Computer software development incorporating core and compound services

• US 7,770,146 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Wenneker, Stefan, Rau, Stefan, Wiechers, Volker, Goetz, Oliver, Brunswig, Frank, Fiedler, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri; Anil
• Application Number:
  US11/436,613
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288508A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• Field of Search: 717104-110, 717120-123
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services

Abstract

A method is provided for providing one or more services by a service provider to a service consumer. The method may include defining a meta-model describing at least one core service and at least one compound service; creating a model for the core service based on the meta-model; and implementing the core service on the service provider based on the model. The method may also include implementing the compound service on the service provider and implementing a generic access interface on the service consumer to dynamically access the core service and the compound service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining, at service provider computer system comprising at least one processor, a meta-model describing at least a core service and a compound service, the core service supporting a fine granularity of operations that allows single operation manipulation of as little as one attribute of a requested service without accessing other attributes of the service, and the compound service supporting a large granularity of operations that allows single operation manipulation of all attributes or a set of attributes but is prevented from individually accessing the attributes of the service;

creating a model for the core service based on the meta-model, the model providing a service-specific model access interface corresponding to the core service;

implementing the core service on the service provider computer system based on the model;

implementing the compound service on the service provider;

providing, at the service provider computer system, a generic access interface on the service provider computer to provide, for the service consumer, access to the compound service and to a second core service for which no model has been created;

implementing a new core service on the service provider computer system; and

configuring a repository storing the meta-data on the service provider computer system to make the new core service available to the service consumer.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

deploying a first client application to the service consumer to access the service provider for at least one of the core service and the compound service.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing initial access to the new core service via the generic access interface.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

creating a new model that provides a new service-specific model access interface corresponding to the new core service.

5. A method comprising:

obtaining a service request by a service consumer at a service provider computer system that comprises one or more processors;

determining whether the service request is for a core service or a compound service provided by the service provider computer system, and further determining, if the service request is for the core service, whether the service provider computer system comprises a model access interface specific to the core service; and

selecting the model access interface as a selected access interface to fulfill the service request to the service consumer by the service provider computer system if the service request is for the core service and if the service provider computer system comprises the model access interface specific to the core service;

performing a type check on the selected access interface; and

generating a data container at the service provider computer system to provide runtime memory space for the service request and the selected access interface.

6. The method according to claim 5, further including:

selecting a generic access interface that the service provider computer system comprises as the selected access interface to fulfill the service request to the service consumer by the service provider computer system if the service request is for the compound service or if the service request is for the core service and the service provider computer system does not comprise the model access interface specific to the core service.

7. The method according to claim 5, further including:

determining whether the service consumer is on the service provider computer system; and

invoking the selected access interface via a direct method invocation method if the service consumer is on the service provider computer system.

8. The method according to claim 7, further including:

accessing the selected access interface via a small object access protocol (SOAP) channel between the service consumer and the service provider if the service consumer is not on the service provider computer system.

9. A system, comprising:

a service provider computer system configured to provide at least a core service and a compound service, the core service supporting a fine granularity of operations that allows single operation manipulation of as little as one attribute of a requested service without accessing other attributes of the service, and the compound service supporting a large granularity of operations that allows single operation manipulation of all attributes or a set of attributes but is prevented from individually accessing the attributes of the service;

one or more computer network connections configured to couple the service provider computer system to one or more service consumer computer systems, wherein the service provider computer system further includes a processor that performs functions comprising;

creating a model for the core service based on a meta-model describing the core service and the compound service, the model providing a service-specific model access interface corresponding to the core service,

implementing the core service on the service provider based on the model,

implementing the compound service on the service provider,

storing the meta-model in a repository on the first computer,

providing a generic access interface on the service provider computer system to provide, to at least one of the one or more service consumer computer systems, access to the compound service and to a second core service for which no model has been created;

implementing a new core service on the first computer; and

configuring the repository to make the new core service available.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the service provider computer system provides initial access to the new core service via the generic access interface.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein operations further comprise:

creating a new model that provides a new service-specific model access interface corresponding to the new core service.

12. An article comprising computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to performing operations comprising:

obtaining a service request by a service consumer at a service provider computer system that comprises one or more processors;

determining whether the service request is for a core service or a compound service provided by the service provider computer system, and further determining, if the service request is for the core service, whether the service provider computer system comprises a model access interface specific to the core service;

selecting the model access interface as a selected access interface to fulfill the service request to the service consumer by the service provider computer system if the service request is for the core service and if the service provider computer system comprises the model access interface specific to the core service

performing a type check on the selected access interface; and

generating a data container at the service provider computer system to provide runtime memory space for the service request and the selected access interface.

13. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting a generic access interface that the service provider computer system comprises as the selected access interface to fulfill the service request to the service consumer by the service provider computer system if the service request is for the compound service or if the service request is for the core service and the service provider computer system does not comprise the model access interface specific to the core service.

14. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the method further include:

determining whether the service consumer is on the service provider computer system;

invoking the selected access interface via a direct method invocation method if the service consumer is on the service provider computer system; and

accessing the selected access interface via a small object access protocol (SOAP) channel between the service consumer and the service provider if the service consumer is not on the service provider computer system.