Stateless server-side automation of web service requests using dynamically generated web service interfaces

• US 20070074215A1
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tagore, Soumitro, Roberts, Cynthia, Bethea, Timothy, Gorkani, Monika
• Granted Patent: US 7,937,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/101
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing

Abstract

Methods, computer programs, and systems for processing a request through a web service on a server are provided. The method includes receiving a batch request from a client. The batch request includes a plurality of sub-requests that each specifies an operation to be performed by the web service. The method further includes processing the batch request through the web service including performing the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generating a corresponding plurality of sub-replies. Each sub-reply contains result data of the processing of a corresponding sub-request. The method further includes constructing a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies, and returning the batch reply to the client.

Claims

1. A method for processing a batch request through a web service on a server, the method comprising:

processing a batch request from a client through the web service, the batch request including a plurality of sub-requests that each specifies an operation to be performed by the web service, the processing including performing the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generating a corresponding plurality of sub-replies;

constructing a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies; and

providing the batch reply to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a first sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes a storage attribute indicating that result data of processing the first sub-request should be stored; and

the method further includes,

creating a temporary buffer; and

storing the result data of processing the first sub-request in the temporary buffer.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

using the result data stored in the temporary data as input to a second sub-request when processing the second sub-request, the second sub-request being of the plurality of sub-requests.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein using the result data stored in the temporary data buffer further includes transforming the result data into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein transforming the result data includes transforming the result data using an XSLT transformation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the XSLT transformation is stored in a XSLT library on the server.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the XSLT transformation is passed along with the second sub-request to the server.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising clearing the temporary buffer of the result data when the batch reply is returned to the client.

9. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, for processing a batch request through a web service on a server, the product comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

process a batch request from a client through the web service, the batch request including a plurality of sub-requests that each specifies an operation to be performed by the web service, the instructions to process further including instructions to perform the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generate a corresponding plurality of sub-replies;

construct a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies; and

provide the batch reply to the client.

10. The product of claim 9, wherein:

a first sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes a storage attribute indicating that result data of processing the first sub-request should be stored; and

the product further includes instructions to cause a programmable processor to,

create a temporary buffer; and

store the result data of processing the first sub-request in the temporary buffer.

11. The product of claim 10, further comprising instructions to cause a programmable processor to:

use the result data stored in the temporary data as input to a second sub-request when processing the second sub-request, the second sub-request being of the plurality of sub-requests.

12. The product of claim 11, wherein the instructions to use the result data stored in the temporary data buffer further include instructions to transform the result data into a form suitable for input to the second sub-request.

13. The product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to transform the result data include instructions to transform the result data using an XSLT transformation.

14. The product of claim 13, wherein the XSLT transformation is stored in a XSLT library on the server.

15. The product of claim 13, wherein the XSLT transformation is passed along with the second sub-request to the server.

16. The product of claim 13, further comprising instructions to cause a programmable processor to clear the temporary buffer of the result data when the batch reply is returned to the client.

17. A system comprising:

a server operable to provide a web service;

a client operable to generate a batch request, the batch request including a plurality of sub-requests that each specifies an operation to be performed by the web service; and

the web service operable to receive the batch request from the client and process the batch request through the web service including performing the operation specified by each of the plurality of sub-requests and generating a corresponding plurality of sub-replies, the web service further operable to construct a batch reply including the plurality of sub-replies and return the batch reply to the client.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein:

a first sub-request of the plurality of sub-requests includes a storage attribute indicating that result data of processing the first sub-request should be stored; and

the web service is further operable to create a temporary buffer and store the result data of processing the first sub-request in the temporary buffer.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the web service is further operable to use the result data stored in the temporary data as input to a second sub-request when processing the second sub-request, the second sub-request being of the plurality of sub-requests.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the web service is operable to clear the temporary buffer of the result data when the batch reply is returned to the client.