User-Created Platform Components with Metadata-Driven Lifecycle Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Low-code application platforms (LCAPs) have historically excluded user-created components from benefiting from comprehensive application lifecycle management (ALM) processes, limiting the ease of development and operational reliability of custom applications.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a solution component framework (SCF) within LCAPs that enables user-defined customization and dependency management, storing metadata for user-created components to facilitate ALM processes such as deployment, updating, and uninstallation, while reducing the need for coding skills through graphical user interfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If user-created components are excluded from ALM processes, then development simplicity is maintained, but operational reliability and lifecycle management capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the lifecycle management process into distinct phases (development, deployment, updating, uninstallation) and applies ALM processes selectively to user-created components based on their customization level. This allows comprehensive ALM for customized components while maintaining simplicity for standard components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by automatically generating metadata and dependency information when components are created or customized. This preliminary setup enables subsequent ALM processes (deployment, updating, uninstallation) to execute reliably without manual intervention, resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity.
2Reliability
If comprehensive ALM processes are applied to user-created components, then operational reliability improves, but development time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling user-created components to automatically generate their own metadata, dependency information, and lifecycle management configurations. This automation eliminates manual setup time while ensuring comprehensive ALM processes are applied, thus improving reliability without increasing development time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the state of component metadata from absent to present, and from manual to automatic generation. This parameter change enables ALM processes to be applied seamlessly, improving operational reliability while reducing the time investment required from developers.
3Adaptability or versatility
If metadata and dependency tracking are implemented for user-created components, then lifecycle management capability improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal metadata structure that serves multiple functions: tracking component dependencies, storing customization information, enabling deployment management, and supporting uninstallation processes. This single multi-functional metadata system improves lifecycle management capability without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces metadata as an intermediary layer between user-created components and ALM processes. This intermediary automatically captures dependency relationships and customization information, enabling comprehensive lifecycle management while shielding developers from the underlying system complexity.
4Reliability
If automatic metadata generation and dependency tracking are enabled, then deployment and uninstallation reliability improves, but processing overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by generating metadata and tracking dependencies automatically during component creation and customization phases. This upfront work ensures that deployment and uninstallation operations can execute reliably with minimal processing overhead, as the necessary information is already prepared and structured.
Data Source
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AI summary
The examples described herein extend application lifecycle management (ALM) processes (e.g., create, update, delete, retrieve, import, export, uninstall, publish) to user-created application platform components. First and second components are generated within an application platform. The first component is customized at least by indicating whether the first component is subject to localization, defining a layering of the first component, and indicating whether the first component is protected from downstream modification. The second component is customized in accordance with customizing the first component, and is further customized by defining a dependency of the second component on the first component. The components are deployed in a target environment with metadata representing the customizations and enabling the ALM processes.