Offline application support

• US 9,483,576 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2012
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Belinsky, Ofer, Shachar, Yaniv, Mei-Raz, Alon, Greenberg, Nadav
• Primary Examiner(s): Gofman, Alex
• Application Number:
  US13/597,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20140067849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,525 Days
• Field of Search: 707/769
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

An offline support system operates to record a plurality of request/response pairs exchanged between an application and a web service. The system determines if a current request from the application can be communicated to the web service. Upon a positive determination, the current request is passed to the web service. Upon a negative determination, a most recent recorded request/response pair having a request matching the current request is identified. The response from the identified pair is passed to the application as if it were a response to the current request.

Claims

1. An offline application support system comprising a non-transitory computer readable resource storing instructions that, when executed, cause a processing resource to:

record in a repository a plurality of request/response pairs exchanged between the application and a web service, the repository searchable using a current request from the application to the web service as a key;

determine if a data connection exists to allow the current request from the application to be communicated to the web service;

upon a positive determination;

pass the current request to the web service; and

update the repository to include a request response pair for the current request and its corresponding response; and

upon a negative determination;

examine the current request for an exception indicator indicating that no recorded request/response pair is to be returned to the application, the exception indicator being at least one of includes at least one of a flag included in the request and a type of the request;

if the examination does not identify the exception indicator in the current request, identify a most recent recorded request/response pair having a request matching the current request and passing the response from the identified pair to the application as if the response from the identified pair were a response to the current request; and

if the examination does identify the exception indicator in the current request, pass the current request to an exception handler rather than obtaining and passing the response from the identified pair to the application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed, cause the processing resource to pass the response from the identified pair to the application comprise instructions that, when executed, cause the processing resource to pass the prior response to the application as if the prior response were a response from the current request returned from the web service and cause a display that indicates a possibility that information being presented by the application is not current, the information corresponding to the prior response.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing resource to, upon a negative determination, utilize the current request as a key to search for a request response pair and, if a pair is not found, pass the current request to the exception handler.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising the processing resource.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the exception indicator indicates that no recorded request/response pair is to be returned in response to a HTTP POST operation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the offline application support system is included in a mobile device.

7. A system comprising a status engine, a record engine, and an exception engine wherein:

the status engine is to determine if a data connection exists to allow a current application request to be communicated from a mobile application to a web service and upon a negative determination obtain a previously recorded response to a prior request matching the current request and passing the previously recorded response to the mobile application as if it were a response to the current request;

the record engine is to, following a positive determination by the status engine, record the current request and its corresponding response such that the status engine can later return that response to a future request from the mobile application; and

the exception engine is to take an action with response to a current request that does not include passing a prior response to the mobile application,

wherein the status engine is to, upon the negative determination, pass the current request to the exception engine rather than obtain and pass the previously recorded response to the mobile application if an examination of the current request identifies an exception indicator, the exception indicator being at least one of a flag included in the request and a type of the request, the exception indicator indicating that no recorded response is to be returned for the current request,

wherein the status engine, the record engine, and the exception engine each comprise at least one hardware component,

wherein the record engine is to record request/response pairs exchanged between the mobile application and the web service in a repository searchable using the current request from the mobile application to the web service as a key, and

wherein the status engine is to obtain the previously recorded response by using the current request as a key for use in identifying a most recent request/response pair in the repository having a request matching the key.

8. The system of claim 7, comprising an interface engine configured, upon the negative determination by the status engine, to cause a display that indicates a possibility that information being presented by the mobile application is not current, the information corresponding to the prior response.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the exception indicator indicates that no recorded response is to be returned for a HTTP POST operation.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one hardware component includes at least one of a processor and a memory.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the status engine, the record engine, the exception engine, and the mobile application are included in a mobile device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the repository is included in the mobile device.

13. An offline support method for a mobile application, comprising:

maintaining a repository of request/response pairs exchanged between a mobile application and a web service, wherein the repository is searchable using a current request from the mobile application to the web service as a key;

upon a determination that a data connection exists to allow the current request from the mobile application to be communicated to the web service, updating the repository to include a request response pair for the current request and a response from the web service to the current request; and

upon a determination that the data connection does not exist to allow the current request from the mobile application to be communicated to the web service;

examining the current request for an exception indicator indicating that no pair from the repository is to be returned to the application, the exception indicator being at least one a flag included in the current request and a type of the current request;

if examining does not identify the exception indicator, obtaining a prior response from a pair in the repository, the pair including a past request matching the current request, passing the prior response to the mobile application as if the response from the identified pair were a response from the current request returned from the web service; and

if examining does identify the exception indicator, passing the current request to an exception handler rather than obtaining and passing the prior response to the mobile application.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein passing comprises passing the prior response to the mobile application as if it were a response from the current request returned from the web service and causing a display that indicates a possibility that information being presented by the mobile application is not current, the information corresponding to the prior response.

15. The method of claim 13, comprising causing a display that indicates that information being presented by the mobile application is current, the information corresponding to a response to the current request received from the web service.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the exception indicator indicates that no pair from the repository is to be returned in response to a HTTP POST operation.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the repository of request/response pairs and the mobile application are included in a mobile device.