System and method for workflow application programming interfaces (APIS)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10970048-B2
Application number	US-201816133438-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2018
Priority date	Sep 17, 2018
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A computing system includes a server. The server is communicatively coupled to a data repository and is configured to store a data in the data repository. The server is further configured to create, via a visual information flow creation tool, at least one information flow object, wherein the at least one information flow object comprises a flow, a sub-flow, an Action, or a combination thereof. The server is also configured to interface with the at least one information flow object via a front-end application programming interface (API), a back-end API, or a combination thereof. The server is additionally configured to execute the at least one information flow object via the front-end API, the back-end API, or a combination thereof, and to retrieve results obtained by executing the at least one information flow object via the front-end API, the back-end API, or the combination thereof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computing system, comprising:
a server having a processor communicatively coupled to a data repository and configured to store a data in the data repository, wherein the server is configured to perform operations comprising:
creating, via a visual information flow creation tool, a first information flow object and a second information flow object, wherein the first and the second information flow objects comprise a flow, a sub-flow, an Action, or a combination thereof;
interfacing with the first information flow object via a front-end application programing interface (API) and interfacing with the second information flow object via a back-end API, wherein the front-end API includes a first set of functions for asynchronous calling for an execution of the first information flow object and retrieving outputs of the execution of the first information flow object, and wherein the back-end API includes a second set of functions for asynchronous calling for an execution of the second information flow object and retrieving outputs of the execution of the second information flow object;
providing for asynchronous execution of the first information flow object and the second information flow object included in a same software program, wherein the first flow information object is executed entirely in a client computing device via the front-end API and the second information flow object is executed entirely in a remote server via the back-end API, and wherein the first information flow object interfaces with the second information flow object via the asynchronous execution by:
executing the first set of functions to obtain the outputs of calling the execution of the first information flow object via a unique identifier of the first information flow object;
executing the second set of functions to obtain the outputs of calling the execution of the second information flow object via a unique identifier of the second information flow object; and
retrieving the outputs of the execution of the first and second sets of functions as results of the asynchronous execution.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein creating, via the visual information flow creation tool, the first information flow object comprises creating, via the visual information flow creation tool, a flowchart having the first information flow object in lieu of entering text for a computer program when creating the first information flow object.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein executing the first information flow object via the front-end API comprises executing asynchronously a Call Action function, a Call Sub-flow function, a Call Flow function, or a combination thereof, to execute the second information flow object.

4. The computing system of claim 3 , wherein executing asynchronously comprises executing, via an asynchronous message bus system included in the remote server, the Call Action function, the Call Sub-flow function, the Call Flow function, or the combination thereof.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the results comprises executing a callback function when execution of the first information flow object is complete, wherein the callback function is disposed in a client-side script code.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the results comprises executing a Retrieve Action function, a Retrieve Sub-flow function, a Retrieve Flow function, or a combination thereof, by using the unique identifier for the first or the second information flow object, wherein the unique identifier is outputted by the front-end API, the back-end API, or the combination thereof when executing the first or the second information flow object.

7. The computing system of claim 1 , comprising executing, via the back-end API, a Check Action function, a Check Sub-flow function, a Check Flow function, or a combination thereof, to derive current status if the second information flow object has completed execution.

8. The computing system of claim 1 , comprising, executing the first or the second information flow object, or a combination thereof, only after verifying that permissions exist for executing the first or the second information flow object.

9. The computing system of claim 8 , wherein verifying that permissions exist comprises using an access control list.

10. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the flow includes the sub-flow, the sub-flow includes the Action, and the flow does not provide an output.

11. A method, comprising:
creating, via a visual information flow creation tool, a first information flow object and a second information flow object, wherein the first and the second information flow objects comprise a flow, a sub-flow, an Action, or a combination thereof;
interfacing with the first information flow object via a front-end application programing interface (API) and interfacing with the second information flow object via a back-end API, wherein the front-end API includes a first set of functions for asynchronous calling for an execution of the first information flow object and retrieving outputs of the execution of the first information flow object, and wherein the back-end API includes a second set of functions for asynchronous calling for an execution of the second information flow object and retrieving outputs of the execution of the second information flow object;
providing for asynchronous execution of the first information flow object and the second information flow object included in a same software program, wherein the first flow information object is executed entirely in a client computing device via the front-end API and the second information flow object is executed entirely in a remote server via the back-end API, and wherein the first information flow object interfaces with the second information flow object via the asynchronous execution by:
executing the first set of functions to obtain the outputs of calling the execution of the first information flow object via a unique identifier of the first information flow object;
executing the second set of functions to obtain the outputs of calling the execution of the second information flow object via a unique identifier of the second information flow object; and
retrieving the outputs of the execution of the first and second sets of functions as results of the asynchronous execution.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein creating, via the visual information flow creation tool, the first information flow object comprises creating, via the visual information flow creation tool, a flowchart having the first information flow object in lieu of entering text for a computer program when creating the first information flow object.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein executing the first information flow object via the front-end API comprises executing asynchronously a Call Action function, a Call Sub-flow function, a Call Flow function, or a combination thereof, to execute the second information flow object.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein retrieving the results comprises executing a callback function when execution of the second information flow object is complete, wherein the callback function is disposed in a client-side script code.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein retrieving the results comprises executing a Retrieve Action function, a Retrieve Sub-flow function, a Retrieve Flow function, or a combination thereof, by using the unique identifier for the first or the second information flow object, wherein the unique identifier is outputted by the front-end AFI, the back-end API, or the combination thereof when ex

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Nelson Harry Thomas
• Stoddart Matthew Breckenridge
• Swope Stuart Dean
• Tamjidi David
• Koya Venkata Kiran Kumar
• Nerius Joshua Timothy
• Dias Rebecca Anita

Classifications

• G06Q10/067 Primary

  Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06F8/34 Primary

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06F8/36

  Software reuse · CPC title

• G06F8/22

  Procedural · CPC title