Designer tool for managing cloud computing services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9858045-B2
Application number	US-201615083170-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2016
Priority date	Mar 28, 2016
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of facilitating creation of cloud computing applications are disclosed therein. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving user input of a plurality of workflow items as a sequence of graphical objects on a graphical user interface. The workflow items individually are related to one or more cloud computing services. The method also includes determining an execution sequence of the plurality of workflow items based on data dependencies individually between pairs of the workflow items, the determined execution sequence being different than the sequence of the graphical objects. The determined execution sequence includes executing pairs of the workflow items without data dependencies therebetween generally in parallel and sequentially executing other pairs of the workflow items with data dependencies therebetween in accordance with the data dependencies.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of facilitating creation and execution of a cloud computing application to be executed by a server in a distributed computing system, the method comprising:
receiving, via a computer network, user input of first and second workflow items of the cloud computing application in sequence, the first and second workflow items individually being related to one or more cloud computing services and being individually represented by a graphical object, the first workflow item being a trigger for monitoring a network event while the second workflow item being a condition related to the monitored network event;
determining whether a data dependency exists between the first and second workflow items based on the received user input, a data dependency exists when execution of the second workflow item consumes or depends on certain data of execution results of the first workflow item, or vice versa;
in response to determining that a data dependency exists between the first and second workflow items, configuring an execution sequence for the cloud computing application between the first and second workflow items in accordance with the data dependency between the first and second workflow items without additional user input when translating the first and second workflow items into codes of a programming language;
in response to determining that a data dependency does not exist between the first and second workflow items, configuring another execution sequence according to which the first and second workflow items are executed independently in the cloud computing application when translating the first and second workflow items into the codes of the programming language; and
executing the programming code of the cloud computing application according to the configured execution sequence or the another execution sequence at the server in the distributed computing system in order to provide the one or more cloud computing services to the user via the computer network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data dependency specifies consumption by the first workflow item of data generated by execution of the second workflow item, and wherein determining the execution sequence includes determining the execution sequence according to which the first workflow item is executed subsequent to execution of the second workflow item even when the first workflow item is received before the second workflow item.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising in response to determining that a data dependency exists between the first and second workflow items, outputting a graphical representation of the determined execution sequence on a graphical user interface.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input of first and second workflow items in sequence includes receiving user input of the first and second workflow items as first and second graphical objects, respectively, in sequence.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input of first and second workflow items in sequence includes receiving user input of the first and second workflow items as first and second graphical objects, respectively, in sequence, and wherein the method further includes translating the received first and second graphical objects into the codes of the programming language.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
receiving user input of first and second workflow items in sequence includes receiving user input of the first and second workflow items as first and second graphical objects, respectively, in sequence; and
the method further includes rearranging a displayed relationship between the first and second graphical objects to conform with the determined execution sequence.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input of first and second workflow items in sequence includes receiving user input of the first and second workflow items as first and second graphical objects, respectively, in sequence, and wherein the method further includes converting the received first and second graphical objects into codes of JavaScript Object Notation.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving another user input of a third workflow item having another data dependency from the first workflow item; and
wherein determining the execution sequence includes determining the execution sequence according to which execution of the second workflow item proceeds execution of the first workflow item, which proceeds execution of the third workflow item.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input of first and second workflow items includes receiving user input of first and second workflow items individually relating to a trigger, a condition, or an action related to one or more cloud computing services.

10. A computing device for facilitating creation of a cloud computing application, the computing device comprising:
a processor;
a memory operatively coupled to the processor, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor to cause the computing device to:
receive, via a computer network, user input of first and second workflow items of the cloud computing application in sequence, the first and second workflow items being individually represented by a graphical object, the first workflow item being a trigger for monitoring a network event while the second workflow item being a condition related to the monitored network event;
determine whether a data dependency exists between first and second workflow items individually related to one or more cloud computing services based on the received user input, a data dependency exists when execution of the second workflow item consumes or depends on certain data of execution results of the first workflow item, or vice versa;
in response to determining that a data dependency exists between the first and second workflow items, configure an execution sequence for the cloud computing application between the first and second workflow items in accordance with the data dependency between the first and second workflow items when translating the first and second workflow items into codes of a programming language;
in response to determining that a data dependency does not exist between the first and second workflow items, configuring another execution sequence for the cloud computing application when translating the first and second workflow items into the codes of the programming language according to which the first and second workflow items are executed independently; and
execute the programming code of the cloud computing application according to the configured execution sequence or the another execution sequence at the server in the distributed computing system in order to provide the one or more cloud computing services to the user via the computer network.

11. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the data dependency specifies consumption by the first workflow item of data generated by the second workflow item, and wherein to determine the execution sequence includes to determine the execution sequence according to which the first workflow item is executed subsequent to execution of the second workflow item even when the first workflow item is arranged before the second workflow item.

12. The computing device of claim 10 , further comprising, in response to determining that a data dependency exists between the first and second workflow items, to output a graphical representation of the determined execution sequence on a graphical user interface.

13. The computing device of claim 10 , further comprising to receive user input of the first and second workflow items as first and second graphical objects, respectively,

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Grebnov Ilya
• Lamanna Charles
• Siciliano Stephen
• Shyamsundar Balasubramanian
• Shrestha Prabir
• Lam Kevin

Classifications

• G06F9/5072

  Grid computing · CPC title

• G06F9/5038

  considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration (scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups) · CPC title

• G06F8/34

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title