Debugging prototyped system solutions in solution builder wizard environment

[0001] This invention was not developed in conjunction with any Federally sponsored contract.

[0002] Not applicable.

[0003] 1. Field of the Invention

[0004] This invention relates to a Solution Builder Wizard that utilizes templates and interfaces with predefined intelligence to allow speedy assembly of various software components into one cohesive product form.

[0005] 2. Background of the Invention

[0006] Recently, a shift has occurred among enterprise computing supplies to address “vertical markets”. These “solutions” targeted to the specific needs, business processes, and problems for a certain industry, such as insurance claim processing, health care insurance filing, mortgage application handling, etc. Industry solutions often consists of one or more operating systems and middleware products that are packaged along with customized, industry specific, data, and code that are installed and configured to function as one cohesive business solution. There are many software and consulting firms who are focused on implementing vertical industry solutions using a collection of disparate products produced by a wide array of vendors.

[0007] To implement a vertical industry solution, a single expert is not sufficient to complete the project because it requires expert level skills and knowledge of such a wide array of products, systems, platforms, configurations, options, protocols, etc. Further, all of these different components must be integrated and cooperate with each other in specific, often proprietary ways.

[0008] As a result, a team of specialists are usually required to install and deploy the entire project. To mitigate risk, customers often request that a prototype or proof of a concept system be installed or demonstrated in order to provide concrete evidence of viability of the solution, and of the business value of the solution, prior to purchase.

[0009] This places much engineering and development work up front and before a formal purchase order is issued, which increases the financial risk to the supplier or suppliers. In some cases, it can take eight weeks or even more to gather requirements, and to create a prototype that solves the customer's problems. Then, it can take months to implement and test a prototype, including producing some sort of data which simulates various scenarios and test cases.

[0010] This “up front” effort requires a massive amount of time and expenditures in some cases. Because it lasts so long, there is a very real possibility that components (e.g. software applications, operating systems, etc.) will be revised and patched, so the final configuration, if ordered, will have unknown characteristics as the newer releases and patches will also have to be integrated and tested before formal deployment.

[0011] Thus, the processes currently employed in the industry place a heavy risk and financial burden on the supplier prior to a sale being completed, which is reflected in the pricing of the final systems to the customers, the increased cost of which must be either absorbed by the customers or passed on to their own clients. In either situation, the customer may either experience reduced profitability, reduced ability to compete on price, or both.

[0012] The present invention utilizes a Graphical User Interface driven model in an integrated development environments (“IDEs”), such as IDE's based upon the open-sourced Eclipse platform, to create diverse end-to-end computing solutions from building block components. The building block components are available in the GUI to the solution developer on a “solution component palette”. The solution developer selects, drags and drops instances of each required solution component into a “solution design area”, and then connects them together in a logical manner according to system interactions and data flow.

[0013] Each time the solution developer specifies or creates a “connection” between two components in the design area, the invention invokes specific logic which determines the needed configuration and option parameters to interface the selected components to each other. This logic provides a “pop-up” dialogue to the solution developer to prompt the user for selections and input. The input information is then used by the logic to configure the two components to interact with each other within the pre-defined constraints and conditions of the logic, thereby relieving the user of needing to be an expert in the configuration and installation of either of the components.

[0014] For example, a component palette may include an IBM DB/2 database icon, an IBM WebSphere web server application icon, and an IBM MQ server icon with a backend server such as an IBM 390. The solution developer can drag an instance of the DB/2 icon from the palette to the solution design area of the display, thus making it a component of the current solution. Next, the developer can drag an instance of the WebSphere from the palette to the design area, followed by connecting it to the DB/2 instance, or followed by dragging and dropping more instances of more components.

[0015] When a connection between two or more components is made or defined, the invention automatically recognizes the need for customization information for this type of connection, and prompts the developer to enter the required configuration data necessary to make the connection valid and functional, such as user id and password, data source, network address, encryption options, etc. This information is then saved to configuration files which can later be used during actual installation of the system components into the solution.

[0016] Prior to deployment or installation of the system solution, the present invention allows the designer to simulate operation and interactions of all of the components using actual data collected from existing customer solutions, simulated data, or a combination of both types of data. During simulation, the solution under design can be debugged using the present invention, which monitors data flow between system components and provides certain diagnostic and analysis capabilities.

[0038] Our invention, referred to as the “Solution Builder Wizard”, uses a Graphical User Interface (“GUI”), a set of predefined “templates” for each component, and implementation intelligence logic, to enable speedy assembly of various solution components together into one cohesive solution. Each “template” coupled with the implementation logic for each combination of component interfaces defines a set of configuration options and parameters which can be used to customize the combination of components, without need of a high level of expertise in either component. Preferably, the templates incorporate the most common options and configurations employed, leaving out obscure or rarely used options to reduce confusion by the system developer. Default configuration parameters and values may aid in quickly defining interfaces between components so that the system developers must only change the parameters that need to be changed from default values.

[0039] Prototypes and proof of concept systems can be quickly achieved using pre-defined interfaces and configurations between disparate components of the solution. Using the invention, a tangible, operable solution can be demonstrated and tested in less time than using traditional processes, because all components are integrated with each other based upon the templates rather than upon customized or semi-customized interface and configuration definitions from various experts.

