System and Method for Building and Execution of Platform-Neutral Generic Services' Client Applications

Abstract

A system and method of building component applications are provided. Component applications are executed on terminal devices, which communicate with a schema-based service via a network and the Internet. The component applications comprise data components, presentation components, and message components, which are written a structured definition language such as XML code. The component applications further comprise workflow components which can be written as a series of and are embedded in the XML code.

1 . A method of interacting with a web service by a wireless device over a wireless network, the method comprising:
 sending from the wireless device a request network message to the web service to establish communication between the web service and the wireless device;   receiving at the wireless device a component application in response to the request network message, the component application program comprising a plurality of components:
 a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language having a number of pre-defined elements representing specific attributes of a resource of the wireless device defining how a runtime environment of the wireless device configures the component application program; and 
 a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors defining a workflow of the component application program the workflow comprising a workflow component for defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the wireless device; the components being configured for provisioning by a runtime environment of the wireless device, the runtime environment to produce an executable version of the component application program configuring the wireless device as a client of the web service; 
   wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the wireless network between the web service and the wireless device.   
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the runtime environment provides an interface for the executable version to the functionality of a processor and an associated operating system of an infrastructure of the wireless device and is provided by a component framework providing a set of common services to component applications. 
   
   
       3 . The method according  claim 2 , wherein the executable version of the component application executes in an application container, which is a part of component framework. 
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the runtime environment is configured for implementing capabilities comprising any of: provide communications for sending a network message to the service, provide data input by a user of the device for supplying data content for a network message associated with the service, provide data presentation in response to a network message associated with the service, provide data storage services for maintaining local client data in a memory of the device, and/or provide an execution environment for a programming language for coordinating operation of the components in the executable version. 
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising dynamically generating the component descriptors for client application messages and associated data from metadata defined for the service. 
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 5 , further comprising a data component in the first set of component definitions, the data-components for describing a format of the data entities used by the program. 
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising at least one message component in the first set of component definitions, each message component describing a format of the messages used by the program to communicate over the network with the service. 
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising a presentation component in the first set of components, the presentation components for defining the appearance and behavior of the component application program as presented on a user interface of the device. 
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the workflow component in the second set of components defines processing that occurs when an action is to be performed as specified by one of the first set of components. 
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising executing the executable version by the metadata based execution model, the model configured for keeping the metadata definitions in the structured definition language for parsing during execution. 
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising executing the executable version by the metadata based execution model, the model configured for using a native representation of structured definition language nodes during execution. 
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising sending a network message initiated by interaction of a user of the device with a user interface element, the network message comprising data entities created by the workflow component corresponding to the user interface element. 
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising specifying a client type of the device in the network message for providing the presentation component as platform specific for a predefined runtime environment. 
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the network message is configured according to the message component for comprising the data entities based on the structured definition language. 
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising receiving a response network message comprising message data related to the data entities, the response network message configured for subsequent presentation of the message data on a user interface of the device, wherein the message data is formatted based on the structured definition language. 
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the set of common services include one or more of:
 a communication service;   a presentation service;   a persistence service;   an access service;   a provisioning service; and   an utility service.   
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein each message component uniquely maps to a message described by a schema-definition of the service. 
   
   
       18 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the workflow component supports a correlation between messages. 
   
   
       19 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the workflow component defines application flow through a set of rules for operations on the first set of components. 
   
   
       20 . A wireless device configured for interacting over a wireless network with a web service using an executable version of a component application program comprising a plurality of components, the wireless device comprising;
 a device infrastructure for operating the wireless device comprising a processor and an associated memory for executing the executable version;   a user interface coupled to the device infrastructure having an input device and an output device configured for communication with the executable version;   a network connection interface coupled to the device infrastructure and configured for communicating with the network; and   a runtime environment for processing the component application program to generate the executable version for configuring the device as a client of the web service, the runtime environment configured for processing a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language having a number of pre-defined elements representing specific attributes of a resource of the wireless device for defining configuration information of the component application program and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining a workflow of the component application program, the workflow component defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the wireless device;   wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the wireless network between the web service and the wireless device.