Organization of application state and configuration settings

• US 8,352,915 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2011
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bernabeu-Auban, Jose M., Dossick, Stephen E., Peschel-Gallee, Frank V., Zachwieja, Stephan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US13/205,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20110289478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 519 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/121
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

The operating system manages software entities by creating a construct called a context that organizes and manages software-related state and configuration settings of applications. A context may comprise an installation service, a configuration service and an activation service. Contexts can be linked or arranged hierarchically to form parent-child relationships. Hierarchies may be used to affect accessibility of software items, to satisfy dependencies, to control the visibility/invisibility of software items, to provide access to configuration settings and to override software availability, dependencies and configuration settings. An override may be applied to set policy when more than one context has a configuration setting, dependency or access to a software entity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a process request for a first software item, the first software item comprising program code and metadata associated with the program code;

using an operating system of a computer system to create a first context for managing the first software item as well as additional software items that are executed in the computer system;

storing the program code in an installation store of the first context;

storing configuration settings for the first software item in a configuration store of the first context,

linking a second context to the first context, the first context being a parent of the second context,

wherein the first context comprises;

a first installation service that manages installation of the first software item,

a first configuration services that manages configuration settings associated with the first software item, and

a first activation service that creates an execution environment for the first software item based on the configuration settings associates with the first software item;

computing dependencies of the first software item and a second software item depending on the first software item; and

listing missing dependencies of the first software item and the second software item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising listing unavailable required software items.

3. A system comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a process request for a first software item, the first software item comprising program code and metadata associated with the program code;

compute dependencies of the first software item and a second software item depending on the first software item; and

list missing dependencies of the first software item and the second software item;

an operating system configured to create a first context for managing the first software item as well as additional software items that are executed in the system; and

a computer-readable storage medium configured to store the program code in an installation store of the first context, the computer readable storage medium being further configured to store configuration settings for the first software item in a configuration store of the first context, the first context linked to the second context, the first context being a parent of the second context,

wherein the first context comprises;

a first installation service that manages installation of the first software item,

a first configuration service that manages configuration settings associated with the first software item, and

a first activation service that creates an execution environment for the first software item based on the configuration settings associated with the first software item.

4. The system of claim 3, the processor being further configured to list unavailable required software items.

5. A computer-readable storage medium having code stored thereon configured to cause a computing environment to:

receive a process request for a first software item, the first software item comprising program code and metadata associated with the program code;

use an operating system of a computer system to create a first context for managing the first software item as well as additional software items that are executed in the computer system;

store the program code in an installation store of the first context;

store configuration settings for the first software item in a configuration store of the first context, wherein the code is further configured to cause the computing environment to create a second context and link the first context to the second context, the first context being a parent of the second context,

wherein the first context comprises;

a first installation service that manages installation of the first software item,

a first configuration service that manages configuration settings associated with the first software item, and

a first activation service that creates an execution environment for the first software item based on the configuration settings associated with the first software item;

compute dependencies of the first software item and a second software item depending on the first software item; and

list missing dependencies of the first software item and the second software item.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the program code is further configured to cause the computing environment to list unavailable required software items.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the second context comprises:

a second installation service that manages installation of the second software item;

a second configuration service that manages configuration settings associated with the second software item; and

a second activation service that creates an execution environment for the second software item based on the configuration settings associated with the second software item.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the first software item is accessible to a child context and wherein configuration settings stored by the configuration service for the first software item in the parent context are accessible to the child context.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, having further code stored thereon, that when executed by the computing environment, causes the computing environment to:

override metadata associated with the second software item in the child context, as directed by the parent context.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, having further code stored thereon, that when executed by the computing environment, causes the computing environment to:

override the second software item executed in the child context, as directed by the parent context.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, having further code stored thereon, that when executed by the computing environment, causes the computing environment to:

prevent the parent context from accessing the second software item of the child context.