System and method of application development

• US 7,827,527 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raju V. Chiluvuri
• Original Assignee: Raju V. Chiluvuri
• Inventors: Chiluvuri, Raju V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kendall; Chuck O
• Application Number:
  US10/951,066
• Time in Patent Office: 2,227 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system, method and program code product for efficient component-based application development. Presentation code of a container component is generated by an integrated-components code generator (ICCG), which uses the class objects of component code generators (CCGs) as subcomponents. The CCGs, as standalone components, can generate the presentation code of the subcomponents by their code-generating method (CGM) during execution. The ICCG assemble and integrate the subcomponents'"'"' presentation code in run time and fill in the code necessary to establish communication between any two of subcomponents in the resultant web application code.

Claims

1. A system for presenting a container component in a web application containing other web elements using an executable program and at least one component code-generator for a subcomponent, the system comprising:

a client computer having a processor, data bus, RAM, an accessible storage media, and a network interface and running a suitable operating system, the client computer further comprising means for rendering web pages;

a server having a processor, data bus, RAM, a hard disk and a network interface and running a suitable operating system;

a network connection between the server and the client computer, the network connection allowing for data exchange between the server and the client computer according to a communication protocol;

storage means on the server for storing the executable program and the code of component code generator of the subcomponent, wherein the at least one component code generator is implemented in a class definition having plural variables, at least one service method, a code-generating method for generating the presentation code of the subcomponent, and the code for generating a service method of the subcomponent, and wherein the executable program contains code for instantiating or getting a class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent, code for calling the code-generating method of the class object, and code of integration logic;

request means on the client computer for sending a request through the network connection to the server for the web page containing the component;

first code-generating means for generating the presentation code of the subcomponent by getting or instantiating a class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent and executing the code-generating method of the class object;

second code-generating means for generating integration code and other necessary code of the component by executing the code of integration logic in the executable program so that the executable program gets the name of the service method of the subcomponent from the class object and generates integration code using the name;

delivery means for sending the web page containing the presentation code of the component to the client computer for rendering; and

display means for rendering the presentation code of the component on the client computer.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the executable program and the component code generator are derived from the same abstract class which implements a code-generating method, the system further comprising means for making the names of variables and names of service methods unique in the code of the container component.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the first code-generating means generates presentation code for two subcomponents by running the class objects of two component code generators, respectively for two subcomponents;

and wherein the second code-generating means generates integration code to integrate the two subcomponents or integrate one of the subcomponents with the container component.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the client computer and the server reside on a same computer, and the network connection is the loopback of the computer.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the presentation code of the component is substantially in XML-based graphic language, and the operating system of the client computer supports the graphic language.

6. The system of claim 2 further comprising means for using a global object to get unique strings and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods by adding a unique string so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the first code-generating means generates presentation code for two subcomponents by running the class objects of two component code generators, respectively for two subcomponents;

and wherein the second code-generating means is able to generates integration code to integrate the two subcomponents or integrate one of the subcomponents with the container component.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising means for logging the names of the variables and the service methods with a global lookup table and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

9. The system of claim 7 further comprising means for using a global object to get unique strings and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods by adding a unique string so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the client computer and the server reside on a same computer, and the network connection is the loopback of the computer.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising means for logging the names of the variables and the service methods with a global lookup table and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising means for using a global object to get unique strings and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods by adding a unique string so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the presentation code of the component is substantially in XML-based graphic language, and the operating system of the client computer supports the graphic language.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for logging the names of the variables and the service methods with a global lookup table and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for using a global object to get unique strings and means for changing the names of the variables and the service methods by adding a unique string so that each of the names of the variables and the service methods is unique in the container component.

