Development and deployment of mobile and desktop applications within a flexible markup-based distributed architecture

Abstract

A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium is configurable to accomplish execution of an application that is specified and encoded in a markup-based descriptor language. The product includes client runtime computer code configured to cause a client computer device to process the markup-based descriptor language to deploy an application to accomplish execution of the application. The client runtime computer code is further configured to process the markup-based descriptor language to selectively configure the client computer device to deploy the application so as to accomplish execution of the application by the client computer device stand-alone or by the client computer device in cooperation with a server to which the device is connectable via a network connection.

1 . A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium configurable to accomplish execution of an application that is specified and encoded in a markup-based descriptor language, the product comprising: 
 client runtime computer code configured to cause a client computer device to process the markup-based descriptor language to deploy an application to accomplish execution of the application,    wherein the client runtime computer code is further configured to process the markup-based descriptor language to selectively configure the client computer device to deploy the application so as to accomplish execution of the application by the client computer device stand-alone or by the client computer device in cooperation with a server to which the device is connectable via a network connection.    
   
   
       2 . The product of  claim 1 , wherein the client runtime computer code includes: 
 process layer computer code, configured to cause the client device to process the markup-based language to respond to events; and    resource manager layer computer code, configured to cause the client device to access particular resources of the client device.    
   
   
       3 . The product of  claim 2 , wherein the client runtime computer code further includes: 
 user interface manager layer computer code, configured to cause the client computer device to interact with events communicated to the client computer device via input facilities of the client device and to communicate indications of the events to the process layer computer code.    
   
   
       4 . The product of  claim 3 , wherein the client runtime computer code is configured to selectively configure the client computer device to deploy the application so as to accomplish execution of the application by the client computer device in cooperation with a server to which the device is connectable via a network connection by configuring the client computer device to selectively access at least one of a process layer and a resource manager layer executing on the server.  
   
   
       5 . The product of  claim 1 , wherein the client runtime computer code configured to cause a client computer device to process the markup-based descriptor language includes code to cause the client computer device to process the markup language configuration descriptors to determine the selective deployment.  
   
   
       6 . The product of  claim 1 , wherein the client runtime computer code includes computer code configured to generate visual forms by processing visual form specifications that describe the dynamic and visual behavior of the application, wherein the client computer code configured to accomplish execution of the application accomplishes execution of the application at least in part based on the generated visual forms.  
   
   
       7 . The product of  claim 5 , wherein the code configured to cause the client computer device to generate the visual forms includes code configured to cause the client computer device to process visual form specifications, of the markup-based descriptor language, that include references to at least one of resources, of the client device and resource of the server, employed to generate the visual form.  
   
   
       8 . The product of  claim 7 , wherein the resources include database tables, images, and external executable code.  
   
   
       9 . The product of  claim 7 , wherein the code configured to cause the client computer device to generate the visual forms includes code configured to cause the client computer device to display visual components of the visual forms in a particular manner on a display device of the client computer device; 
 code configured to cause the client computer device to execute particular actions while generating the visual forms; and    code configured to cause the client computer to execute particular actions in response to events.    
   
   
       10 . The product of  claim 9 , wherein the particular actions in response to events includes changing visual characteristics of a displayed visual form, displaying another visual form, and accessing external resources.  
   
   
       11 . A method to define a dynamic form, having associated therewith a visual presentation populated with display data and action triggered by events, for display on a client computing device in a particular network deployment configuration, the particular network deployment configuration including particular data resources, the method comprising: 
 developing the form in a deployment-independent manner, including abstract data resource connectors, to generate a deployment-independent developed form; and    processing the deployment-independent developed form to generate a deployed form in which the abstract data resource connectors are bound to the particular data resources, the deployed form being such that, when processed in the particular network deployment configuration, the particular data resources of the particular network deployment configuration are accessed to display the visual representation of the form populated with display data.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein: 
 the step of generating the deployment-independent developed form includes 
 defining the visual presentation associated with the form; and  
 defining how the visual presentation of the form is to be populated with the display data.  
   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein: 
 in the step of generating the deployment-independent developed form, the step of defining the visual presentation associated with the form further includes defining a logical behavior of the form.    
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11 , and further comprising: 
 defining a deployment profile, corresponding to the particular deployment, that identifies a correspondence between the abstract resource connectors and the particular data resources of the particular deployment; and    in the step of processing the deployment-independent developed form, processing the deployment-independent developed form in view of the deployment profile.    
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the step of processing the deployment-independent form in view of the deployment profile includes: 
 generating code configured to cause the client device to display the visual presentation of the form on a display device directly associated with the client;    generating code configured to cause the display data to be accessed from the particular data resources to populate the visual representation of the form.    
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the step of processing the deployment-independent form in view of the deployment profile further includes: 
 generating code configured to cause the client device to handle events according to the defined logical behavior.    
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the step of generating code configured to cause the display data to be accessed from the particular data resources for populating the form includes generating code configured to format the accessed display data in a manner suitable to populate the visual representation of the form.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein: 
 the code configured to cause the client device to display the visual presentation of the form is XML code; and    the code configured to cause the display data to be accessed is XML code to configure the Java servlet code.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein: 
 the code configured to format the accessed display data is Java code, and the resulting formatted accessed display data is XML code-formatted.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein: 
 the method is employed to define a plurality of related forms;    the step of defining the visual presentation associated with the form includes defining the visual presentation of each of the related forms; and    the method further comprises defining a relationship among the related forms    the method further comprise defining resource shared by a group of forms.    
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein: 
 the plurality of related forms includes a first form and a second form;    the step of setting the relationship among the related forms includes generating code configured to cause the client device to display the visual presentation of a first form on a display device directly associated with the client; and    generating code configured to cause the display data to be accessed from the particular data resources to populate the visual representation of a second form while the client device is displaying the visual representation of the first form.