Other

Tandem Computers Incorporated

724 Solutions Software, Inc.

724 Solutions, Inc.

Andrew Schofield

A method and apparatus for performing distributed object calls uses proxies and memory allocation and deallocation. Specifically, an object reference to an object is obtained. The object reference is used to create a proxy handle data structure that will represent the object. The proxy handle is passed to a client application stub function which calls the object. The stub function is also passed input and output parameters along with exception information. An object request broker finds an appropriate implementation in a server application. The server application allocates memory for implementing the call. The object is implemented and the memory allocated by the server application is deallocated. The server application responds to the client, whereupon the client makes another object call using the same proxy handle or destroys the proxy handle. Multiple initialization of object calls is avoided because the object call can be initialized just once for a particular object. Moreover, resources are preserved by minimizing wild pointers and memory leaks that can occur during the calling and implementation of objects.

Method and apparatus for performing distributed object calls using proxies and memory allocation

A method for making distributed object calls from client applications to server applications is disclosed. In particular, the method of the present invention involves generating a data structure that contains information about the available IDL-defined interfaces and their related operations. An application loaded in the client computer then packs a request containing information about a specific operation of an interface into a message buffer in the client computer according to a predetermined format specified in the request. The message buffer is then sent to a server computer that unpacks the request from the message buffer based upon the predetermined format. The server processes the request and responds by packing its response into a message buffer according to a predetermined format. The message buffer is then transported to the client computer that unpacks the response from the message buffer.

Method for performing distributed object calls

A method for defining Interface Definition Language-defined data types, operations, or interfaces is defined. In particular, an ASCII string descriptor is generated that identifies the data type, interface, or operation. Characters are used to identify the base types of any data types, while a combination of characters and numerals are used to identify compound types and characteristics of those compound types. For operations, characters and numerals are used to identify the number and types of parameters, number of exceptions, and number of contexts contained in the operation. Interfaces are described using a numeral that indicates the number of operations included in the interfaces. By converting the original IDL description to an ASCII string, generic functions can be created to transport object calls across heterogeneous systems.

Method and apparatus for describing an interface definition language-defined interface, operation, and data type

A method and apparatus for asynchronously calling and implementing objects is disclosed. Object calls to perform an operation are performed asynchronously by calling the appropriate stub function from the client application and passing in the object reference, input parameters, and a pointer to a completion routine. The object reference, input parameters, and completion routine address are provided to a client-side execution environment. The client-side execution environment stores the completion routine address and transmits the input parameters to a server-side execution environment. The server-side execution environment calls a method in the server application that implements the requested operation. The server application performs the requested operation. Once the call has been responded to, the client-side execution environment calls the completion routine and passes it the output parameters to the requested operation. The client application can continue performing other asynchronous operations before the completion routine is called. To asynchronously implement an object that has been called, the appropriate method function in the server application is called which, in turn, calls an asynchronous operation. Once the asynchronous operation returns, the application responds to the client application.

Method and apparatus for asynchronously calling and implementing objects

A data structure representing an Interface Definition Language ('IDL') source file is disclosed. The data structure is preferably produced during the compilation of the source file and generation of language-specific source code. The data structure includes a variable-sized array of data structures representing entries from the source file in addition to an array of strings containing each line in the source file. Each of the entry data structures contains a fixed part containing information about the name and attributes of the source file entry and a variable part that depends upon the entry's data type. The data structure can be stored in a file or database for run-time access by distributed applications.

Data structure representing an interface definition language source file

A method and apparatus for transporting IDL-defined data structures to and from a format convenient for transport between two computers are disclosed. The data structures is originally described in a string. The string description is converted to a different format containing additional information about the alignment and size of the data structure. An application in the sending computer removes the alignment from the data structure and stores the data structure in a buffer. The data structure is stored in the output buffer in a predetermined format that is based upon the type of the data structure. The buffer is then transmitted to a data file or to the memory of the receiving computer. The receiving computer extracts the data structure from the buffer based upon the predetermined format. The data structure is realigned and stored in the memory of the second computer.

Growing community of inventors

Cham, Switzerland

Andrew Schofield