a second local mapping registry for storing data type information of the one or more parameters associated with each of the plurality of web service operations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the global mapping registry configured to cache data type information for global data types is null.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

if said global registry is not null, merging the contents of said global mapping registry and said first local mapping registry; and

using said merged contents to generate one or more programming objects to facilitate said execution of said first operation.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying the operation name of the first operation against the web service description document.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second web service request for said first web service operation;

retrieving said data type information from said first local mapping registry; and

using said retrieved data type information to facilitate execution of said first operation for said second web service request.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said using said retrieved data type information comprises generating programming objects for the one or more parameters without retrieving data type information from the web service description document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the web service request is a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request.

11. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of caching data type information for parts of a web service operation, the method comprising:

receiving at a web service provider a web service request, the web service request identifying a first web service operation and one or more parameters associated with the first operation, wherein data type information of the one or more parameters is omitted from the web service request;

identifying an operation name of the first operation identified by the web service request;

determining whether a first local mapping registry for the first operation exists in a cache on the web service provider;

responsive to the first local mapping registry not existing in the cache, creating the first local mapping registry for the first operation in the cache,

wherein the first local mapping registry is populated with data type information from a web service description document, the data type information being associated with the one or more parameters of the first operation, and

wherein the first local mapping registry is specific to the first operation,

creating a merged mapping registry from a global mapping registry for a plurality of operations and the cached first local mapping registry;

un-marshalling the web service request using the data type information in the merged mapping registry; and

executing the first operation.

12. A web server for storing data type information for untyped web service requests, comprising:

a receiver module configured to receive a web service request from a client identifying a first web service operation and one or more parameters associated with the first operation, wherein data type information of the one or more parameters is omitted from the web service request;

a request parser configured to parse said request to identify an operation name of the first operation identified by the web service request;

a cache located in the web server configured to store a first local mapping registry for the first web service operation,

wherein the first local mapping registry is populated with data type information from a web service description document, the data type information being associated with the one or more parameters of the first operation, and

wherein the first local mapping registry is specific to the first operation;

a determination logic configured to determine whether the first local mapping registry for the first operation exists in the cache in the web server;

a merged mapping registry configured to store contents from a global mapping registry for a plurality of operations and the cached first local mapping registry; and

an un-marshaller configured to un-marshal said web service request using the data type information in the merged mapping registry.

13. The web server of claim 12, wherein the global mapping registry is further configured to store data type information for data structures used in multiple operations of the web service.

14. The web server of claim 12, wherein the un-marshaller is further configured to:

match the one or more parameters of said first operation with said corresponding data type information from said first local mapping registry; and

generate programming objects for the one or more parameters without retrieving data type information from the web service description document.

15. The web server of claim 12, wherein said first local mapping registry is created only after said receiver module receives said web service request.

16. The web server of claim 12, wherein the web service request is a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request.