Method, a language and a system for the definition and implementation of software solutions by using a visualizable computer executable modeling language

• US 7,694,272 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2003
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fidelity Information Services, LLC (Fidelity National Information Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: SunGard (Israel) Ltd. (Fidelity National Information Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bronicki, Youval, Shaked, Yariv, Szekely, Smadar, Raskin, Yishay, Brandes, Ofer
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang; Insun
• Application Number:
  US10/675,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20040107414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,379 Days
• Field of Search: 717104-109, 717/136, 717/148, 703/22, 700/83, 715/763, 715/853
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A software development platform, used to develop software applications substantially free of the need to write code. The platform includes a visualizable computer executable modeling language for the definition of software solutions. The platform also includes a visual modeling system comprising a visual modeling tool for users to develop software solutions using the modeling language, and a runtime engine software program that automatically executes the defined software solutions. The visualizable computer executable modeling language system enables defining each application by a set of: process models, each of which may contain any number of sub process model; input and output slots; data models, each of which may contain any number of sub data models; and flow rules applicable to connect pairs of slots, data models and sub-data models, thereby defining both data flow and process flow, wherein the sets of process models, slots, data models and flow rules are arranged in a structural hierarchy conforming to a set of rigid composition rules.

Claims

1. A modeling method for defining software applications by a developer using a visualizable computer executable modeling language, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of display elements for displaying screen objects on a display screen;

displaying components corresponding to said screen objects to create an application model using the modeling language by;

defining each of the software applications as a hierarchy of process models, input and output slots, data models, and flow rules, wherein the components and screen objects are used for defining each of the software applications, the defining of each of the software applications further comprising;

classifying some of said process models and said data models that must not contain any sub-process as atomic;

classifying all other process models and data models that contain one or more sub processes as composite;

defining each of said composite process models as a construction of one or more sub process models, said input and output slots, said data models, and said flow rules;

classifying inputs sent to the input slots into mandatory and optional;

defining a portion of said input slots as being one of mandatory and optional, wherein a process that requires an input at each of its mandatory input slots for its initiation, does not start before all said mandatory inputs are received;

defining each of said composite data models as a construction of one or more sub data models;

defining each of said flow rules by connecting a pair selected from said input and output slots, said data models, and the one or more sub data models, wherein said flow rules define both data flow and process flow in the process and data models, wherein said process models, data models, input and output slots, and flow rules are arranged in a structural hierarchy conforming to a set of rigid composition rules;

thus creating the application model as visually defined on the display screen by the developer using the modeling language; and

enabling a computer to automatically execute the application model defined in said modeling language without requiring further coding according to the definition of the process models, data models, input and output slots, and flow rules arranged in the hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1, operating a visualizable computer executable modeling language system for a complete definition of the software applications, said system comprising:

process models, some of which contain any number of sub process models, input and output slots, data models and flow rules;

data models, some of which contain any number of sub data models; and

flow rules, each of which connecting a pair of said input and output slots, data models and sub data models, thereby defining said data flows and process flows.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the modeling language system further comprises at least one visual representation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said visual representation comprises:

process diagrams comprising various two dimensional shapes representing said process models;

sub process diagrams comprising various two dimensional shapes contained within said process diagrams, representing said sub process models;

slot diagrams comprising various two dimensional shapes situated on the edges of said process diagrams and said sub process diagrams, representing said input and output slots;

data trees comprising hierarchical tree structures contained within said process diagrams, representing said data models and said sub data models; and

flow arrows comprising arrows connecting pairs of said slot diagrams, said data trees and sub-trees of said data tress, said arrows representing said flow rules.

5. The method of claim 2, further defining each of said input slots as having one of the following sub-classifications:

synchronous input slot (trigger); and

asynchronous input slot; and

further defining some of said output slots (exits) as having the sub-classification terminating.

6. The method of claim 2,

further defining each of said flow rules contained in said composite process models as connecting one source and one target;

and farther defining the source of each of said flow rules to be one of the following;

an input slot of said composite process models;

an output slot (exit) of a sub process model of said composite process models;

a data model of said composite process models; and

a sub data model of a data model of said composite process models;

and further defining the target of each of said flow rules to be one of the following;

an exit of said composite process models;

an input slot of a sub process model of said composite process models;

a data model of said composite process models; and

a sub data model of a data model of said composite process models.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein:

some of said process models further contain a reference to a database table (process table);

at least some of the sub data models of data models of said process models are marked as interesting fields; and

each of said interesting fields further contains a reference to a column of said process table.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