16. A method of creating a platform-compatible code for a component in a web page containing at least one subcomponent and other web elements, the code of the component being created by a web server using at least one subcomponent and being sent to the platform of the client computer for rendering through a network connection between the server and the client computer, the method comprising the steps of:

building a component code generator for the at least one subcomponent in an object class definition in a suitable programming language, the class supporting plural variables, at least one service method of the subcomponent, and a code-generating method;

saving the component code generator in the server'"'"'s memory;

building an executable program in a suitable programming language, the executable program containing code for instantiating or getting a class object of the component code generator and code for instantiating the component code generator for the subcomponent;

running the executable program in response to a request for the web page from a client computer, the request containing the URL of the client computer and the specific information about the platform, the executable program performing the steps of;

(a) instantiating or getting a class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent;

(b) calling the code-generating method of the class object of the subcomponent to create the presentation code of the subcomponent;

(c) accessing the class object of the subcomponent to get the name of the service method of the subcomponent or picking up a name for a callback functions;

(d) generating integration code in application code; and

(e) generating the rest of presentation code for the container component;

sending the web page from the server to the client computer for rendering; and

displaying the web page on the client computer.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein one of the at least one component code generator of the subcomponent further comprises code of business logic encapsulated in the object class definition, and wherein the component code generator further includes code for acquiring real-time data and code for setting the values of the variables of the subcomponents before the code-generating method is called.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of generating integration code further comprises creating the body of at least one callback function using the name of the service method in the subcomponent, and registering a callback, whereby the subcomponent is able to communicate with the component or one of the other web elements by using the callback function.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of generating integration code further comprises writing part of integration code by the object of one of the component code generators by using its set method, creating the body of at least one callback function using the names of the service methods in the subcomponents, and registering the at least one callback functions, whereby the subcomponents are able to communicate with each other.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising a step of attaching a unique string to each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods so that all names are unique in the container component.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising logging each of the names of the variables and the service methods in a global lookup table, and changing a name to be used in the resultant application code if the name is already logged in the global lookup table so that each of the names is unique in the code of the container component.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising reading a file containing platform-specific information and using it in generating platform-specific information.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of generating integration code further comprises creating the body of at least one callback function using the name of the service method, and registering a callback, whereby the subcomponent is able to communicate with the component or one of the other web elements by using the callback function.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of generating integration code further comprises writing part of integration code by the component code generator object by using its set method.

25. The method of claim 23 further comprising a step of attaching a unique string to each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods so that all names are unique in the container component.

26. The method of claim 23 further comprising logging each of the names of the variables and the service methods in a global lookup table, and changing a name to be used in the resultant application code if the name is already logged in the global lookup table so that each of the names is unique.

27. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of generating integration code further comprises writing part of integration code by the component code generator object by using its set method, creating the body of at least one callback function using the names of the service methods, and registering the callback functions, whereby the subcomponents are able to communicate with each other.

28. The method of claim 16 further comprising a step of attaching a unique string to each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods so that all the names are unique.

29. The method of claim 16 further comprising logging each of the names of the variables and the service methods in a global lookup table, and changing a name to be used in the resultant application code if the name is already logged in the global lookup table so that each of the names is unique.

30. The method of claim 16 further comprising reading a file containing platform-specific information and using it in generating platform-specific information.

31. A method of creating the presentation code of a component in a web page containing at least one subcomponent and other web elements on a computer, the presentation code of the subcomponent being created by calling the code-generating method of a component code generator for the subcomponent, the application code being stored on the computer'"'"'s memory or storage medium, the method comprising the steps of:

inputting or instantiating a class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent on the computer'"'"'s memory;

calling the code-generating method of the class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent to generate the presentation code of the subcomponent;

accessing the class object of the subcomponent and getting the names of the service methods of the subcomponent or picking up a name for a callback function;

generating integration code for the component in the resultant application; and

saving the resultant application on the computer'"'"'s medium.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising a step of attaching a string to each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods so that all of the names are unique.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising:

getting the component integration data from the class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent;

determining whether the subcomponent is a proper building block for the component; and

using the component integration data in generating integration code.

34. The method of claim 31 further comprising logging each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods of the subcomponent in a global lookup table, and changing a name to be used in the presentation code if the name is already logged in the global lookup table.

35. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

getting the component integration data from the class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent;

determining whether the subcomponent is a proper building block for the component; and

using the component integration data in generating integration code.

36. The method of claim 31 further comprising the step of generating integration code further comprises creating the body of at least one callback function using the name of the service method, and registering the callback function.

37. A computer program product for use in a system of application development, the computer program product comprising a computer storage medium having computer program code embodied on the medium for integrating the presentation code of at least one subcomponent with the presentation code of a component on a web page, the computer program code further comprising:

program code for defining an abstract class which supports an abstract code-generating method;

program code of at least one executable component code generator which implements the code-generating method in the class definition;

program code for instantiating or setting the class object of the component code generator of the subcomponent;

program code for accessing and getting the names of the service methods of the subcomponent;

program code for generating integration code; and

program code for generating the rest of presentation code of the component.

38. The computer program product of claim 37 wherein the program code of integration logic further comprises program code for getting the name of service methods of the subcomponents or program code to choose names for callback functions, program code for creating the bodies of callback functions, and program code for registering the callback functions.

39. The computer program product of claim 38 further comprising computer program code in the component-code generators of the subcomponent for affixing a unique string to each of the names of variables and each of the names of the service methods of the subcomponent so that all the names are unique.

40. The computer program product of claim 38 further comprising computer program code for logging each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods in a global lookup table, and changing the name to be used in the application code if the name has been logged in the global lookup table.

41. The computer program product of claim 38 further comprising program code to implement business logic in the class definition of the component code generator.

42. The computer program product of claim 38 further comprising:

computer program code for generating the presentation code of plural subcomponents by calling the code-generating method of the component code generators; and

computer program code for installing the computer program on a computer.

43. The computer program product of claim 38 further comprising program code for fetching the presentation code of a subcomponent from a remote server by calling an executable class object of a component code generator.

44. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising computer program code in the component-code generators for affixing a unique string to each of the names of variables and each of the names of the service methods of the subcomponents so that all the names are unique.

45. The computer program product of claim 44 further comprising program code to implement business logic in the class definition of one of the component code generators.

46. The computer program product of claim 44 further comprising:

computer program code for generating the presentation code of plural subcomponents by calling the code-generating method of each of the component code generators; and

computer program code for installing the computer program on a computer.

47. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising computer program code for logging each of the names of the variables and each of the names of the service methods in a global lookup table, and changing the name to be used in the application code if a name has been logged in the global lookup table.

48. The computer program product of claim 47 further comprising program code for implementing business logic in the class definition of one of the component code generators.

49. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising program code for implementing business logic in the class definition of one of the component code generators.

50. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising:

computer program code for generating the presentation code of plural subcomponents by calling the code-generating method of each of the component code generators; and

computer program code for installing the computer program on a computer.

51. The computer program product of claim 37 further comprising program code for fetching the presentation code of a subcomponent from a remote server by calling an executable class object of a component code generator.

52. A computer program product for use in a computer for application development, the computer program product comprising a computer storage medium having computer program code embodied on the medium for using at least one component code generator for a subcomponent to build the presentation code of a container component on a web page, the computer program code further comprising:

program code for generating the presentation code of the subcomponent of the at least component code generator by calling the code-generating method; and

program code for integrating the presentation code of the at least one subcomponent.

53. The computer program product of claim 52 wherein the program code for integrating the presentation code of the at least one subcomponents further comprises program code for getting the name of a service method of the subcomponent or program code for choosing a name for a callback function, program code for creating the body of the callback function, and program code for registering the callback function.

54. The computer program product of claim 53 wherein the program code for integrating the presentation code of the at least one subcomponent further comprises program code for creating a registration class object supporting a method of registering service, and method of looking up for service, and program code for creating code in one of the subcomponents for accessing service in another of the subcomponents.

55. The computer program product of claim 53 further comprising program code for preventing conflicts in the names of the variables and all the service methods of the at least one subcomponent in the container component.

