System and method for generating a wireless application from a web service definition

1. A method for generating a wireless application from a definition of a web service, the method being performed by a processor, the method comprising:

receiving input signals representing the definition of the web service, the definition defining a plurality of web service messages;

creating a message object and a component mapping object for each one of the plurality of web service messages, each one of the plurality of component mapping objects providing mapping between each respective one of the plurality of web service messages and a respective one of the plurality of wireless application messages;

linking each one of the plurality of component mapping objects to the respective one of the plurality of message objects and to the respective one of the plurality of web service messages; and

generating a data structure representing the wireless application, the wireless application including the plurality of component mapping objects;

wherein the component mapping object maps message parts of each one of the plurality of web service messages to respective message parts of each respective one of the plurality of wireless application messages; and

wherein creating each component mapping object comprises creating a message field mapping object and a field mapping object for each message part of each web service message, and linking each component mapping object comprises linking each field mapping object to the respective message field object and the respective web service message part.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

selecting a message part;

determining whether the message part is an element declaration;

determining the element type if the message part is an element declaration; and

determining whether the message part is a simple data type, an enumeration or a complex type.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein upon determining that the message part is a simple data type, the method further comprises determining whether the simple data type is an atomic type, a list or a union.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein upon determining that the simple data type is an atomic type, the method comprises determining a corresponding data type using a translation table and updating the message field object based on the data type.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein upon determining that the simple data type is an enumeration, the method further comprises:

creating an enumeration object;

creating an enumeration mapping object;

linking the enumeration mapping object to the enumeration object and to a simple data type definition; and

for each enumeration value, creating an enumeration literal object and mapping it.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein upon determining that the message part is a complex type, the method further comprises:

creating a data object;

creating a component mapping object;

linking the component mapping object to the data object and to a complex type definition; and

determining whether the complex type has a base type.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein upon determining that the complex type has a base type, the method further comprises:

creating a data object;

creating a component mapping object;

linking the component mapping object to the data object and to a complex type definition;

setting the data object as a prototype for a current complex type; and

determining a category of the complex type.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 further comprising:

determining whether the category is one of an empty, simple, mixed or element only;

if the category is one of the empty, simple or element only, determining whether there are any fields in the data object; and

if there are no fields in the data object, discarding the data object and the component mapping object.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein upon determining that the category is mixed, the method comprises discarding the data object and the component mapping object.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein upon determining that the category is not one of the empty, simple, mixed or element only, the method further comprises:

selecting an attribute of the complex type; and

determining whether the attribute is one of a fixed constraint and a prohibited use.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein upon determining that the attribute is not a fixed constraint or a prohibited use, the method further comprises:

creating a data field object;

creating a field mapping object;

linking the field mapping object to the data field object and to an attribute declaration; and

determining whether the attribute declaration is an enumeration or a simple data type.

12. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein upon determining that the complex type has an “Any” attribute the method further comprises:

creating a data field object;

creating a field mapping object;

linking the field mapping object to the data field object and to the “Any” attribute;

setting the data field type to “string”;

determining whether there are any fields in the data object; and

discarding the data object and the component mapping object if the data object contains no fields.

13. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein upon determining that the category type is simple, the method further comprises:

creating a data field object;

creating a field mapping object;

determining a content type of the simple category; and

determining whether the content is an enumeration or a simple data type.

14. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein upon determining that the category type is element only, the method further comprises determining whether a particle of the category is an element declaration, and “Any” type or a model group.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein upon determining that the particle is an element declaration of “Any” type, the method further comprises:

creating a data field object;

creating a field mapping object;

linking the field mapping object to the data field object and to the “Any” type; setting the date field type to “string”;

determining a maximum occurrences value of the particle; and

if the maximum occurrences value is greater than one, setting a field array property to “true”.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15 wherein upon determining that the particle is a model group, the method further comprises:

for each particle in the model group:

creating a data field object;

creating a field mapping object;

linking the field mapping object to the data field object and to one of the element declaration and the “Any” type;

determining the maximum occurrences value of the particle;

if the maximum occurrences value is greater than one, setting a field array property to “true”; and

if the category type is “Any”, setting the date field type to “string”.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein upon determining that the maximum occurrences is 1 and the particle is an element declaration, the method further comprises:

determining whether the particle is a simple type.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising determining whether each web service message is an input or an output message for the web service and creating an input message object or an output message object accordingly.

19. A system for generating a wireless application from a definition for a web service, comprising an application developer workstation, the system being configured for:

receiving input signals representing the definition for the web service, the definition defining a plurality of web service messages;

creating a message object and a component mapping object for each one of the plurality of web service messages, each one of the plurality of component mapping objects providing mapping between each respective one of the plurality of web service messages and a respective one of the plurality of wireless application messages;

linking each one of the plurality of component mapping objects to the respective one of the plurality of message objects and to the respective one of the plurality of web service messages; and

generating a data structure representing the wireless application, the wireless application including the plurality of component mapping objects;

wherein the component mapping object maps message parts of each one of the plurality of web service messages to respective message parts of each respective one of the plurality of wireless application messages; and

wherein creating each component mapping object comprises creating a message field mapping object and a field mapping object for each message part of each web service message, and linking each component mapping object comprises linking each field mapping object to the respective message field object and the respective web service message part.

20. A vendible product for generating a wireless application from a definition for a web service, the product comprising a computer readable memory storing:

computer executable code for accepting as input web service messages, determining whether each web service message is an input or an output message, computer executable code for receiving input signals representing the definition of the web service, the definition defining a plurality of web service messages;

computer executable code for creating a message object and a component mapping object for each one of the plurality of web service messages, each one of the plurality of component mapping objects providing mapping between each respective one of the plurality of web service messages and a respective one of the plurality of wireless application messages;

computer executable code for linking each one of the plurality of component mapping objects to the respective one of the plurality of message objects and to the respective one of the plurality of web service messages; and

computer executable code for generating a data structure representing the wireless application, the wireless application including the plurality of component mapping objects;

wherein the component mapping object maps message parts of each one of the plurality of web service messages to respective message parts of each respective one of the plurality of wireless application messages; and

wherein creating each component mapping object comprises creating a message field mapping object and a field mapping object for each message part of each web service message, and linking each component mapping object comprises linking each field mapping object to the respective message field object and the respective web service message part.