System and method for meta-data driven, semi-automated generation of web services based on existing applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9606778-B2
Application number	US-201414313514-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2014
Priority date	Sep 3, 2008
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Techniques for reusing logic implemented in an existing software application such that the logic can be exposed as a Web service or in any other service-oriented context. In one set of embodiments, a design-time technique is provided that comprises, inter alia, receiving program code for an existing software application, generating metadata based on the program code, and customizing the metadata to align with an intended Web service. Artifacts for the Web service are then generated based on the customized metadata. In another set of embodiments, a run-time technique is provided that comprises, inter alia, receiving a payload representing an invocation of a Web service operation of the generated Web service, processing the payload, and, based on the processing, causing the existing software application to execute an operation in response to the invocation of the Web service operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in an existing software application, the method comprising:
receiving, at a computer system configured to run a Web service, a payload file representing an invocation of a Web service operation that causes an existing operation implemented in an existing software application to be executed, the payload file including one or more input parameter values; and
invoking, at the computer system, an orchestration process configured to:
invoke a set of one or more utility Web services to facilitate execution of the Web service operation;
cause generation of a final payload file based at least in part on the payload file, the final payload file identifying the existing operation, a sequence of sub-operations to be performed by the existing software application in order to carry out the existing operation, and the one or more input parameter values; and
communicate with the existing software application and cause the existing software application to execute the existing operation based at least in part on the final payload file;
wherein at least one utility Web service of the set of one or more utility Web services is invoked based at least in part on a mapping between the existing operation and an alternative operation name.

2. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 1 , wherein the set of one or more utility Web services comprises a first utility Web service, and the orchestration process is further configured to:
invoke the first utility Web service by passing the payload file as input;
receive from the first utility Web service a name of the existing software application and a name of the existing operation; and
invoke the first utility Web service by passing the name of the existing software application and the name of the existing operation as input.

3. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 2 , the orchestration process being further configured to:
receive from the first utility Web service a mapping file and a template payload file, wherein:
the mapping file identifies the existing operation, its associated data objects, and the mapping between the existing operation and the alternative operation name; and
the template payload file defines a template payload to be transmitted to the existing software application at a time of invocation of the Web service operation, the template payload including an invocation of the existing operation, one or more placeholder values for one or more input parameters, and the sequence of sub-operations to be executed by the existing software application in order to carry out the existing operation.

4. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 3 , wherein the set of one or more utility Web services comprises a second utility Web service, and the orchestration process is further configured to:
invoke the second utility Web service by passing the mapping file, the template payload file, and the payload file as input; and
receive from the second utility Web service the final payload file generated based on the mapping file, the template payload file, and the payload file.

5. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 4 , wherein the set of one or more utility Web services comprises a third utility Web service, and the orchestration process is further configured to:
invoke the third utility Web service by passing the final payload file as input, the third utility Web service being configured to communicate with the existing software application and cause the existing software application to execute the existing operation.

6. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 5 , wherein the set of one or more utility Web services comprises a fourth utility Web service, and the orchestration process is further configured to:
receive, from the third utility Web service, one or more output parameter values outputted by the existing operation;
invoke the fourth utility Web service by passing the one or more output parameter values as input, the fourth utility Web service being configured to transform a format of the one or more output parameter values into a format understood by the Web service to result in one or more transformed output parameter values;
receive the one or more transformed output parameter values; and
pass the one or more transformed output parameter values to the Web service.

7. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 1 , wherein the existing software application is built using an application technology that is not Web service-enabled, the computer system is a first computer system in a run-time environment, and the payload file is from a second computer system in a design-time environment.

8. The method for facilitating reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 1 , wherein the orchestration process comprises a Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) process.

9. A system to facilitate reuse of logic implemented in an existing software application, the system comprising:
a first computer system configured to run a Web service, the first computer system comprising one or more processors to execute instructions to:
receive a payload file representing an invocation of a Web service operation that causes an existing operation implemented in an existing software application to be executed, the payload file including one or more input parameter values; and
invoke an orchestration process configured to:
invoke a set of one or more utility Web services to facilitate execution of the Web service operation;
cause generation of a final payload file based at least in part on the payload file, the final payload file identifying the existing operation, a sequence of sub-operations to be performed by the existing software application in order to carry out the existing operation, and the one or more input parameter values; and
communicate with the existing software application and cause the existing software application to execute the existing operation based at least in part on the final payload file;
wherein at least one utility Web service of the set of one or more utility Web services is invoked based at least in part on a mapping between the existing operation and an alternative operation name.

10. The system to facilitate the reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 9 , wherein the set of one or more utility Web services comprises a first utility Web service, and the orchestration process is further configured to:
invoke the first utility Web service by passing the payload file as input;
receive from the first utility Web service a name of the existing software application and a name of the existing operation; and
invoke the first utility Web service by passing the name of the existing software application and the name of the existing operation as input.

11. The system to facilitate the reuse of logic implemented in the existing software application of claim 10 , the orchestration process being further configured to:
receive from the first utility Web service a mapping file and a template payload file, wherein:
the mapping file identifies the existing operation, its associated data objects, and the mapping between the existing operation and the alternative operation name; and
the template payload file defines a template payload to be transmitted

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Srinivasan Nagaraj
• Anbuselvan Ananthalakshmi
• Rangarajan Keshava
• Krishnamurthy Sudharsan
• Sinha Murari
• Chen Yuling
• Rao Aditya Ramamurthy
• Dasararaju Jayateja
• Gupta Harish

Classifications

• G06F8/72 Primary

  Code refactoring · CPC title

• G06F9/541

  via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications · CPC title

• G06F17/30893

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F8/36 Primary

  Software reuse · CPC title

• G06F16/972

  Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation · CPC title