[0040] In an aspect of a preferred embodiment, each component is declared as an object using extensible Markup Language for the templates. Because of this advantage, the solution can be defined in a written format which can then be archived and managed by any of the widely available and widely used code repository systems, such as CATIA Viewing Services (“CVS”), IBM's Configuration Management and Version Control (“CMVC”) system, Serena™ Software's PVCS Version Manager, or a similar product.

Terms, Definitions and Related Technology

[0041] We will first describe some terms and related technologies which will be of use in understanding the present invention and one or more preferred embodiments.

[0042] Unified Modeling Language (“UML”) is an open standard for notation of modeling of objects in the real-world. The objects can conceivably be any real thing, such as a computer with a specific program, a system device such as a printer, a peripheral such as a motor, etc. Modeling such objects is usually a first step in developing an object-oriented design methodology. UML's notation derives from approaches of three other object-oriented design and analysis methodologies, including Grady Booch's methodology for describing a set of objects and their relationships, James Rumbaugh's Object-Modeling Technique (“OMT”), and Ivar Jacobson's approach which includes a use case methodology, according to one online Information Technology source www<dot>WhatIs<dot>com, wherein <dot> is replaced with a period “.” when entering the service's website address into a web browser. The UML standard is now maintained and promoted by the Object Management Group. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to UML are to one available embodiment, and that use of alternate modeling languages and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0043] Graphical User Interface (“GUI”) is a user interface that is based on graphics such as icons, menus, and pictures. In the late 1970's, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Laboratory first created the GUI concept. Today, users are most familiar with either the Apple MAC™ or Microsoft's Windows™ operating systems. Most applications today use the elements of the GUI that come with the operating system and add or modify their own graphical user interface elements for customization. GUI elements can consist of items such as: windows, buttons, iconic images, pull-down menus, wizards, and mouse. Often the phrase “look-and-feel” is use to describe a system's GUI along with its input devices. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to GUI are to just one available embodiment, and that use of alternate platform and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0044] Eclipse is an open platform tool for integration built by an open community of tool providers such as Borland™, International Business Machines (“IBM”)™, and Red Hat™. It is designed to build integrated development environments (“IDEs”) which allow the creation of diverse end-to-end computing solutions for multiple computer environments while providing flexibility and management for developers in their software technology. According to the Eclipse Foundation, it has formed an independent open eco-system around royalty-free technology and a universal platform for tools integration. The Eclipse platform is a mechanism for discovering, integrating, and running modules called plug-ins based on the foundation's formal documents and white papers. The plug-in based framework enables ease of creation, integration, and utilization of software tools, in a multi-language, multi-platform, multi-vendor environment. The Eclipse Platform is written in Java language and comes with extensive plug-in construction tool kits and examples. It has been deployed on a range of development workstations including Linux, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, QNX, OSx, and Windows based systems. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to Eclipse are to one available embodiment, and that use of alternate platform and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0045] WebSphere Application Server (“WAS”) is a comprehensive web services technology-based application server that integrates enterprise data and transactions. It is a complete Java-servlet based Web server environment consisting of two major components: a complete runtime environment and an integrated tools environment. It is a web-based tool that allows management and deployment of dynamic enterprise applications while handling extensive Java 2 Enterprise Edition (“J2EE”), security, scalability, and application performance. According to its product overview, it provides virtually any-to-any connectivity with transaction management and application adaptively, because it is optimized for ease of administration in a scalable, single-server deployment environment. WAS supports key Web Service open standards, such as Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”), Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (“UDDI”), and Web Service Description Language (“WSDL”). WAS can be used on a variety of platforms such as Sun Solaris, Windows XP, IBM AIX/6000, and IBM LINUX. Other similar products that exists today is BEA Weblogic Application Server™ and JBoss™ own suite of tools. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to WAS are to just one available embodiment, and that use of alternate platform and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0046] WebSphere Studio Application Developer (“WSAD”) is a development environment tool that is role based which developers can use to simulate test environments, handle deployment, and transmit message queues such as XML messages. The WebSphere Studio family of tools are built on top of the Eclipse Workbench as a set of plug-ins conforming to the Eclipse's open standard Application Program Interface (“API”). It is designed for professional developers of Java and J2EE applications who require integrated Java, Web, XML, and Web services support. Because users can build and test business logic inside the WSAD before deploying to a production server, it has the advantages for early detection in performance bottlenecks, and to shorten the actual test cycle with its advanced code generation. All development resources for all projects are stored in a single repository, and users have team support and can easily share work products. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to WSAD are to just one available embodiment, and that use of alternate platform and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0047] WebSphere Business Integration (“WBI”) is a part of WebSphere suite of tools that extends using the Eclipse workbench to model, simulate and manage business integration, workflows, and processes. The WBI brand encompasses a number of software technologies that offer various business integration capabilities such as WBI Modeler, WBI Server, WBI Server Foundation, WBI Message Broker, WBI Connect, WBI Administration Tools, and WBI Design Tools. These tools facilitate users to quickly model, simulate, and analyze complex business scenarios before they are implemented by integrating with existing or new software components. In addition, the administration and design tools allow for ease in system administration and workflow creation which shares some similarities to IBM's Rational™ software. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to WBI are to just one available embodiment, and that use of alternate platform and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0048] WebSphere MQ (“WMQ”) formerly known as IBM's MQ Series is a message queue system that exchanges information such as using XML to communicate across various platforms while integrating new and existing applications. It is a synchronous or asynchronous method of communicating between processes. It allows applications that reside on same server, different servers, or even different network across a global application environments to send and receive reliable and secured requests between each other. WMQ is integrated with latest Java™ Messaging Service interface standard and offers comprehensive security options using the Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”). One feature of WMQ is its ability to dynamically distribute workloads across available resources which enables messages to be delivered error-free and protects from unauthorized access. There are other message queue systems such as Microsoft's Message Queue (“MSMQ”)™, Sun Java System Message Queue (“JMS”)™, and Progress Software SonicMQ™. In the following paragraphs, it shall be understood that references to WMQ are to just one available embodiment, and that use of alternate platform and methodologies may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Graphical User Interface

