Application template creation and management

• US 9,575,735 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2005
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Baldera, Manuel A., Wesley, Ajamu A., Karra, Eleni-Georgia, O'Connell, Margaret M., Russo, Hanna
• Primary Examiner(s): COYER, RYAN D
• Application Number:
  US11/318,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,074 Days
• Field of Search: 717100-102, 717120-121, 717168-178, 709220-226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to templated application deployment and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for the uniform specification of the creation and management of an application template. In one embodiment, a method for creating and managing application templates utilizing assets can be provided. The method can include grouping templated application components as assets described by a profile, building a manifest for the grouped assets, and packaging the grouped assets and the manifest in an archive. In this regard, grouping templated application components as assets described by a profile, can include grouping templated application components as Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) assets described by an RAS profile.

Claims

1. A method for creating and managing application templates utilizing assets, the method comprising:

retrieving into memory of a server computing device, an application template defining an application, the template deriving from a Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) asset, the template including each of a single classification object, a single solution object and a single usage object, the solution object including one or more deployable objects relating to different types, the usage object comprising a corresponding application template user interface, the application template additionally comprising an association with one or more related assets;

identifying by a processor of the server computing device each of a multiplicity of components in the application and creating for each of the identified components, a corresponding asset;

grouping by a processor of the server computing device, the created assets in an instance of an application template profile object describing the application template;

building a manifest for the grouped assets;

serializing the grouped assets for storage;

packaging the serialized grouped assets and the manifest in an archive;

extracting the grouped assets and the manifest from the archive; and

,

creating an instance of a templated application based upon the grouped assets extracted from the archive by cycling through the grouped assets creating instantiable components for each of the grouped assets and, for each dependency identified for an asset among the grouped assets, recursively creating an instantiable component for the dependency.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein grouping templated application components as assets described by a profile, comprises grouping templated application components as Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) assets described by an RAS profile.

3. A templated application deployment data processing system comprising:

a server computing device with memory and at least one processor;

an application container configured to host a plurality of application component instances specified by an application template and defining a templated application, the application template deriving from a Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) asset and the template including each of a single classification object, a single solution object and a single usage object, the solution object including one or more deployable objects relating to different types, the usage object comprising a corresponding application template user interface, the application template additionally comprising an association with one or more related assets each of the assets corresponding to a component instance of the template;

application deployment logic comprising program code enabled to execute in the memory of the server computing device to create the application component instances in the application container; and

,

asset based template processing logic coupled to the application deployment logic in the memory of the server computing device, the asset based template processing logic comprising program code enabled to cycle through grouped assets for an application template profile describing the application template in order to create an instantiable component for each of the grouped assets, and for each dependency identified for an asset among the grouped assets, to recursively create an instantiable component for the dependency.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the program code for the asset based template processing logic program is enabled to cycle through grouped Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) assets for an RAS application template profile to create an instantiable component for each of the grouped RAS assets, and for each dependency identified for an RAS asset among the grouped RAS assets, to create an instantiable component for the dependency.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising a development environment.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the development environment comprises program code enabled to group application components specified by the application template as assets described by a profile, to build a manifest for the grouped assets, and to package the grouped assets and the manifest in an archive.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the grouped assets are Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) assets described by an RAS profile.

8. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium having computer usable program code for creating and managing application templates utilizing assets, said computer program product including:

computer usable program code for retrieving an application template defining an application, the template deriving from a Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) asset, the template including each of a single classification object, a single solution object and a single usage object, the solution object including one or more deployable objects relating to different types, the usage object comprising a corresponding application template user interface, the application template additionally comprising an association with one or more related assets;

computer usable program code for identifying each of a multiplicity of components in the application and creating for each of the identified components, a corresponding asset;

computer usable program code for grouping the created assets in an instance of an application template profile object describing the application;

computer usable program code for building a manifest for the grouped assets;

computer usable program code for serializing the grouped assets for storage;

computer usable program code for packaging the serialized grouped assets and the manifest in an archive;

computer usable program code for extracting the grouped assets and the manifest from the archive; and

,

creating an instance of a templated application based upon the grouped assets extracted from the archive by cycling through the grouped assets creating instantiable components for each of the grouped assets and, for each dependency identified for an asset among the grouped assets, recursively creating an instantiable component for the dependency.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer usable program code for grouping templated application components as assets described by a profile, comprises computer usable program code for grouping templated application components as Reusable Asset Specification (RAS) assets described by an RAS profile.