Application runtime environment and framework

• US 8,887,132 B1
• Filed: 09/06/2011
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Christopher R. Hunter
• Original Assignee: Christopher R. Hunter
• Inventors: Hunter, Christopher R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Satish
• Application Number:
  US13/199,660
• Time in Patent Office: 1,162 Days
• Field of Search: 717100-111, 717124-148, 717162-165, 719315-332, 709/203, 703/13, 703/23, 703/26
• US Class Current: 717/111
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A system and method for supporting the development and instantiation of web and locally installed interactive software applications that are configurable through editing and processing of formatted XML files originating through programmed or manual means. Software applications load and instantiate native applications embedded within in combination with core framework/runtime supported components. The application runtime environment and framework has the ability to implement runtime-configurable design templates to facilitate object reuse. This, in combination with de-coupled integration with custom data sets and services in addition to support for dynamic layout calculations make for efficient development and maintenance of applications.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a software application, said method comprising:

on a computing device having a processor and a memory, running a runtime environment and an application framework within a browser plugin or as a browser plugin, or running a native application executing said runtime environment and said application framework, or running said runtime environment and said application framework as a computer operating system;

wherein said application framework comprises a plurality of compiled application objects, said compiled application objects being configurable by means of a Plurality of markup language configuration files, each of said markup language configuration files adhering to a schema and representing a display object container, and said runtime environment comprises a platform that is operative to support the software application running within it;

accepting a user input modifying said markup language configuration files and saving said markup language configuration files to said memory, said markup language configuration files containing a representation of the state of the software application;

processing in said processor said extensible markup language configuration files in accordance with a display object tree to produce the software application; and

executing the software application within said runtime environment.

2. A method for configuring a runtime environment to run a configurable and interactive software application on a computing device having a processor, a memory, a screen, and a user input device, said method comprising:

accepting a first user input to the user input device, said first user input creating a configurable set of extensible markup language application configuration files based on a first defined schema, or accepting another user input to the user input device creating a configurable set of JAVASCRIPT®

Object Notation application configuration files based on a second defined schema;

processing one of said configurable sets of application configuration files with said processor to a configurable location in said memory, said one of said configurable sets of application configuration files containing a representation of the state of the pages and components of the configurable and interactive software application; and

instantiating the configurable and interactive software application;

wherein processing said one of said configurable sets of application configuration files comprises processing a display object tree comprising a plurality of display object containers with each display object container represented by a single application configuration file following one of said defined schemas.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of said application configuration files comprises at least one display object container text file that references another display object container file.

4. A tangible computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

running a runtime environment and framework within a player or a browser operating on a personal computer having a processor and a memory;

accepting user input to said personal computer modifying an extensible markup language application configuration file based on a defined schema that is resident in said memory, said extensible markup language configuration file containing a representation of the state of a software application comprising an application page;

processing said extensible markup language application configuration file within said runtime environment and framework in accordance with a display object tree comprising a plurality of display object containers with each display object container represented by a single application configuration file following said defined schema to produce said software application; and

executing said software application within said runtime environment.

5. A system for configuring and executing a software application, said system comprising:

a client computer comprising a processor; and

a server;

wherein said processor is programmed to enable a user to configure the software application by modifying, in accordance with a schema, a set of configuration files containing extensible markup language lists, each of said extensible markup language lists comprising a plurality of display object references that are processed by said processor in accordance with a display object tree comprising a plurality of display object containers with each display object container represented by a single application configuration file following said schema to configure a plurality of component objects to produce a plurality of configured component objects; and

wherein said server is operative to download said plurality of configured component objects into another computing device, thereby allowing execution of the software application on said other computing device.

6. A system for configuring and running a software application, said system comprising:

a computing device having a processor, a memory, an operating system, and a display, said computing device being programmed to provide a runtime environment and an application framework for the software application, said runtime environment and application framework comprising;

a plurality of asynchronously-loaded, compiled application objects, said asynchronously-loaded, compiled application objects being configurable by means of a plurality of markup language configuration files, each of said markup language configuration files adhering to a schema and representing a display object container; and

a running application that is operative to support the software application running within it;

means for accepting a user input modifying said markup language configuration files and saving said markup language configuration files to said memory, said markup language configuration files containing a representation of the state of the software application; and

means for processing in said processor said markup language configuration files in accordance with a display object tree to produce the software application.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein each said asynchronously-loaded, complied application object is downloaded from a server.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein at least one of said display object containers has a child display object container.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein each said markup language configuration file comprises:

a plurality of display object and display object container references in z-order, or a plurality of instructions for branches of said display object tree data structure to transition to an existing or a newly created branch of said display object tree data structure, or a plurality of data collection references in the form of individual static files containing name/value pair collections of variables for persistence to said memory for retrieval during instantiation and processing of said asynchronously-loaded, compiled application objects, or a plurality of indications to preload said asynchronously-loaded, compiled application objects and configuration files before they are encountered in processing, or a combination thereof.

