Customization restrictions for multi-layer XML customization

• US 8,875,306 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2008
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Lowes, Christopher David
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ashok
• Assistant Examiner(s): BECHTEL, KEVIN M
• Application Number:
  US12/029,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20090205013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,450 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1, 726 26- 30
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for customizing aspects of a metadata-driven software application. In particular, embodiments of the present invention provide (1) a self-contained metadata engine for generating customized metadata documents from base metadata documents and customizations; (2) a customization syntax for defining customizations; (3) a customization creation/update component for creating and updating customizations; (4) a customization restriction mechanism for restricting the creation of new customizations by specific users or groups of users; and (5) memory and caching optimizations for optimizing the storage and lookup of customized metadata documents.

Claims

1. A method for restricting the customizability of a base metadata document, the base metadata document defining one or more characteristics of at least a portion of a software application, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, a type-level customization policy defined for a first object type of an object included in the base metadata document, the type-level customization policy indicating whether instances of objects having the object type may be customized by a first set of one or more users of the software application;

receiving an instance-level customization policy defined for the object included in the base metadata document, the instance-level customization policy indicating whether an instance of the object may be customized by a second set of one or more users of the software application; and

enforcing, by the computer system, the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy at runtime of the software application to create or update a customization, the customization defining modifications to the base metadata document, the enforcing comprising;

determining whether the instance of the object may be customized by a current user, based on how the object is instantiated, the type-level customization policy, the instance-level customization policy, and a set of precedence rules for the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy, wherein how the object is instantiated comprises whether the object is instantiated as the first object type or as a second object type that is based on the first object type, and wherein the set of precedence rules for the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy comprises one or more rules providing for a first case where the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy apply without conflict, and one or more rules providing for a second case where the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy apply with conflicting restrictions;

determining whether a restriction of one of the type-level customization policy or the instance-level customization policy takes a higher precedence with respect to a conflicting restriction of the other of the type-level customization policy or the instance-level customization policy;

wherein the customization is stored separately from the base metadata document, and wherein the customization is applied to the base metadata document to generate a customized metadata document used by the software application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of enforcing the type-level customization policy comprises:

determining a policy value from a session context of the software application, the policy value indicating a username, group, or role of a current user of the software application; and

determining, based on the policy value, the type-level customization policy, and a set of default behavior rules, whether an instance of the object included in the base metadata document may be customized by the current user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein if no customization policy is defined for the object type, the set of default behavior rules indicates that instances of objects having the object type may not be customized by users of the software application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the base metadata document is an XML document, and wherein the object is an element or an attribute.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the type-level customization policy is implemented as one or more type annotations to the object type.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the object type is defined in an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file, and wherein the one or more type annotations are included in the XSD file.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the object type is defined in an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file, and wherein the one or more type annotations are included in an XML file separate from the XSD file.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the type-level customization policy further indicates what type of customization may performed on instances of objects having the object type by users of the software application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the type of customization is selected from a list consisting of:

modify, insert, move, and replace.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of enforcing the type-level customization policy and enforcing the instance-level customization policy comprise:

determining, based on a policy value, the type-level customization policy, the instance-level customization policy, the set of precedence rules, and a set of default behavior rules, whether the instance of the object may be customized by the current user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein if there is a conflict between the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy, the set of precedence rules indicate that the type-level customization policy overrides the instance-level customization policy.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein if no customization policy is defined for the object type or the instance of the object, the set of default behavior rules indicate that the instance of the object may not be customized by users of the software application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the instance-level customization policy is implemented as one or more object annotations to the object.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more object annotations are included in the base metadata document.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein, when the base metadata document is updated, the customization is not affected.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the customized metadata document is used to generate a user interface of the software application.

17. A system for restricting the customizability of a base metadata document, the base metadata document defining one or more characteristics of at least a portion of a software application, the system comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a type-level customization policy defined for a first object type of an object included in the base metadata document, the type-level customization policy indicating whether instances of objects having the object type may be customized by a first set of one or more users of the software application;

receive an instance-level customization policy defined for the object included in the base metadata document, the instance-level customization policy indicating whether an instance of the object may be customized by a second set of one or more users of the software application; and

enforce the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy at runtime of the software application to create or update a customization, the customization defining modifications to the base metadata document, the enforcing comprising;

determining whether the instance of the object may be customized by a current user, based on how the object is instantiated, the type-level customization policy, the instance-level customization policy, and a set of precedence rules for the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy, wherein how the object is instantiated comprises whether the object is instantiated as the first object type or as a second object type that is based on the first object type, wherein the set of precedence rules for the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy comprises one or more rules providing for a first case where the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy apply without conflict, and one or more rules providing for a second case where the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy apply with conflicting restrictions;

determining whether a restriction of one of the type-level customization policy or the instance-level customization policy takes a higher precedence with respect to a conflicting restriction of the other of the type-level customization policy or the instance-level customization policy;

wherein the customization is stored separately from the base metadata document, and wherein the customization is applied to the base metadata document to generate a customized metadata document used by the software application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein enforcing the customization policy comprises:

determining a policy value from a session context of the software application, the policy value indicating a username, group, or role of a current user of the software application; and

determining, based on the policy value, the customization policy, a set of precedence rules, and a set of default behavior rules, whether the instance of the object may be customized by the current user.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the base metadata document is an XML document, and wherein the object is an element or an attribute.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the type-level policy is implemented as one or more type annotations to the object type.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the instance-level policy is implemented as one or more object annotations to the object.

22. The system of claim 17 further comprising a design tool for viewing and editing the customization policy.

23. The system of claim 17 further comprising an application programming interface (API) for programmatically determining whether the instance of the object is customizable by a given user of the software application.

24. A non-transitory machine-readable medium for a computer system, the non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon a series of instructions which, when executed by a processing component, cause the processing component to restrict the customizability of a base metadata document, the base metadata document defining one or more characteristics of at least a portion of a software application, by:

receiving a type-level customization policy defined for an object type of a first object included in the base metadata document, the type-level customization policy indicating whether instances of objects having the object type may be customized by a first set of one or more users of the software application;

receiving an instance-level customization policy defined for the object included in the base metadata document, the instance-level customization policy indicating whether an instance of the object may be customized by a second set of one or more users of the software application; and

enforcing the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy at runtime of the software application to create or update a customization, the customization defining modifications of the base metadata document, the enforcing comprising;

determining whether the instance of the object may be customized by a current user, based on how the object is instantiated, the type-level customization policy, the instance-level customization policy, and a set of precedence rules for the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy, wherein how the object is instantiated comprises whether the object is instantiated as the first object type or as a second object type that is based on the first object type, wherein the set of precedence rules for the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy comprises one or more rules providing for a first case where the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy apply without conflict, and one or more rules providing for a second case where the type-level customization policy and the instance-level customization policy apply with conflicting restrictions;

determining whether a restriction of one of the type-level customization policy or the instance-level customization policy takes a higher precedence with respect to a conflicting restriction of the other of the type-level customization policy or the instance-level customization policy;

wherein the customization is stored separately from the base metadata document, and wherein the customization is applied to the base metadata document to generate a customized metadata document used by the software application.