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Application framework for use with net-centric application program architecturesRelated Patent Categories: Electrical Computers And Digital Processing Systems: Support, Digital Data Processing System Initialization Or Configuration (e.g., Initializing, Set Up, Configuration, Or Resetting)Application framework for use with net-centric application program architectures description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060064574, Application framework for use with net-centric application program architectures. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
PRIORITY INFORMATION [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/859,765 filed on May 17, 2001, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to a toolkit for specifying net-centric application program architectures. More specifically, the invention relates to various general and reusable components, facilities, and frameworks for robustly structuring a net-centric application program in a modular manner. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is a platform that enables solutions for developing, deploying and managing multi-tier net-centric or server-centric applications. J2EE utilizes Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition to extend a Java platform to the enterprise level. [0004] Conventionally, J2EE-based products have typically been implemented as "one-off" implementations on top of the J2EE platform. A "one-off" implementation refers to a solution that is focused on a specific set of requirements, with little or no thought about reuse across other problem domains. Conventional J2EE-based one-off application architecture implementations typically include facilities for logging errors, setting up configuration behind the application, and structuring the application in accordance with the commonly known framework or pattern referred to as the model view controller. [0005] As is well-known in the art, the model view controller framework includes three layers that work together: (1) the view layer, which describes how information is presented to an application user; (2) the controller layer, which interprets how user actions are translated into business activities or work within the application; and (3) the model layer, which performs complicated computational tasks such as working with a database. Activities and Presentations define boundary points in the Model-View Controller framework. Activities define the boundary between the Controller and the Model, while Presentations define the boundary between the Controller and the View. These boundary points define what is commonly referred to as separation of concerns. [0006] An alternative structural framework relative to the model view controller is message oriented middleware. Message oriented middleware based applications are essentially hooked together through a series of work queues for sending messages from one processing component to another processing component through these queues. The work queues typically include some type of message send and message receive mechanisms. Message oriented middleware tasks are performed by exchanging messages in an asynchronous manner, which is in contrast to the synchronous nature of the remote procedure call paradigm. Although the remote procedure call paradigm has been widely used, the message oriented middleware approach is beginning to be used more often than it has in the past. The message oriented middleware structural framework facilitates managing the work performed by such a series of queues by creating a processing pipeline in which work is performed on messages that are passed from one processing component to another processing component. Passing messages or work units between these processing components is managed through a messaging pipeline. [0007] Unfortunately, conventional one-off J2EE-based, and other conventional net-centric application, program implementations tend to be fairly rigidly configured and not well suited to component and/or facility re-use, ease of maintenance, and future modification. [0008] Accordingly, there is a need for a robust toolkit that provides facilities that can be assembled in a modular manner thereby enabling an application architect to specify the fundamental architecture of a net-centric application program including specifying which facilities the architect wants, and which facilities the architect does not want, to use for a particular net-centric application program. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] The invention relates to a robust toolkit or set of components for defining a net-centric application program architecture that preferably lies on top of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition, commonly known as the J2EE. A toolkit or set of components in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention may be separated into various major components or aspects for purposes of discussion, including: (1) the bootstrapping process; (2) the configuration facility; (3) the factory; (4) selectors; (5) the pipeline architecture; (6) Web application control flow; and (7) the authorization facility. [0010] A bootstrapping process in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention may allow a project architect to use a declarative style for assembling various facilities within the architecture and initializing them. The bootstrapping process may be driven by an XML document at run time. The XML document could be edited to set up the architecture differently without having to recompile and/or rebuild the system. The bootstrapping process can be extended by adding application-specific bootstrap tasks. [0011] A toolkit and program architecture in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention may include a configuration facility having a single API or method for getting properties that can be defined in any number of different sources. One or more of the sources could be: one or more properties files on one or more file systems; environment variables within one or more computers at run time; data within one or more databases; or any other number of suitable permutations and/or combinations of suitable sources. A configuration facility in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention enables an architect to assemble any number of these sources behind the configuration facility API so that application developers can go against a single API. The application developers, therefore, do not need to know where the sources are located. Through the bootstrapping process a project architect can assemble the configuration sources