US 9,766,953 B2Granted

System and method for non-programmatically constructing software solutions

AssigneeOpenSpan, Inc.

InventorsStephen Marshall Beckett, Antony J. Castagno, Damon Gerard Lockwood, Horace Daniel McDougald

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Abstract

A visual software development system in which a user can graphically build a design or software solution without having to write software code includes one or more adapters that interrogate interfaces of the software platform that a software system or systems is built in accordance with and generate descriptions that the user can then incorporate into the design. The software systems can be of disparate technology platforms, an adapter provided that suits each platform. The descriptions can be represented graphically for the user with icons in an integrated development environment (IDE), and the user can build the design by dragging or otherwise selecting descriptions to be used and connecting them together to graphically represent the flow of information or communication of events among the descriptions.

Claims35

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

interrogating, by a first adapter, at least one element of at least one existing software system by invoking functionality provided by the at least one existing software system via an existing interface, discovering and identifying the at least one element of the at least one existing software system, and monitoring an ongoing state of the at least one element of the at least one existing software system by listening for software system events and changes to a state of the at least one existing software system, wherein the state of the at least one existing software system includes information relating to created objects of the at least one existing software system, and changes to the state of the at least one existing software system include creation or destruction of objects, and wherein the at least one existing software system and the existing interface have not been designed so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, have not been modified so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, and have not been extended so as to be interrogated;
receiving a selection of at least two components of the at least one element of the at least one existing software system and receiving an indication of at least one interconnection to be made between existing interfaces of the selected components;
and
capturing properties of the selected components and generating a set of rules for each selected component that uniquely identifies the selected component;
generating control and data flow information for the at least one interconnection;
and
creating an algorithm that includes the properties of the selected components, the set of rules for each selected component, and the control and data flow information for the at least one interconnection.

4 more elements

A system, comprising a processor, memory accessible by the processor, and program instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to implement:

a first adapter configured to interrogate at least one element of an existing first software system built on an existing first software platform and, in response, generate automatically a plurality of first descriptions associated with the at least one element of the first software system, the first adapter being associated with the first software platform, and the first adapter interrogating the at least one element of the first software system by invoking functionality exposed by the first software system via an existing interface of the first software platform, discovering and identifying the at least one element of the first software system, and monitoring an ongoing state of the at least one element of the first software system by listening for software system events and changes to a state of the first software system, wherein the state of the first software system includes information relating to created objects of the first software system, and changes to the state of the first software system include creation or destruction of objects, and wherein the first software system and the existing interface have not been designed so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, have not been modified so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, and have not been extended so as to be interrogated by the first adapter;
an integrated development environment (IDE) configured to build a first design by using at least two descriptions of the plurality of first descriptions, the IDE having a user interface configured to select graphically a first description and a second description of the at least two first descriptions, and to create an interconnection between the first description and the second description, the first design customizing the at least one element according to a user-defined algorithm, and the first description and the second description and the interconnection collectively defining the user-defined algorithm;
and
a loader configured to effect the user-defined algorithm in response to the selection of the first description and the second description and the creation of the interconnection.

1 more element

A method, comprising:

interrogating, by a first adapter, an element of an existing first software system built on an existing first software platform, in response to the interrogating, generating automatically, by the first adapter, a plurality of first descriptions associated with the element of the first software system, the first adapter being associated with the first software platform, and the first adapter interrogating the at least one element of the first software system by invoking functionality exposed by the first software system via an existing interface of the first software platform, discovering and identifying the at least one element of the first software system, and monitoring an ongoing state of the at least one element of the first software system by listening for software system events and changes to a state of the first software system, wherein the state of the first software system includes information relating to created objects of the first software system, and changes to the state of the first software system include creation or destruction of objects, and wherein the first software system and the existing interface have not been designed so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, have not been modified so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, and have not been extended so as to be interrogated by the first adapter;
building a first design in an integrated development environment (IDE) by using at least two descriptions of the plurality of first descriptions, selecting a first description and a second description from the at least two first descriptions, and creating an interconnection amongst the first description and the second description with graphical icons representing the user-selected first and second descriptions and interconnections, wherein the first description and the second description and the interconnection collectively define a user-defined algorithm;
and
preparing the user-defined algorithm to be effected in response to selecting the first description and the second description and creating the interconnection.

1 more element

A computer-program product comprising a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the computer-executable instructions comprising:

first computer-executable instructions interrogating, by a first adapter, at least one element of an existing first software system built on an existing first software platform, the first adapter interrogating the at least one element of the first software system by invoking functionality exposed by the first software system via an existing interface of the first software platform, discovering and identifying the at least one element of the first software system, and monitoring an ongoing state of the at least one element of the first software system by listening for software system events and changes to a state of the first software system, wherein the state of the first software system includes information relating to created objects of the first software system, and changes to the state of the first software system include creation or destruction of objects, and wherein the first software system and the existing interface have not been designed so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, have not been modified so as to be interrogated by the first adapter, and have not been extended so as to be interrogated by the first adapter;
second computer-executable instructions for generating automatically, by the first adapter, in response to the interrogating, a plurality of first descriptions associated with the at least one element of the first software system, the first adapter being associated with the first software platform;
third computer-executable instructions for building a first design in an integrated development environment (IDE) by using at least two descriptions of the plurality of first descriptions, selecting a first description and a second description from the at least two first descriptions, and creating an interconnection amongst the first description and the second description with graphical icons representing the user-selected first and second descriptions and interconnections, wherein the first description and the second description and the interconnection collectively defining a user-defined algorithm;
and
fourth computer-executable instructions for preparing the user-defined algorithm to be effected in response to selecting the first description and the second description and creating the interconnection.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.