Method and system for a batch parser

• US 7,712,088 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2004
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Popa, Marius, Wories, Michiel J., Sonkin, Dmitry, Prang, Bruce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr.; Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): WANG, JUE S
• Application Number:
  US10/886,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20060010123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,126 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 717/106, 717/115
• US Class Current: 717/136
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing

Abstract

A method of generating commands for a database server includes accessing a script having parser-specific commands, a first set of database-specific commands and optional shell commands. A componentized batch parser splits out the different command types and converts the parser-specific commands into a second set of database-specific commands. The first set and second set of database-specific commands may be sent to a target database for execution. The optional shell commands may be executed by a user tool at a local console. The batch parser offers features including separation of parsing functions using batch separators, performing automatic substitution of tokens in the script with defined values or substitution of tokens by requesting token values via a client tool, stripping off comments and blanks spaces from processed commands, referencing and editing files outside the script, and the ability to connect to different servers.

Claims

1. A method of issuing commands to multiple database servers using a single script, the method comprising:

accessing the single script using a client software tool having access to multiple database servers, the script having parser-specific commands and a first set of database-specific commands;

selecting an operating mode of a batch parser from a plurality of operating modes comprising a first selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables, commands, and batch delimiters, a second selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes batch delimiters but not variables or commands, a third selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables but not batch delimiters or commands, and a fourth selectable operating mode in which the batch parser cleans up internal batch parser states;

passing the script from the client software tool to the batch parser;

splitting, at the batch parser, the script into batches comprising parser-specific commands and the first set of database-specific commands, wherein a user-defined batch separator token is used to delimit batches and wherein a value following the user-defined batch separator token indicates a number of times a batch preceding the user-defined batch separator token is to be executed;

converting the parser-specific commands into a second set of database-specific commands;

passing the first set and the second set of database-specific commands back to the client software tool; and

sending the first set and second set of database-specific commands to the multiple database servers for execution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set and the second set of database-specific commands are interleaved.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the parser-specific commands comprises performing at least one of automatically substituting tokens in the parser-specific commamds with defined values and substituting tokens by requesting a token value via a client tool to make a substitution.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising stripping off at least one of comments and blank spaces from at least one of the parser-specific commands and the database-specific commands before sending the first set and second set of database-specific commands to the multiple database servers.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising referencing files before sending commands to the multiple database servers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting a host computer to launch a text editor to perform at least one of viewing and editing a reference file before sending database-specific commands to the multiple database-servers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting a host computer to launch a viewer to perform at least one of examining and editing a list of the first set and second set of database-specific commands before sending database-specific commands to the multiple database servers.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising binding edits made to the list such that edits made to the list are reflected in the script.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing parser-specific commands found in the script before sending database-specific commands to the multiple database servers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein splitting further comprises splitting out shell commands directed to the client software tool.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting a connection to one or more servers specified in the script.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending at least one of an error output and a normal output to a destination other than a database command execution target.

13. A method of generating commands for multiple database servers using a single script, the method comprising:

accessing the single script using a client software tool having access to the multiple database servers, the script having parser-specific commands and a first set of database-specific commands;

selecting an operating mode of a batch parser from a plurality of operating modes comprising a first selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables, commands, and batch delimiters, a second selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes batch delimiters but not variables or commands, a third selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables but not batch delimiters or commands, and a fourth selectable operating mode in which the batch parser cleans up internal batch parser states;

passing the script from the client software tool to the batch parser;

splitting, at the batch parser, the script into batches comprising parser-specific commands and the first set of database-specific commands;

converting the parser-specific commands into a second set of database-specific commands;

passing the first set and the second set of database-specific commands back to the client software tool, wherein a user-defined batch separator token is used to delimit batches and wherein a value following the user-defined batch separator token indicates a number of times a batch preceding the user-defined batch separator token is to be executed; and

storing the first set and second set of database-specific commands in preparation for multiple database server execution.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein storing comprises holding the first set and the second set of database-specific commands in at least one of temporary storage and longer term storage.