[0049] Turning to FIG. 1, the diagram shows a sample view of the Solution Builder Wizard GUI (10) according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. In the GUI, which is shown on a portion of a computer display (10), there is a customizable menu bar toward the top (11) which allows the user the ability to navigate through a file (12), edit the component palette (13), change the view option (14), select a template (15), create a connection between application components (16), or seek help (17) within the GUI application.

[0050] The GUI is pre-loaded with various solution components (100) shown in a solution component palette (18), and related intelligence logic based on customization. The available solution components can consists of different types of databases, such as DB2 or Oracle, or other application software such as WAS, WSAD, WMQ, and WBI. According to the preferred embodiment, additional solution component options can be added to the palette (18) as needed.

[0051] Connectors (20) that interface solution components with one another are shown in the palette (18), optionally. A cursor (19) is used by a developer to navigate, select, and create a solution design through the GUI, by moving components (100) from the palette (18) to the solution design area (101) of the GUI.

[0052] For example, FIGS. 2a and 2b show how the cursor is used to first select (19′) a component in the palette, such as a DB2 database component, then drag it into the design area of the GUI, and dropping it (19″) to create a new instance of a DB2 database in the solution design.

Creation of Component Instances and Relationships

[0053] In FIG. 3, a subsequent drag and drop operation by the user has added a second component from the palette to the design area, in this example an instance of a WebSphere Application Server (22) (“WAS”). Now, the solution under design has two components—an instance of a DB2 database (21), and an instance of WAS (22).

[0054] At this point, the developer could continue to drag-and-drop components from the palette to the design area to create more instances of components in the design, or the developer can begin to define the relationships between the components already in the design. For example, by using the one-way or two-way connectors available in the GUI, FIG. 4 illustrates how components are interfaced to each other. The types of relationships available to the user is based on the predefined templates associated with each solution component. The cursor can be used to select a one-way data flow definition tool (single-headed arrow in the palette), for example, then it can be clicked once to define one end of the arrow icon (e.g. the input or output), say on the DB2 instance (21), and then clicked a second time on another component, such as the WAS (22) instance. This results in the graphical creation of an arrow (23) showing one-way data flow from the database component to the WAS component.

[0055] Once a relationship is established between two components, the intelligence logic of the invention automatically prompts the user for inputs to complete required fields that facilitate the integration process according to pre-defined options and configuration features, as defined by the XML templates. Continuing with our example and turning to FIG. 5, the user input prompt window (50) is automatically displayed by the invention's logic once a connection is completed. In this case, a WAS Administration Console is shown, requesting the user to input fields to define the interface between the WAS to the DB2, such as the database name (51), its source (52), the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address (53), and an alias (54) that denotes the username and password.

Connection Intelligence Logic

[0056] Turning to FIG. 6, a connection intelligence logical process (60) according to the invention is depicted. The GUI shows (61) a component palette and design area on the display of the developer's computer. The design area may be clear if starting a new design, or it can include components previously defined and saved (63). A “recall” (62) option allows the developer to open or import a previously saved solution design into the design area.

[0057] When each solution component in the palette is selected, dragged and dropped into the design area by the user, an object instance is created (64) in the design area. Multiple instances of the same type component can be created in this manner (e.g. multiple DB2 instances or multiple WAS instances).

[0058] Once at least two components have been added to the design area, the user can use the “make connection” option at any time. Each time a relationship between two or more components is established, a sub-template generator (65) is invoked. This displays an intelligence form (66) on the GUI to request user inputs for required and optional fields related to defining the interface between the components. When the inputs are received (67) from the user, the design area is updated to show the connection, and the sub-template is saved which defines the interface between the related components.

[0059] Turning to FIG. 7, the figures shows the process of saving a partial sub-system using the GUI tool (70). After a user has completed creating the component instances, such as adding to the previous example an instance of WMQ (71), and a custom application (72) (e.g. proprietary software, a web browser, etc.), and has defined the relationships to the components, the user can save the whole solution, or just partial sub-solutions for reuse.

