Method, system, and program for transferring data from an application engine

• US 7,698,427 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2001
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Taejae, Yaung, Alan Tsu-I
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone; Jason D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mirza; Adnan M
• Application Number:
  US09/918,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20030023472A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,179 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 709/229, 709/228, 709/227, 705/1, 705/7, 705/8
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Provided is a method, system, and program for enabling access to resource objects in an application engine. A request is received from a calling entity for resource objects of a specified type in the application engine. A request to the application engine is generated for information on available resource objects of the specified type. In response to receiving the information from the application engine, a collection object is generated including one metadata element for each resource object of the specified type in the application engine. The generated collection object is returned to the calling entity.

Claims

1. A method for enabling access to workflow resource objects in a plurality of workflow engines, comprising:

receiving a request, from a calling entity, for workflow resource objects of a specified type in a specified workflow engine, wherein the specified type of the requested resource objects comprises at least one of workflow objects, workflow templates and work lists defined in the specified workflow engine, wherein the workflow engine is one of a plurality of workflow engines enabling access to workflow resource objects, and wherein each workflow engine provides one collection object class implementation of methods from a same abstract collection object class used to instantiate and manipulate a collection object including metadata on workflow resource objects available at the workflow engine;

generating a request to the workflow engine for information on available workflow resource objects of the specified type;

in response to receiving the information from the workflow engine, generating a collection object using methods from the collection object class for the workflow engine from which the information was returned including one metadata element for each workflow resource object of the specified type in the workflow engine, and

returning the generated collection object to the calling entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling entity comprises an application program.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling entity issues the request from a client and wherein the request is received on a server including the workflow engine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the workflow resource objects from the calling entity comprises a method that is a member of a workflow service class implementation of the workflow engine, wherein each workflow engine provides one service class implementation of methods and objects from a same abstract service class implementing the operations of receiving the request, generating the request to the workflow engine, generating the collection object, and returning the generated collection object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the workflow engine and other service engines comprise workflow products from different vendors.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the workflow service class implementations from different vendors each include methods and objects from a same abstract workflow service class specifying methods and objects to include in all workflow service class implementations.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a retrieve method in the collection object class from the calling entity requesting the workflow resource object represented by one selected metadata element in the collection object;

generating an additional request to the workflow engine for the workflow resource object requested in the retrieve method;

receiving the requested workflow resource object from the workflow engine; and

returning the requested workflow resource object to the calling entity invoking the retrieve method.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the calling entity uses methods from the collection object class to access the collection object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the generated additional request to the workflow engine is in a service class implemented by the workflow engine including methods and objects to access the workflow engine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the workflow resource object from the calling entity is in a service class implemented by the workflow engine that includes methods and objects to access the workflow engine.

11. A system for enabling access to workflow resource objects, comprising:

a plurality of workflow engines enabling access to workflow resources, wherein each workflow engine provides one collection object class implementation of methods from a same abstract collection object class used to instantiate and manipulate a collection object including metadata on resource objects available at the workflow engine;

means for receiving a request, from a calling entity, for workflow resource objects of a specified type in a specified workflow engine, wherein the specified type of the requested resource objects comprises at least one of workflow objects, workflow templates and work lists defined in the specified workflow engine;

means for generating a request to the specified workflow engine for information on available workflow resource objects of the specified type;

means for generating a collection object using methods from the collection object class for the specified workflow engine, wherein the generated collection object includes one metadata element for each resource object of the specified type in the specified workflow engine in response to receiving the information from the specified workflow engine; and

means for returning the generated collection object to the calling entity.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the calling entity comprises an application program.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the calling entity comprises a client and wherein the means for receiving the request comprises a server including the workflow engine.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for requesting the resource objects from the calling entity uses a method that is a member of a workflow service class implementation of the workflow engine, wherein each workflow engine provides one service class implementation of methods and objects from a same abstract service class implementing the means for receiving the request, generating the request to the workflow engine, generating the collection object, and returning the generated collection object.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the workflow engine and other service engines comprise workflow products from different vendors.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the workflow service class implementations from different vendors each include methods and objects from a same abstract workflow service class specifying methods and objects to include in all workflow service class implementations.

17. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for receiving a retrieve method in the collection object class from the calling entity requesting the resource object represented by one selected metadata element in the collection object;

means for generating an additional request to the workflow engine for the resource object requested in the retrieve method;

means for receiving the requested resource object from the workflow engine; and

means for returning the requested resource object to the calling entity invoking the retrieve method.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the calling entity uses methods from the collection object class to access the collection object.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for generating the additional request to the workflow engine comprises a method in a service class implemented by the workflow engine including methods and objects to access the workflow engine.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for requesting the resource object from the calling entity uses methods in a service class implemented by the application engine that includes methods and objects to access the workflow engine.

21. A computer readable medium including code for enabling access to workflow resource objects in workflow engine by:

receiving a request, from a calling entity, for workflow resource objects of a specified type in the workflow engine, wherein the workflow engine is one of a plurality of workflow engines enabling access to workflow resource objects, wherein each workflow engine provides one collection object class implementation of methods from a same abstract collection object class used to instantiate and manipulate a collection object including metadata on resource objects available at the workflow engine;

generating a request to the workflow engine for information on available workflow resource objects of the specified type, wherein the specified type of the requested resource objects comprises at least one of workflow objects, workflow templates and work lists defined in the workflow engine;

in response to receiving the information from the workflow engine, generating a collection object using methods from the collection object class including one metadata element for each workflow resource object of the specified type in the workflow engine; and

returning the generated collection object to the calling entity.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the calling entity comprises an application program.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the calling entity issues the request from a client and wherein the request is received on a server including the workflow engine.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the request for the resource objects from the calling entity comprises a method that is a member of a workflow service class implementation of the workflow engine, wherein each workflow engine provides one service class implementation of methods and objects from a same abstract service class implementing the operations of receiving the request, generating the request to the workflow engine, generating the collection object, and returning the generated collection object.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the workflow engine and other service engines comprise workflow products from different vendors.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the workflow service class implementations from different vendors each include methods and objects from a same abstract workflow service class specifying methods and objects to include in all workflow service class implementations.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving a retrieve method in the collection object class from the calling entity requesting the resource object represented by one selected metadata element in the collection object;

generating an additional request to the workflow engine for the workflow resource object requested in the retrieve method;

receiving the requested workflow resource object from the workflow engine; and

returning the requested workflow resource object to the calling entity invoking the retrieve method.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the calling entity uses methods from the collection object class to access the collection object.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the generated additional request to the workflow engine is in a service class implemented by the workflow engine including methods and objects to access the workflow engine.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the request for the workflow resource object from the calling entity is in a service class implemented by the workflow engine that includes methods and objects to access the workflow engine.