Application installation system, method and computer program product for allowing a package to be installed by a third party

• US 9,069,803 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• 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): Corrielus, Jean M
• Application Number:
  US13/016,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20110202911A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 707/781, 707/782, 707/783, 707/705, 707/769, 707/690, 707/687, 707/688, 707/716, 707/755, 707/784, 707/792, 707/804, 717/106, 715/777
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 method, comprising:

providing a platform shared by developers and end users;

enabling creation and distribution of applications by the developers for the end users using the platform;

wherein the developers use the platform to create and distribute the applications for the end users by;

defining, by a first developer, first metadata for at least one first application using the platform, wherein the first metadata includes setup data of the at least one first application,

saving the first metadata in a first package using the platform,

storing the first package in a storage location available to at least one first end user,

enabling the at least one first end user to save the first package including the first metadata in storage specific to the first end user, and

deploying the saved first package including the first metadata using a processor-implemented process specific to the first end user;

wherein one or more metadata objects included in the first metadata are conditionally modifiable by the first end user, based on a specification in the first package by;

identifying in the specification of the first package any of the saved metadata objects that are flagged by the first developer, wherein the first developer flags in the specification of the first package which of the metadata objects are modifiable by the first end user,

providing a deployment tool for allowing modifications only to the saved metadata objects that are identified as being flagged by the first developer,

wherein the first developer flags metadata objects for which modifications are required by the first end user,

wherein the developer flags metadata objects for which modifications are optional by the first end user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the setup data includes workflow information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metadata is defined for a plurality of applications using the platform, such that the first metadata defined for the plurality of applications is saved in the first package using the platform.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first package is stored in a storage location available to a plurality of first end users via systems of the first end users, and wherein at least some the systems of the first end users are of a different type.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metadata is validated when importing the first metadata by the first end user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metadata is validated by checking whether the first metadata in the first package conflicts with data of a system of the first end user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more metadata objects include at least a first metadata object explicitly included in the first package and at least a second metadata object that is dependent on the first metadata object and that is not explicitly included in the first package.

8. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for providing a platform shared by developers and end users;

computer code for enabling creation and distribution of applications by the developers for the end users using the platform;

wherein the developers use the platform to create and distribute the applications for the end users by;

defining, by a first developer, first metadata for at least one first application using the platform, wherein the first metadata includes setup data of the at least one first application,

saving the first metadata in a first package using the platform,

storing the first package in a storage location available to at least one first end user,

enabling the at least one first end user to save the first package including the first metadata in storage specific to the first end user, and

deploying the saved first package including the first metadata using a processor-implemented process specific to the first end user;

wherein one or more metadata objects included in the first metadata are conditionally modifiable by the first end user, based on a specification in the first package by;

identifying in the specification of the first package any of the saved metadata objects that are flagged by the first developer, wherein the first developer flags in the specification of the first package which of the metadata objects are modifiable by the first end user,

providing a deployment tool for allowing modifications only to the saved metadata objects that are identified as being flagged by the first developer,

wherein the first developer flags metadata objects for which modifications are required by the first end user,

wherein the developer flags metadata objects for which modifications are optional by the first end user.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor configured for;

providing a platform shared by developers and end users;

enabling creation and distribution of applications by the developers for the end users using the platform;

wherein the developers use the platform to create and distribute the applications for the end users by;

defining, by a first developer, first metadata for at least one first application using the platform, wherein the first metadata includes setup data of the at least one first application,

saving the first metadata in a first package using the platform,

storing the first package in a storage location available to at least one first end user,

enabling the at least one first end user to save the first package including the first metadata in storage specific to the first end user, and

deploying the saved first package including the first metadata using a processor-implemented process specific to the first end user;

wherein one or more metadata objects included in the first metadata are conditionally modifiable by the first end user, based on a specification in the first package by;

identifying in the specification of the first package any of the saved metadata objects that are flagged by the first developer, wherein the first developer flags in the specification of the first package which of the metadata objects are modifiable by the first end user,

providing a deployment tool for allowing modifications only to the saved metadata objects that are identified as being flagged by the first developer,

wherein the first developer flags metadata objects for which modifications are required by the first end user,

wherein the developer flags metadata objects for which modifications are optional by the first end user.