Model driven state management of applications

• US 7,930,251 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2007
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Drabant, Bernhard, Bloching, Uwe, Brunswig, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Fischer; Andrew J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DEGA, MURALI K
• Application Number:
  US11/836,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20090044202A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,349 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1- 45, 705 50- 79, 707/600
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein provides methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for model driven state management of applications. In one aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method. The method may include instantiating one or more business objects associated with an application. The transitions between states of the application may be checked using one or more models defined based on at least one of a context of the business object and a context of the application. An indication regarding the results of checking of the transitions may be provided to a user interface. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions to configure a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

instantiating one or more business objects associated with an application;

checking transitions between states of the application using one or more models, wherein the one or more models are defined based on at least an application context comprising a business object context and a role; and

providing to a user interface an indication representative of a result of the checking.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the business objects comprises a data structure used in connection with a business task, wherein the business object context comprises a property of the at least one of the business objects, wherein the business object context further comprises a set of values for each of the properties.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

defining properties for one or more business objects.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

defining transition rules using a user interface to access a state manager for defining the transition rules between states of the application.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein defining the transition rules further comprises:

defining the transition rules based on one or more user roles.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

defining the application context to include one or more user roles.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

providing as part of an application a set of business object contexts.

8. A method comprising:

instantiating one or more business objects associated with an application;

checking transitions between states of the application using one or more models, wherein the one or more models are defined based on at least an application context comprising a business object context and a role; and

providing to a user interface an indication representative of a result of the checking, wherein at least one of the instantiation, the checking, and the providing are implemented on at least one processor.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the business objects comprises a data structure used in connection with a business task, wherein the business object context comprises a property of the at least one of the business objects, wherein the business object context further comprises a set of values for each of the properties, wherein checking further comprises:

checking transitions based on a matrix as follows;

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

defining properties for one or more business objects.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

defining transition rules using a user interface to access a state manager for defining the transition rules between states of the application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein defining the transition rules further comprises:

defining the transition rules based on one or more user roles.

13. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory, the processor and the memory are configured to cause operations comprising;

instantiating one or more business objects associated with an application;

checking transitions between states of the application using one or more models, wherein the one or more models are defined based on at least an application context comprising a business object context and a role; and

providing to a user interface an indication representative of a result of the checking.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the business objects comprises a data structure used in connection with a business task, wherein the business object context comprises a property of the at least one of the business objects, wherein the business object context further comprises a set of values for each of the properties, wherein checking further comprises:

checking transitions based on a matrix as follows;

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

defining properties for one or more business objects.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

defining transition rules using a user interface to access a state manager for defining the transition rules between states of the application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein defining the transition rules further comprises:

defining the transition rules based on one or more user roles.