Systems and methods for exporting, publishing, browsing and installing on-demand applications in a multi-tenant database environment

• US 8,903,851 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2011
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Brooks, David, Tucker, Lewis Wiley, Jasik, Benji, Mason, Timothy, Bezar, Eric David, Wong, Simon, Chasman, Douglas, Tzuo, Tien, Hansma, Scott, Gross, Adam, Tamm, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US13/293,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20120054241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• Field of Search: 707/769, 707/802, 707/781, 707/621, 707/626, 709/201, 709/204, 709/206, 709/218, 709/219, 709/246, 709/228
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/214 Database migration support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2329 using versioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/50 Circuit switching systems, i.e. systems in which the path is physically permanent during the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 : involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A computer implemented method of developing computer applications, the method comprising providing to multiple users access, over a network, to information on a data center, with a subgroup of the users having access to a sub-portion of the information that is different from the sub-portion accessible by the remaining tenants of the subgroup; and communicating with the data center over the network employing a computer system associated with a user of the sub-group to establish application functionality with the sub-portion that may be accessed, over the network, by additional parties authorized by the user. Also disclosed is a machine-readable medium and a data center, both of which facilitate carrying-out the steps of the method.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method, the method comprising:

providing to multiple users access, over a network, to information in a database system, with a subgroup of the users having access to a sub-portion of the information that is different from another sub-portion accessible by the remaining users;

allowing communication with the database system over the network from a computer system associated with a user of the sub-group to allow the user to access the sub-portion of the information; and

regulating access of one or more additional parties to a user interface that allows access to the sub-portion of the information by allowing the one or more additional parties to access the sub-portion of the information via the user interface in response to a determination that each party of the one or more additional parties has a level of permission indicated by the user that is required to access the user interface;

wherein each party of the additional parties is a member of a group, and wherein the indication of the level of permission received from the user is for the group.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the communication further includes storing additional information on the network to generate a graphical user interface in response to one of the additional parties accessing the network.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the communication further includes communicating with the database system through a web browser.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the sub-portion includes an application element or a database object.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the user interface is received from the user into the sub-portion of the information.

6. A method, comprising:

providing to multiple users access, over a network, to information in a database system, utilizing a processor, with a subgroup of the users having access to a sub-portion of the information that is different from another sub-portion accessible by the remaining users;

allowing communication with the database system over the network from a computer system associated with a user of the sub-group to allow the user to access the sub-portion of the information; and

regulating access of one or more additional parties to a user interface that allows access to the sub-portion of the information by allowing the one or more additional parties to access the sub-portion of the information via the user interface in response to a determination that each party of the one or more additional parties has a level of permission indicated by the user that is required to access the user interface;

wherein each party of the additional parties is a member of a group, and wherein the indication of the level of permission received from the user is for the group.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication further includes storing information on the data network to generate a graphical user interface in response to one of the additional parties accessing the data network.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication further includes communicating with the database system through a web browser.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the sub-portion includes an application element or a database object.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the user interface is received from the user into the sub-portion of the information.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor for;

providing to multiple users access, over a network, to information in a database system, with a subgroup of the users having access to a sub-portion of the information that is different from another sub-portion accessible by the remaining users;

allowing communication with the database system over the network from a computer system associated with a user of the sub-group to allow the user to access the sub-portion of the information; and

regulating access of one or more additional parties to a user interface that allows access to the sub-portion of the information by allowing the one or more additional parties to access the sub-portion of the information via the user interface in response to a determination that each party of the one or more additional parties has a level of permission indicated by the user that is required to access the user interface;

wherein each party of the additional parties is a member of a group, and wherein the indication of the level of permission received from the user is for the group.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the communication further includes storing information on the data network to generate a graphical user interface in response to one of the additional parties accessing the data network.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the communication further includes communicating with the database system through a web browser.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sub-portion includes an application element or a database object.