On-demand database service system and method for determining whether a developed application will operate properly with at least one other application

• US 8,145,651 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2008
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Weissman, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): LU, KUEN S
• Application Number:
  US12/192,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20090049101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 707/755, 707/802
• US Class Current: 707/755
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for determining whether a developed application associated with an on-demand database service will operate properly with at least one other application. These mechanisms and methods for providing such determination can enable embodiments to ensure that new versions of developed applications will operate in the same application environment of a previous version. The ability of embodiments to make such determination may lead to an improved application migration development/runtime framework, etc.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a developed application from a developer at an on-demand database service, the developed application including an updated version of an application;

creating a data structure describing aspects of the developed application;

identifying information associated with at least one other application of at least one subscriber with which the developed application is to operate, the at least one other application including an older version of the application from which the updated version of the application was developed; and

determining whether the developed application and the at least one other application will properly operate together, utilizing the data structure and the information, by;

identifying settings used in an application environment of the at least one subscriber including the at least one other application, using the information associated with the at least one other application;

creating a temporary test environment having the identified settings;

determining from the settings a version of the application to be tested;

identifying a portion of the developed application including the version of the application to be tested, using the data structure; and

testing the identified portion of the developed application in the temporary test environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the aspects include a version identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the aspects include a schema.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the aspects include a message shape.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the aspects include a semantic behavior.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the aspects include uniform resource locators.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one subscriber and the developer are allowed to edit at least one component of the developed application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one component includes a field.

9. The method of claim 1, and further comprising tracking which of a plurality of versions of the application a plurality of the subscribers are utilizing.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, if it is determined that the developed application and the at least one other application will not properly operate together, at least one of the developer and the subscriber is allowed to edit the developed application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated version of the application and the older version of the application are included in the developed application, and wherein identifying the portion of the developed application including the version of the application to be tested includes identifying in the developed application one of the updated version of the application and the older version of the application for testing.

12. A non-transitory machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

receiving a developed application from a developer at an on-demand database service, the developed application including an updated version of an application;

creating a data structure describing aspects of the developed application;

identifying information associated with at least one other application of at least one subscriber with which the developed application is to operate, the at least one other application including an older version of the application from which the updated version of the application was developed; and

determining whether the developed application and the at least one other application will properly operate together, utilizing the data structure and the information, by;

identifying settings used in an application environment of the at least one subscriber including the at least one other application, using the information associated with the at least one other application;

creating a temporary test environment having the identified settings;

determining from the settings a version of the application to be tested;

identifying a portion of the developed application including the version of the application to be tested, using the data structure; and

testing the identified portion of the developed application in the temporary test environment.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a computer processor; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer processor to carry out the steps of;

receiving a developed application from a developer at an on-demand database service, the developed application including an updated version of an application;

creating a data structure describing aspects of the developed application;

identifying information associated with at least one other application of at least one subscriber with which the developed application is to operate, the at least one other application including an older version of the application from which the updated version of the application was developed; and

determining whether the developed application and the at least one other application will properly operate together, utilizing the data structure and the information, by;

identifying settings used in an application environment of the at least one subscriber including the at least one other application, using the information associated with the at least one other application;

creating a temporary test environment having the identified settings;

determining from the settings a version of the application to be tested;

identifying a portion of the developed application including the version of the application to be tested, using the data structure; and

testing the identified portion of the developed application in the temporary test environment.

14. A method for transmitting code for use in a multi-tenant database system on a transmission medium, the method comprising:

transmitting code for identifying a developed application of a developer in an on-demand database service, the developed application including an updated version of an application;

transmitting code for creating a data structure describing aspects of the developed application;

transmitting code for identifying information associated with at least one other application of at least one subscriber with which the developed application is to operate, the at least one other application including an older version of the application from which the updated version of the application was developed; and

transmitting code for determining whether the developed application and the at least one other application will properly operate together, utilizing the data structure and the information, by;

identifying settings used in an application environment of the at least one subscriber including the at least one other application, using the information associated with the at least one other application;

creating a temporary test environment having the identified settings;

determining from the settings a version of the application to be tested;

identifying a portion of the developed application including the version of the application to be tested, using the data structure; and

testing the identified portion of the developed application in the temporary test environment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the aspects include a version identifier.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the aspects include a schema.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the aspects include a message shape.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the aspects include a semantic behavior.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the aspects include uniform resource locators.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one subscriber and the developer are allowed to edit at least one component of the developed application.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one component includes a field.