[0060] For example, if the user wishes to save the entire solution including all of the component instances and their relationships, the user selects all of the components in a manner such as dragging a selection line (74) around all of the components. If the user only wishes to save a partial sub-system or sub-solution, one select only those components for saving, such as drawing a selection line (73) around the DB2 and WAS components, followed by performing a “save” function. This capability of the invention enables users to quickly create, add, or modify existing solutions through use of individual components as well as reuse of previously defined partial solutions.

Solution Builder Wizard Advantages

[0061] Using these methods, the Solution Builder Wizard provides user the ability to quickly develop a cohesive solution using a GUI palette to create the necessary components and establish the desired logical relationships between each other. The ease in drag and drop eliminates the complexity in integration and simplifies the required input information without the user having to sort through tedious amounts of manuals and guidebooks in installation and deployment. This results in saving considerable time, resources, and expense using this preferred embodiment. Not only can the proof of concept be swiftly completed, but also the enormous amount of time that can be saved during the actual installation, test, and deployment phase.

[0062] Users now have the ability to see actual or close to real simulated environment before final development occurs. The GUI provides a one-stop shop for developers to create prototypes using a variety of application components and integrate them using the simplified process driven by the intelligence logic. By updating the templates on-the-fly in the GUI, productivity increases dramatically. The flexibility of using UML allows the solution to be defined in a written format that can easily be edited or modified if necessary in CVS file format.

Component Solution Templates

[0063] As mentioned earlier, the preferred embodiment includes UML models of each available solution component written in XML. FIG. 10 shows an example DB2 database model in UML.

[0064] To correctly interpret information contained in an XML file, a system must also have an associated Document Type Definition (“DTD”) file, which is file defining and constraining the data or statements allowed in an XML file for a specific purpose.

[0065] FIG. 11 shows an Item Description DTD according to the preferred embodiment for the model of FIG. 10. FIGS. 12a and 12b show an example item description in XML for an MQ Series server component, also according to the example DTD of FIG. 11. FIGS. 13a-13g show an example item description in XML for a WAS component according to the example DTD of FIG. 11, as well.

Suitable Computing Platform

[0066] The invention is preferably realized as a feature or addition to the software already found present on well-known computing platforms such as personal computers, enterprise servers, and web servers. These common computing platforms can include properly configured personal computers, as well as portable computing platforms, such as personal digital assistants (“PDA”), web-enabled wireless telephones, and other types of personal information management (“PIM”) devices, providing that they have suitable resources to support the software applications and logical processes as described in the foregoing paragraphs.

[0067] Therefore, it is useful to review a generalized architecture of a computing platform which may span the range of implementation, from a high-end web or enterprise server platform, to a personal computer, to a portable PDA or web-enabled wireless phone.

[0068] Turning to FIG. 8, a generalized architecture is presented including a central processing unit (81) (“CPU”), which is typically comprised of a microprocessor (82) associated with random access memory (“RAM”) (84) and read-only memory (“ROM”) (85). Often, the CPU (81) is also provided with cache memory (83) and programmable FlashROM (86). The interface (87) between the microprocessor (82) and the various types of CPU memory is often referred to as a “local bus”, but also may be a more generic or industry standard bus.

[0069] Many computing platforms are also provided with one or more storage drives (89), such as a hard-disk drives (“HDD”), floppy disk drives, compact disc drives (CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, etc.), and proprietary disk and tape drives (e.g., Iomega Zip™ and Jaz™, Addonics SuperDisk™, etc.). Additionally, some storage drives may be accessible over a computer network.

[0070] Many computing platforms are provided with one or more communication interfaces (810), according to the function intended of the computing platform. For example, a personal computer is often provided with a high speed serial port (RS-232, RS-422, etc.), an enhanced parallel port (“EPP”), and one or more universal serial bus (“USB”) ports. The computing platform may also be provided with a local area network (“LAN”) interface, such as an Ethernet card, and other high-speed interfaces such as the High Performance Serial Bus IEEE-1394.

[0071] Computing platforms such as wireless telephones and wireless networked PDA's may also be provided with a radio frequency (“RF”) interface with antenna, as well. In some cases, the computing platform may be provided with an infrared data arrangement (IrDA) interface, too.

[0072] Computing platforms are often equipped with one or more internal expansion slots (811), such as Industry Standard Architecture (“ISA”), Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (“EISA”), Peripheral Component Interconnect (“PCI”), or proprietary interface slots for the addition of other hardware, such as sound cards, memory boards, and graphics accelerators.

[0073] Additionally, many units, such as laptop computers and PDA's, are provided with one or more external expansion slots (812) allowing the user the ability to easily install and remove hardware expansion devices, such as PCMCIA cards, SmartMedia cards, and various proprietary modules such as removable hard drives, CD drives, and floppy drives.

[0074] Often, the storage drives (89), communication interfaces (810), internal expansion slots (811) and external expansion slots (812) are interconnected with the CPU (81) via a standard or industry open bus architecture (88), such as ISA, EISA, or PCI. In many cases, the bus (88) may be of a proprietary design.

