Sterling Software, Inc.

Computer Associates Think, Inc.

William E Gibson

Patrick M Hogan

Stephen J Turner

William N Dawson

Steve Turner

David R Marshall

A design tool for assembling component objects to form an object-based computer system application includes a declarative user input interface mechanism and a design engine. The declarative user input interface mechanism provides an input structure for the input of user declarations specifying operative interactions between component objects. The design engine automatically generates, in response to input user declarations, an application design definition modeling an application infrastructure for managing component object interactions. The design engine automatically generates, in response to input user declarations, a match between an application view field definition and a parameter of an associated component object operations. A runtime tool includes an application engine which is responsive to an application design definition and is operative at runtime automatically to create application view instances from respective application view definitions for managing runtime component object interactions for the applications.

Method and system for assembling and utilizing components in component object systems

A design tool for assembling component objects to form an object-based computer system application includes a declarative user input interface mechanism and a design engine. The declarative user input interface mechanism provides an input structure for the input of user declarations specifying operative interactions between component objects. The design engine automatically generates, in response to input user declarations, an application design definition modelling an application infrastructure for managing component object interactions. An application design definition can reference a number of application view definitions, each having a number of fields, each field having associated therewith an application view field definition. An operation usage definition defines an effect a component object operation has on one or more of the application view definitions in response to user input declarations. An event definition defines an operation usage triggered by an application view definition event in response to input user declarations. The design engine automatically generates, in response to input user declarations, a match between an application view field definition and a parameter of an associated component object operation. A runtime tool includes an application engine which is responsive to an application design definition and is operative at runtime automatically to create application view instances from respective application view definitions for managing runtime component object interactions for the application.

The present invention defines a consistent method and system for enabling components in an information system to invoke operations that may be distributed across multiple computing platforms, through the provision and use of executable operations whose behaviors are determined from information stored and extracted from a Catalog (164) using an Operation Definition Manager (82). The stored information is used by a Surrogate Object Definition Module (96) to define a Surrogate Object Type structure which enables execution of any of the operations described within it. A Surrogate Object Manager (94), along with an Operation Connection Manager (104, 118, 130 or 132), is provided which assists the user in developing applications by providing access to the definition of the input and output arguments of the operations included in the Surrogate Object Type structure (244). The present invention further includes an Operation Connection Manager (104, 118, 130 or 132) which, together with the Surrogate Object Manager (94), provides a consistent means for an Operation Requestor (92) to invoke an operation and exchange input and output arguments, independent of the intervening network communication protocol or the hardware platform type, operating system and database management system upon which the operation has been implemented.

Growing community of inventors

Epson, United Kingdom

William E Gibson