15. A system for generating commands for inserting data in multiple databases residing in multiple database servers via a single script, the system comprising:

at least one client tool, the client tool calling a batch server to support the generation of commands for a database;

a processor having access to memory, the memory having commands which, when executed, perform steps comprising;

accessing the single script and splitting the script into batches comprising parser-specific commands and a first set of database-specific insert commands using a client software tool having access to multiple databases, wherein a user-defined batch separator token is used to delimit batches and wherein a value following the user-defined batch separator token indicates a number of times a batch preceding the user-defined batch separator token is to be executed;

selecting an operating mode of a batch parser from a plurality of operating modes comprising a first selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables, commands, and batch delimiters, a second selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes batch delimiters but not variables or commands, a third selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables but not batch delimiters or commands, and a fourth selectable operating mode in which the batch parser cleans up internal batch parser states;

passing the script from the client software tool to the batch parser;

converting the parser-specific commands into a second set of database-specific insert commands at least in part by using the at least one client tool to request a token value from a user and substituting a token in the parser-specific commands with the requested token value;

removing at least one of comments and blank spaces from at least one of the parser-specific commands and the database-specific insert commands before sending database-specific insert commands to a database server;

passing the first set and the second set of database-specific insert commands back to the client software tool; and

connecting to a first server, the first server having a database responsive to at least one of a first set of commands and a second set of commands; and

a communication link for connecting to at least one server.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a display having a user interface for viewing and editing at least one list of the first set of commands and the second set of commands.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein accessing and splitting the script comprises reading the script and calling a componentized parser.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein converting the parser-specific commands comprises automatically substituting at least one token in the parser-specific commands with a defined token value.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the steps further comprise at least one of referencing files and requesting the launching of a text editor before sending commands to a database server.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the steps further comprise executing parser-specific commands found in the script before sending database-specific commands to a database server.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the batch server separates out shell commands directed to the at least one client tool.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a steps for issuing commands to multiple database servers via a single script, the steps comprising:

accessing the single script using a client software tool having access to multiple database servers, the script having parser-specific commands and a first set of database-specific commands;

selecting an operating mode of a batch parser from a plurality of operating modes comprising a first selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables, commands, and batch delimiters, a second selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes batch delimiters but not variables or commands, a third selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables but not batch delimiters or commands, and a fourth selectable operating mode in which the batch parser cleans up internal batch parser states;

passing the script from the client software tool to the batch parser;

splitting, at the batch parser, the script into batches comprising parser-specific commands and the first set of database-specific commands, wherein a user-defined batch separator token is used to delimit batches;

converting the parser-specific commands into a second set of database-specific commands at least in part by using the client software tool to request a token value from a user and substituting a token in the parser-specific commands with the requested token value;

passing the first set and the second set of database-specific commands back to the client software tool; and

sending the first set and second set of database-specific commands to the multiple database servers for execution.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the first set and the second set of database-specific commands are interleaved.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the step of converting the parser-specific commands comprises automatically substituting at least one token in the parser-specific commands with a defined token value.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the steps further comprise requesting a host to launch a text editor to perform at least one of viewing and editing a reference file before sending database-specific commands to the multiple database servers.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the steps further comprise requesting a host to launch a viewer to perform at least one of examining and editing a list of the first set and second set of database-specific commands before sending database-specific commands to the multiple database servers.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the steps further comprise executing parser-specific commands found in the script before sending database-specific commands to the multiple database servers and splitting out shell commands directed to the client software tool.

28. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a steps for generating commands for multiple database servers using a single script, the steps comprising:

accessing the single script using a client software tool having access to the multiple database servers, the script having parser-specific commands and a first set of database-specific commands;

selecting an operating mode of a batch parser from a plurality of operating modes comprising a first selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables, commands, and batch delimiters, a second selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes batch delimiters but not variables or commands, a third selectable operating mode in which the batch parser recognizes variables but not batch delimiters or commands, and a fourth selectable operating mode in which the batch parser cleans up internal batch parser states;

passing the script from the client software tool to the batch parser;

splitting, at the batch parser, the script into batches comprising parser-specific commands and the first set of database-specific commands, wherein a user-defined batch separator token is used to delimit batches and wherein a value following the user-defined batch separator token indicates a number of times a batch preceding the user-defined batch separator token is to be executed;

converting the parser-specific commands into a second set of database-specific commands;

passing the first set and the second set of database-specific commands back to the client software tool; and

storing the first set and second set of database-specific commands in preparation for multiple database server execution.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the step of storing comprises holding the first set and the second set of database-specific commands in at least one of temporary storage and longer term storage.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the first set and the second set of database-specific commands are interleaved.