Individually deployable managed objects and system and method for managing the same

A method for dynamically changing the functionality of a runtime system of a remote site, the method comprising:

• an internet content management environment defining a plurality of objects of a website, wherein the internet content management environment comprises a plurality of computer systems, wherein the plurality of objects of the website comprises content objects and application objects;
• the internet content management environment deploying the plurality of objects of the website to a remote site having endpoint hardware supporting a runtime system and the website and operable to generate web pages and provide the web pages to clients, wherein the content objects include templates for page layouts of content and wherein the application objects correspond to functional items comprising processes and include configuration information corresponding to executing the processes at the website, the processes being associated with applications at the website;
• the internet content management environment modifying a process, the process corresponding to a particular application object from the plurality of objects of the website already deployed to the remote site;
• the internet content management environment individually redeploying the particular application object corresponding to the process having been modified into the runtime system of the remote site;
• and
• the runtime system of the remote site executing the process according to its binding the executing dynamically changing functionality of the runtime system of the remote site, while the applications at the website supported by the runtime system of the remote site are executing without having to restart the applications at the website.

A system for dynamically changing the functionality of a runtime system of a remote site, the system comprising:

• a central server including a processor in communication with one or more remote sites, each remote site having endpoint hardware supporting a corresponding runtime system and a website, the central server having instructions which when executed by the processor cause the central server to:
• maintain a plurality of content objects of the website referencing content items and referencing other objects based on a hierarchical site structure and a plurality of application objects associated with the corresponding runtime system, wherein the plurality of application objects correspond to functional items comprising processes and include configuration information corresponding to executing the processes at the website, the processes being associated with applications at the website;
• deploy the plurality of content objects and the plurality of application objects to the one or more remote sites, wherein the remote sites are operable to generate web pages and provide web pages to clients;
• modify a process, the process corresponding to a particular application object from the plurality of objects of the website already deployed to the one or more remote sites;
• and
• individually redeploy the particular application object corresponding to the process having been modified into each corresponding runtime system of the one or more remote sites in communication with the central server, wherein each of the one or more remote sites is configured to receive the particular application object from the central server and execute the process according to its binding to thereby dynamically change the functionality of the corresponding runtime system while the applications at the website supported by the runtime system are executing without having to restart the applications at the website.

A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium embodying computer program instructions which when executed by a computer system in an internet content management environment cause the computer system to perform:

• instantiating content objects and application objects, wherein the application objects correspond to functional items, wherein the functional items comprise processes that are executable by a runtime system of a website, wherein each of the content objects references another object according to a hierarchical site structure, and wherein the application objects include configuration information corresponding to executing the processes at the website, the processes being associated with applications at the website;
• deploying the plurality of objects of the website from an internet content management environment to a remote site over a network connection, the remote site having endpoint hardware supporting the runtime system and the website and operable to generate web pages and provide the web pages to clients;
• modifying a process in the internet content management environment, the process corresponding to a particular application object of the website already deployed to the remote site;
• and
• individually redeploying the particular application object from the internet content management environment into the runtime system of the remote site, wherein the remote site is configured to receive the particular application object and execute the process according to its binding to thereby dynamically change the functionality of the runtime system of the remote site while the applications at the website supported by the runtime system of the remote site are executing without having to restart the applications at the website.