[0075] A computing platform is usually provided with one or more user input devices, such as a keyboard or a keypad (816), and mouse or pointer device (817), and/or a touch-screen display (818). In the case of a personal computer, a full size keyboard is often provided along with a mouse or pointer device, such as a track ball or TrackPoint™. In the case of a web-enabled wireless telephone, a simple keypad may be provided with one or more function-specific keys. In the case of a PDA, a touch-screen (18) is usually provided, often with handwriting recognition capabilities.

[0076] Additionally, a microphone (819), such as the microphone of a web-enabled wireless telephone or the microphone of a personal computer, is supplied with the computing platform. This microphone may be used for simply reporting audio and voice signals, and it may also be used for entering user choices, such as voice navigation of web sites or auto-dialing telephone numbers, using voice recognition capabilities.

[0077] Many computing platforms are also equipped with a camera device (800), such as a still digital camera or full motion video digital camera.

[0078] One or more user output devices, such as a display (813), are also provided with most computing platforms. The display (813) may take many forms, including a Cathode Ray Tube (“CRT”), a Thin Film Transistor (“TFT”) array, or a simple set of light emitting diodes (“LED”) or liquid crystal display (“LCD”) indicators.

[0079] One or more speakers (814) and/or annunciators (815) are often associated with computing platforms, too. The speakers (814) may be used to reproduce audio and music, such as the speaker of a wireless telephone or the speakers of a personal computer. Annunciators (815) may take the form of simple beep emitters or buzzers, commonly found on certain devices such as PDAs and PIMs.

[0080] These user input and output devices may be directly interconnected (88′, 88″) to the CPU (81) via a proprietary bus structure and/or interfaces, or they may be interconnected through one or more industry open buses such as ISA, EISA, PCI, etc.

[0081] The computing platform is also provided with one or more software and firmware (801) programs to implement the desired functionality of the computing platforms.

[0082] Turning to now FIG. 9, more detail is given of a generalized organization of software and firmware (801) on this range of computing platforms. One or more operating system (“OS”) native application programs (93) may be provided on the computing platform, such as word processors, spreadsheets, contact management utilities, address book, calendar, email client, presentation, financial and bookkeeping programs.

[0083] Additionally, one or more “portable” or device-independent programs (94) may be provided, which must be interpreted by an OS-native platform-specific interpreter (95), such as Java™ programs.

[0084] Often, computing platforms are also provided with a form of web browser or micro-browser (96), which may also include one or more extensions to the browser such as browser plug-ins (97).

[0085] The computing device is often provided with an operating system (90), such as Microsoft Windows™, UNIX, IBM AIX™, LINUX, MAC OS™ or other platform specific operating systems. Smaller devices such as PDA's and wireless telephones may be equipped with other forms of operating systems such as real-time operating systems (“RTOS”) or Palm Computing's PalmOS™.

[0086] A set of basic input and output functions (“BIOS”) and hardware device drivers (91) are often provided to allow the operating system (90) and programs to interface to and control the specific hardware functions provided with the computing platform.

[0087] Additionally, one or more embedded firmware programs (92) are commonly provided with many computing platforms, which are executed by onboard or “embedded” microprocessors as part of the peripheral device, such as a micro controller or a hard drive, a communication processor, network interface card, or sound or graphics card.

[0088] As such, FIGS. 8 and 9 describe in a general sense the various hardware components, software and firmware programs of a wide variety of computing platforms, including but not limited to personal computers, enterprise servers, web servers, PDAs, PIMs, web-enabled telephones, and other appliances such as WebTV™ units. It will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art that the methods and processes of the present invention may be alternatively realized as hardware functions, in part or in whole, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Intelligence Properties File and Deployment Descriptors

[0089] The present invention utilizes “Intelligence Properties Files” model to simplify the installation and configuration process for each component in the final solution design. Using deployment properties files which are based on experience of the user or installer, the need for specialists for each component is reduced or eliminated during installation.

[0090] Each time the solution developer specifies or creates a “connection” between two components in the design area, logic of the invention is invoked to determine the needed configuration and option parameters to interface the selected components to each other, as previously disclosed.

[0091] This logic provides a “pop-up” dialogue to the solution developer to prompt the user for selections and input based on its properties files. The input information is then used by the logic to configure the two components to interact with each other within the pre-defined constraints and conditions of the logic, thereby relieving a user the necessity of an expert in the configuration and installation for either of the solution components.

[0092] When a connection between two or more components is made or defined, the invention automatically recognizes the need for customization information for this type of connection, and prompts the developer to enter the required configuration data necessary to make the connection valid and functional, such as user id and password, data source, network address, encryption options, etc. This information is then saved to configuration files which can later be used during actual installation of the system components into the solution.

[0093] Each component of the system solution has its own associated installation and configuration properties file, as well. Each individual properties file enables the semi-automated installation and configuration of prototypes, as well as driving the creation of deployment descriptors for the eventual solution deployment. According to one available embodiment based upon an IBM Websphere Application Server, each deployment descriptor contains configuration data that the run-time environment uses for an application program or system solution component. A deployment descriptor can include information about the following:

• • [0094] (a) the structure and content (enterprise beans or servlets, for example) of the application;
  • [0095] b) references to internal and external dependencies of the application (e.g. an enterprise bean in an EJB module can require another enterprise bean that is not bundled in the same module);
  • [0096] c) references to resource factory objects, such as URLs, JDBC DataSources, JavaMail Sessions, JMS Connection Factories, JMS Destinations, and J2C Connection Factories;
  • [0097] d) security roles that the container uses when implementing the required access control for the application; and
  • [0098] e) transactional information about how (and whether) the container is to manage transactions for the application.

