Portable Application Registry

Abstract

The application describes updating, by a computing system, a table to include first data usable to locate a first portion of metadata in a supplementary database that is accessible from a storage device. The metadata is related to one or more functions of an application that execute on the computing system. The table also includes second data usable to locate a second portion of the metadata in a system database of the computing system. During execution of the application, a request for one or more portions of the metadata is received, and the table is used to determine one or more locations of the one or more portions of the metadata of the request. In response to the request, at least one of the first portion of the metadata is read from the supplementary database or the second portion of the metadata is read from the system database.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method, comprising:
 updating, by a computing system, a table to include first data usable to locate a first portion of metadata in a supplementary database that is accessible from a storage device, the metadata related to one or more functions of an application executing on the computing system, the table also including second data usable to locate a second portion of the metadata in a system database of the computing system;   receiving, during execution of the application, a request for one or more portions of the metadata;   determining, from the table, one or more locations of the one or more portions of the metadata of the request; and   responding to the request by at least one of reading the first portion of the metadata from the supplementary database or reading the second portion of the metadata from the system database.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein at least the one or more functions associated with the first portion of the metadata stored in the supplementary database include at least one customized function of the application. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the updating includes replacing third data in the table with the first data, the third data usable to locate a third portion of the metadata in the system database of the computing system, the third data associated with at least the first one of the one or more functions. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the request for one or more portions of the metadata includes a request for both the first portion of the metadata and the second portion of the metadata, and the method further comprises retrieving the first portion of the metadata based on the first data usable to locate the first portion of the metadata, and retrieving the second portion of the metadata based on the second data usable to locate the second portion. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the updating the table to include the first data and second data usable to locate a second portion of the metadata in a system database of the computing system creates a combined database. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the metadata includes a key, and the reading the one or more portions of the metadata of the request includes attempting to open the key. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first data usable to locate a first portion of the metadata includes a reference to an application programming interface that accesses the first portion of the metadata, and the request includes a request to call the application programming interface. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the request is associated with a function call. 
     
     
         29 . A computing system comprising
 one or more processors;   memory; and   programming instructions stored on the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
 accessing a supplementary database from a device that stores the supplementary database; 
 updating a table usable to access metadata associated with functionality of an application, the updating including writing first data to the table that is usable to access a first portion of the metadata from supplementary database, the table also including second data that is usable to locate a second portion of the metadata from a system database; 
 receiving, during execution of the application, a request for one or more portions of the metadata; 
 determining, from the table, one or more locations of the one or more portions of the metadata of the request; and 
 responding to the request by at least one of reading the first portion of the metadata from the supplementary database or reading the second portion of the metadata from the system database. 
   
     
     
         30 . The computing system of  claim 29 , wherein the updating the table results in a combined database that includes the supplementary database and the system database. 
     
     
         31 . The computing system of  claim 29 , wherein the functionality of the application includes at least a customizable function of the application, and the first portion of the metadata stored in the supplementary database describes a customization to the application that is associated with the customizable function. 
     
     
         32 . The computing system of  claim 29 , wherein the one or more portions of the metadata include the first portion of the metadata and the second portion of the metadata, and the acts further comprise reading the first portion of the metadata based at least the first data usable to access the first portion of the metadata, and reading the second portion of the metadata based at least on the second data usable to access the second portion of the metadata. 
     
     
         33 . The computing system of  claim 29 , wherein the first data usable to access the first metadata includes a reference to an application programming interface that accesses the first portion of the metadata. 
     
     
         34 . The computing system of  claim 29 , wherein the first data usable to access the first metadata includes an address of the supplementary database. 
     
     
         35 . The computing device of  claim 29 , wherein the updating the table to include the first data usable to access the first portion of the metadata includes replacing third data usable to access a third portion of the metadata that is stored in the system database. 
     
     
         36 . A storage device comprising one or more programming instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a computing system to:
 update a table created by a program loader of the computing system to include first data usable to access a first portion of metadata in a supplementary database, the first portion of the metadata associated with a customizable function of an application, the table also including second data usable to access a second portion of the metadata in a system database of the computing system;   receive, during execution of the application, a request for one or more portions of the metadata;   determine, based on the table, to access the one or more portions of the metadata from at least one of the supplementary database or the system database; and   respond to the request by accessing the one or more portions of the metadata from at least one of the supplementary database or the system database.   
     
     
         37 . The storage device of  claim 36 , wherein the update of the table to include both the first data usable to access the first portion of the metadata from the supplementary database and the second data usable to access the second portion of the metadata from the system database results in a combined database. 
     
     
         38 . The storage device of  claim 36 , wherein the supplementary database and the system database include, respectively, a supplementary registry and a system registry. 
     
     
         39 . The storage device of  claim 36 , wherein the one or more programming instructions are further executable by one or more processors of the computing system to update the table to include the first data usable to access the first portion of the metadata by at least replacing third data with the first data, the third data usable to access a third portion of the metadata that is stored in the system database. 
     
     
         40 . The storage device of  claim 36 , wherein the first data usable to access the first portion of the metadata from the supplementary database includes one or more of:
 a reference to an application programming interface that accesses the first portion of the metadata; and   a key handle that identifies a key and value pair in the supplementary database.