Rapid application development for database-aware applications

• US 8,392,880 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2007
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ahadian, Azadeh, Brodsky, Stephen Andrew, Nin, Rebecca B., Surange, Sonali
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US11/741,644
• Publication Number:
  US 20080270980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,139 Days
• Field of Search: 717/101, 717/108, 717/177, 717/115, 719/219, 719/328, 707/999.002, 707/999.003, 707/999.004, 707/999.005, 707/2, 707/3, 707/102, 705/59, 700/266
• US Class Current: 717/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide application development tools that allow developers to rapidly build database-aware applications and database unit tests. Embodiments of the invention support multiple scenarios for database-aware application development, including beginning from a database table and automatically creating application code to access the table, beginning from an existing database query, beginning from existing application code that accesses a database, and hybrids or variations of these approaches.

Claims

1. A method to programmatically generate source code for a software application to connect to a database, comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of a database connection specifying a database and a set of connection parameters of the database connection, establishing a connection to the database;

retrieving a data model of the database, the data model comprising a set of database elements;

displaying the set of database elements;

responsive to receiving a selection of a database element from the set of database elements, generating a first source code to access the selected database element, comprising;

generating a first portion of the first source code to create a connection to selected database;

mapping at least one host variable to a column of the selected database element;

generating a first database statement to access the selected database element using the at least one mapped host variable; and

embedding the first database statement in a second portion of the first source code; and

storing the first source code within a project associated with the software application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first database statement is selected from statements to create, retrieve, update, and delete records from the database, wherein the second source code is used in passing the first database statement to the database over the database connection;

wherein the selection is received from a user interacting with an integrated development environment (IDE) tool to author application code;

wherein the first source code is of a programming language in which the software application is being written;

wherein the method further comprises outputting the first source code for display in an editing pane of the IDE tool.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the database element is a database statement embedded as a text string within the source code of an application being developed using the IDE tool.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

storing the connection parameters as part of a development project associated with the software application being developed.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

displaying the data model in a window of the IDE tool.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data model is a relational schema.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising,

generating a unit-test application for the software application, wherein the unit test executes (i) a first test query to retrieve a set of records from the database, (ii) a second test query to retrieve a first record of the set of records, a (iii) a third test query to update the first record with sample test values, and (iv) a fourth test query to delete the first record, and (v) a fifth test query to insert the first record back into the database.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the IDE tool provides a programming environment used to develop the software application, and wherein the IDE tool includes at least a graphical text editor and a compiler;

wherein the IDE tool is configured to;

responsive to user selection of an existing object hierarchy, generating;

(i) a second one or more database statements to create a database, wherein the one or more database statements include one or more data definition language (DDL) statements, and (ii) a second source code for accessing the created database by the application code;

responsive to user selection of a third database statement embedded in the application code, generating a third source code for accessing, by the application code, one or more database elements referenced by the third database statement;

responsive to a user request to generate mappings between an existing database schema and an object hierarchy associated with the application code, performing at least one of generating and modifying a fourth source code for the application code to access the existing database schema via objects in the object hierarchy;

responsive to a user request, generating code for testing at least one of the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code;

wherein at least one of the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code is generated based on user input specifying a type of database statement to be included and whether to use objects or parameters for the generation;

wherein the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code are generated without requiring the user to switch between the IDE tool and a second application for generating source code.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer useable storage medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform an operation comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of a database connection specifying a database and a set of connection parameters of the database connection, establishing a connection to the database;

retrieving a data model of the database, the data model comprising a set of database elements;

displaying the set of database elements;

responsive to receiving a selection of a database element from the set of database elements, generating a first source code to access the selected database element, comprising;

generating a first portion of the first source code to create a connection to selected database;

mapping at least one host variable to a column of the selected database element;

generating a first database statement to access the selected database element using the at least one mapped host variable; and

embedding the first database statement in a second portion of the first source code; and

storing the first source code within a project associated with the software application.

10. The computer useable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first database statement is selected from statements to create, retrieve, update, and delete records from the database, wherein the second source code is used in passing the first database statement to the database over the database connection;

wherein the selection is received from a user interacting with an integrated development environment (IDE) tool to author application code;

wherein the first source code is of a programming language in which the software application is being written;

wherein the method further comprises outputting the first source code for display in an editing pane of the IDE tool.

