Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software program development tool – Translation of code
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-24
2001-07-03
Powell, Mark R. (Department: 2122)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software program development tool
Translation of code
C717S152000, C717S152000, C717S152000, C717S152000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256772
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to scripting in component software architectures and in particular to a flexible scripting environment allowing the user to select a scripting language and create an run script in that language within a component software architecture such as Java. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to creating and running scripts of a user selected language in a hierarchical manner within a component software architecture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Component software architectures and rapid application development (RAD) tools are increasingly proliferating. Component software architectures employ discrete software components to quickly prototype and flesh out interactive applications. Applications are built by combining a set of independent components with developer-written code which acts as a “glue” between components, usually responding directly to component events by setting component properties or invoking component methods. One currently popular component software architecture is the Java Bean specification of the Java programming language.
Developed by Sun Microsystems, the portability, security, and intrinsic distributed programming support features of the Java programming language make this language useful for Internet programming. Java is a totally object-oriented, platform independent programming language, which achieves architectural independence by compiling source code into its own intermediate representation. Java source code is not compiled into normal machine code, but is translated into code for a virtual machine specifically designed to support Java's features. A Java interpreter or a Java enabled browser then executes the translated code. While Java source code must be compiled, no link step is required since the Java interpreter dynamically links the translated code at run time.
Java Beans is a component model for building and using Java-based software components. A “bean” is simply a Java class with extra descriptive information, similar to the concept of an OLE-type library. Unlike an OLE library, however, a bean is usually self-describing, including a file which contains the class's symbol information and method signatures and which may be scanned by a development tool to gather information about the bean, a process referred to as introspection. Any Java class with public methods may be considered a bean, but a bean typically has properties and events as well as methods.
In scripting components—writing executable scripts connecting various components—within a component software architecture such as Java beans, it would be desirable to allow the user to choose a scripting language for the creation and execution of scripts. It would also be advantageous to permit scripts written in a user-selected language to communicate with other script, possibly written in a different language, and allow script hierarchy based on visual embedding hierarchy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for scripting in component software architectures.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible scripting environment allowing the user to select a scripting language and create and run script in that language within a component software architecture.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus creating and running scripts of a user selected language in a hierarchical manner within a component software architecture.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. A scripting environment component provides predefined interfaces for scripting registered objects. A scripting component implemented for a user-selected scripting language, which implements all methods and interfaces specific to the selected scripting language, connects a scripting engine for the selected language to the scripting environment and the objects registered with the scripting environment. Scripting components for specific scripting languages are subclassed from a generic scripting component. To create and edit scripts connecting objects registered with the scripting environment, the appropriate scripting component is selected to provide connections between the scripting engine for the selected scripting language and the interfaces defined by the scripting environment. Runtime-only information for generated scripts may be saved to a separate storage space. At runtime, the scripts may call other scripts, possibly written in a different language, and respond to events fired by a registered object. Scripted objects may be nested, with different scripts connecting objects at different levels of nesting.
The above as well as additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5537630 (1996-07-01), Berry et al.
Ross Nelson, “Running Visual Basic for Windows”, Microsoft Press, pp. 1-21, 1993.*
Schroeder et al., “VISAGE: A object-Oriented Scientific Visualization System”, IEEE, pp. 219-226, 1992.*
Rodriguez et al., “Scripting Languages Emerge in Standard Bodies”, IEEE, pp. 88-92, 1995.*
Brown et al., “A Java-Based Implementation of Collaborative Active Texbooks”, IEEE, pp. 372-379, 1997.
Apte Ajay Arvind
Chen Ping
Sanchez John Conrad
Bracewell & Patterson L.L.P.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Mims Jr. David A.
Powell Mark R.
Vo Ted T.
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