Method for providing stand-in objects
First Claim
1. A method for managing object relationships comprising:
- using a processor to instantiate a first object having a relationship with a second object; and
using the processor to create a fault object to stand in place of said second object with respect to said relationship;
wherein the fault object comprises at least one attribute of the second object, such that the fault object responds to a message requesting the value of the at least one attribute without the fault object transforming into the second object, wherein the fault object includes an instance variable in which a pointer to a data value of the second object is stored and the fault object is configured to transform itself into the second object in the event a message that requires retrieval of the data value of the second object is received.
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Abstract
A method for providing stand-in objects, where relationships among objects are automatically resolved in an object oriented relational database model without the necessity of retrieving data from the database until it is needed. A “fault” class is defined, as well as fault objects whose data haven'"'"'t yet been fetched from the database. An object that'"'"'s created for the destination of a relationship whenever an object that includes the relationship is fetched from the database. When an object is fetched that has relationships, fault objects are created to “stand-in” for the destination objects of those relationships. Fault objects transform themselves into the actual enterprise objects—and fetch their data—the first time they'"'"'re accessed. Subsequently, messages sent to the target objects are responded to by the objects themselves.
13 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for managing object relationships comprising:
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using a processor to instantiate a first object having a relationship with a second object; and using the processor to create a fault object to stand in place of said second object with respect to said relationship;
wherein the fault object comprises at least one attribute of the second object, such that the fault object responds to a message requesting the value of the at least one attribute without the fault object transforming into the second object, wherein the fault object includes an instance variable in which a pointer to a data value of the second object is stored and the fault object is configured to transform itself into the second object in the event a message that requires retrieval of the data value of the second object is received. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21)
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13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer instructions, which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the steps of:
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instantiating a first object having a relationship with a second object; and creating a fault object to stand in place of said second object with respect to said relationship;
wherein the fault object comprises at least one attribute of the second object, such that the fault object responds to a message requesting the value of the at least one attribute without the fault object transforming into the second object, wherein the fault object includes an instance variable in which a pointer to a data value of the second object is stored and the fault object is configured to transform itself into or replace itself with the second object in the event a message that requires retrieval of the data value of the second object is received. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 22)
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17. A computer system, comprising:
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a memory configured to store a first object having a relationship with a second object; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to create in said memory a fault object to stand in place of said second object with respect to said relationship; wherein the fault object comprises at least one attribute of the second object, such that the fault object responds to a message requesting the value of the at least one attribute without the fault object transforming into the second object, wherein the fault object includes an instance variable in which a pointer to a data value of the second object is stored and the fault object is configured to transform itself into the second object in the event a message that requires retrieval of the data value of the second object is received. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 23)
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Specification