Software application porting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9348568-B2
Application number	US-201113216995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2011
Priority date	Aug 24, 2011
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A software application porting system facilitates the transition of code and data compatible with an old platform version to a new platform version. The software application porting system identifies differences between the platform versions by comparing sample source code objects or sample data schemas. Then, the software application porting system utilizes the identified differences to perform an automated transformation of software application objects and schemas.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for porting a software application in a source platform version to a destination platform version, the method comprising:
identifying a source sample object in the source platform version that provides selected functionality;
identifying a destination sample object in the destination platform version that also provides the selected functionality;
identifying specific object differences between the source sample object itself and the destination sample object itself, where the specific object differences identify programmatic differences between the source sample object and the destination sample object;
categorizing the specific object differences into enforced object differences and unenforced object differences in a version difference table, where the enforced object differences represent differences required to be accounted for when porting to the destination platform, and the unenforced object differences represent differences not required to be accounted for when porting to the destination platform;
selecting a source application object in the source platform version to convert to the destination platform version; and
transforming the source application object into a destination application object for use with the destination platform version by altering the source application object by:
determining a tag specifier of an object tag;
inserting the tag specifier into an entry for the object tag in the version difference table;
marking the entry in the version difference table as an ‘Insert’ enforced object difference with respect to the object tag;
identifying a path location for the object tag for the destination platform version;
obtaining a tag value for the object tag in the destination platform version from the path location;
inserting the object tag specified by the tag specifier into the source application object; and
inserting the tag value for the object tag into the source application object.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in preparation for identifying the specific object differences:
exporting the source sample object from a native source platform format to a tag based language format; and
exporting the destination sample object from a native destination platform format to the tag based language format.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in preparation for altering the source application object:
exporting the source application object from a native source platform format to a tag based language format.

4. The method of claim 3 , where altering comprises:
altering the source application object in its tag based language format to account for the specific object differences to obtain the destination application object; and
importing the destination application object into a destination system that is compatible with the destination platform version.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
determining that the object tag is not present in the source application object.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
inserting the path location in the version difference table.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining how to account for the specific object differences.

8. The method of claim 7 , where
determining how to account for the specific object differences comprises determining whether to perform an insertion, a deletion, or a modification.

9. A software application porting system comprising:
a processor;
a memory in communication with the processor; and
logic stored in the memory, that, when executed by the processor, is operable to:
identify a source sample object in a source platform version that provides selected functionality;
identify a destination sample object in a destination platform version that also provides the selected functionality;
identify specific object differences between the source sample object and destination sample object in a version different table, where the specific object differences identify programmatic differences between the source sample object and the destination sample object;
select a source application object in the source platform version to convert to the destination platform version; and
alter the source application object by:
determining a tag specifier of an object tag, inserting the tag specifier into an entry for the object tag in the version difference table, marking the entry in the version difference table as an ‘Insert’ enforced object difference with respect to the object tag, identifying a path location for the object tag for the destination platform version, obtaining a tag value for the object tag in the destination platform version from the path location, inserting the object tag specified by the tag specifier into the source application object, and inserting the tag value for the object tag into the source application object to transform the source application object into a destination application object for use with the destination platform version by:
exporting the source application object from a native source platform format to a tag based language format; and
altering the source application object in its tag based language format to account for the specific object differences.

10. The software application porting system of claim 9 , where the logic, when executed, is further operable to:
categorize the specific object differences into enforced object differences and unenforced object differences, where the enforced object differences represent differences required to be accounted for when porting to the destination platform, and the unenforced object differences represent differences not required to be accounted for when porting to the destination platform; and
where the logic, when executed:
alters the source application object to account for the enforced object differences, but not for the unenforced object differences.

11. The software application porting system of claim 9 , where the logic, when executed, is further operable to:
export the source sample object from a native source platform format to a tag based language format; and
export the destination sample object from a native destination platform format to the tag based language format.

12. The software application porting system of claim 9 , where the logic, when executed, is further operable to:
import the destination application object from a tag based language format into a destination system that is compatible with the destination platform version.

13. The software application porting system of claim 9 , where the logic, when executed by the processor, is operable to
determine that the object tag is not present in the source application object.

14. The software application porting system of claim 9 , where the logic, when executed by the processor, is further operable to:
insert the path location in the version difference table.

15. The software application porting system of claim 14 , where the logic, when executed by the processor, is further operable to:
determine how to account for the specific object differences.

16. The software application porting system of claim 15 , where the logic, when executed by the processor, is operable to determine how to account for the specific object difference by determining whether to perform an insertion, a deletion, or a modification.

17. The software application porting system of claim 9 , where the logic, when executed by the processor, is further operable to:
mark the entry as an ‘Insert’ enforced object difference responsive to determining that the ob

Assignees

• Zachariah Alex George
• Accenture Global Services Ltd

Inventors

• Zachariah Alex George

Classifications

• G06F8/51 Primary

  Source to source · CPC title