Loading patent…
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsLeigh Williamson, Roger Snook, Shinoj Zacharias, Vijay Ekambaram
Estimating the term…
As part of identifying a theme corresponding to a wireframe, the wireframe comprising a set of graphical elements is analyzed, the set of graphical elements specifying a graphical representation of a user interface of a front-end application. A similarity measure is computed, the similarity measure quantifying a degree of similarity between the theme and an entry in a feature implementation history stored in a code repository. From the entry, a first feature to be implemented in a back-end application is extracted, the first feature servicing a data request from the front-end application. A source code stub extracted from the code repository, comprising a partial implementation of the first feature in the back-end application, is coupled with a first graphical element in the set of graphical elements in the wireframe.
A computer usable program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the stored program instructions comprising:
A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the stored program instructions comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Creation or generation of source code: software reuse
Creation or generation of source code: graphical or visual programming
Creation or generation of source code: for implementing user interfaces
Software maintenance or management: structural analysis for program understanding
About 13 years of term left · ends 20 Oct 2039 (estimated)
The present invention relates generally to a system, and computer program product for application code stub generation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a, and computer program product for back-end application code stub generation from a front-end application wireframe.
As used herein, a wireframe is a visual blueprint of a page of a website or application, representing, in schematic form, a user interface of the website or application. A wireframe includes information on placement and space allocation of the visual elements of the page, content prioritization, functionalities the website or application implements, and intended behavior of those functionalities. Analogously to a text outline for a document, which includes an ordered set of topics corresponding to sections of document text, but not including actual document text, a wireframe provides a schematic of the user-facing elements of a website or application, but does not include an implementation of those elements. For example, a wireframe for a login page of a website might include a title (e.g. “Login Here”), a text entry box labeled “username”, and a text entry box labeled “password”. A wireframe does not have a fixed level of detail, but includes enough detail to serve the needs of users including user-interface designers, application implementers, and decision makers.
Within the scope of the illustrative embodiments, a front-end application is software, implemented as an application or a website, that implements the elements depicted in a wireframe. In other words, a front-end application implements a presentation layer of an application or website. For example, to implement a login page, a front-end application might include code implementing a text entry box labeled “username” and a text entry box labeled “password”.
Certain novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a network of data processing systems in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented;
FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a data processing system in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented;
Wireframe tools currently exist to implement front-end application code from a wireframe. However, the illustrative embodiments recognize that wireframe tools implement only the front-end application code. Without additional labor, the automatically-generated front-end code can attempt to access data using unimplemented back-end application functionality.
The illustrative embodiments also recognize that determining, from the front-end code, back-end functionality to implement is time-consuming and error prone. Because a typical user interface uses many common elements, there is unlikely to be a one-to-one correspondence between front-end code and the back-end functionality the front-end code requires. As a result, each unit of generated front-end code must be scrutinized to determine back-end functionality required to service the front-end code; then the back-end functionality must be implemented and tested. Further, although many front-end applications require some common back-end functionality (e.g., validating login information), much back-end functionality is specific to a particular front-end application, implementation of data or system in a back-end environment, or both. Consequently, the illustrative embodiments recognize that there is an unmet need to generate back-end stubs corresponding to front-end code generated from a particular wireframe. Once back-end stubs have been generated, a human developer, or a suitably configured code-generation system, can more easily and systematically convert each stub to full functionality.
The illustrative embodiments recognize that the presently available tools or solutions do not address these needs or provide adequate solutions for these needs. The illustrative embodiments used to describe the invention generally address and solve the above-described problems and other problems related to back-end application code stub generation from a front-end application wireframe.