56. The computer program product of claim 53 further comprising:

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the service methods for the at least one subcomponent so that the each of all the names of the service methods in the code of the container component is unique; and

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the variables of the at least one subcomponent in the presentation code so that each of all the names of the variables in the code of the container component is unique.

57. The computer program product of claim 53 further comprising program code for implementing abstract component class.

58. The computer program product of claim 53 further comprising program code for importing the presentation code of a remote subcomponent from a remote computer where the remote subcomponent is implemented in a class with a code-generating method and resides, as an executable program, in the RAM memory of the remote server, the program code being able to access the remote computer by sending a request containing the URL of the remote computer and being able to communicate with the remote computer according to an IP protocol, the program code grabbing the presentation code of the subcomponent by calling the code-generating method of the executable program.

59. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the program code for integrating the presentation code further comprises program code for creating a global lookup table for storing the names of the service methods and the names of variables for each of the subcomponents, program code for writing each of the names of the service methods and each of the names of the variables for each of the subcomponents in the global lookup table, program code for verifying the names of the variables and the names of the service methods, and program code for modifying the names of the variables and the names of the service methods in the presentation code of each of the subcomponents in the container component.

60. The computer program product of claim 52 wherein the program code for integrating the presentation code of the at least one subcomponent further comprises, program code for creating a registration object supporting a method of registering services and method of looking up for service, and program code for creating code in one of the subcomponents for accessing services in another of the subcomponents.

61. The computer program product of claim 60 further comprising program code for preventing conflicts in the names of the variables and the service methods of the subcomponents in the container component.

62. The computer program product of claim 60 the program code for preventing conflicts further comprises:

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the service methods for each of the subcomponents so that the each of the names of all the service methods in the container component is unique; and

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the variables of the subcomponents in the presentation code so that each of the names of all the variables in the container component is unique.

63. The computer program product of claim 60 further comprising program code for implementing abstract component class.

64. The computer program product of claim 60 further comprising program code for importing the presentation code of a remote subcomponent from a remote computer where the remote subcomponent is implemented in a class with a code-generating method and resides in the RAM memory of the remote server as an executable program, the program code being able to access the remote computer by sending a request containing the URL of the remote computer and being able to communicate with the remote computer according to an IP protocol, the program code grabbing the presentation code of the subcomponent by calling the code-generating method of the executable program.

65. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising program code for preventing conflicts in the names of the variables and the service methods of the subcomponents in the container component.

66. The computer program product of claim 65 wherein the program code for preventing name conflicts comprises:

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the service methods for each of the subcomponents so that the each of the names of all the service methods in the container component is unique; and

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the variables of the subcomponents in the presentation code so that each of the names of all the variables in the container component is unique.

67. The computer program product of claim 65 further comprising program code for implementing abstract component class.

68. The computer program product of claim 65 further comprising program code for importing the presentation code of a remote subcomponent from a remote computer where the remote subcomponent is implemented in a class with a code-generating method and resides in the RAM memory of the remote server as an executable program, the program code being able to access the remote computer by sending a request containing the URL of the remote computer and being able to communicate with the remote computer according to an IP protocol, the program code grabbing the presentation code of the subcomponent by calling the code-generating method of the executable program.

69. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising:

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the service methods for each of the subcomponents so that the each of the names of all the service methods in the container component is unique; and

program code for affixing a unique string to each of the names of the variables of the subcomponents in the presentation code so that each of the names of all the variables in the container component is unique.

70. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising program code for implementing abstract component class.

71. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising program code for importing the presentation code of a remote subcomponent from a remote computer where the remote subcomponent is implemented in a class with a code-generating method and resides in the RAM memory of the remote server as an executable program, the program code being able to access the remote computer by sending a request containing the URL of the remote computer and being able to communicate with the remote computer according to an IP protocol, the program code grabbing the presentation code of the remote subcomponent by calling the code-generating method of the executable program.