Object oriented application program development framework mechanism

Abstract

A framework for use with object-oriented programming systems includes one or more objects of a class called “Socket” that receive and process packets of work. As various applications execute, they require servicing of tasks, which correspond to the packets of work mentioned above. The packets of work are represented in the framework by objects of a class called “WorkUnit”. When a WorkUnit object is generated by an application, it in turn generates an object of a class called “Retriever” which is associated with the appropriate Socket object needed for servicing the WorkUnit. The Retriever object retrieves the Socket object to service the WorkUnit from an object of a class called “SessionInfo”. The SessionInfo object is a single object for maintaining registries of Socket objects and objects of a class called “ApplicationInfo”. ApplicationInfo objects contain application specific information that can be used, manipulated, and shared between one or more WorkUnits of a given application. WorkUnits of an application can retrieve ApplicationInfo objects from the SessionInfo object by use of a Retriever object which is associated with the appropriate ApplicationInfo object. The framework includes a core set of objects, including SessionInfo, Socket, ApplicationInfos, Retrievers, and WorkUnits, and permits user-defined, extensible instances of these objects that permit tailoring of tasks for particular needs.