JPH1185548A - Information sending method, device therefor and computer program products - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the improved method and device for sending information between two computer software applications. SOLUTION: In this method, a sender side application 11 first sends an information item to a storage device without converting the information into intermediate interface language, and a token is returned to the sender side application. Then, the sender side application 11 sends the token through an interface 12 to a receiver side application 13, and the receiver side application 13 accesses the information stored in the storage device by using the token.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to the field of computing, and more particularly, to the case where two independent software (hereinafter "applications") need to share information between them. The field of distributed computing that works.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In modern computing systems, it is becoming increasingly common for two different applications to share information while performing their respective computing tasks. To make it easier for applications written in one programming language to understand information coming from applications written in another programming language, language independent interfaces have been developed. All information must be sent from one application to another via its language independent interface. The first application sending the information first converts the information into the intermediate language of the interface, then sends the converted information to the interface, which then sends the information to the receiving application, and then the receiving application The application translates the information from the intermediate language into the native language of the receiving application.

[0003] Examples of such interfaces and intermediate languages are provided by the Object Management Group (OMG) in its Com.
mon Object Request Broker Architecture (CORB
Interface Definition Langu defined as part of A)
age (IDL). This OMG is an association of computer software companies that have agreed to develop distributed applications that adhere to defined standards. The technique is based on object-oriented programming, in which data and programming methods operating on the data are grouped together as atomic units called objects to process the entire computer program. Thus, in this example, each of the two applications would be an object, and the information sent between them would also be an object.

[0004] Another example is an operating system interface in which information is sent from one application to another, along with conversions of the interface to and from intermediate languages.

[0005] Since it is very common for two applications to be written in different programming languages, many systems require that all information sent between the applications be first translated into an intermediate language and sent via an interface. Designed to have to be.

Often, two applications are written in the same language, so there is actually no need to translate the information into an intermediate language before passing the information from one application to another via an interface.
However, because of the above constraint that everything must always be sent over the interface, a translation to this intermediate language is necessary even if the two applications are written in the same language. Therefore, in these cases, the two applications that want to share information
All information must be converted to and from the intermediate language, adding unnecessary burden to the application if the two applications are initially written in the same language.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for transmitting information between different applications.

[0008]

According to a first aspect, the present invention is a method for transmitting information between two computer software applications, wherein the transmitting application first converts the information to an intermediate interface language. Sending the information item to the storage device without conversion; returning a token representing the information item to the sending application; the sending application sending the token to the receiving application via the interface; Uses the token to
Accessing information stored in a storage device.

Preferably, the storage device is a cache and the information item is a software configuration. More preferably, the software configuration is an object.

Each time another information item is stored in the storage device, the value of the token to be assigned to this information item is
More preferably, the value of the token assigned to the previous information item stored in the storage device is incremented by one.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for performing the above method steps of the first aspect.

According to a third aspect, the present invention provides a computer program product stored on a computer-readable storage medium, which when executed on a computer, performs the method steps of the first aspect. I do.

Thus, using the present invention, even if there is a prior promise to convert all inter-application information to an intermediate language when the system architecture is established, the transmission between two applications of the same native language is possible. It is not necessary to first convert all the information to be translated into the intermediate language of the interface. Instead, it uses storage and tokens to send some information over the interface, as described below. This saves a lot of language conversion and greatly reduces the processing burden on the two applications.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, according to the basic system architecture of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a first application 11 transmits information via a language independent interface 12 to a second application 13.
Transfer to The first application and the second application share the same native programming language (eg, C
++ and Java). The information sent between the two applications is, for example, an object or
Or some other form of programming configuration.

In the prior art, two applications 1
All information sent between 1 and 13 must be sent via the interface 12 with the accompanying translation into the intermediate language. However, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the information is not first converted to an intermediate language and
A cache 14 (or other type of storage) is provided to be sent to the application 13 from.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the flowchart of FIG. Note that in FIG. 1, the circled numbers define the time sequence in which the steps are performed.

First, the application 11 sends a programming configuration (hereafter, for example, using a programming configuration sent between applications or an object as "information") to a cache 14 (see number 1 in a circle) (FIG. 2). , Step 21). The unique token (eg, an unsigned number) is then returned to the application 11 (see circled number 2) (step 22). This token uniquely represents the object just stored in cache 14. For example, the value of the token can be incremented by one each time a new information item is added to the cache 14 so that each stored information item is uniquely identified by the token, and each information item stored by the token can be incremented by one. Items can be uniquely identified.

