Model-based system and method for undoing actions in an application

A system for undoing actions in an application comprising:

• a processor;
• a system memory in communication with the processor via a communication link, the system memory configured to store computer code, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:
• launching an undo management process configured to operate with the application;
• building an object model for objects invoked by the application, wherein the object model comprises an object tree data structure having nodes containing metadata of an object;
• taking a first snapshot of the object model;
• freezing the object model;
• receiving a first action from the application comprising an edit to be applied to the object at a leaf node of the object tree data structure;
• unfreezing a first portion of the object tree data structure along a path of object nodes from the leaf node being modified by the edit up to its root node;
• applying the edit to the object at the leaf node of the object tree data structure;
• re-freezing the first portion of the object tree data structure to obtain a re-frozen object model;
• taking a second snapshot of the re-frozen object model;
• storing a difference between the first snapshot and the second snapshot into a first memory buffer as difference data representing the first action;
• receiving a second action from the application comprising an undo command configured to undo the first action comprising the edit to the object;
• retrieving the difference data representing the first action from the first memory buffer;
• storing the difference data into a second memory buffer;
• and
• undoing the first action comprising the edit to the object by restoring the object model back to its state when the first snapshot was taken.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying computer code, which when executed by a computer system, causes the computer system to perform operations for undoing actions in an application, the operations comprising:

• building an object model for objects invoked by the application, wherein the object model comprises an object tree data structure having nodes containing metadata of an object;
• taking a first snapshot of the object model;
• freezing the object model;
• receiving a first action from the application comprising an edit to be applied to the object at a leaf node of the object tree data structure;
• unfreezing a first portion of the object tree data structure along a path of object nodes from the leaf node being modified by the edit up to its root node;
• applying the edit to the object at the leaf node of the object tree data structure;
• re-freezing the first portion of the object tree data structure to obtain a re-frozen object model;
• taking a second snapshot of the re-frozen object model;
• storing a difference between the first snapshot and the second snapshot into a first memory buffer as difference data representing the first action;
• receiving a second action from the application comprising an undo command configured to undo the first action comprising the edit to the object;
• retrieving the difference data representing the first action from the first memory buffer;
• storing the difference data into a second memory buffer;
• and
• undoing the first action comprising the edit to the object by restoring the object model back to its state when the first snapshot was taken.