[0099] Typically, deployment descriptors are XML files packaged with the application's files in a Java archive file. For example, a typical Java Version 2 Enterprise Edition (“J2EE”) application contains one application-level deployment descriptor file controlling the application as a whole, but may also contain several component-level deployment descriptors, one for each module in the application.

[0100] Deployment descriptors often include information on bindings and platform-specific extensions. Binding information maps a logical name of an external dependency or resource to an actual JNDI name. For example, the container uses binding information to locate a remote bean at installation. Platform-specific extensions, such as IBM WAS extensions, are additions to the standard descriptors for J2EE applications, Web applications, and enterprise beans.

[0101] Through this function of the present invention, users are allowed to build a blueprint for the solution components with its associated properties files to be used during configuration. According to one aspect of the preferred embodiment, users have options to customize properties file based on their own abilities to configure a product: (a) simple, (b) advanced, or (c) automatic. The simple option permits users to input basic configuration parameters, while the advanced option allows users to highly customize its setup such as enhancing functionality or performance. The automatic option encompasses the most commonly used installation configuration options and parameters.

[0102] As such, our new “Intelligence Properties Files” model, simplifies the installation and configuration process by using properties file that will allow configuration input based on experience. By using a GUI, a set of predefined “templates” for each component, and implementation intelligence logic, enables speedy assembly of various solution components together into one cohesive solution.

[0103] Turning to FIG. 14, the user interface according to the present invention is illustrated, showing how definitions of interfaces between components are configured or created (1401). When a relationship is established (1402) between two or more components by the user, the intelligence logic of the invention automatically prompts the user for inputs to complete required fields, potentially optional fields, that facilitate the integration process according to pre-defined options and configuration features, as defined by the XML templates. Based on the user's level of configuration complexity selection, the appropriate properties files are pre-loaded into the Solution Wizard Tool.

[0104] Simple Configuration Option. Continuing with our example and turning to FIG. 15, a user input prompt window (1502) is automatically displayed (1501) by the invention's logic once a connection is completed by the user. In this example, a WAS Administration Console Simple Option (1402′) is shown, requesting the user to input fields (1503) to define the interface between the DB2 database instance to the WAS instance, such as the database name, its source, the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, and an alias that denotes the username and password. The simple option encompasses the most commonly required information that users will input in order to successfully perform basic configuration.

[0105] Advanced Configuration Option. When in-depth installation or configuration is needed, specialized experts are usually required to facilitate the deployment process for each solution component, without the benefit of the present invention. However, by using the present invention, the Intelligence Properties Files enables non-specialists to quickly input desired data into a detailed user prompt window (1601) shown in FIG. 16. In this scenario (1602), the WAS Administration Console Advanced Option (1402″) is shown, requesting the user to input fields to define the interface between the WAS to the DB2, preferably using an organized tab display structure. A first tab (1603) in this example allows definition regarding the WAS path, its configuration, and datasource details. The path consists of the actual location of the solution component file such as the file path, server path, and context root.

[0106] The configuration tab (1604) allows input from the user of scope, name, description, classpath, native library path, and implementation classname, which is the Java classname of the JDBC driver for the specific implementation.

[0107] The datasource section (1605) allows user definition of the database name, datasource name, Java Naming Directory Interface (“JNDI”) name, description, and the mapping configuration alias such as username and password. The advanced option consists of particular information users will input in order to successfully perform a highly specialized configuration.

[0108] Automatic Configuration Option. On the other hand, because of project constraints such as time, expenses, or resources, users may elect to choose the automatic option to quickly create a proof of concept or blueprint to use during installation and deployment phase. Turning to FIG. 17, the diagram illustrates the automatic properties files option (1701). When the relationship between the DB2 and WAS is established, the automatic option (1702) is invoked. The user prompt window displays the minimal required parameters (1402′″) to connect to the desired database (1703) with its default or predefined inputs pre-filled into each criterion: database name, its datasource, the IP address, and an alias. Not only does this enable the user to build solutions quickly using the intelligence properties files, but also eliminates the risk of human errors which can hinder integration.

[0109] Configuration Intelligence Logic. Turning now to FIG. 18, the configuration intelligence logical process (1801) of the invention is depicted. The process starts (1802) by user initiation of the Solution Builder Wizard application. The user then defines (1803) instances of system components in the design area, as previously described. When the user defines (1804) a connection between two or more components, the Wizard prompts (1805) the user to make a decision on the level of configuration to be used during prototyping and/or during final deployment: the simple, advanced, or the automatic method.

