Identifying subscriber data while processing publisher event in transaction

• US 8,752,071 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, The United States of America As Represented By The Secretary of Agriculture
• Inventors: Thomas, Philip J., Gale, Martin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough, H S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Onat, Umut
• Application Number:
  US12/339,749
• Publication Number:
  US 20100162268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,999 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

A solution for managing messaging is provided in which an event related to a publisher is identified. In response to the event, a transaction is initiated for processing the event, the event is processed within the transaction, and the transaction is committed after the event is processed. During processing, data corresponding to the event is provided for use by a set of subscribers to the event, and data related to the set of subscribers is identified. In an embodiment, a message broker in a publication and subscribe messaging environment implements the solution in order to be capable of providing the data related to the set of subscribers to the publisher. Use of the transaction ensures that the data related to the set of subscribers accurately represents the set of subscribers at the time that the data corresponding to the event was provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of managing messaging, the method comprising:

identifying a topic for a periodic publication related to a publisher using a message broker;

initiating a transaction on the message broker for processing the periodic publication in response to the identifying;

processing the periodic publication within the transaction using the message broker, the processing including;

identifying a set of subscribers to the periodic publication using the topic;

providing data corresponding to the periodic publication for use by the set of subscribers to the periodic publication;

locking an item of the data that the message broker is excluded from reading or modifying during the processing, wherein the locking prevents another process from modifying the item of the data;

receiving subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to a set of fields included with the topic, wherein the set of fields includes at least one field indicating that the subscriber metadata is requested by the publisher, wherein the subscriber metadata includes data related to the set of subscribers to the periodic publication representing the set of subscribers at the time that the data corresponding to the periodic publication was provided; and

providing a response for use by the publisher, wherein the response includes the subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to the set of fields included with the topic; and

committing the transaction after the processing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to the set of subscribers includes a number of subscribers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to the set of subscribers includes an identifier for each subscriber in the set of subscribers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the periodic publication is generated by the publisher at the message broker.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing further includes determining the data related to the set of subscribers to the periodic publication to be identified using the topic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of subscribers includes at least one durable subscriber.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to the set of subscribers includes a subscriber status.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the response further indicates a subscriber metadata source.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the publisher comprises a plurality of publishers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the periodic publication further comprises a notification timing solution, and the processing further comprises identifying the set of subscribers using the notification timing solution.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to the set of subscribers includes an attribute for each subscriber in the set of subscribers.

12. A computer system for managing messaging, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a component configured to identify a topic for a periodic publication related to a publisher;

a component configured to initiate a transaction for processing the periodic publication in response to the identifying;

a component configured to process the periodic publication within the transaction, wherein the processing includes;

identifying a set of subscribers to the periodic publication using the topic;

providing data corresponding to the periodic publication for use by the set of subscribers to the periodic publication;

locking an item of the data that is excluded from being read or modified during the processing, wherein the locking prevents another process from modifying the item of the data;

receiving subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to a set of fields included with the topic, wherein the set of fields includes at least one field indicating that the subscriber metadata is requested by the publisher, wherein the subscriber metadata includes data related to the set of subscribers to the periodic publication representing the set of subscribers at the time that the data corresponding to the periodic publication was provided; and

providing a response for use by the publisher, wherein the response includes the subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to the set of fields included with the topic; and

a component configured to commit the transaction after the processing.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data related to the set of subscribers includes at least one of:

a number of subscribers or an identifier for each subscriber in the set of subscribers.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the periodic publication is generated by the publisher.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing further includes determining the data related to the set of subscribers to the periodic publication to be identified using the topic.

16. A computer program comprising program code embodied in at least one computer-readable memory, which when executed, enables a computer system to implement a method of managing messaging, the method comprising:

identifying a topic for a periodic publication related to a publisher;

initiating a transaction for processing the periodic publication in response to the identifying;

processing the periodic publication within the transaction, the processing including;

identifying a set of subscribers to the periodic publication using the topic;

providing data corresponding to the periodic publication for use by the set of subscribers to the periodic publication;

locking an item of the data that is excluded from being read or modified during the processing, wherein the locking prevents another process from modifying the item of the data;

receiving subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to a set of fields included with the topic, wherein the set of fields includes at least one field indicating that the subscriber metadata is requested by the publisher, wherein the subscriber metadata includes data related to the set of subscribers to the periodic publication representing the set of subscribers at the time that the data corresponding to the periodic publication was provided; and

providing a response for use by the publisher, wherein the response includes the subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to the set of fields included with the topic; and

committing the transaction after the processing.

17. The computer program of claim 16, wherein the data related to the set of subscribers includes at least one of:

a number of subscribers or an identifier for each subscriber in the set of subscribers.

18. The computer program of claim 16, wherein the periodic publication is generated by the publisher.

19. The computer program of claim 16, wherein the processing further includes determining the data related to the set of subscribers to the periodic publication to be identified using the topic.

20. A method of generating a system for managing messaging, the method comprising:

providing a computer system operable to;

identify a topic for a periodic publication related to a publisher, the processing further including identifying a set of subscribers to the periodic publication using the topic;

initiate a transaction for processing the periodic publication in response to the identifying;

process the periodic publication within the transaction, the processing including;

providing data corresponding to the publication for use by the set of subscribers to the publication;

locking an item of the data that is excluded from being read or modified during the processing, wherein the locking prevents another process from modifying the item of the data;

receiving subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to a set of fields included with the topic, wherein the set of fields includes at least one field indicating that the subscriber metadata is requested by the publisher, wherein the subscriber metadata includes data related to the set of subscribers to the publication representing the set of subscribers at the time that the data corresponding to the publication was provided; and

providing a response for use by the publisher, wherein the response includes the subscriber metadata for the set of subscribers corresponding to the set of fields included with the topic; and

commit the transaction after the processing.