Mainframe-based web service development accelerator

• US 8,555,239 B1
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Heuler, Randal J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu, Daxin
• Application Number:
  US12/688,528
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

An interactive computer architecture is provided that can be employed as a bridge between a mainframe-based computing environment and a distributed server-based computing environment. A request/reply contract can be expressed within the mainframe-based environment and employed as the basis for generating a web service in the distributed computing environment.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating generation of a web service, the system comprising:

an electronic mainframe computer system having at least one data storage medium and a registry, wherein the electronic mainframe computer system is operative within an enterprise application integration (“

EAI”

) computing framework and is located within a mainframe-based computing environment, the electronic mainframe computer system configured for;

generating a request/reply contract by the electronic mainframe computer system, such that the request/reply contract comprises instructions for electronically processing at least one transaction of a financial institution;

electronically encoding the request/reply contract into a copybook of the electronic mainframe computer system;

submitting a job to the electronic mainframe computer system, wherein the job references the copybook;

in response to submitting the job, registering the copybook with the EAI framework of the electronic mainframe computer system such that the copybook has an EAI representation within the EAI framework;

electronically registering the request/reply contract encoded in the copybook of the electronic mainframe computer system with a registry of the electronic mainframe computer system;

electronically defining the request/reply contract for the registry by assigning at least one tag name to at least one data field associated with each request component and each reply component of the request/reply contract, wherein the at least one tag name is associated with an EAI framework field of the electronic mainframe computer system such that the request/reply contract is identified for processing within the EAI framework;

electronically creating multiple output files based on the registry definition of the request/reply contract, wherein the output files include at least one component needed to build a selected web service; and

,

communicating the output files to a destination location within a distributed network computing environment,

wherein electronically registering the request/reply contract encoded in the copybook of the electronic mainframe computer system comprises dividing the request/reply contract into at least one request component and at least one reply component and retaining the same copybook for the at least one request component and the at least one reply component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the request/reply contract is configured to receive at least one input parameter, wherein the at least one input parameters is at least one of an Operator ID, a branch ID, an account type, and an account number.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the copybook includes a Common Business-Oriented Language (“

COBOL”

)-based copybook.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mainframe computer system is further configured for separating the copybook into an input area representing the request components and an output area representing the reply components of the request/reply contract.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mainframe computer system is further configured for defining the request/reply contract for the registry of the electronic mainframe computer system by assigning at least one Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

) tag name to at least one COBOL-based data field associated with each request component and reply component of the request/reply contract.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mainframe computer system is further configured for generating the multiple output files as multiple Java-class output files.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for electronically processing the at least one transaction of the financial institution of the request/reply contract comprise instructions for electronically processing at least one transaction of an application of the financial institution, wherein the application is at least one of an inquiry application, funds transfer application, new account proposal application, and a payment application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the transaction includes a plastic card system transaction.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the request/reply contract includes a transaction selected from the group consisting of a teller system transaction, a branch system transaction, a call center system transaction, an account link transaction, and an interactive voice response system transaction.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an electronic computer server configured for compiling the output files in the distributed network computing environment to generate a selected web service.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the electronic computer server is further configured for employing an application development tool for compiling the output files.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the electronic computer server is further configured for generating deployment code associated with the selected web service.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic computer server is further configured for generating at least one Web Services Definition Language (“

WSDL”

) file in association with the selected web service.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the request/reply contract is configured to return a plurality of input parameters, wherein the plurality of input parameters comprise a card number of a financial services card, an opening date for the financial services card, and a name on the financial services card.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one tag name comprises an XML tag name assigned to a COBOL field.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the XML tag name is associated with a parameter of the EAI framework field, wherein the parameter comprises at least one of an identity of the length of the EAI framework field, text justification, and whether the EAI framework field should include pre-entered data.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising an application development tool and wherein the electronic computer server is configured for importing the output files into the application development tool and wherein the application development tool generates deployment code associated with the web service.