Side-effect modeling
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for providing to a client a definition of an object representing attributes of a first collection of data elements and an operation on the first collection, each data element having attributes and the operation in common with other data elements from the first collection, the definition comprising an effect of executing the operation on a second collection of data elements. This also includes receiving from a client a request to execute the operation on one or more data elements from the first collection, executing the operation on one or more data elements from the first collection, and updating a copy of one or more data elements from the second collection according to the effect of executing the operation.
1. A method comprising:
providing, to a client, a definition of an object representing attributes of a first collection of data elements and a definition of one or more modifications to the first collection of data elements, each data element having at least one attribute and at least one modification in common with other data elements from the first collection, the first collection of data elements representing a first table in a database, the modifications to the first collection of data elements corresponding to modifications to the first table in the database;
storing side-effects of executing the one or more modifications to the first collection of data elements in a repository, wherein each of the side-effects defines a modification of a data element of a second collection of data elements resulting from executing a corresponding modification to the first collection of data elements, the second collection of data elements representing a second table in the database, the side-effects reflecting modifications to the second table in the database caused by the modifications to the first table in the database;
receiving, from the client, a request to execute one of the modifications to the one or more data elements from the first collection;
executing the requested modification to the one or more data elements from the first collection;
identifying the side-effect corresponding to the requested modification;
retrieving the identified side-effect from the repository; and
updating a copy of the one or more data elements from the second collection upon execution of the requested modification to the one or more data elements from the first collection, the one or more data elements of the second collection being modified according to the identified side-effect,
wherein updating the copy provides consistency between the copy of the data elements from the second collection representing the second table in the database with the modified data elements from the first collection representing the first table in the database.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested modification is a deletion of the one or more data elements from the first collection upon which the requested modification is executed.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second collection of data elements further comprises a third collection of data elements.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the requested modification is an update to an attribute of one of the data elements from the first collection corresponding to a field in the first table of the database, and the identified side-effect is an update to an attribute of one of the data elements from the second collection corresponding to a field in the second table of the database.
5. A system for managing effects associated with execution of operations, the system comprising:
a first computer configured to execute a client program and a server proxy program, the server proxy program configured to store a local memory cache;
a second computer configured to execute a server program; and
a network linking the first and second computers such that the server program is configured to execute the following:
provide, to the client program and the server proxy, a definition of an object representing attributes of a first collection of data elements and a definition of one or more modifications to the first collection of data elements, each data element having at least one attribute and at least one modification in common with other data elements from the first collection, the first collection of data elements representing a first table in a database, the modifications to the first collection of data elements corresponding to modifications to the first table in the database;
store side-effects of executing the one or more modifications to the first collection of data elements in a repository, wherein each of the side-effects defines a modification of a data element of a second collection of data elements resulting from executing a corresponding modification to the first collection of data elements, the second collection of data elements representing a second table in the database, the side-effects reflecting modifications to the second table in the database caused by the modifications to the first table in the database;
receive, from the client, a request to execute one of the modifications to the one or more data elements from the first collection;
execute the requested modification to the one or more data elements from the first collection;
identify the side-effect corresponding to the requested modification; and
retrieve the identified side-effect from the repository;
wherein the server proxy is configured to update a copy, in the local memory cache, of the one or more data elements from the second collection upon execution of the requested modification to the one or more data elements from the first collection, the one or more data elements of the second collection being modified according to the identified side-effect,
wherein updating the copy provides consistency between the copy of the data elements from the second collection representing the second table in the database with the modified data elements from the first collection representing the first table in the database.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the requested modification is a deletion of the one or more data elements from the first collection upon which the requested modification is executed.
7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second collection of data elements further comprises a third collection of data elements.
8. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the requested modification is an update to an attribute of one of the data elements from the first collection corresponding to a field in the first table of the database, and the identified side-effect is an update to an attribute of one of the data elements from the second collection corresponding to a field in the second table of the database.
9. A computer readable storage device comprising a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method for managing effects associated with execution of operations, the method comprising:
providing, to a client, a definition of an object representing attributes of a first collection of data elements and a definition of one or more modifications to the first collection of data elements, each data element having at least one attribute and at least one modification in common with other data elements from the first collection, the first collection of data elements representing a first table in a database, the modifications to the first collection of data elements corresponding to modifications to the first table in the database;
storing side-effects of executing the one or more modifications to the first collection of data elements in a repository, wherein each of the side-effects defines a modification of a data element of a second collection of data elements resulting from executing a corresponding modification to the first collection of data elements, the second collection of data elements representing a second table in the database, the side-effects reflecting modifications to the second table in the database caused by the modifications to the first table in the database;
receiving, from the client, a request to execute one of the modifications to the one or more data elements from the first collection;
executing the requested modification to the one or more data elements from the first collection;
identifying the side-effect corresponding to the requested modification;
retrieving the identified side-effect from the repository; and
updating a copy of the one or more data elements from the second collection upon execution of the requested modification to the one or more data elements from the first collection, the one or more data elements of the second collection being modified according to the identified side-effect,
wherein updating the copy provides consistency between the copy of the data elements from the second collection representing the second table in the database with the modified data elements from the first collection representing the first table in the database.
10. The computer readable storage device of claim 9 , wherein the requested modification is a deletion of the one or more data elements from the first collection upon which the requested modification is executed.
11. The computer readable storage device of claim 9 , wherein the second collection of data elements further comprises a third collection of data elements.
12. The computer-readable storage device according to claim 9 , wherein the requested modification is an update to an attribute of one of the data elements from the first collection corresponding to a field in the first table of the database, and the identified side-effect is an update to an attribute of one of the data elements from the second collection corresponding to a field in the second table of the database.