Systems and methods for processing software application metadata associated with a software application

Abstract

Systems and methods for processing software application metadata associated with a software application are provided. A representative method includes the step of collecting software application metadata associated with a software application. The software application metadata includes a first set of information related at least one of the following: screens, paths, and layers associated with the software application. The method further includes the step of storing the software application metadata in a data repository.

Therefore, having thus described the disclosure, at least the following is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method of processing software application metadata associated with a software application, the method comprising the steps of:
 collecting software application metadata associated with a software application, wherein the software application metadata includes a first set of information related at least one of the following: screens, paths, and layers associated with the software application; and   storing the software application metadata in a data repository.   
     
     
         2 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising indexing the software application metadata such that the software application metadata is able to be searched and combined with a second set of information that are related to various attributes of the software application. 
     
     
         3 . The method as defined in  claim 2 , wherein the second set of information that are related to various attributes of the software application includes at least one of the following: quality-related (or defect) information, application features, application field-level constraints, data entered into the application, frequency of access and entry into screens, paths, layers and fields, and version of the software application. 
     
     
         4 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the step of collecting the software application metadata associated with the software application by using at least one of the following ways:
 collecting the software application metadata related to at least one test execution conducted on the software application to overlay the test execution information on top of an application map; and   collecting the software application metadata related to defects occurred during a test execution of the software application to overlay the defect information on top of the application map.   
     
     
         5 . The method as defined in  claim 4 , further comprising tracking the number of defects, severity of defects, defects category, and assigned developers associated with the defects based on the collected software application metadata that is related to the defects. 
     
     
         6 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising generating an application map based on the collected software application metadata, wherein the application map displays a map-like visualization of the software application that aides software developers in navigating and analyzing the various software components of the software application as “areas” on the application map. 
     
     
         7 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein collecting application metadata associated with the software application is achieved by combining static analysis of the source and/or binary and dynamic execution of the software application. 
     
     
         8 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein collecting the software application metadata associated with the software application is achieved by automatically capturing whole or part of all screens and paths in the software application by way of the instructions that are executed by the processing device. 
     
     
         9 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein collecting the software application metadata associated with the software application is achieved manually by users to capture whole or part of all screens and paths in the software application by using the software application as the collecting is performed in the background. 
     
     
         10 . The method as defined in  claim 9 , wherein collecting the software application metadata associated with the software application is achieved by combining screens and paths captured manually by the users with screens and paths captured automatically to populate the data repository of application screens, paths and layers. 
     
     
         11 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A system that processes software application metadata associated with a software application, the system comprises:
 a processing device; and   a data repository that stores an application map manager having instructions that are executed by the processing device, the application map manager comprises:   a map builder that performs the following steps:
 collecting software application metadata associated with the software application, wherein the software application metadata includes a first set of information related at least one of the following: screens, paths, and layers associated with the software application; and 
 storing the software application metadata in the data repository. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system as defined in  claim 17 , wherein the application map manager further comprises a map visualizer that performs the following steps:
 creating and mapping “areas” on an application map based on the software application metadata collected from the software application;   associating unique identifiers with the respective “areas” on the application map; and   overlaying a second set of information of the software application metadata on top of the “areas” on the application map using the unique identifiers, respectively, wherein the second set of information of the software application metadata is related to various attributes of the software application.   
     
     
         19 . The method as defined in  claim 18 , wherein the second set of information of the software application metadata includes at least one of the following: quality-related (or defect) information, application features, application field-level constraints, data entered into the application, frequency of access and entry into screens, paths, layers and fields, and version of the software application. 
     
     
         20 . (canceled)