Method and apparatus for employing a searchable abstraction layer over enterprise-wide searchable objects

• US 9,418,125 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2007
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gutlapalli, Hari K., Kothari, Shirish K., Mehta, Suhas R., Pak, Wai
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Yicun
• Application Number:
  US11/875,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20090106294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,224 Days
• Field of Search: 707/601, 707/736, 707/741, 707803-804, 707/999.102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application

Abstract

A mechanism for dynamically configuring searchable fields of interest within an enterprise-wide search center is provided. Such functionality is provided through the creation and maintaining of an abstraction layer that represents the searchable fields of interest, which are gathered from the total available fields from enterprise-wide searchable objects. The abstraction layer is defined through the use of a field mappings file that relates searchable fields of interest in searchable objects with fields within a search index accessible to the search center. The field mappings file can provide the defined relationships between searchable object fields and search index fields at runtime of a user session, thus avoiding a rigid configuration at the time of search center initialization. Through such runtime modification of the abstraction layer, costly downtime due to revision of a configuration of the search center can be avoided and a dynamic flexibility in the presentation of the fields in the searchable objects can be provided without a need for modification of the searchable objects themselves.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

performing a first search in a set of fields of a set of searchable objects;

after said performing the first search, mapping the set of fields to a set of searchable fields, wherein

the set of fields comprises a first set of fields defined by a configurable field mappings file, wherein

the configurable field mappings file provides an abstraction layer between a plurality of search engines and the set of searchable objects,

first set of fields is a subset of a set of all the fields of the searchable objects,

the fields of the searchable objects are defined when the searchable objects are designed,

said mapping is performed subsequent to a design of the searchable objects,

accessible by a search center through a search index that corresponds to the configurable field mappings file, and

the configurable field mappings file is configured to define a relationship between the fields of the searchable objects and the searchable fields;

modifying the set of searchable fields by modifying the fields of searchable objects within the configurable field mappings file, wherein

said modifying is based at least in part on a second set of fields that are fewer than all the fields of the searchable objects, and

the first and second sets of fields are distinct;

updating a search index in response to said modifying the set of searchable fields; and

performing a second search in the set of fields based at least in part on the updated search index.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein,

the configurable field mappings file comprises:

an identification of a selected searchable object from the set of searchable objects, an identification of one or more fields to be made searchable from the selected searchable object, and an identification of one or more corresponding searchable fields corresponding to each of the one or more fields to be made searchable from the selected searchable object, and

the configurable field mappings file is configured to facilitate a configuration of a plurality of search engine adapters, wherein

the plurality of search engine adapters facilitate searching of the set of searchable objects by virtue of providing access to the set of searchable objects by the plurality of search engines, and

a search engine adapter of the plurality of search engine adapters is associated with a search engine of the plurality of search engines.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said modifying comprises:

modifying the configurable field mappings file to include the second set of fields,

modifying the configurable field mappings file based on an association between a search engine performing the first search and the set of searchable objects responsive to the first search, and

modifying the configurable field mappings file to facilitate presentation of the set of searchable objects responsive to the first search to the search engine by virtue of relating the set of searchable fields in the set of searchable objects with the search index of the search center associated with the search engine.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising:

performing a runtime search on the searchable objects during said updating the search index.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising:

performing said modifying the set of searchable fields without modifying the sets of fields available from the searchable objects; and

searching the set of searchable fields based at least in part on the search index.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said mapping comprises:

generating a configurable field mappings file, wherein

the configurable field mappings file stores a set of relationships between the set of searchable objects and the set of searchable fields, and

the set of relationships comprises a formula for calculating values of a first one of the searchable fields.

7. The method of claim 1 comprising:

replacing a copy of the configurable field mappings file with a revised field mappings file, wherein

said updating the search index is based at least in part on the revised field mappings file.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the configurable field mappings file is specific to a user.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said replacing the copy of the configurable field mappings file comprises clearing a cache of the configurable field mappings file.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

said clearing the cache comprises clearing a cache that preserves information between user sessions.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said replacing the copy of the configurable field mappings file comprises updating a pointer to the configurable field mappings file.

