Providing features in a database system environment

• US 9,507,957 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2016
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Ahuja, Neeraj
• Primary Examiner(s): Spieler, William
• Application Number:
  US15/057,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20160180111A1
• Time in Patent Office: 274 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

A system and method for providing features in a database system. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, from a user, a request for a feature, where the feature is a functionality of the database system. The method further includes upgrading the database system, where the upgrading includes one or more provisioning steps that are based on the request from the user.

Claims

1. A method of incrementally updating user features available to users of a shared on-demand database that is shared by multiple users who belong to multiple organizations and who have installed distinct sets of features available from the shared on-demand database, including:

causing display to a first user of a new feature provisioning interface that allows the first user to select among one or more new features of the shared on-demand database to provision new features to a first user feature set;

receiving from the new feature provisioning interface a selection of a first new feature of the shared on-demand database to implement using an entity object;

responsive to the received selection, immediately provisioning the first new feature for the first user, without waiting for a periodic upgrade cycle and without immediately provisioning the first new feature to organizations to which the first user does not belong, including;

updating layout information to describe a modified presentation layout of the entity object on a display page, based on the first new feature of the shared on-demand database; and

populating one or more tables of the shared on-demand database with permissions for at least the first user to utilize the updated layout information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user represents an organization that permits multiple users to share an organization feature set on the shared on-demand database, further including, immediately provisioning the first new feature for the organization represented by the first user, without immediately provisioning the first new feature to other organizations.

3. The method of claim 1, further including, immediately provisioning the first new feature for the first user, without immediately provisioning the first new feature to other users in an organization to which the first user belongs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning of the first new feature further includes updating a database script used to implement the first new feature.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning of the first new feature further includes updating field level security parameters for the first user that implement the first new feature.

6. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions that, when executed on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 5.

7. A system including a processing unit and non-transitory computer readable memory, coupled to the processing unit, storing instructions that, when executed on the processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 5.

8. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions that, when executed on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 1.

9. A system including a processing unit and non-transitory computer readable memory, coupled to the processing unit, storing instructions that, when executed on the processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 1.

10. A method of incrementally updating user features available to users of a shared on-demand database that is shared by multiple users who belong to multiple organizations and who have installed distinct sets of features available from the shared on-demand database, including:

causing display to a first user of a new feature provisioning interface that allows the first user to select among one or more new features of the shared on-demand database to provision new features to a first user feature set;

receiving from the new feature provisioning interface a selection of a first new feature of the shared on-demand database to implement using an entity object; and

responsive to the received selection, immediately provisioning the first new feature for the first user, without waiting for a periodic upgrade cycle and without immediately provisioning the first new feature to organizations to which the first user does not belong.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the provisioning of the first new feature further includes:

updating layout information to describe a modified presentation layout of the entity object on a display page, based on the first new feature of the shared on-demand database.

12. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions that, when executed on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 11.

13. A system including a processing unit and non-transitory computer readable memory, coupled to the processing unit, storing instructions that, when executed on the processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 11.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the provisioning of the first new feature further includes:

populating one or more tables of the shared on-demand database with permissions for at least the first user to utilize updated layout information that describes a modified presentation layout of the entity object on a display page.

15. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions that, when executed on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 14.

16. A system including a processing unit and non-transitory computer readable memory, coupled to the processing unit, storing instructions that, when executed on the processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 14.

17. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing instructions that, when executed on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 10.

18. A system including a processing unit and non-transitory computer readable memory, coupled to the processing unit, storing instructions that, when executed on the processing unit, cause the processing unit to carry out the method of claim 10.