Methods of using an integrated development environment to configure business applications

• US 7,720,879 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2005
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stulski, Vitaliy, Tsyganskiy, Igor, Satsuta, Eugene, Scheinkman, Luiz, Liakh, Dmitri
• Primary Examiner(s): To; Baoquoc N
• Application Number:
  US11/203,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20060242173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/72 Code refactoring

Abstract

An interactive configuration environment consistent with the present invention integrates and displays a table-based business application using a single, interactive display. When business application structures are displayed using object-oriented code structures, the business meaning of the object-oriented code structures may also be displayed in the integrated environment. Users can write a new business rule using object-oriented code, and that code may be converted into logic entities to apply the new rule in the business application. When a user rolls a mouse over an item in the object-oriented code, documentation of the underlying business meaning may be displayed in a pop-up box.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing configuration of a table-based business application, comprising:

receiving an object-oriented model representing the table-based business application;

displaying the object-oriented model and the table-based business application together in a single integrated configuration environment;

receiving a change to the object-oriented model through the integrated configuration environment;

correlating, using a processor, the change to the object-oriented model to a corresponding configuration change in the table-based business application; and

updating the single integrated configuration environment to show the object-oriented model and the table-based business application together after the change has been correlated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying the corresponding configuration change to the business application to configure a part of the business application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modeling, in the integrated configuration environment, how the corresponding configuration change would alter the business application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying further comprises:

displaying documentation from the business application together with its corresponding object-oriented structure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying further comprises:

displaying a configuration tool in the integrated configuration environment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration tool is a pop-up window having instructions for creating a new object.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration tool is a drop down list of available programming constructs.