Decoupling API Configuration Definitions from Application Code
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tight coupling between application code and configuration definitions in web-based applications complicates changes, requiring extensive code modifications, analysis, testing, and delivery cycles, leading to significant time and financial costs.
Innovation Solution
A system that reduces coupling by storing configuration definitions in a non-normalized codebase, allowing new configurations to be created without requiring code changes, using a generic schema and URIs to manage configuration instances, enabling updates without repeating the analysis, coding, and testing cycle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If configuration definitions are tightly coupled with application code, then the system maintains structural integrity and type safety, but any configuration changes require code modifications, requirement analysis, coding, and testing cycles that incur significant time and financial cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the configuration system into two independent parts: (1) a static type system that provides type safety and validation, and (2) a dynamic configuration data structure that can be modified without code changes. The configuration is divided into a schema definition (stored in code) and instance data (stored externally), allowing the type system to remain stable while configuration instances can be updated independently through data-only changes.
2Reliability
If configuration definitions are tightly coupled with application code, then the system ensures type safety and validation, but the complexity of managing configuration changes increases due to required code modifications and testing cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the configuration instance data from the application code while maintaining the type schema in the codebase. The configuration instances are stored as separate data structures (e.g., in databases or configuration files) that can be modified independently. This extraction reduces configuration management complexity by separating the immutable type definitions from the mutable configuration data, allowing changes without code modification or recompilation.
3Reliability
If configuration definitions are stored in the codebase, then type safety is maintained, but any updates require completing the full software delivery cycle including requirement analysis, coding, and testing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamics by allowing configuration instances to be modified at runtime or during deployment without requiring code changes. The system uses a static type schema for validation (maintaining reliability) while allowing dynamic instantiation and modification of configuration data. This enables configuration updates to proceed through simplified data migration or configuration file updates rather than full software delivery cycles, significantly improving productivity for configuration changes.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method may reduce the costs associated with adding or editing configuration elements for an API. A generic schema for the API codebase may keep the configuration definitions flexible and associations between various configuration definitions may also be saved within the codebase. New configuration instances may then be created using the definition of the configuration. Since the definition of the configuration is saved in a codebase, updating the definition or adding a new definition will not require going through the cycle of requirement analysis, coding, and testing. Once the definition is updated, the application code may appropriately mark the difference between the configuration instance and its definition and it will utilize the new definition to create instances of the new configuration.