[0110] Based on the user's selection (1806), the user is further prompted for information and input in order to complete the configuration of the properties files. The simple option will allow for the customer to input basic configuration parameters (1807A), while the advanced option (1808A) will permit users who are highly capable or specialized to enhance functional performances. The automatic option (1809A) will take the most commonly used installation and deploy the solution components using those defaults within an application. Once a selection is made, instances of the related properties files for the chosen alternative created, configured and stored in association with the solution being designed (1807B, 1808B, 1809B). The user is then allowed to continue defining instances of system components (1803), and definition of interfaces and configurations (1801).

[0111] Properties Files Advantages. Using these methods, the Intelligence Properties Files of the invention provide a system solution designer the ability to quickly develop a cohesive solution using a GUI palette to create the necessary components and establish the desired logical relationships between each other. The ease in configuration eliminates the complexity in integration and simplifies the required input information without the user having to sort through tedious amounts of manuals and guidebooks in installation and deployment. This results in massive amount of time, resource, and expense saved using this preferred embodiment. Not only can the proof of concept be swiftly completed, but also the enormous amount of time that can be saved during the actual installation, test, and deployment phase.

[0112] Users now have the ability to see actual or close to real simulated environment before actual development occurs. By using the properties files, developers can integrate various solution components using a basic process driven by intelligence logic based on experiences. With this method, level of difficulty or detail in configuration can correspond to an user's aptitude and knowledge without negatively impacting the overall configuration process.

Prototype Simulation and Testing using Customer Data

[0113] Testing a cohesive solution composed of several different types of applications can be very confusing and intricate. In fact, often it requires a massive amount of hardware and software to be pre-installed and integrated before a custom application solution can be tested. For this reason, many new solutions or prototype solutions are often tested in a “live” or “production” environment, which can pose serious problems and risks to the actual business solutions which are being used by actual customers.

[0114] By providing a simulated test environment on the prototype solution according to the present invention, much of the complexity and risk in integration can be avoided or even eliminated. Further, customers are allowed to preview how the prototyped solution will actually operate under a similar environment, without requiring use or risk to a live or production solution.

[0115] Turning to FIG. 19, the diagram illustrates a portion of GUI (1901) in which a user has selected the required solution components and established its respective relationships. The user has decided in this example to add an instance of the IBM WebSphereMQ product(1902) connected to a custom client application (1903) to the existing WAS (22) and a database (21) instances in the design area of the Solution Builder Wizard GUI.

[0116] By way of background and for greater understandability to the reader, we now diverge temporarily to provide more details on the well-known IBM WebSphere MQ messaging capabilities and mechanims which is utilized in one available embodiment of the present invention. WebSphere MQ™ messaging products enable application integration by allowing business applications to exchange information between each other within the same computing platform, as well as across different platforms, by sending and receiving data as messages according to a published format by IBM. This messaging system is available for many platforms and operating systems, including Linux for Intel™-based platforms as well as IBM zSeries, iSeries and Microsoft Windows XP based platforms. MQ messaging allows programmers to focus on functionality of their system component, leaving details of interoperability and intercommunication to be handled by MQ. MQ utilizes Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) network-based communications protocols, and supports Java™ Message Server (“JMS”) for compatibility with many existing solution products. It will be recognized that use of other messaging services in place of IBM's MQ service is within the scope of the present invention, and that use of the MQ product as described herein represents just one of several embodiment options of the invention.

[0117] A logical process and system diagram (2001) according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 20. Once the user has used the Solution Builder Wizard to design the prototyped solution (or portion of a solution), a subset of a real customer data (2002) is uploaded into the database (2003). Within the simulated test environment of the Solution Builder Wizard, various types of test scripts are initiated to perform and validate each test case. According to one aspect of the present invention, the behavioral models which are configured for each instance of each component in the system under design communicate with each other using a message-based scheme, such as the aforementioned WebSphere MQ messaging system or an equivalent.

[0118] During simulation and/or testing, the custom client application (2006) first posts a request message (2007) to the WebSphereMQ (2005). A test validation can verify at this stage whether or not request message was received (2013). The WebSphereMQ service passes that message to the custom host application that is running in WAS (2004), which receives the request message (2008). The user can optionally confirm that the request message is received (2014), as previously described in conjunction with the console.

[0119] The host application (2004) processes the request(s), and stores the data (2009) into the database (2003), for example. Verification can be performed on the database to ensure new data records are added or exisiting records have been modified or updated (2015).

[0120] In one alternative to the protyped solution, the custom host application may not necessarily require any data from the database. However, if records are needed, then the database will send the query data (2010) back to the custom host application for processing. Again, a listener may be used to validate that the response message is processed (2017).

[0121] Once completed, then a response message will be posted back (2011) to the WebSphereMQ. A subsequent check can confirm that the reponse message is received (2016) by the solution component. The WebSphereMQ will listen for any messages then pass it back to the custom client application where it will receive the response message (2012). In this example, it shows that the user can utilize five checkpoints to verify proper messagings are being passed between solution components and whether or not its results are successful. Any errors within these five checkpoints will alert its tester that the prototyped solution is experiencing integration problems.