Next, the application 11 converts the token into an intermediate language (number 3 enclosed in a circle) and sends the token via the interface 12 (step 2).
3). When the application 13 receives the token, it returns the token from the intermediate language to the native language, and then caches the token 14 (see number 4 in a circle).
(Step 24). Then, application 1
The object previously stored there by 1 is identified by a token (unique to this stored object), retrieved from cache 14 and sent to application 13 (see number 5 in circle) (step 5). 25).

It should be noted that cache 14 may be implemented in software (ie, as a map or array) or in hardware.

In this case, there is no need to convert the object into the intermediate language, and the application 1
Interface 12 between application 1 and application 13
Can be transferred between the application 11 and the application 13 despite the existence of. Instead, it just needs to convert the token and send it over interface 12. This eliminates the need for language conversion of the objects sent to the cache 14, and greatly reduces the processing load associated with the applications 11 and 13. Thus, writing applications becomes much easier.

In addition, because the object is removed from the cache when the receiving application retrieves the object from the cache, the contents of the cache can be made very small, thus reducing memory size requirements.

In summary, the following matters are disclosed regarding the configuration of the present invention.

(1) A method for sending information between two computer software applications, wherein the sending application first sends an information item to a storage device without converting the information into the intermediate interface language; Returning a token representing the information item to a sending application; the sending application sending the token to a receiving application via an interface; wherein the receiving application uses the token to store the token in a storage device. Accessing information stored at the computer. (2) The method according to (1), wherein the storage device is a cache memory. (3) The method according to (1), wherein the information item is a software configuration. (4) The method according to (3), wherein the software structure is an object. (5) Each time another information item is stored in the storage device, the value of the token to be assigned to this information item is changed to the value of the token assigned to the immediately preceding information item stored in the storage device. The method according to (1) above, wherein the value is incremented by one. (6) A device for transmitting information between two computer software applications, wherein: a means for transmitting an information item from a transmitting application to a storage device without first converting the information into the intermediate interface language; Means for returning a token representing the token to the sending application; means for sending the token from the sending application to a receiving application via an interface; and for the receiving application, the token is stored in the storage device using the token. Means for accessing said information. (7) The device according to (6), wherein the storage device is a cache memory. (8) The apparatus according to (6), wherein the information item is a software configuration. (9) The apparatus according to (8), wherein the software configuration is an object. (10) a sending application first sending an information item to a storage device without converting the information into the intermediate interface language; returning a token representing the information item to the sending application; Sending a token to a receiving application via an interface, and the receiving application using the token to access information stored in the storage device. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium for implementing on a computer a method of transmitting information between applications.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic system architecture according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the steps required in transferring information from one application to another, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Application 12 Language Independent Interface 13 Application 14 Cache

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A method for sending information between two computer software applications, the sending application sending an information item to a storage device without first converting the information to the intermediate interface language; Returning a token representing the information item to the sending application; the sending application sending the token to the receiving application via an interface; the receiving application using the token,
Accessing information stored in the storage device. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said storage device is a cache memory. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said information item is a software configuration. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said software structure is an object. 5. Each time another information item is stored in said storage device, the value of the token to be assigned to this information item is determined by the value of the token assigned to the immediately preceding information item stored in said storage device. Claim 1 wherein the value is incremented by one.
The method described in. 6. An apparatus for transmitting information between two computer software applications, said means for transmitting an information item from a transmitting application to a storage device without first converting the information into the intermediate interface language; Means for returning a token representing an item to the sending application; means for sending a token from the sending application to a receiving application via an interface; and using the token for the receiving application.
Means for accessing information stored in said storage device. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said storage device is a cache memory. 8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said information item is a software configuration. 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said software configuration is an object. 10. The transmitting application first sends an information item to the storage device without converting the information into the intermediate interface language; returning a token representing the information item to the transmitting application; The receiving application sending the token to the receiving application via the interface, the receiving application using the token,
Accessing information stored in the storage device. A computer stored on a computer readable storage medium for implementing on a computer a method of transmitting information between two computer software applications. Program products.