US 7,735,076 B2Granted

Faster loading of extension-based applications using caching

AssigneeAdobe Systems Incorporated

InventorDavid G. Sawyer

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Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods for efficient loading of extensions or “plug ins” into a host software program. In a preferred embodiment, extensions registered with the host software program are loaded when the host program is first initialized. During their loading, changes that the various extensions make to the host program are recorded in a cache file, including graphical changes to the user interface and non-graphical changes. Later, when the host program is again initialized, the cache file is read in lieu of loading the extensions, with the affect that it appears to the user that the extensions' functionality are fully present in the host application, although in reality the extensions are not yet loaded. Instead, the extensions are loaded when and if they are called, either by the user or automatically by the computer. This saves time upon host program initialization as the extensions, once cached, need not be loaded until they are called.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

initializing a host program on a computer system, wherein the host program has an extension registered thereto for modifying, replacing, or adding to the functionality of the host program, the extension comprising executable code for implementing the functionality and at least one change to the host program usable for accessing the functionality;
fully loading the extension, said fully loading including loading the executable code and making the at least one change to the host program;
the host program monitoring said fully loading the extension to automatically detect the at least one change made to the host program during said fully loading the extension;
in response to said detecting the at least one change, generating data indicating the detected at least one change, wherein the data indicating the at least one change made to the host program associates each change with the extension that made the change;
upon a subsequent initialization of the host program, in lieu of loading the extension, modifying the host program to make the at least one change according to the generated data;
after the subsequent initialization, selecting an aspect of the host program associated with the at least one change;
and
in response to said selecting, loading at least part of the extension corresponding to the at least one change.

5 more elements

A computer accessible memory medium which stores a file generated by a host program, wherein the host program has a plurality of extensions registered thereto for modifying, replacing, or adding to the functionality of the host program, wherein each extension comprises executable code for implementing the functionality and is configured to make at least one change to the host program as part of being loaded by the host application wherein the at least one change enables the host application to access the functionality, wherein the file comprises information indicating the at least one change made to the host program by each of the plurality of extensions during a previous loading of the extension, the information having been recorded in the file by the host application in response to having observed the at least one change having been made to the host program by the process of loading the extension during the previous loading, wherein the information indicating the at least one change made to the host program associates each change with the extension that made the change, wherein the previous loading of the extension comprised making the at least one change and loading the executable code for the extension, and wherein the file is configured to be read by the host program during initialization of the host program to make the changes to the host program indicated in the file in lieu of performing a loading the extensions, and wherein the file is further configured to be read by the host program after the initialization in response to a selection of an aspect of the host program associated with the at least one change to determine at least part of the extension to load that corresponds to the at least one change.

A computer-readable memory medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

initializing a host program on a computer system, wherein the host program has an extension registered thereto for modifying, replacing, or adding to the functionality of the host program, the extension comprising executable code for implementing the functionality and at least one change to the host program usable for accessing the functionality;
fully loading the extension, said fully loading including loading the executable code and making the at least one change to the host program;
the host program monitoring said fully loading the extension to automatically detect the at least one change made to the host program during said fully loading the extension;
in response to said detecting the at least one change, generating data indicating the detected at least one change, wherein the data indicating the at least one change made to the host program associates each change with the extension that made the change;
upon a subsequent initialization of the host program, in lieu of loading the extension, modifying the host program to make the at least one change according to the generated data;
after the subsequent initialization, selecting an aspect of the host program associated with the at least one change;
and
in response to said selecting, loading at least part of the extension corresponding to the at least one change.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.