10. A system for configuring and running an interactive software application, said system comprising:

a computing device having a processor, a user input device, a memory, a display, and an operating system, said computing device being programmed to provide an application framework and a runtime environment;

said application framework comprising a plurality of compiled application objects, said compiled application objects being configurable by means of a plurality of markup language configuration files authored by a user using said user input device, each of said markup language configuration files adhering to a schema and representing a display object container; and

said runtime environment comprising a running application that is operative to support the interactive software application running within it;

means for accepting an input from said user modifying said markup language configuration files and saving said markup language configuration files to said memory, said markup language configuration files containing a representation of the state of the interactive software application; and

means for processing in said processor said markup language configuration files in accordance with a display object tree data structure to produce the interactive software application.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said markup language configuration files are extensible markup language configuration files.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein each compiled application object is a display object or one of said display object containers.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein at least one of said markup language configuration files references one or more other markup language configuration files or contains an embedded list of data fields in the form of name/value pairs.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein at least some of said markup language configuration files includes a list of display object configurations and display object container configurations in z-order in a top down manner, thereby causing each of said display objects or said display object containers configured at the top of said list to be displayed on said display over the top of each of said display objects or said display object containers that are configured lower in said list.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein dynamically-sized display objects are configured to automatically scale to have dimensions appropriate to be displayed on said display with a specific, configured, display object or in a specific, configured, display object container.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein said embedded list is embedded within one of said markup language configuration files or is referenced as a separate configuration file, thereby enabling said name/value pairs to be referenced at runtime by said application framework, overriding previous values of said name/value pairs then currently within said memory during processing of said markup language configuration files in a top-down manner.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said application framework is operative to perform top down processing of said display object container configuration files and allow data configurations to be used in combinations of display object configurations and display object container configurations that reference dynamically-obtained data, thereby providing template-like functionality within said application framework.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein said application framework is operative to iterate through said application display object tree at runtime to send event messages to said display object containers acting as event handlers.

19. The system of claim 10 wherein said application framework is operative to reference markup language configuration files on initial page load, said markup language configuration files being loaded at that time if not loaded previously, or upon input to said application framework by said user.

20. The system of claim 10 wherein said application framework is operative to place into said memory additional markup language configuration files referenced within said markup language configuration files for immediate or future use.

21. The system of claim 10 wherein said application framework is operative to iterate through said display object tree data structure at runtime, starting at a root of said display object tree, when said application framework processes an event.

22. The system of claim 10 wherein said application framework and said runtime environment are downloaded as a versioned instance from a cloud file-hosting service.

23. The system of claim 10 wherein said application framework is operative to obtain at least one of said markup language configuration files from a server that does not perform server-side processing of said at least one of said markup language configuration files other than serving said at least one of said markup language configuration files.

24. A method for configuring and running an interactive software application utilizing an extensible markup language-driven runtime environment and framework, said method comprising:

downloading from a cloud file-hosting service a versioned instance of the extensible markup language-driven runtime environment and framework to a computing device;

configuring the interactive software application by accepting a user input modifying a configurable set of extensible markup language files in accordance with a schema, said configurable set of extensible markup language files including a plurality of lists organized in accordance with a display object tree and representing the interactive software application, each of said lists comprising a plurality of display object references, display object container references, and data record references in z-order configuring a plurality of component objects to produce a plurality of configured component objects capable of being loaded into said computing device on demand; and

running the interactive software application by loading said configured component objects into said computing device and instantiating said configured component objects.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

uploading said plurality of configured component objects into said cloud file-hosting service and running on another computing device the interactive software application using configuration files hosted by said cloud file-hosting service, thereby making said plurality of configured component objects available for other users to use.

26. A method of configuring and running a software application, said method comprising:

executing an application comprising a runtime environment and framework having an application stage on a computer having a processor, a memory, and a user interface device;

creating a set of extensible markup language configuration files for configuring the software application and storing said set of configuration files in said memory, said set of extensible markup language configuration files comprising a representation of the software application;

instantiating a plurality of application classes that are configured by means of said set of extensible markup language configuration files that are processed by said processor in accordance with a display object tree to produce a plurality of software application components;

loading said software application components into said memory;

instantiating a root object for processing of said set of extensible markup language configuration files in accordance with said display object tree;

displaying the software application within said application stage; and

accepting a user interaction with the software application.

27. The method of claim 26, said method further comprising:

accepting an input from said user indicating that said user wishes to add a plurality of user interface components that are derived from said runtime environment and framework or that are accessible by running a native application on said computer as part of the software application;

prompting said user and accepting another input from said user in an extensible markup language format of a plurality of configuration values for each of said user interface components, thereby adding more extensible markup language configuration files to said set of extensible markup language configuration files;

saving said plurality of configuration values to said memory;

re-evaluating a plurality of dependencies of the software application;

re-loading said dependencies and reloading said plurality of software application components;

re-instantiating a root object for processing of said set of extensible markup language configuration files in accordance with said display object tree;

re-displaying the software application within said application stage.

28. A system for configuring and running a software application, said system comprising:

a client computer comprising a processor and a memory;

a server;

wherein said server is operative to download a versioned instance of a runtime environment and framework for instantiation in combination with a plurality of application configuration extensible markup language files into said client computer;

wherein said client computer is operative to accept a user input modifying a plurality of lists situated within said extensible markup language files representing individual display object containers that make up the software application, said lists comprising a plurality of display object references in z-order that are processed by said processor in accordance with a display object tree, thereby configuring a plurality of component objects to produce a plurality of configured component objects that are uploadable to said server; and

wherein said server is operative to download said configured component objects into said client computer on demand.