Method and apparatus for data item movement between disparate sources and hierarchical, object-oriented representation

A method for utilizing data from disparate sources accessed through an intermediate server in an object oriented computing environment, comprising:

• transmitting a primary transaction request;
• receiving a response to the request, including data items and information about a hierarchical topology stored as configuration data that relates said data items;
• selecting an object class from among one or more candidate object classes based, at least in part, on information in said response;
• and
• instantiating an object of said selected object class.

A data processing apparatus for utilizing data from disparate sources accessed through an intermediate server in an object oriented computing environment, comprising:

• means for transmitting a primary transaction request;
• means for receiving a response to the request, including data items and information about a hierarchical topology stored as configuration data that relates said data items;
• means for selecting an object class from among one or more candidate object classes based, at least in part, on information in said response;
• and
• means for instantiating an object of said selected object class.

A data processing apparatus for utilizing data from disparate sources accessed through an intermediate server in an object oriented computing environment, comprising:

• a central processing unit;
• and
• a memory unit coupled to said central processing unit, comprising:
• instruction code for transmitting a primary transaction request;
• instruction code for receiving a response to the request, including data items and information about a hierarchical topology stored as configuration data that relates said data items;
• instruction code for selecting an object class from among one or more candidate object classes based, at least in part, on information in said response;
• and
• instruction code for instantiating an object of said selected object class.

An article of digital data storage media for use in a computer system for developing object oriented programs that access disparate data sources through the use of an intermediate server, comprising:

• program code related to instruction code for transmitting a primary transaction request;
• program code related to instruction code for receiving a response to the request, including data items and information about a hierarchical topology stored as configuration data that relates said data items;
• program code related to instruction code for selecting an object class from among one or more candidate object classes based, at least in part, on information in said response;
• and
• program code related to instruction code for instantiating an object of said selected object class.

An article of digital data storage media for use in a data processing system for determining during program execution the class of an object to instantiate, comprising:

• instruction code for ascertaining a set of input data items;
• instruction code for comparing the set of input data items with one or more members of a set of candidate object classes;
• and
• instruction code for selecting up to one object class from among the set of candidate object classes in response to the comparison.

A method for use in a data processing system for determining during program execution the class of an object to instantiate, comprising:

• ascertaining a set of input data items;
• comparing the set of input data items with one or more members of a set of candidate object classes;
• and
• selecting zero or more object classes from among the set of candidate object classes in response to the comparison.

An article of digital data storage media for use in a data processing system for developing computer programs that determine during program execution the class of an object to instantiate, comprising:

• program code related to instruction code for ascertaining a set of input data items;
• program code related to instruction code for comparing the set of input data items with one or more members of a set of candidate object classes;
• and
• program code related to instruction code for selecting up to one object class from among the set of candidate object classes in response to the comparison.

A method of mediating between transient and persistent copies of a plurality of data items in a system comprising a client computer, a plurality of independent data sources, and a server computer;

• said client computer executing a user object-oriented application program having program code which includes object-oriented program objects each embodying one or more transient working copies of persistent data items of which the persistent data items may be located in different independent data sources, and includes program code to initiate and respond to formatted transaction data streams exchanged with said server, said client computer providing service requests for accessing data items from said independent data sources;
• said plurality of independent data sources maintaining persistent data items;
• and said server computer having program code for mediating said service requests and having a configuration database storing information about the types of data access requests the application programs can make to the server, the data sources with which the server interacts, and the types of interactions that are possible;
• said method comprising:
• a. receiving in the server computer a data stream from the client computer, said data stream including a service request comprising an object transmuted at the client computer;
• b. processing in the server computer a request for a client-server transaction supplied by the client computer, wherein said program code for mediating utilizes information from said configuration database so as to permit the interpretation of the request for the client-server transaction and the resolution of the request for the client-server transaction into a corresponding set of atomic server-source transactions;
• c. for each of the server-source transactions the server computer sending a request to a data source, receiving the response of the data source, and moving a response data item into a data container of the server computer;
• d. sending a data stream of response data items to the client computer wherein said data stream contains information regarding a hierarchical relationship among the response data items, said information regarding a hierarchical relationship corresponding to information in the configuration database.