Synchronizing field values in an on-demand database prior to committing a change

• US 8,447,745 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2009
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Ahuja, Neeraj, Levine, Susan Sharon, Wong, Simon Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US12/559,257
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070480A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: 707/802, 707/610, 707/703, 707/713, 707/803, 709/201, 709/203, 709/219, 702/123, 702/185
• US Class Current: 707/703
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for synchronizing field values in transient data objects, such as JAVA® objects, before saving a transaction to a database. A dependency from one data object to another data object is detected, and changes which affect the second data object'"'"'s fields through the dependency are flowed through to the second data object. This is performed between each step of a multistep save process, such between triggers, validation rules, workflows, and the final committing of data to the database.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing field values before saving a transaction to a database, the method comprising:

accepting a change to a first field in a first transient data object, the first transient data object temporarily representing a portion of a database;

determining that a dependency of a second field in a second transient data object upon the first field in the first transient data object exists, the second transient data object temporarily representing a portion of the database;

updating the second field in the second transient data object using the change to the first field in the first transient data object and the dependency;

after updating, executing user-supplied code which references the second field to determine a value for a third field; and

committing changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database in a save operation, whereby the user-supplied code executes on updated transient data object fields.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the third field is in the first transient data object.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the third field is in the second transient data object.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the third field is in a third transient data object, the third transient data object temporarily representing a portion of the database.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the change to the first field and the update to the second field are tracked to enable a rollback of the change to the database.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed between steps in a multistep process to save the change to the database.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second transient data objects are part of a same transaction with the database on behalf of a user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the user-supplied code includes a formula.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising running a trigger before committing the changed values to the database, wherein the trigger includes the user-supplied code.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising running a workflow before committing the changed values to the database, wherein the workflow includes the user-supplied code.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising running a spanning formula before committing the changed values to the database, wherein the spanning formula includes the user-supplied code.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second transient data objects are Java®

objects.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the accepting, determining, updating, and executing are performed prior to the committing.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the third field using the value prior to committing the changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database in the save operation.

15. The method of claim 1, the updated transient data object fields comprising the changed values in the first, second, and third fields, wherein committing the changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database in the save operation comprises executing a workflow on the updated transient data object fields prior to saving the updated transient data object fields to the database.

16. The method of claim 1, the updated transient data object fields comprising the changed values in the first, second, and third fields, wherein committing the changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database in the save operation comprises executing a validation rule on the updated transient data object fields prior to saving the updated transient data object fields to the database.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein committing the changed values comprises committing the changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database after updating the second field in the second transient data object using the change to the first field in the first transient data object and the dependency, executing the user-supplied code which references the second field to determine the value for the third field, and updating the third field using the value.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transient data object and the second transient data object each comprise a temporary data object that exists during an entire time that there is a connection with the database or an object facilitating the transaction that is instantiated before and destroyed after the transaction.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for causing one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

accepting a change to a first field in a first transient data object, the first transient data object temporarily representing a portion of a database;

determining that a dependency of a second field in a second transient data object upon the first field in the first transient data object exists, the second transient data object temporarily representing a portion of the database;

updating the second field in the second transient data object using the change to the first field in the first transient data object and the dependency;

after updating, executing user-supplied code which references the second field to determine a value for a third field; and

committing changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database in a save operation, whereby the user-supplied code executes on updated transient data object fields.

20. A computer system comprising a processor operatively connected with memory, the processor executing:

program code to accept a change to a first field in a first transient data object, the first transient data object temporarily representing a portion of a database;

program code to determine that a dependency of a second field in a second transient data object upon the first field in the first transient data object exists, the second transient data object temporarily representing a portion of the database;

program code to update the second field in the second transient data object using the change to the first field in the first transient data object and the dependency;

program code to, after updating, execute user-supplied code which references the second field to determine a value for a third field; and

program code to commit changed values in the first, second, and third fields to the database in a save operation, whereby the user-supplied code executes on updated transient data object fields.