Visualization of security warning solution points

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10089215-B2
Application number	US-201615274019-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2016
Priority date	Sep 23, 2016
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A source code processing application may process source code and realize the results of the code in a map configuration. In one example, the map may be displayed with a number of stations and pathways between the stations to illustrate associations with classes of the source code. An example method of operation may include one or more of retrieving source code comprising a class from memory, processing the source code to identify an error associated with the class, creating a map with a station linked to the error, and displaying the map on a device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
retrieving source code comprising one or more classes from memory;
executing the source code to identify one or more errors associated with the one or more classes that occur during the executing;
creating a map that visually displays a plurality of stations linked to the one or more errors, wherein each station represents a unique data flow location within the executing source code, the map further includes paths between the stations indicating dynamic data flow paths that occur while the source code is executing, and a station on the map is labeled to indicate that it represents code that shares a class with code represented by at least one other station from among the plurality of stations; and
displaying the map on a device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating semantic information of the one or more classes and linking the semantic information to the one or more classes.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each station is tagged with one or more indicators indicating an amount of classes that are associated with the respective station.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating metadata associated with a station, the metadata comprising one or more of an error associated with the station, a number of traces which flow through the station, and a severity level of the station.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a path between two stations on the map represents an application programming interface (API) calling another API.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of stations comprise multiple class stations which are linked to multiple classes.

7. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor configured to:
retrieve source code comprising one or more classes from memory;
execute the source code to identify one or more errors associated with the one or more class that occur during the executing;
create a map that visually displays a plurality of stations linked to the one or more errors, wherein each station represents a unique data flow location within the executing source code, the map further includes paths between the stations indicating dynamic data flow paths that occur while the source code is executing, and a station on the map is labeled to indicate that it represents code that shares a class with code represented by at least one other station from among the plurality of stations; and
display the map on a device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate semantic information of the one or more classes and link the semantic information to the one or more classes.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein each station is tagged with one or more indicators indicating an amount of classes that are associated with the respective station.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to create metadata associated with a station, and the metadata comprises one or more of an error associated with the station, a number of traces which flow through the station, and a severity level of the station.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a path between two stations on the map represents an application programming interface (API) that calls another API.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein one or more of the plurality of stations comprise multiple class stations which are linked to multiple classes.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform:
retrieving source code comprising one or more classes from memory;
executing the source code to identify one or more errors associated with the one or more class that occur during the executing;
creating a map that visually displays a plurality of stations linked to the one or more errors, wherein each station represents a unique data flow location within the executing source code, the map further includes paths between the stations indicating dynamic data flow paths that occur while the source code is executing, and a station on the map is labeled to indicate that it represents code that shares a class with code represented by at least one other station from among the plurality of stations; and
displaying the map on a device.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform generating semantic information of the one or more classes and linking the semantic information to the one or more classes.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein each station is tagged with one or more indicators indicating an amount of classes that are associated with the respective station.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform creating metadata associated with a station, and the metadata comprises one or more of an error associated with the station, a number of traces which flow through the station, and a severity level of the station.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein a path between two stations on the map represents an application programming interface (API) calling another API, and wherein one or more of the plurality of stations comprise multiple class stations which are linked to multiple classes.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein a path between two stations on the map, among the plurality of stations, represents data sequentially flowing between a first API and a second API while the source code is executing.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein a single path between two stations on the map represents a plurality of dataflows between the two stations that occur while the source code is executing.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the map further comprises an indicator that indicates that the single path represents a plurality of data flows.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Duer Kristofer A
• Peyton John T
• Teilhet Stephen D
• Todd Jason N
• Tan Lin
• Yang Jinqui

Classifications

• G06F11/323

  Visualisation of programs or trace data · CPC title

• G06F21/577 Primary

  Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security · CPC title

• G06F2221/033

  Test or assess software · CPC title

• G06F11/3664 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F11/3698 Primary

  Environments for analysis, debugging or testing of software · CPC title