that the architect wants to provide to application developers. Any number of these configuration sources may be assembled into or, stated differently, included in, the configuration facility. The declarative style of the bootstrapping process advantageously facilitates modification of configuration data. [0012] A factory in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention may allow a developer to de-couple how a resource is produced from where the resource is used. This de-coupling provides significant benefits for maintaining an application program over a long period of time and facilitating making changes to the program. A factory in accordance with illustrative embodiments of this invention defines a simple API that application developers program in order to produce references to resources. How these references are produced can be plugged in according to any number of various strategies. This is unlike conventional factories, which typically are more rigid and suited to one particular type of a reference-producing scenario. [0013] The factory facility provides a standard way of coupling subsystems and increasing the modularity of an application program thereby facilitating modification of the program. Advantageously, the factory facility may allow for moving access from local to distributed without breaking any higher level parts of an application. A factory in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention can be used to lower network connectivity-associated overhead by substituting a lighter weight co-located component for a heavier-weight distributed component, such as an Enterprise Java Bean ("EJB"). [0014] A selector framework in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention may allow standard query language to be applied in contexts other than querying a database. The selector framework advantageously may allow for defining context-specific ways of evaluating identifiers within a selector expression. The selector framework may allow application of these types of expressions in different contexts that typically will have different types of identifiers. This is unlike the use of SQL expressions in the database context wherein the identifiers are assumed to be database fields. A selector facility in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention provides an engine for evaluating selector expressions and preferably offers a way to extend the selector framework to a number of different contexts. [0015] A pipeline architecture in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention enables an architect to define a model view controller-like framework for a processing pipeline or message oriented middleware-type application. An application architect and/or developer can specify how each processing component does work through a series of fine-grained activities. The specified activities can be assembled together into an activity plan. There could be several different aspects of an activity plan for covering the basic steps that are commonly performed by processing components. For instance, processing of messages, processing of elements within a message, how output is produced, how errors are handled, how redelivered messages are handled, and the like. [0016] The pipeline architecture provides a structured manner for specifying these fine-grained activities. The pipeline architecture provides a significant benefit by allowing developers to focus on writing these fne-grained activities. Developers can then re-use these fine-grained activities in many different types of plans. This in turn significantly simplifies development, testing, integration, maintenance, and modification of an application built in accordance with various inventive pipeline architecture principles. [0017] Within a Web application, there are often conversations, or portions of the application, that should follow a very specific control flow, such as going from page A to page B to page C in only that specific order. Web application developers frequently confront this situation, namely, controlling the continuity of conversations within Web applications. The term conversation refers to a cohesive set of pages that act together to perform some unit of work, such as purchasing an airline ticket or editing user profile information. [0018] An architecture in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention provides a way of controlling conversation flow through the use of one or more selectors. Within the Web application framework context, a selector is a logical expression that makes certain portions of a conversation available when certain specified conditions have been met. The selectors-based approach provides a significant advantage relative to conventional techniques for controlling web application flow because the selectors-based approach is de-centralized and relatively lightweight. Selectors advantageously provide a simpler way to control the continuity of conversations relative to conventional techniques that often require modeling an application as a finite state machine, which is a relatively complex task. [0019] An authorization facility in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the invention may be used for associating permissions with a user to specify which portions of an application a user is authorized to use and which portions of the application the user is not authorized to use. The authorization facility is preferably integrated directly into a Web application and used to associate required permissions that are needed to enter certain Web conversations. Advantageously, the authorization facility can associate requisite permissions at many levels of detail ranging from specific fine-grained parts of an application through larger views of the application. The authorization facility may allow for declaratively associating, through a configuration approach, a required permission to enter a conversation (or a particular page within a conversation) within a Web application. Advantageously, these associated requisite permissions can be modified by changing declarative definitions. These declarative definitions can be implemented in XML or any other suitable format. The need to edit, compile, and re-build Java code in order to change authorization permissions for the application and/or various parts of the application can, therefore, be avoided, thereby facilitating maintenance and/or modification of the authorization permissions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Continue reading about Application framework for use with net-centric application program architectures... 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