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US 7,735,077 B2Granted
System and method for inventory services
AssigneeBEA Systems, Inc.
InventorPeter Laird
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for determining a select set of changes from a set of changes made to an application instance to propagate to one or more other application instances. These mechanisms and methods can enable embodiments to propagate changes from a first application instance in a first environment to a second application instance in a second environment. For example, an embodiment can enable changes to be made to a test version in a test environment, tested and then propagated to a production version of the application residing in a production environment. The ability of embodiments to propagate changes to other application instances across environments can enable easy capture and transferal of changes to an application.
Claims26
A method for propagating changes to a portal application between a source environment and a destination environment, the method comprising:
- providing a first version of a portal application, stored in a source environment at a first computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the first version of the portal application has a first inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the first version of the portal application, and wherein the source environment includes a plurality of different portal applications;
- providing a second version of the portal application, stored in a destination environment at a second computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the second version of the portal application has a second inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the second version of the portal application;
- providing a propagation tool operable to propagate selectively the plurality of portal applications and changes to each of the plurality of portal applications from the source environment to the destination environment using inventory services consumers (ISCs);
- generating a first inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including
- accessing the first inventory services layer using a first ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the first version of the portal application residing in the source environment on the first computer;
- generating a second inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including
- accessing the second inventory services layer using a second ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the portal application residing in the destination environment on the second computer;
- comparing, by an inventory difference engine, corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine differences between the inventories, wherein each difference indicates a change made to the first version of the portal application which can be propagated to the second version of the portal application;
- displaying, in a change election user interface, a list of the differences;
- receiving a selection of a subset of the differences between the inventories as a set of changes to be made to the second version of the portal application;
- and
- upon receiving a propagation request,
- reading the set of changes, and
- updating, using a third ISC in the propagation tool and the second inventory services layer, the second version of the portal application by the propagation tool according to the set of changes.
13 more elements
A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for propagating changes to an application between a source environment and a destination environment, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:
- providing a first version of a portal application, stored in a source environment at a first computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the first version of the portal application has a first inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the first version of the portal application, and wherein the source environment includes a plurality of different portal applications;
- providing a second version of the portal application, stored in a destination environment at a second computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the second version of the portal application has a second inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the second version of the portal application;
- providing a propagation tool operable to propagate selectively the plurality of portal applications and changes to each of the plurality of portal applications from the source environment to the destination environment using inventory services consumers (ISCs);
- generating a first inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including
- accessing the first inventory services layer using a first ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the first version of the portal application residing in the source environment on the first computer;
- generating a second inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including
- accessing the second inventory services layer using a second ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the portal application residing in the destination environment on
- the second computer;
- comparing, by an inventory difference engine, corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine differences between the inventories, wherein each difference indicates a change made to the first version of the portal application which can be propagated to the second version of the portal application;
- displaying, in a change election user interface, a list of the differences;
- receiving a selection of a subset of the differences between the inventories as a set of changes to be made to the second version of the portal application;
- and
- upon receiving a propagation request,
- reading the set of changes, and
- updating, using a third ISC in the propagation tool and the second inventory services layer, the second version of the portal application by the propagation tool according to the set of changes.
14 more elements
An apparatus for managing applications, the apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
- providing a first version of a portal application, stored in a source environment at a first computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the first version of the portal application has a first inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the first version of the portal application, and wherein the source environment includes a plurality of different portal applications;
- providing a second version of the portal application, stored in a destination environment at a second computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the second version of the portal application has a second inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the second version of the portal application;
- providing a propagation tool operable to propagate selectively the plurality of portal applications and changes to each of the plurality of portal applications from the source environment to the destination environment using inventory services consumers (ISCs);
- generating a first inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including
- accessing the first inventory services layer using a first ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the first version of the portal application residing in the source environment on the first computer;
- generating a second inventory of data items by the propagation tool, including
- accessing the second inventory services layer using a second ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the second version of the portal application residing in the destination environment on the second computer;
- comparing, by an inventory difference engine, corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and the second inventory to determine differences between the inventories, wherein each difference indicates a change made to the first version of the portal application which can be propagated to the second version of the portal application;
- displaying, in a change election user interface, a list of the differences;
- receiving a selection of a subset of the differences between the inventories as a set of changes to be made to the second version of the portal application;
- and
- upon receiving a propagation request,
- reading the set of changes, and
- updating, using a third ISC in the propagation tool and the second inventory services layer, the second version of the portal application by the propagation tool according to the set of changes.
16 more elements
A method for propagating changes to an application between a source environment and a destination environment, the method comprising:
- providing a first version of a portal application, stored in a source environment at a first computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the first version of the portal application has a first inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the first version of the portal application, and wherein the source environment includes a plurality of different portal applications;
- providing a second version of the portal application, stored in a destination environment at a second computer including a computer readable storage medium and processor operating thereon, wherein the second version of the portal application has a second inventory services layer associated therewith which abstracts data access to the second version of the portal application;
- providing a propagation tool operable to propagate selectively the plurality of portal applications and changes to each of the plurality of portal applications from the source environment to the destination environment using inventory services consumers (ISCs);
- generating a first inventory of data items by a propagation tool, including
- accessing the first inventory services layer using a first ISC in the propagation tool, and
- associating a unique identifier with each data item accessible to the first version of the portal application residing in the source environment on the first computer;
- propagating, using a second ISC, to a second version of the application in the destination environment, a set of changes determined by comparing, by an inventory difference engine, corresponding unique identifiers from the first inventory and a second inventory, generated by the second ISC, for the second version of the application, wherein the comparing determines differences between the inventories indicating changes made to the first version of the application that can be propagated to the second version of the application and wherein the set of changes is a subset of the differences between the inventories;
- and
- updating, using a third ISC in the propagation tool, the second version of the portal application by the propagation tool according to the set of changes.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.