Application Wrapping for Application Management Framework

Abstract

Methods and systems for developing, modifying, and distributing software applications for enterprise systems are described herein. A software component, such as a native mobile application or a template application, may be modified into a managed mobile application, and metadata associated with the managed mobile application may be generated. The managed application and associated metadata may be provided to one or more application stores, such as public application stores and/or enterprise application stores. Managed applications and/or associated metadata may be retrieved by computing devices from public application stores and/or enterprise application stores, and may be executed as managed applications in an enterprise system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 modifying, by a computing device, code to configure an application to operate based on one or more parameters;   allowing, by the computing device, download of the application by a user device;   generating, by the computing device, at least one metadata file for the application, the metadata file comprising at least one of the one or more parameters, wherein the metadata file is configured to control the operation of the application; and   allowing, by the computing device, download of the metadata file to the user device to enable operation of the application per the one or more parameters.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modifying the code further comprises:
 inserting other code into the code.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modifying the code further comprises:
 parsing the code to identify one or more calls corresponding to an operating system (OS) application program interface (API) call; and   replacing the one or more calls with a reference to a stub for a proxy of the OS API call.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code comprises native code, the method further comprising:
 determining a structure of the native code;   inserting, based on the determined structure, a control code into the native code; and   rebuilding the native code with the inserted control code into the application.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code comprises generic code, the method further comprising:
 receiving a user selection of:
 the generic code, and 
 one or more specific modifiers for the generic code; and 
   modifying the generic code based on the one or more specific modifiers to generate the application.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the code comprises non-executable code, the method further comprising:
 inserting a control code into the non-executable code to generate the application.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a user input selecting at least one of a functional feature or a display feature of the application; and   generating, based on the received user input, the metadata file.   
     
     
         8 . A method comprising:
 downloading, by a computing device, an application, generated by modifying code to operate based one or more parameters;   in response to the download of the application:
 authenticating the computing device with a secure web server; 
 retrieving, by the computing device from the secure web server, at least one metadata file for the application, the metadata file comprising at least one of the one or more parameters; and 
   launching, by the computing device, the application in a secure mode of operation using the at least one parameter.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 prior to launching the application in the secure mode of operation, launching, by the computing device, the application is an unsecure mode of operation.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the launching the application in the unsecure mode of operation further comprises:
 launching, by the computing device, the application in the unsecure mode of operation based on at least one default configuration parameter of the computing device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the launching the application in the secure mode of operation further comprises:
 transitioning, by the computing device, the application from the unsecure mode of operation to the secure mode of operation by applying the at least one parameter to the application operating in the unsecure mode of operation.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the transitioning the application from the unsecure mode of operation to the secure mode further comprises:
 receiving, by the computing device, a user input; and   transitioning, by the computing device, the application from the unsecure mode of operation to the secure mode of operation in response to the user input.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the transitioning the application from the unsecure mode of operation to the secure mode of operation further comprises:
 determining, by the computing device, that at least one transition condition has been satisfied; and   transitioning, by the computing device, the application from the unsecure mode of operation to the secure mode of operation based on the determination that the at least one transition condition has been satisfied.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one transition condition comprises at least one of:
 a presence of, in the computing device, an application management agent associated with the secure web server, wherein the presence of the application management agent is detected by the application via a handshaking protocol;   a user account login from the application management agent;   the user account entitled to the application in the secure mode of operation; or   a user subscription to the application.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 in response to the download of the application:
 generating, by the computing device, a prompt to allow a download of an application management agent associated with the secure web server, wherein the application management agent causes the computing device to launch the application in secure mode of operation. 
   
     
     
         16 . A system comprising:
 at least one processor;   a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:
 modify code to configure an application to operate based on one or more parameters; 
 allow download of the application by a user device; 
 generate at least one metadata file for the application, the metadata file comprising at least one of the one or more parameters, wherein the metadata file is configured to control the operation of the application; 
 allow download of metadata file to the user device to enable operation of the application per the one or more parameters. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:
 parse the code to identify one or more calls corresponding to an operating system (OS) application program interface (API) call; and   replace the one or more calls with a reference to a stub for a proxy of the OS API call.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the code comprises native code, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:
 determine a structure of the native code;   insert, based on the determined structure, a control code into the native code; and   rebuild the native code with the inserted control code into the application.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the code comprises generic code, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:
 receive a user selection of:
 the generic code, and 
 one or more specific modifiers for the generic code; and 
   modify the generic code based on the one or more specific modifiers to generate the application.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the code comprises non-executable code, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to:
 insert a control code into the non-executable code to generate the application.