Patent Grant
6983284
The present invention relates to generation of servlet programs that correspond to user input forms and, more particularly, to reducing input parameter interface error.
Although the Internet and, more specifically, the world wide web (or just “the web”) is a very useful tool for distributing information, the web may be used as an information gathering tool as well. A typical server-side information gathering session involves a web server and an application server. In a representative information gathering session, a Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) form is served by the web server to gather user input. Once received by a web server, the user input may be submitted to a common gateway interface (CGI) script or a servlet program running on the application server. In the case where a servlet program receives the input, the servlet program must parse the input into input parameters and extract the value of each input parameter.
For example, an input parameter named “employeeID” is defined in the following HTML code and a portion of Java code (from a corresponding servlet program) is provided to use the input parameter.
It is known that the name of the input parameter must be the same in both the HTML code and the Java code. Taken together, multiple input parameters serve as an interface (called an “input parameter interface” herein) between an HTML input file and a corresponding servlet program file. If any changes are to be made, both files need to be updated and, it is then hoped that both the HTML input file and the servlet program are free of spelling errors, etc. Furthermore, it is typical for one person, a web developer, to develop the HTML file, and another person, a Java coder, to develop the servlet program. This separation of development roles can lead to synchronization and consistency problems.
A utility development tool is proposed to solve synchronization and consistency problems between HTML files and corresponding servlet programs. A servlet program developer may use this utility development tool to automatically parse the input parameters from an HTML file. The servlet developer may then select input parameters of interest for the servlet program and, thereby, allow the tool to automatically generate appropriate servlet program code for retrieving the input parameter value from the selected input parameters. In addition, this tool can use timestamps on the HTML and servlet program files to generate notifications instructing the servlet developer to synchronize the input parameter interface.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of generating servlet program code, to reduce input parameter interface error, including receiving a form description file, automatically parsing the form description file to discover input parameters and automatically generating the servlet program code to receive the input parameters. In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software medium that permits a general purpose computer to carry out this method.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of synchronizing files including determining a first value for a time stamp on a form description file, determining a second value for a time stamp on a servlet program file, comparing the first value to the second value and, if the comparing indicates that the form description file was edited more recently than the servlet program file, generating an alarm. In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software medium that permits a general purpose computer to carry out this method.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
In the figures which illustrate example embodiments of this invention:
In overview, a graphical user interface (GUI) utility tool 111, running on the development environment 112, automatically parses an HTML file, which is to be served, for instance, to the personal computer 110 by the web server 106, for input parameters. The GUI utility tool 111 then generates servlet program code to receive the parsed input parameters. The servlet program code is subsequently executed on the application server 102. Generation of servlet program code in this way acts to eliminate errors in the manual coding process and guarantee input parameter interface consistency between the HTML files and corresponding servlet program files. The use of a timestamp on files, to produce user notifications to re-generate the servlet program code in the servlet, minimizes the chance that the HTML files and corresponding servlet program files become unsynchronized.
In operation, the GUI utility tool 111 is run on the development environment 112 by a user of the development environment 112. Steps of a servlet program file generation method are illustrated in
<INPUT TYPE=“text” NAME=“Employee ID:” ID=“employeeID” SIZE=“8”>
If the tag in question identifies an input parameter, the name of the input parameter (employeeID in the above example) is extracted (step 310) and the next tag is read (step 304). However, if the tag in question does not identify an input parameter, no action is taken in relation to the tag and the next tag is read (step 304). If the tag in question is the last tag in the file, likely recognised as “</html>”, or the end of the file is reached (step 306), it is then determined whether any input parameters have been extracted (step 312). If input parameters have been extracted, the input parameter names are used to assign names for use in servlet program code (servlet program field name, servlet program constant name) (step 314) and these names are presented to the user (step 316). This presentation to the user allows the user to alter the names if desired. These alterations, if any, are received (step 318) before the parsing operation s considered complete. Once parsing is considered complete, the GUI utility tool 111 generates the servlet program code (step 212,
As shown in the form description file specification page 500 (
After generation of the servlet code to capture input parameters, a user may generate code to operate upon, or otherwise analyze, the parameter values. This may not be necessary if the servlet code to capture input parameters is merely being regenerated to synchronize with an HTML file that has changed. However, in the regeneration case, the remainder of the servlet code should be changed to reflect changes in the input parameters capturing servlet code.
As the generated servlet program file is saved in step 214, a time stamp may be included, indicating, for instance, a date and time at which a servlet program file was generated. Similarly, whatever tool is used to make amendments to the HTML file may include a time stamp indicating a date and time at which the HTML file was amended. A secondary application, or a function of the GUI utility tool 111, may be devised to allow a user to maintain synchronization between a servlet program file and a corresponding HTML file.
Thus far described, the invention relies on input from a user of the development environment 112 (
As will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, one suitable language for the servlet program code is Java.
Furthermore, the language used for the form description files may be other than HTML, such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and, therefore, the invention is defined in the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2343491 | Apr 2001 | CA | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6578192 | Boehme et al. | Jun 2003 | B1 |
| 6643652 | Helgeson et al. | Nov 2003 | B2 |
| 20030182626 | Davidov et al. | Sep 2003 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20020178175 A1 | Nov 2002 | US |