11. The computer useable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the database element is a database statement embedded as a text string within the source code of an application being developed using the IDE tool.

12. The computer useable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operation further comprises:

and

storing the connection parameters as part of a development project associated with the database-aware software application being developed.

13. The computer useable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the operation further comprises:

displaying the data model in a window of the IDE tool.

14. The computer useable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the data model is a relational schema.

15. The computer useable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operation further comprises:

generating a unit-test application for the software application, wherein the unit test executes (i) a first test query to retrieve a set of records from the database, (ii) a second test query to retrieve a first record of the set of records, a (iii) a third test query to update the first record with sample test values, and (iv) a fourth test query to delete the first record, and (v) a fifth test query to insert the first record back into the database.

16. The computer useable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the IDE tool provides a programming environment used to develop the software application, and wherein the IDE tool includes at least a graphical text editor and a compiler;

wherein the IDE tool is configured to;

responsive to user selection of an existing object hierarchy, generating;

(i) a second one or more database statements to create a database, wherein the one or more database statements include one or more data definition language (DDL) statements, and (ii) a second source code for accessing the created database by the application code;

responsive to user selection of a third database statement embedded in the application code, generating a third source code for accessing, by the application code, one or more database elements referenced by the third database statement;

responsive to a user request to generate mappings between an existing database schema and an object hierarchy associated with the application code, performing at least one of generating and modifying a fourth source code for the application code to access the existing database schema via objects in the object hierarchy;

responsive to a user request, generating code for testing at least one of the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code;

wherein at least one of the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code is generated based on user input specifying a type of database statement to be included and whether to use objects or parameters for the generation;

wherein the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code are generated without requiring the user to switch between the IDE tool and a second application for generating source code.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory containing an integrated development environment (IDE) tool configured to generate source code for a database-aware software application by performing an operation, comprising;

responsive to receiving a selection of a database connection specifying a database and a set of connection parameters of the database connection, establishing a connection to the database;

retrieving a data model of the database, the data model comprising a set of database elements;

displaying the set of database elements;

responsive to receiving a selection of a database element from the set of database elements, generating a first source code to access the selected database element, comprising;

generating a first portion of the first source code to create a connection to selected database;

mapping at least one host variable to a column of the selected database element;

generating a first database statement to access the selected database element using the at least one mapped host variable; and

embedding the first database statement in a second portion of the first source code; and

storing the first source code within a project associated with the software application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first database statement is selected from statements to create, retrieve, update, and delete records from the database, wherein the second source code is used in passing the first database statement to the database over the database connection;

wherein the selection is received from a user interacting with an integrated development environment (IDE) tool to author application code;

wherein the first source code is of a programming language in which the software application is being written;

wherein the method further comprises outputting the first source code for display in an editing pane of the IDE tool.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the database element is a database statement embedded as a text string within the source code of an application being developed using the IDE tool.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the operation further comprises:

storing the connection parameters as part of a development project associated with the database-aware software application being developed.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the operation further comprises:

displaying the data model in a window of the IDE tool.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the data model is a relational schema.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the operation further comprises:

generating a unit-test application for the software application, wherein the unit test executes (i) a first test query to retrieve a set of records from the database, (ii) a second test query to retrieve a first record of the set of records, a (iii) a third test query to update the first record with sample test values, and (iv) a fourth test query to delete the first record from the set of records, and (v) a fifth test query to insert the first record back into the database.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the IDE tool provides a programming environment used to develop the software application, and wherein the IDE tool includes at least a graphical text editor and a compiler;

wherein the IDE tool is configured to;

responsive to user selection of an existing object hierarchy, generating;

(i) a second one or more database statements to create a database, wherein the one or more database statements include one or more data definition language (DDL) statements, and (ii) a second source code for accessing the created database by the application code;

responsive to user selection of a third database statement embedded in the application code, generating a third source code for accessing, by the application code, one or more database elements referenced by the third database statement;

responsive to a user request to generate mappings between an existing database schema and an object hierarchy associated with the application code, performing at least one of generating and modifying a fourth source code for the application code to access the existing database schema via objects in the object hierarchy;

responsive to a user request, generating code for testing at least one of the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code;

wherein at least one of the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code is generated based on user input specifying a type of database statement to be included and whether to use objects or parameters for the generation;

wherein the first source code, second source code, third source code, and fourth source code are generated without requiring the user to switch between the IDE tool and a second application for generating source code.