Transient data facility for database applications

• US 7,925,632 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2006
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle Corporation
• Original Assignee: Oracle Corporation
• Inventors: Kaki, Sudhakar, Degenhardt, Jon Rexford, Tulac, Sanjin, Lu, Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz; Apu M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cindy
• Application Number:
  US11/546,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20070237086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,644 Days
• Field of Search: 707/201, 707/204, 707/2, 707/3, 707/663, 707/791, 707/793, 709/203, 709/217
• US Class Current: 707/663
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for providing a transient data facility for database applications includes creating a definition of transient data that corresponds to a unit of work to be performed by an application, and mapping the definition of transient data to a temporary storage table. The method further includes storing the transient data in the temporary storage table while the application performs the unit of work spanning one or more user sessions, and deleting the transient data after the application completes the unit of work.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

creating a definition of transient data corresponding to a unit of work to be performed by an application, wherein the definition of transient data comprises one or more fields that describe a format of one or more columns needed to store transient data;

mapping the definition of transient data to one or more columns of a temporary storage table, wherein a format of a mapped column corresponds to the format described by at least one field of the one or more fields of the definition of transient data;

storing the transient data in the one or more columns of the temporary storage table while the application performs the unit of work, the unit of work spanning one or more user sessions; and

deleting the transient data from the temporary storage table after the application completes the unit of work.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the definition of transient data is created during a design of the application based on user input.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the definition of transient data comprises metadata characterizing the transient data.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing mappings of columns of the temporary storage table to the definition of the transient data in a mapping table.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the transient data in the temporary storage table comprises:

creating a record for the transient data in the temporary storage table in response to a data request of the application.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating the transient data with a context identifier in the temporary storage table.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the context identifier is an identifier of a current unit of work.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the context identifier is an identifier of a current unit of work or a current sub-unit of work.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the current unit of work is a current task; and

the current sub-unit of work is a current subtask within the current task.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

automatically filtering the transient data based on a context.

11. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

providing automatic record management for the transient data.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein providing automatic record management comprises:

ensuring that the number of records per context in the temporary storage table does not exceed one.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the definition of the transient data is mapped to a temporary storage table during a design of the application.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

allowing the application to access the transient data via an application programming interface (API) used for accessing transactional and/or reference data.

15. The method of claim 6 wherein the transient data is deleted from the temporary storage table by a background service based on the context identifier.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

creating a definition of transient data corresponding to a unit of work to be performed by an application, wherein the definition of transient data comprises one or more fields that describe a format of one or more columns needed to store transient data;

mapping the definition of transient data to one or more columns of a temporary storage table, wherein a format of a mapped column corresponds to the format described by at least one field of the one or more fields of the definition of transient data;

storing the transient data in the one or more columns of the temporary storage table while the application performs the unit of work, the unit of work spanning one or more user sessions; and

deleting the transient data from the temporary storage table after the application completes the unit of work.

17. A system comprising:

a metadata repository to store a definition of transient data corresponding to a unit of work to be performed by an application, wherein the definition of transient data comprises one or more fields that describe a format of one or more columns needed to store transient data;

a temporary storage table to store the transient data while the application performs the unit of work, the unit of work spanning one or more user sessions; and

an object manager to map the definition of transient data to one or more columns of the temporary storage table, to use the mapping when processing the transient data, to store the transient data in the one or more columns of the temporary storage table, and to cause the transient data to be deleted from the temporary storage table after the application completes the unit of work, wherein a format of a mapped column of the temporary storage table corresponds to the format described by at least one field of the one or more fields of the definition of transient data.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the definition of transient data comprises metadata characterizing the transient data.

19. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a mapping table to store mappings of columns of the temporary storage table to the definition of the transient data.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the object manager is further to associate the transient data with a context identifier in the temporary storage table.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the object manager is further to filter the transient data based on a context.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the object manager is further to provide automatic record management for the transient data.