System and method for generating component based applications

• US 7,941,784 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Shenfield, Michael, Goring, Bryan R., DeBruin, David
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, RONGFA PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US11/078,331
• Publication Number:
  US 20060206861A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,248 Days
• Field of Search: 717107-109, 717/116, 717120-122
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57

Abstract

A system and method for generating an application based on a first component having definitions expressed in a structured definition language and a second component having a series of instructions. The component applications comprise data components, presentation components, and message components, which are written in XML code. The component applications further comprise workflow components which are written in a subset of ECMAScript, and are augmented with the XML code. The components define the processing on a device runtime environment of messages communicated over a network between the device and a datasource. The system and method have a data model for providing a persistent state of the application including the component definitions and the series of instructions. The system and method also have a code module for obtaining the components from the data model and for generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions. The system and method also have a mappings module for obtaining datasource mapping information from the data model and for generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the datasource mapping information, the mapping information for use in communication of the messages between the device runtime environment and the datasource. The system and method also have a resource module for collecting application resources and for generating a third application element including the resources, wherein the application elements are subsequently packaged as a deployable form of the application.

Claims

1. A computing device for generating a deployable form of a client application configured to communicate over a network between an electronic device and a data source having a schema-based interface, the computing device comprising memory for storing instructions and a processor for executing the instructions such that when the instructions are executed the computing device provides:

a data model for providing a persistent state of the client application, the client application including application components comprising one or more of at least one of a data component, a message component or a screen component having corresponding component definitions and a workflow component having a series of instructions;

a code module for obtaining the application components from the data model and for generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions, expressed in a structured definition language, and the series of instructions;

a mappings module for obtaining data source mapping information from the data model and for generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the data source mapping information, the mapping file descriptors for use by a server to mediate communication of the messages between the electronic device and the data source; and

a resource module for collecting application resources of the client application and for generating a third application element including the application resources;

wherein the first, second and third application elements are subsequently packaged as the deployable form of the client application.

2. The computing device of claim 1 further comprising a backend connector for providing the message mapping information of the data source to the data model.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein features of the backend connector are selected from the group comprising:

connecting to a selected one from a plurality of the backend data sources;

providing an interface for accessing the description of the backend data source; and

providing for the identification of notification services configured for pushing notifications over the network to the device.

4. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the data source is a webservice or a SQL database and the description of the data source includes messages, operations and datatype descriptions.

5. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the resources are selected from the group comprising:

static dependencies including images, soundbytes, and media; and

localization information for each language supported by the client application.

6. The computing device of claim 2 further comprising a validator module for confirming the data model representation of application messages is consistent with the data source presentation of messaging operations.

7. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the validator module has functionality selected from the group comprising workflow integrity of the workflow component;

consistency of parameters and field level mappings of the application components;

consistency of screen control mappings of the screen component;

consistency of screen refresh messages of the screen component;

confirming a presence of message duplications in the message component;

confirming a presence of data duplications in the application components; and

validating the data model representation of data source messaging relationships.

8. The computing device of claim 2 further comprising a generator module for optimizing field ordering of the component definitions.

9. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the data model contains model constituents selected from the group comprising:

Data Component Definitions;

Global Variable Definitions;

Message Component Definitions;

Resource Definitions;

Screen Component Definitions;

Scripts;

Style Definitions; and

Mapping Descriptors of the data source.

10. A computer readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processor on a computing device cause the computing device to generate a deployable form of a client application, the client application including application components comprising one or more of at least one of a data component, a message component or a screen component having corresponding component definitions and a workflow component having a series of instructions, the instructions for implementing the steps of:

obtaining the application components from a data model and generating a first application element including code representing the component definitions, expressed in a structured definition language, and the series of instruction;

obtaining data source mapping information from the data model and generating a second application element including mapping file descriptors corresponding to the data source mapping information, the mapping file descriptors for use by a server to mediate communication of the messages between an electronic device and a schema-based interface of a data source; and

collecting application resources of the client application and generating a third application element including the application resources;

wherein the first, second and third application elements are subsequently packaged as the deployable form of the client application.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising the step of providing the message mapping information of the data source to the data model using a backend connector coupled to the data source.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein features of the backend connector are selected from the group comprising:

connecting to a selected one from a plurality of the backend data sources;

providing an interface for accessing the description of the backend data source; and

providing for the identification of notification services configured for pushing notifications over the network to the device.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the data source is a webservice or a SQL database and the description of the data source includes messages, operations and datatype descriptions.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the resources are selected from the group comprising:

static dependencies including images, soundbytes, and media; and

localization information for each language supported by the client application.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of confirming the data model representation of application messages is consistent with the data source presentation of messaging operations.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of checking workflow integrity of the workflow component.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the series of instructions is selected from the group comprising a programming language and a scripting language.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of checking consistency of parameters and field level mappings of the application components.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of checking consistency of screen control mappings of the screen component.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of checking consistency of screen refresh messages of the screen component.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of confirming a presence of message duplications in the message component.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of confirming a presence of data duplications in the application components.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of validating the data model representation of data source messaging relationships.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the step of optimizing field ordering of the component definitions.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the data model contains model constituents selected from the group comprising:

Data Component Definitions;

Global Variable Definitions;

Message Component Definitions;

Resource Definitions;

Screen Component Definitions;

Scripts;

Style Definitions; and

Mapping Descriptors of the data source.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the component definitions include script for inclusion with the generated code.