a selection condition of an SQL query (addressing clause) can be attached to an input slot of said process models to select matching instances of said process models each time data is to be received by said instances through said input slot;

said addressing clause is defined in terms of a matching condition between the interesting fields of said process models and the data models of said data to be received through said input slot.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein some of said process models further contain a reference to a computer code implementing the function of said process models.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein:

each of said composite data models is composed of said sub data models by one of the following structure means;

concatenation;

collection; and

selection, each of said sub data models having a classification as one of the following;

mandatory; and

optional;

each of said sub data models can be further marked as recurring, with a further optional indication of minimal and maximal number of occurrences;

each of said data models can further contains constraints on the data it defines, comprising at least one of the following;

legal characters; and

minimal and maximal length;

each of said data models can further comprises a set of legal values and an initial value; and

each of said data models can further comprises formatting directives.

11. The method of claim 2 operating a modeling system for defining the software applications using the visualizable computer executable modeling language system, enabling users to create, display, modify and test, in an integrated workspace, models of said modeling language, in accordance with the rules of said modeling language system, wherein said modeling system comprises a graphical user interface tool (visual modeling tool) for creating, displaying, modifying and testing models of said modeling language in an integrated workspace, such that users of said modeling tool create and edit said models using various graphical user interface (GUI) operations.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of said process models and said data models is further defined as having one of the following classifications:

dependent model which only exists as a sub model of a specific parent model; and

reusable model which can be reused as a sub model of multiple parent models, wherein each of said reusable models is assigned a unique identifier.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein models are formally represented as one of the following:

Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents;

structured database records; and

any other equivalent binary representation, and wherein a repository of said representations of said models, arranged as a hierarchy of packages and sub-packages (knowledge base), is used to maintain libraries of said models, and wherein the modeling system displays said models whose said representations are stored in said knowledge base, stores in said knowledge base said representations of new said models that are defined by the users of the modeling system, and updates said representations of said models in said knowledge base according to modifications made to said models by said users.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising at least the following editing capabilities:

selection of editing operations from menus;

adding components to said models through dragging of models from palettes of existing models; and

modifying attributes of said models and components of said models.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said workspace comprises a drawing board for displaying hierarchies of two dimensional visual diagrams, each representing a corresponding said hierarchy of models, and wherein said users are able to zoom in and out from a currently displayed part of said hierarchy of diagrams, enabling the display of the details of said model and any sub-model thereof at any desired level of said hierarchy of models.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

a software program (runtime engine) to execute models defined in said modeling language; and

a visual debugger for testing and debugging said models, wherein;

said runtime engine, as it executes said models, produces records listing the details of said execution (trace events);

said trace events are used to record and store the history of said execution; and

said visual debugger uses said stored trace events to display the current status of instances of processes, including the content of their data, as well as the processing steps that have led to said current status.

17. The method of claim 2, enabling a runtime engine to execute the applications defined in the visualizable computer executable modeling language system, wherein each of the applications is defined by a single said process model and a hierarchy of its sub-models;

and the runtime engine executes each application exactly as defined by said single process model and said hierarchy of its sub-models, thus eliminating the need for writing computer source code in any programming language to implement each application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the runtime engine farther employs:

active models comprising objects responsible for representing and enacting the definitions and rules embodied in said models, where there is an active model corresponding to each of said process models and data models;

runtime objects comprising objects containing the runtime state of instances of said process models and data models, where there may be at any time any number of runtime objects instantiated from each of said process models and data models by the corresponding said active model; and

a model loader comprising an object responsible for loading said models from their formal representations stored in a repository, converting said loaded models to corresponding said active models, and caching said active models.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the runtime engine executes each of said models as a series of processing steps, wherein:

each of said processing steps is triggered by the receipt of an external input;

the runtime engine invokes at least one instance of at least one relevant process model to handle said received input, and executes sub-processes of said invoked processes as defined by the relevant said flow rules; and

a processing step ends when any farther activities to be performed depend on the receipt of other external inputs.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the runtime engine executes each of said models as a series of processing steps by invoking at least one instance of said process models;

the full state of each of said at least one process instance is made persistent at the end of each said-processing step;

execution of each of said at least one process instance can resume from its stored state at any relevant time; and

a repository of all said at least one process instances is available for queries and retrieval by the runtime engine while executing said models or by external applications.

21. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

defining each of the applications by a single said process model and a hierarchy of its sub-models; and

generating code in a general purpose programming language implementing the application exactly as defined by said single process model and said hierarchy of its sub-models, thus eliminating the need for writing computer source code in any programming language to implement the application.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said general purpose programming language is JAVA.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said general purpose programming language is C++.