12. A system comprising:

an interface configured to provide access to one or more storage devices, wherein

each storage device stores one or more storage objects of a set of searchable objects, and

each searchable object comprises a plurality of fields of data;

a processor, coupled to the interface, wherein the processor is configured to

perform a first search in a set of fields of a set of searchable objects,

after said first search, map the set of fields to a set of searchable fields accessible by a search center through a search index that corresponds to a configurable field mappings file, wherein

the configurable field mappings file provides an abstraction layer between a plurality of search engines and the set of searchable objects,

the set of fields comprises a first set of fields that are fewer than all the fields of the searchable objects,

the fields of the searchable objects are defined when the searchable objects are designed,

said mapping is performed subsequent to the design of the searchable objects,

the configurable field mappings file is configured to define a relationship between the fields of the searchable objects and the searchable fields, and

modify the set of searchable fields by modifying the fields of searchable objects within the configurable field mappings file, wherein

said modifying is based at least in part on a second set of fields that are fewer than all the fields of the searchable objects, and

the first and second sets of fields are distinct, and

perform a second search in the set of fields; and

a search index adapter, coupled to the processor, wherein the search index adapter is configured to

generate a search index in response to said modifying the set of searchable fields by modifying the fields of searchable objects within the configurable field mappings file, wherein

the second search is based at least in part on the generated search index.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to define the first set of fields based at least in part on the configurable field mappings file.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein

the configurable field mappings file comprises:

an identification of a selected searchable object from the set of searchable objects, an identification of one or more fields to be made searchable from the selected searchable object, and an identification of one or more corresponding searchable fields corresponding to each of the one or more fields to be made searchable from the selected searchable object, and

the configurable field mappings file is configured to facilitate a configuration of a plurality of search engine adapters, wherein

the plurality of search engine adapters facilitate searching of the set of searchable objects by virtue of providing access to the set of searchable objects by the plurality of search engines, and

a search engine adapter of the plurality of search engine adapters is associated with a search engine of the plurality of search engines.

15. A tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising:

a first set of instructions, executable by a processor, configured to map a set of fields of a set of searchable objects to a set of searchable fields accessible by a search center through a search index that corresponds to a configurable field mappings file, wherein

the configurable field mappings file provides an abstraction layer between a plurality of search engines and the set of searchable objects,

the map is performed after a first search in the set of fields,

the set of fields comprises a first set of fields that are fewer than all the fields of the searchable objects,

the fields of the searchable objects are defined when the searchable objects are designed,

said mapping is performed subsequent to the design of the searchable objects,

the configurable field mappings file is configured to define a relationship between the fields of the searchable objects and the searchable fields; and

a second set of instructions, executable by the processor, configured to modify the set of searchable fields, wherein

said modifying the set of searchable fields is based at least in part on a second set of fields that are fewer than all the fields of the searchable objects, and

the first and second sets of fields are distinct; and

a third set of instructions, executable by the processor, configured to update a search index in response to said modifying the set of searchable fields, wherein

the updated search index is usable for a second search in the set of fields.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 comprising:

a fourth set of instructions, executable by the processor, configured to define the first set of fields based at least in part on a configurable field mappings file.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein

the configurable field mappings file comprises:

an identification of a selected searchable object from the set of searchable objects, an identification of one or more fields to be made searchable from the selected searchable object, and an identification of one or more corresponding searchable fields corresponding to each of the one or more fields to be made searchable from the selected searchable object, and

the configurable field mappings file is configured to facilitate a configuration of a plurality of search engine adapters, wherein

the plurality of search engine adapters facilitate searching of the set of searchable objects by virtue of providing access to the set of searchable objects by the plurality of search engines, and

a search engine adapter of the plurality of search engine adapters is associated with a search engine of the plurality of search engines.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 comprising:

a fourth set of instructions, executable by the processor, configured to index the set of searchable fields accessible by a search center through a search index that corresponds to the configurable field mappings file.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 comprising:

a fifth set of instructions, executable by the processor, configured to search the set of searchable fields based at least in part on the index.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 comprising:

a fourth set of instructions, executable by the processor, configured to perform said modifying the set of searchable fields without modifying the sets of fields available from the searchable objects.