[0122] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, however, that many testing alternatives or methods may be used depending on an user's initial setup within the GUI palette and the invention is not limited to these specific embodiments. All solution components can communicate via messaging with one another, therefore, the simulated test environment can check to ensure that one object will respond correctly with another object. In addition, testing data and parameters may be defined to meet customer expectations and real customer data can be used to provide a close to exact look on how the proposed prototyped solution will actually work. This allows the customer the ability to review a proof of concept from a comprehesive perspective—not only from development view point, but also the final end product itself with real applicable data records.

Problem Determination Process

[0123] Once simulation is completed, the challenging task of problem determination in prototyped solution arises, also known as “debugging” the system solution. Very rarely do initial designs of complex systems operate completely as specified and expected, and almost always, some anomalies in operation or function are observed. Determining the source of the problem(s) is first required, followed by developing potential “fixes” or “solutions” to the problems, which is then followed by retesting or verification testing and simulation.

[0124] Using the present invention, the user or system designer has the ability to debug a system solution based on its data flows during the simulation process. As the simulations are carried out using a message-based infrastructure interconnecting the many the system components which are represented using behavioral models, debugging of the system level design is enabled by the invention's ability to probe, tap, or trace communications between components throughout simulation, to capture the exchanged messages, and to add tracking information to aid in problem determination.

[0125] Turning to FIG. 21, the diagram shows the logical debugging procedure (2101). The user initiates the process (2102) and then it checks (2103) to see whether not at least one or more solution component exists in the design area of the GUI. If not, then an error log entry is created (2106), otherwise it checks to ensure at least one or more relationships between solution components are established (2104) in the prototyped system design. This is to verify that integration between solution components has been defined in the prototyped solution, which allows appropriate data flow to occur. If no relationships exist, then a record is made to the error log (2106).

[0126] Afterwards, the system will verify that one or more testing check points are defined and set (2105). These are points in the system design where the designer wishes to capture or trace communications between components, such as the verification points (2017, 2014, 2016, etc.) shown in FIG. 20. As the infrastructure of the Solution Builder Wizard is message based (e.g. the components interface to each other using messaging protocols), these taps or probes into the communications are realized by capturing time-stamped copies of messages between components.

[0127] When all three validations are completed, the system loads the test data (2107), which can consist of a subset of real customer information, simulation data, manually created recordsets, or even randomly generated system data, as previously described. Before test data is loaded into the debug process, it first is preferrably checked (2109) to ensure its own data integrity. If a problem with the test data is found, then a record is logged into the error log before data can be loaded for further testing and debugging. All error logs are then stored in the overall error tracking database (2116).

[0128] Once the test data is validated, test scripts or test cases are executed (2110) through the process of simulation, as previously discussed. When simulation is completed, the system captures test results (2111) in the form of captured time-stamped messages between components, and other tracking information (e.g. originator, destination, session ID, addresses, routing information, etc.).

[0129] The user is then allowed three options: (a) to end the debug process (2112), (b) to create a test report (2113) that can be displayed through a custom application, GUI, or be sent to a printer (2114), or (c) to create a debug error log (2115) that feeds into the error tracking database (2116).

[0130] Once simulation is completed, the user has the ability to query and generate failed test results (2117) from the error tracking database. This provides a list on the overall errors that have occurred during one test run where proper data flow did not occur, and provides copies of the messages which were captured during the simulation. The designer can create and apply patches or fixes (2118) that resolve these issues, followed by repeating the simulation and message capture process.

[0131] It should be noted that using the present invention, the debug process differs from traditional debugging procedure because it does not occur solely in development nor production environment. The user is not just troubleshooting one module and previewing written codes line by line, but rather resolving the whole prototyped solution which is composed of one or more solution components with its relationships and associated properties files.

[0132] Furthermore, the user is not restricted to create a staging environment which normally requires enormous amount of human and IT resources to test before sending into production environment. In fact, the prototyped solution can be tested and debugged quickly without impacting current real, “live” transactions and processes running in production.

Performance Tuning

[0133] During simulation, or following simulation, the user is able to verify performance of the system under design, such as response times, accuracy, characteristics under load, etc. The designer may then adjust configuration parameters of each component of the system under design in the manners previously described in order to improve or change one or more performance characteristics. Subsequent or continued simulation can be performed, as already described, to verify the performance with the changes, and to determine if the change are to be implemented in the final solution. This enables the designer to optimize the performance of the new solution in an off-line mode, which is traditionally only possible when “live” or running on-line, thereby allowing the user to experiment with changes which would be too risky, too difficult, too expensive or too time consuming to do in a live environment.

[0134] As an additional benefit of the present invention, the user may test alternate components and their affect on overall system performance using the same methodology. For example, the user may first create a system solution using a first database component from a first provider, followed by simulation and performance determination. Then, the user may easily change (e.g. delete and replace) the first database component with a second database component from another provider, re-run the simulation, and compare the performance with the second database to the performance with the first database. This enables the user to easily compare component options without the need for risky, expensive, and time consuming testing in a live environment.

[0135] Certain embodiments and design choices have been described and illustrated in the foregoing paragraphs in order to disclose the invention and its preferred embodiment. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, however, that the scope of the invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and that many variations and choices regarding, but not limited to, operating system, programming language, programming methodology, and platform, can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is defined by the following claims.