Global Object Service for Visual Designers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing visual designer systems lack the ability to share and integrate global objects such as database connections, resources, and web services across different development project locations, limiting rapid application development (RAD) and increasing developer time expenditure.
Innovation Solution
A system and methodology for publishing and sharing global objects, including a global object service component, provider components, and a factory component, that allows global objects to be requested, generated, and updated, enabling their use and modification within visual designers without requiring designer reloads or modifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If visual designers focus only on local UI elements, then design simplicity is maintained, but ability to share global resources is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Global Object Service as an intermediary layer between visual designers and global resources. This service component mediates the interaction by providing a standardized interface for accessing, creating, and updating global objects, thereby enabling resource sharing without directly complicating the designer's workflow.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates virtual copies of global objects that can be accessed and manipulated by multiple designers simultaneously. Each designer works with a copy or reference to the global object, allowing independent local operations while maintaining connectivity to the shared source, thus enabling sharing without requiring direct modification of the original complex system.
2Productivity
If designer reloads are required for updates, then system simplicity is maintained, but developer time is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where changes to global objects are automatically propagated to visual designers. When a global object is updated, the system detects this change and notifies affected designers, allowing them to see the updates reflected without manual reloads. This continuous feedback loop eliminates the need for time-consuming designer reloads while maintaining system coherence.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing connections and subscriptions between designers and global objects before changes occur. Designers subscribe to global object updates in advance, so when changes happen, the system is already prepared to deliver the updates efficiently, avoiding the need for post-change reload operations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If global objects are made accessible everywhere, then resource sharing is improved, but object management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the global object management functionality into distinct components: a Global Object Service for centralized management, provider components for creating objects, and consumer components for accessing them. This segmentation allows global objects to be accessible everywhere while distributing the management complexity across specialized components rather than requiring a monolithic complex system.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and/or methodology to publish and share global objects in a visual designer is provided. A global object is an object that is available anywhere in the development project, rather than being local to a class or user interface element. Aspects of the invention are directed to a mechanism where global objects can be published, queried and/or used by individual visual designers. Additionally, aspects are directed to systems and/or methodologies where changes to those global objects can be made in such a way that they can be automatically updated in the designer. An alternate aspect of this mechanism can integrate with visual designers such that the designer itself does not need to be modified to accommodate the presence of a global object.