Automatic generation of specifications for data access layer application programming interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11360993-B1
Application number	US-202117175212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 12, 2021
Priority date	Feb 12, 2021
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are described for automatic generation of specifications for data access layer application programming interfaces (APIs). A server identifies an object-oriented data model comprising (i) a plurality of object structures containing one or more data elements and (ii) one or more relationships between at least two of the object structures. The server generates an API specification package using the object-oriented data model by identifying object structures to include in the API specification package, defining attributes for the API specification package, assigning data access operations to each identified object structure, creating data relationships between at least two of the identified object structures, and converting the identified object structures, the defined attributes for the API specification package, the assigned data access operations, and the created data relationships into one or more files that comprise the API specification package.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for automatic generation of specifications for data access layer application programming interfaces (APIs), the system comprising a server computing device having a memory that stores computer-executable instructions and a processor that executes the computer executable instructions to:
identify an object-oriented data model based on a logical data model corresponding to a database and a physical data model corresponding to the database, the object-oriented data model comprising (i) a plurality of object structures corresponding to a plurality of physical data structures from the database and containing one or more data elements from the corresponding physical data structures and (ii) one or more relationships between at least two of the object structures corresponding to logical relationships between entities from the logical data model; and
generate an API specification package using the object-oriented data model, comprising:
identifying one or more of the object structures to include in the API specification package;
defining one or more attributes for the API specification package;
assigning one or more data access operations to each identified object structure, each data access operation including one or more properties for each data access operation;
creating one or more data relationships between at least two of the identified object structures, each data relationship defining a data flow direction between the object structures; and
converting the identified object structures, the defined attributes for the API specification package, the assigned data access operations, and the created data relationships into one or more files that comprise the API specification package.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the server computing device validates the API specification package by analyzing the syntax of the one or more files in the API specification package against a reference syntax.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein identifying one or more of the object structures to include in the API specification package comprises receiving, from a client computing device, a selection of one or more object structures and storing the selected object structures as the identified object structures.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes for the API specification package comprise a package name, a package uniform resource locator (URL), a base path, a path host name, a version ID, and a package communication protocol.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the one or more attributes for the API specification package are set based upon input received from a client computing device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data access operations assigned to each identified object structure comprise Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more properties for each data access operation comprise a timeout required, a number of instance to be returned, a pagination needed, a detailed hierarchical object structure needed in request or response, and a path structure.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data flow direction for the one or more data relationships between at least two of the identified object structures is determined based upon which identified object structure has a defined role name.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein each data relationship includes at least one of: a size of the data relationship or a primary key-foreign key designation.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more files that comprise the API specification package include OpenAPI specification files or Swagger specification files.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the server computing device loads the one or more files that comprise the API specification package on a data abstraction server in a production computing environment, the API specification package enabling communication through the data abstraction server between one or more databases of a database server in the production computing environment and one or more software applications of an application server in the production computing environment.

12. A computerized method of automatic generation of specifications for data access layer application programming interfaces (APIs), the method comprising:
identifying, by a server computing device, an object-oriented data model based on a logical data model corresponding to a database and a physical data model corresponding to the database, the object-oriented data model comprising (i) a plurality of object structures corresponding to a plurality of physical data structures from the database and containing one or more data elements from the corresponding physical data structures and (ii) one or more relationships between at least two of the object structures corresponding to logical relationships between entities from the logical data model; and
generating, by the server computing device, an API specification package using the object-oriented data model, comprising:
identifying one or more of the object structures to include in the API specification package;
defining one or more attributes for the API specification package;
assigning one or more data access operations to each identified object structure, each data access operation including one or more properties for each data access operation;
creating one or more data relationships between at least two of the identified object structures, each data relationship defining a data flow direction between the object structures; and
converting the identified object structures, the defined attributes for the API specification package, the assigned data access operations, and the created data relationships into one or more files that comprise the API specification package.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the server computing device validates the API specification package by analyzing the syntax of the one or more files in the API specification package against a reference syntax.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying one or more of the object structures to include in the API specification package comprises receiving, by the server computing device from a client computing device, a selection of one or more object structures and storing the selected object structures as the identified object structures.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more attributes for the API specification package comprise a package name, a package uniform resource locator (URL), a base path, a path host name, a version ID, and a package communication protocol.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more attributes for the API specification package are set based upon input received from a client computing device.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more data access operations assigned to each identified object structure comprise Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more properties for each data access operation comprise a timeout required, a number of instance to be returned, a pagination needed, a detailed hierarchical object structure needed in request or response, and a path structure.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the data flow direction for the one or more data relationships between at least two of the identified object structures is determined based upon which identified object structure has a defined role name.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein each data relationship includes a

Assignees

• Fmr Llc

Inventors

• Prasad Vinay Kumar
• Bonaccorsi David
• Brett David
• Gupta Pranay
• Mayor Ramnik

Classifications

• G06F16/955

  using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL] · CPC title

• G06F16/2282 Primary

  Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof · CPC title

• G06F16/254

  Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses · CPC title

• G06F16/252 Primary

  between a Database Management System and a front-end application · CPC title

• G06F16/284

  Relational databases · CPC title