Web Console UI Extension via Dynamic Configuration Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current user interface extensions for web consoles associated with layered platforms, such as OpenShift, require rebuilding the binary of the platform to implement new stylesheets or script functions, which is inefficient and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves launching an extension application in an image layer on a node to load additional CSS stylesheets and JavaScript functions from a file server, allowing the user interface to be extended without rebuilding the binary code of the layered platform by using an extension engine that retrieves and provides these extensions through the master configuration data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the binary of the layered platform is rebuilt to implement new stylesheets or script functions, then the user interface can be extended, but the process becomes inefficient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user interface into base components (embedded in binary) and extendable components (stylesheets and scripts). This allows the extendable components to be modified independently without rebuilding the entire binary, resolving the contradiction between UI extendability and rebuilding time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a dynamic mechanism where stylesheets and scripts can be loaded at runtime through configuration data structures. This dynamic loading capability enables the user interface to adapt to new requirements without requiring binary rebuilding, thus reducing time loss while maintaining extendability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the binary code is rebuilt to update user interface components, then the user interface can be modified, but the complexity of updating increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the user interface modification capabilities from the binary code and places them in separate, modifiable components (stylesheets and scripts). These extracted components can be updated independently through configuration data, reducing the complexity of updates while maintaining modifiability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces configuration data structures as intermediaries between the binary code and the user interface components. This intermediary layer allows modifications to be applied without touching the binary code, simplifying the update process while preserving modifiability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If additional stylesheets and scripts are integrated into the web console, then the user interface functionality is enhanced, but the size of the binary increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user interface functionality into base functions (in binary) and optional extensions (stylesheets and scripts). The extensions are stored separately and loaded only when needed, preventing the binary size from increasing while maintaining enhanced functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a selective loading mechanism where only the necessary stylesheets and scripts are loaded based on configuration requirements. This partial action approach ensures that the binary remains compact while providing the option for enhanced functionality when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A method relates to launching, by a processing device executing a virtual machine deployment application, an asset server communicatively coupled to a data storage, launching a container comprising a file server that stores configuration data associated with a web console, wherein the web console provide a user interface to access the virtual machine deployment application, recording, in a configuration data structure residing in the data storage, a network address associated with the container, retrieving, by the asset server, the configuration data stored in the file server using the network address recorded in the configuration data structure, and providing the configuration data to a cache associated with the web console to modify the user interface.