Automatically validating data incorporated into a computer program
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods, systems, and computer programs for verifying that data incorporated into a computer program is current. The methods, systems, and computer programs compare a source identifier status code associated with the data to a current source identifier status code at the location where the data was obtained. The methods, systems, and computer programs include at least one validation function which determines the validity of the data according to selected parameters. If the source identifier status code and current source identifier status code match and the at least one validation function determines the data is valid, an executable computer program incorporating the data and one or more functions is produced as output.
1. A method of validating data incorporated into a computer program, the method comprising:
building one or more functions incorporating data obtained from at least one remote location into a source code of the computer program;
incorporating a source identifier status code from the at least one remote location into the one or more functions, the source identifier status code corresponding to a date or a location at which the data was obtained from the at least one remote location;
writing a query into the source code that queries the at least one remote location to determine if the source identifier status code matches a current source identifier status code at the at least one remote location;
providing at least one validation function in the source code, the at least one validation function configured to perform one or more tests on the data to assess whether the data is valid;
adding a build-break function into the source code, the build-break function allowing a computer program build to continue only upon determinations that the source identifier status code and the current source identifier status code match and the at least one validation function confirms that the data is valid; and
compiling the source code into an executable computer program that uses the data obtained from the at least one remote location to perform the one or more functions.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein building one or more functions incorporating data obtained from at least one remote location into the source code of the computer program includes archiving the data in the computer program.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source code is in an open standard format for electronic data.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the executable computer program is output in a verified archive format with the data incorporated therein as one or more verified libraries.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the query includes a checksum query that examines a correspondence between source identifier status code and the current source identifier status code at a uniform resource locator of the at least one remote location corresponding to the source identifier status code.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the source identifier status code includes a checksum or hash and the current source identifier status code includes a current checksum or a current hash.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more functions includes a report function that provides a report of any mismatch between the source identifier status code and the current source identifier status code and identifies the data associated therewith.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one validation function in the source code is configured to test the data to confirm that the data is in a format specified by the source code.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one validation function in the source code is configured to test the data to confirm that the data contains values that satisfy one or more criteria of the at least one validation test.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein incorporating a source identifier status code from the at least one remote location into the one or more functions includes incorporating a checksum or a hash from a uniform resource identifier corresponding to the at least one remote location into the one or more functions.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising running a transformation function on the executable computer program to transform the executable computer program from a first format to a second format.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein compiling the source code includes running a build tool to compile the source code into an executable computer program includes running Apache Ant, Apache Maven, Gradle, MSBuild, sbt, or Waf.
13. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable media, comprising:
a source code, including:
one or more functions incorporating data obtained from at least one remote location;
a source identifier status code from the at least one remote location in the one or more functions, the source identifier status code corresponding to a date or a location at which the data was obtained from the at least one remote location;
a query in the source code that queries the at least one remote location to determine whether the source identifier status code matches a current source identifier status code at the at least one remote location;
at least one validation function configured to perform one or more tests on the data to assess whether the data is valid;
a build-break function configured to allow a computer program build to continue only upon determinations that the source identifier status code and the current source identifier status code match and the at least one validation function confirms the data is valid.
14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the source code is in an open standard format for electronic data.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the open standard format includes xml format.
16. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the query includes a checksum query examines a correspondence between the source identifier status code and the current source identifier status code at a uniform resource locator of the at least one remote location corresponding to the source identifier status code.
17. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the source identifier status code includes a checksum or hash and the current source identifier status code includes a current checksum or a current hash.