Flow Engine Debug Mode for Business Flow Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Debugging business flows in production servers is challenging due to the lack of visibility into internal states during execution, making it difficult to identify and resolve issues in processing logic without disrupting normal service request processing.
Innovation Solution
The solution enables concurrent processing of service requests in both normal and debug modes, allowing for single-step debugging and breakpoint management within the flow engine, which pauses execution at specific points for user input, providing detailed visibility into the execution path without requiring configuration changes to the flow engine.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If debugging mode is enabled for business flows in production servers, then visibility into internal states during execution is improved, but service request processing performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments service request processing into two distinct modes: normal mode for standard execution and debug mode for detailed inspection. The flow engine can operate in either mode depending on the specific service request, allowing debugging capabilities to be activated selectively rather than globally, thus maintaining performance for production requests while enabling detailed visibility when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow engine dynamically switches between normal and debug modes based on the processing needs of individual service requests. This dynamic behavior allows the system to optimize performance for production traffic while providing on-demand debugging capabilities, resolving the contradiction between continuous visibility and sustained performance.
2Ease of operation
If single-step debugging is implemented in the flow engine, then ability to inspect execution path is improved, but complexity of the flow engine increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts debugging functionality as a separate operational mode rather than integrating it deeply into the core execution path. By implementing single-step debugging as a distinct mode that can be activated when needed, the flow engine maintains its simplicity for normal operation while providing enhanced inspection capabilities when required, thus improving ease of operation without proportionally increasing complexity.
3Ease of operation
If breakpoints are set for debugging, then ability to pause execution at specific points is improved, but service request processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies breakpoints selectively to specific service requests that require debugging rather than applying them universally. By using breakpoints only when necessary for particular inspection needs and leaving normal requests to execute without interruption, the system improves the ability to pause execution at critical points while minimizing the overall time loss across the entire service request workload.
Data Source
AI summary
Facilitating debugging of business flows deployed on a production server. An aspect of the present invention processes some service requests (received from a client system) in a normal mode and some other service requests in a debug mode concurrently, all according to a business flow. According to another aspect, the debug mode supports a single step debug operation, in which each step corresponds to a single activity of the business flow. Accordingly, an administrator of the production server is enabled to better determine, the problems in the execution of business flows deployed on a production server at runtime.