Generic sequencing service for business integration

• US 7,921,075 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 04/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zou, Chendong, Herness, Eric Nels, Phan, Anh-Khoa Dinh
• Primary Examiner(s): Cottingham; John R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Richardson; James E
• Application Number:
  US11/536,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20080091679A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,649 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/200, 707/201, 707/607, 707/608, 707/736, 707/747, 718100-103
• US Class Current: 707/607
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/506 Constraint
• 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: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for providing a generic sequencing service for ordering processing requests in a scalable business integration environment. When a request is received at a sequencing component, the operation specified in the request is identified. A determination is then made as to whether to sequence the operation according to a sequencing specification. If the operation is to be sequenced, key information of the operation is classified according to the sequencing specification. A lock on the request is then requested using the operation and the key information. Responsive to the lock being granted, a determination is then made as to whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous. If the request is synchronous, the target service component is invoked synchronously. If the request is asynchronous, the target service component is invoked asynchronously.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for guaranteeing a processing order of requests in a business integration environment, the computer implemented method comprising:

prior to receiving a request at a sequencing component, reading a sequencing specification to determine a processing order of incoming requests, wherein the sequencing specification specifies one or more operation sequencing groups;

responsive to reading the sequencing specification, mapping each operation sequencing group specified in the sequencing specification to a different lock name space, wherein each operation sequencing group defines a group of requests to be processed in a particular order;

constructing a hash table keyed by operation, wherein a value of each operation in the hash table is defined as a lock name space and operation sequencing pair;

responsive to receiving the request at the sequencing component, identifying, by a computer, an operation specified in the request;

determining whether to sequence the operation according to the sequencing specification based on whether the operation is defined in the hash table as the lock name space and the operation sequencing pair, wherein the sequencing specification specifies an order in which the requests are received and processed at the sequencing component;

responsive to a determination that the operation is defined in the hash table, classifying key information of the operation obtained from a payload of the request according to the sequencing specification, wherein the key information from the payload is used in determining a processing order of related requests;

requesting a lock on the request using the operation and the key information;

responsive to the lock being granted, determining whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous;

if the request is synchronous, invoking a target service component synchronously in accordance with the sequencing specification; and

if the request is asynchronous, invoking the target service component asynchronously.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination not to sequence the operation, determining whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous;

if the request is synchronous, invoking the target service component synchronously; and

if the request is asynchronous, invoking the target service component asynchronously.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the request is asynchronous, passing an implementation of the sequencing component as a callback parameter of the asynchronous invocation.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein classifying key information of the operation further comprises:

retrieving the lock name space and the operation sequencing pair for the operation from the hash table; and

obtaining the key information from a payload of the request according to a key specification of the operation sequencing in the sequencing specification.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to no lock being granted, determining whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous;

if the request is synchronous, registering a semaphore as part of the lock request to wait for the lock to be granted; and

invoking the target service component synchronously when the lock is granted.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request is received at the sequencing component prior to invoking a target business service component.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sequencing specification is user-defined.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

invoking a callback upon return of an asynchronous response to the sequencing component, wherein the callback invocation comprises;

invoking the target service component;

responsive to receiving the callback at the sequencing component, calling an unlock function to unblock a next request in the sequencing specification; and

invoking the target service component for the next request.

9. A data processing system for guaranteeing a processing order of requests in a business integration environment, the data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;

at least one managed device connected to the bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to, prior to receiving a request at a sequencing component, read a sequencing specification to determine a processing order of incoming requests, wherein the sequencing specification specifies one or more operation sequencing groups;

responsive to reading the sequencing specification, map each operation sequencing group specified in the sequencing specification to a different lock name space, wherein each operation sequencing group defines a group of requests to be processed in a particular order;

construct a hash table keyed by operation, wherein a value of each operation in the hash table is defined as a lock name space and operation sequencing pair, identify an operation specified in the request in response to receiving the request at the sequencing component, determine whether to sequence the operation according to the sequencing specification based on whether the operation is defined in the hash table as the lock name space and the operation sequencing pair, wherein the sequencing specification specifies an order in which the requests are received and processed at the sequencing component, classify key information of the operation obtained from a payload of the request according to the sequencing specification in response to a determination that the operation is defined in the hash table, wherein the key information from the payload is used in determining a processing order of related requests, request a lock on the request using the operation and the key information, determine whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous in response to the lock being granted, invoke a target service component synchronously if the request is synchronous in accordance with the sequencing specification, and invoke the target service component asynchronously if the request is asynchronous.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to determine whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous in response to a determination not to sequence the operation, invoke the target service component synchronously if the request is synchronous, and invoke the target service component asynchronously if the request is asynchronous.

11. A computer program product for guaranteeing a processing order of requests in a business integration environment, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code stored thereon, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code for, prior to receiving a request at a sequencing component, reading a sequencing specification to determine a processing order of incoming requests, wherein the sequencing specification specifies one or more operation sequencing groups;

computer usable program code for, responsive to reading the sequencing specification, mapping each operation sequencing group specified in the sequencing specification to a different lock name space, wherein each operation sequencing group defines a group of requests to be processed in a particular order;

computer usable program code for constructing a hash table keyed by operation, wherein a value of each operation in the hash table is defined as a lock name space and operation sequencing pair;

computer usable program code for identifying an operation specified in the request in response to receiving the request at the sequencing component;

computer usable program code for determining whether to sequence the operation according to the sequencing specification based on whether the operation is defined in the hash table as the lock name space and the operation sequencing pair, wherein the sequencing specification specifies an order in which the requests are received and processed at the sequencing component;

computer usable program code for classifying key information of the operation obtained from a payload of the request according to the sequencing specification in response to a determination that the operation is defined in the hash table, wherein the key information from the payload is used in determining a processing order of related requests;

computer usable program code for requesting a lock on the request using the operation and the key information;

computer usable program code for determining whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous in response to the lock being granted;

computer usable program code for invoking a target service component synchronously if the request is synchronous in accordance with the sequencing specification; and

computer usable program code for invoking the target service component asynchronously if the request is asynchronous.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

computer usable program code for determining whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous in response to a determination not to sequence the operation;

computer usable program code for invoking the target service component synchronously if the request is synchronous; and

computer usable program code for invoking the target service component asynchronously if the request is asynchronous.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

computer usable program code for passing an implementation of the sequencing component as a callback parameter of the asynchronous invocation if the request is asynchronous.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer usable program code for classifying key information of the operation further comprises:

computer usable program code for retrieving the lock name space and operation sequencing pair for the operation from the hash table; and

computer usable program code for obtaining the key information from a payload of the request according to a key specification of the operation sequencing in the sequencing specification.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

computer usable program code for determining whether the request is synchronous or asynchronous in response to no lock being granted;

computer usable program code for registering a semaphore as part of the lock request to wait for the lock to be granted if the request is synchronous; and

computer usable program code for invoking the target service component synchronously when the lock is granted.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the request is received at the sequencing component prior to invoking a target business service component.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the sequencing specification is user-defined.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

computer usable program code for invoking a callback upon return of an asynchronous response to the sequencing component, wherein the callback invocation comprises;

computer usable program code for invoking the target service component;

computer usable program code for calling an unlock function to unblock a next request in the sequencing specification in response to receiving the callback at the sequencing component; and

computer usable program code for invoking the target service component for the next request.