24. A method for overcoming the need to write computer source code in order to develop software applications, comprising:

creating models of the applications in a visualizable computer executable modeling language system, using a visual modeling tool, comprising;

defining each of said software applications as a hierarchy of process models, input and output slots, data models and flow rules, wherein the components and screen objects are used for defining each of the software applications, the defining step further comprising;

classifying some of said process models and said data models that must not contain any sub-process as atomic;

classifying all other process models and data models that contain one or more sub processes as composite;

defining each of said composite process models as a construction of one or more sub process models, said input and output slots, said data models, and said flow rules;

classifying inputs sent to the input slots into mandatory and optional;

defining a portion of said input slots as being one of mandatory and optional, wherein a process that requires an input at each of its mandatory input slots for its initiation does not start before all said mandatory inputs are received;

defining each of said composite data models as a construction of one or more sub data models;

defining each of said flow rules by connecting a pair selected from said input and output slots, said data models, and the one or more sub data models, wherein said flow rules define both data flow and process flow in the process and data models; and

automatically executing the logic defined by said created models without requiring further coding, wherein said process models, data models, input and output slots, and flow rules are arranged in a structural hierarchy conforming to a set of rigid composition rules.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the execution of the logic defined by said models is made by a runtime engine.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the implementation of the logic defined by said models is made by the source code in a general purpose programming language, which is generated by a code generator.

27. A software development platform having a processor for overcoming the need to write computer source code in order to develop software applications, comprising:

a visualizable computer executable modeling language for the definition of software applications, said definition developed by performing the steps of;

defining each of said software applications in a hierarchy of process models, input and output slots, data models, and flow rules, wherein said process models, input and output slots, data models and flow rules are used for defining each of the software applications, the defining step further comprising;

classifying some of said process models and said data models that must not contain any sub-process as atomic;

classifying all other process models and data models that contain one or more sub processes as composite;

defining each of said composite process models as a construction of one or more sub process models, said input and output slots, said data models, and said flow rules;

classifying inputs sent to the input slots into mandatory and optional;

defining a portion of said input slots as being one of mandatory and optional, wherein a process that requires an input at each of its mandatory input slots for its initiation does not start before all said mandatory inputs are received;

defining each of said composite data models as a construction of one or more sub data models; and

defining each of said flow rules by connecting a pair selected from said input and output slots, said data models, and the one or more sub data models, wherein said flow rules define both data flow and process flow in the process and data models;

a visual modeling tool for defining said software applications by at least one user as said hierarchies of models in said modeling language; and

a dedicated computer program to automatically execute said software applications without requiring further coding according to the logic defined by said hierarchies of models, wherein said process models, data models, input and output slots, and flow rules are arranged in a structural hierarchy conforming to a set of rigid composition rules.

28. The software development platform of claim 27, wherein said dedicated computer program is a runtime engine that automatically executes said software applications at runtime, according to the logic defined by said hierarchies of models.

29. The software development platform of claim 27, wherein said dedicated computer program is a code generator that automatically generates the source code in a general purpose programming language implementing the logic defined by said hierarchies of models.

30. A computer program product comprising memory having computer readable code embodied therein for execution on a computer, said memory storing instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform a modeling method for defining software applications using a visualizable computer executable modeling language, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of display elements for displaying screen objects on a display screen;

displaying components corresponding to said screen objects to create an application model using the modeling language by;

defining each of the software applications as a hierarchy of process models, input and output slots, data models, and flow rules, wherein the components and screen objects are used for defining each of the software applications, the defining step farther comprising;

classifying some of said process models and said data models that must not contain any sub process as atomic;

classifying all other process models and data models that contain one or more sub processes as composite;

defining each of said composite process models as a construction of one or more sub process models, said input and output slots, said data models, and said flow rules;

classifying inputs sent to the input slots into mandatory and optional;

defining a portion of said input slots as being one of mandatory and optional, wherein a process that requires an input at each of its mandatory input slots for its initiation, does not start before all said mandatory inputs are received;

defining each of said composite data models as a construction of one or more sub data models; and

defining each of said flow rules by connecting a pair selected from said input and output slots, said data models, and the one or more sub data models, wherein said flow rules define both data flow and process flow in the process and data models,

wherein said process models, data models, input and output slots, and flow rules are arranged in a structural hierarchy conforming to a set of rigid composition rules;

thus creating the application model as visually defined on the display screen by the developer using the modeling language; and

enabling a computer to automatically execute the application model defined in said modeling language without requiring further coding according to the definition of the process models, data models, input and output slots, and flow rules arranged in the hierarchy.