Relation-based hierarchy evaluation of recursive nodes

• US 8,396,827 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Gross, Rene, Kaiser, Martin, Anzuinelli, Gisella Dominguez
• Primary Examiner(s): Spieler, William
• Application Number:
  US11/648,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20080162207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,265 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/602
• US Class Current: 707/602
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/74 Reverse engineering; Extracting design information from source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems and processes may access data in various graph structures, often including data models that do not partially or fully utilize relations such as hierarchical graphs. For example, software for processing this non-relational data identifies a data model that includes a plurality of nodes independent of relations, each non-root node storing an identifier of the particular node'"'"'s parent. The software then processes the data model using a generic graph service that utilizes nodes and relations. In some cases, such data models may include hierarchical graph structures and one or more of the nodes may be a recursive node.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for processing recursive nodes, the method comprising the following operations performed by at least one hardware processor:

identifying a data model that includes a plurality of nodes, at least a subset of the nodes comprising at least one recursive node, the at least one recursive node storing an identifier of the particular recursive node'"'"'s parent node, the at least one recursive node stored in the data model and part of a hierarchical graphical structure;

processing the data model using a generic graph service, the generic graph service utilizing the identifier of the parent node stored in the at least one recursive node to identify the at least one recursive node'"'"'s parent node;

identifying a runtime transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node based on the identified parent node stored in the at least one recursive node, the transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node generated at runtime;

instantiating a runtime graph structure including the runtime transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node based on the processed data model using the generic graph service; and

providing a runtime representation of the instantiated graph structure for display on a user interface, the instantiated graph structure displaying the runtime transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating one or more relations for the data model prior to the processing.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying a node type and an identifier of the at least one recursive node.

4. The method of claim 2, the processing further comprising identifying a source node and a target node associated with the at least one recursive node.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the relation generation occurs at run-time.

6. The method of claim 1, the data model comprising a hierarchical graph structure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one transient relation at runtime is a parent-child relation.

8. An article comprising software for processing recursive nodes using a relation-oriented graph service, the software comprising computer readable instructions embodied on tangible, non-transient media and operable when executed by a processor to:

provide at least one recursive node, the at least one recursive node storing an identifier of the particular recursive node'"'"'s parent node, the at least one recursive node stored in the data model and part of a hierarchical graphical structure;

process the data model using a generic graph service, the generic graph service utilizing nodes and relations to identify at least one node and relation associated with at least one recursive node based on the identifier of the parent node stored in the at least one recursive node to identify the at least one recursive node'"'"'s parent node;

identify a runtime transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node based on the identified parent node stored in the at least one recursive node, the transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node generated at runtime;

instantiate a runtime graph structure including the runtime transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node based on the processed data model using the generic graph service; and

provide a runtime representation of the instantiated graph structure for display on a user interface, the instantiated graph structure displaying the runtime transient relation between the at least one recursive node and the identified parent node.

9. The article of claim 8, further operable to automatically generate one or more relations for the data model prior to the processing.

10. The article of claim 9, further operable to identify a node type and an identifier of the at least one recursive node.

11. The article of claim 9, the processing further comprising identifying a source node and a target node associated with the at least one recursive node.

12. The article of claim 9, wherein the relation generation occurs at run-time.

13. The article of claim 8, the data model comprising a hierarchical graph structure.

14. The article of claim 8, wherein the at least one transient relation at runtime is a parent-child relation.