Resolution of multi-instance application execution

• US 8,280,925 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xcerion AB
• Original Assignee: Xcerion AB
• Inventors: Arthursson, Daniel, Bristav, Marcus
• Primary Examiner(s): Vital, Pierre
• Assistant Examiner(s): Obisesan, Augustine K
• Application Number:
  US12/240,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,464 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45504 Abstract machines for programme code execution, e.g. Java virtual machine [JVM], interpreters, emulators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45529 Embedded in an application, e.g. JavaScript in a Web browser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Generally described, the present invention is directed to a network operating system that provides more effective ways of leveraging the connectivity of computer networks. In one embodiment, an XML virtual machine is implemented that accepts high-level application code written in an XML programming language as input. Functionality is provided to interpret or translate the application code written in an XML programming language into code that is suitable for execution across computer platforms. Moreover, the XML virtual machine supports the Model View Controller (MVC) design paradigm that facilitates true data abstraction from applications to a common data model. Multi-instance applications, with each instance potentially supporting multiple views, may be created and executed.

Claims

1. A method of creating a localized relationship hierarchy that associates objects used to execute an application that uses the model view controller (MVC) design paradigm with an instance, the method comprising:

instantiating an first instance object that manages a first runtime state of an application being executed on a single client computing device, the first instance object associated with a first instance identifier;

providing a MiniProcess manager of the first instance object with a reference to at least one stateless object configured to execute operations defined in the application'"'"'s process code;

supplying the first instance identifier to a view object utilized to implement user interface logic in the application;

providing a MiniView manager of the first instance object with a reference to the view object;

instantiating a second instance object that manages a second runtime state of the application being executed on the single client computing device separate from the first runtime state; and

providing a MiniProcess manager of the second instance object with a reference to the at least one stateless object configured to execute operations defined in the application'"'"'s process code.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising in response to the application'"'"'s user interface experiencing a user-generated event:

causing a component object held by the view object to identify the application instance that experienced the event using the instance identifier; and

supplying the appropriate instance object to the at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s process logic.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the instance object is held by an application object that is allocated a memory space by an application manager.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the instance object maintains a local expression engine for evaluating expressions that reference a data model.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein an object associated with a controller layer of the application utilizes the expression engine provided by the instance object to query the data model layer without directly interacting with objects in a different layer.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a data type recognizer is configured to pass the first instance identifier to the view object and return the reference to the view object for tracking by the Mini View manager.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a data type recognizer is configured to pass the reference to the at least one object configured to execute operations defined in the application'"'"'s process code for tracking by the MiniProcess manager.

8. A method of executing a multi-instance application that adheres to the model view controller (MVC) design paradigm, the method comprising:

establishing a relationship hierarchy between an instance at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s process logic and at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s user interface logic, by;

instantiating an instance object;

storing a reference to the at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s user interface logic in a MiniView manager of the instance object; and

storing a reference to the at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s process logic in a MiniProcess manager of the instance object;

in response to the application'"'"'s user interface experiencing a user-generated event, causing the at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s user interface logic to identify tile instance that experienced the event; and

notifying the object associated with tile application'"'"'s process logic of the user-generated event and supplying tile appropriate instance to the object associated with the application'"'"'s process logic as a representation of application state;

wherein the object associated with the application'"'"'s process logic does not store a reference to the appropriate instance or the application state after processing the user-generated event.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein supplying the appropriate instance includes evaluating an expression, comprising:

performing a lookup in the local Mini View manager for a reference to a view object referenced in the expression; and

if the view object is not in the local MiniView manager, performing a lookup in a global view manager for the view object.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein establishing a relationship hierarchy includes supplying an instance identifier to the at least one object associated with the application'"'"'s user interface logic.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the instance is held by an application object having a memory space that is allocated to the application object by an application manager.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein notifying the object associated with the application'"'"'s process logic of the user-generated event is performed utilizing an event manager configured to register an object associated with the controller layer in a MVC application as a listener for an event generated by an object associated with the user interface layer in the MVC application.

13. A method implemented in computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, models a selection state of a user interface component, the method comprising:

defining a binding between the user interface component and a document in a data model, wherein the binding causes one or more data items in the document to be displayed on the user interface component;

wherein the user interface component is configured to;

allow the one or more data items displayed on the user interface component to be selected; and

in response to a selection of the one or more data items, generate a variable that represents a selection state of the user interface component, the variable having at least three dimensions including a first dimension referencing the document in the data model, a second dimension limiting the selection to an ancestor node in the document, and a third dimension identifying one or more descendent nodes from the ancestor node that stores the selected one or more data items.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein defining a binding between the user interface component and a document in a data model includes propagating one or more rules associated with the user interface component to the data model, the one or more rules providing logic that allows a generic component to interpret content in the data model.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the variable is an XBind having a uniform resource locator (URL) in a first dimension, a base path expression in a second dimension, and a plurality of base path expressions in a third dimension.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein:

if one data item is selected, a second dimension of the variable references a root node of an extensible markup language (XML) document and a third dimension provides a path to a descendent node of the root node that stores the selected data item; and

if a plurality of data items are selected, the second dimension of the variable provides a path to a parent node of the one or more descendent nodes and the third dimension includes an XPath expression for identifying particular data items in the descendant nodes.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the user interface component displays a folder tree from a network file system and wherein the variable identifies a folder in the network file system that was selected by a user.