Custom Metametadata for Multitenant Database Extensions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multitenant environments face limitations in extending their own functionality, hindering independent software vendors (ISVs) and developers from creating new platform features without additional input or funding, and existing metadata mechanisms are not flexible enough to support custom metadata-driven development.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that enable ISVs to create custom metadata records and features through a standard interface, allowing declarative developers to build applications with expanded functionality by using metametadata, which is custom metadata about metadata, facilitating tooling and collaboration between ISVs and customers, and enabling seamless integration of new features across organizations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a multitenant environment uses standard metadata mechanisms, then platform stability and security are maintained, but functionality extension capabilities are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments metadata into two distinct types: standard metadata (for core platform functionality) and custom metadata (for ISV extensions). This segmentation allows the system to maintain stability through standard mechanisms while enabling functionality extension through custom metadata records that ISVs can create independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces custom metadata as an intermediary layer between the core platform and ISV extensions. This intermediary enables functionality extension without directly modifying core platform metadata, thus maintaining stability while allowing versatility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If ISVs create custom metadata records through non-standard interfaces, then functionality extension is enabled, but integration consistency and ease of use deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal custom metadata interface that works across all multitenant environments. This standard interface allows ISVs to create custom metadata records consistently regardless of the specific platform, improving ease of operation while maintaining versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of interface standardization by providing a predefined standard interface for custom metadata operations. This eliminates the need for ISVs to develop proprietary interfaces, thereby improving ease of integration while preserving functionality extension capabilities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If developers write complex code for each organization, then functionality can be customized, but productivity and time efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables ISVs to create custom metadata records once and have them automatically copied and integrated across multiple organizations. This eliminates the need to write and maintain separate code for each organization, thereby improving productivity while preserving customization capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent allows custom metadata records to be created and configured in advance by ISVs before deployment to multiple organizations. This preliminary action enables reuse across organizations without requiring additional coding effort, thus improving productivity while maintaining adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for providing custom metadata in a multi-tenant database environment in which hardware and software of the multi-tenant database system is shared by one or more organizations, each having one or more corresponding users. Each of the organizations has associated organization data and organization metadata. Activating procedural code is triggered in response to a trigger event determined by a platform interface. The procedural code is to query the organization metadata provided by the associated organization through a metadata interface provided by a platform developer. The platform interface is provided by the platform developer and the procedural code utilizes compile time dependencies to generate custom metametadata to be maintained by the platform developer and to be provided to the organizational metadata, which is to be maintained by the corresponding organization. The organization data owned by the organization is written to with the procedural code in response to results of the query.