Patent Publication Number: US-8996553-B2

Title: Mechanism for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects in an on-demand services environment

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/625,746, entitled “Methods and Systems for Creating Lightweight Custom Objects in an On-Demand Services Environment” by Gary Baker, filed Apr. 18, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference and priority is claimed thereof. 
    
    
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     One or more implementations relate generally to data management and, more specifically, to a mechanism for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects in an on-demand services environment. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Even with the growing use of databases, social network websites, etc., entities or objects offered by service providers are limited to a service provider&#39;s default entities and thus do not extend their users (e.g., customers of service providers, etc.) any significant level of customization control over their databases, tables, reports, files, etc. 
     The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches. 
     In conventional database systems, users access their data resources in one logical database. A user of such a conventional system typically retrieves data from and stores data on the system using the user&#39;s own systems. A user system might remotely access one of a plurality of server systems that might in turn access the database system. Data retrieval from the system might include the issuance of a query from the user system to the database system. The database system might process the request for information received in the query and send to the user system information relevant to the request. The secure and efficient retrieval of accurate information and subsequent delivery of this information to the user system has been and continues to be a goal of administrators of database systems. Unfortunately, conventional database approaches are associated with various limitations. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the following drawings like reference numbers are used to refer to like elements. Although the following figures depict various examples, one or more implementations are not limited to the examples depicted in the figures. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a computing device employing a mechanism for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a mechanism for facilitating management and customization of dynamic lightweight objects according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a transaction sequence for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a method for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a computer system according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a block diagram of an environment wherein an on-demand database service might be used according to one embodiment; and 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of elements of environment of  FIG. 6  and various possible interconnections between these elements according to one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Methods and systems are provided for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects in an on-demand services environment. In one embodiment and by way of example, a method includes receiving, at a first computing device, a request for a file having data and associated metadata in a format that is not supported by default objects of a software application. The method may further include generating one or more dynamic objects to support the requested format, generating the requested format using the one or more dynamic objects, and providing the file in the requested format via the software application. 
     As used herein, a term multi-tenant database system refers to those systems in which various elements of hardware and software of the database system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, a given application server may simultaneously process requests for a great number of customers, and a given database table may store rows for a potentially much greater number of customers. As used herein, the term query plan refers to a set of steps used to access information in a database system. 
     Embodiments are described with reference to an embodiment in which techniques for facilitating management of data in an on-demand services environment are implemented in a system having an application server providing a front end for an on-demand database service capable of supporting multiple tenants, embodiments are not limited to multi-tenant databases nor deployment on application servers. Embodiments may be practiced using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of the embodiments claimed. 
     Next, mechanisms and methods for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects in an on-demand services environment will be described with reference to example embodiments. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a computing device  100  employing a mechanism for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects (“dynamic objects mechanism”)  110  according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, computing device  100  serves as a host machine employing dynamic objects mechanism  110  for providing dynamic creation and management of lightweight objects for facilitating user-control of customization of user data as desired or necessitated by a user (e.g., a company, a corporation, an organization, a business, an agency, an institution, etc.). The user refers to a customer of a service provider (e.g., Salesforce.com) that provides and manages dynamic objects mechanism  110  at a host machine, such as computing device  100 . 
     Computing device  100  may include server computers (e.g., cloud server computers, etc.), desktop computers, cluster-based computers, set-top boxes (e.g., Internet-based cable television set-top boxes, etc.), and the like. Computing device  100  may also include smaller computers, such as mobile computing devices, such as cellular phones including smartphones (e.g., iPhone® by Apple®, BlackBerry® by Research in Motion®, etc.), handheld computing devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc., tablet computers (e.g., iPad® by Apple®, Galaxy® by Samsung®, etc.), laptop computers (e.g., notebooks, netbooks, Ultrabook™, etc.), e-readers (e.g., Kindle® by Amazon.com®, Nook® by Barnes and Nobles®, etc.), Global Positioning System (GPS)-based navigation systems, etc. 
     Computing device  100  includes an operating system (OS)  106  serving as an interface between any hardware or physical resources of the computing device  100  and a user. Computing device  100  further includes one or more processors  102 , memory devices  104 , network devices, drivers, or the like, as well as input/output (I/O) sources  108 , such as touchscreens, touch panels, touch pads, virtual or regular keyboards, virtual or regular mice, etc. It is to be noted that terms like “node”, “computing node”, “client”, “client device”, “server”, “server device”, “cloud computer”, “cloud server”, “cloud server computer”, “machine”, “host machine”, “device”, “computing device”, “computer”, “computing system”, “multi-tenant on-demand data system”, and the like, may be used interchangeably throughout this document. It is to be further noted that terms like “application”, “software application”, “program”, “software program”, “package”, and “software package” may be used interchangeably throughout this document. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a mechanism for facilitating management and customization of dynamic lightweight objects  110  according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, dynamic objects mechanism  110  provides an infrastructure to support a larger than conventional to unlimited number of lightweight objects or entities (also referred to as “tables”, “new objects”, “custom objects”, “dynamic custom objects”, “dynamic objects”, “my custom objects” or simply “MCOs”) per tenant in a multi-tenant database for user-controlled customization of data and its presentation, while conventional objects or entities may be further referred to as “default objects”, “administered custom objects”, “administered objects”, “default objects”, “traditional objects”, etc. For example, lightweight objects may be allowed to use larger identifier (ID) space (e.g., 15 chars) than the more conventional key_prefix space (e.g., 3 chars) to differentiate custom data by type and support an unlimited number of lightweight objects per tenant (as opposed to the default or administered objects that have a limited namespace of, for example, about 4000 types and an artificial limit to, for example, about 2000). Throughout the document, it is contemplated that embodiments permit supporting an unlimited number of custom objects per tenant or, in other words, within the context of a tenant, an unlimited number of tables are supported. Further, in one embodiment, lightweight objects may help load metadata “on the fly” along with actual data to avoid caching massive amounts of metadata to describe a rather large number of object types, while hiding the metadata from administrative views to avoid displaying too much clutter. Dynamic objects mechanism  110  may support this proliferation of object types by, for example, storing type IDs along with record IDs in the index as well as expanding the maximum size for a search bucket Id and further, allowing new lightweight objects to be sharable with the existing default objects in a private sharing model. The use of the term “lightweight”, “tables”, “my custom object” or “MCO” should not be read to limit embodiments to objects that carry that label in products or in literature external to this document. Terms like “objects” and “entities” may be used interchangeably throughout this document. 
     It is contemplated that an administrative user typically includes an authorized and/or trained user, such as a system administrator, a software developer, a computer programmer, etc. In contrast, an end-user may be any user that can access a client computing device, such as via a software application or an Internet browser. In light of this and in one embodiment, lightweight “tables” or “MCOs” differ from administered objects in that any number and type of tables/MCOs can be created per tenant or within a single tenant by end-users or non-administrative users, while conventional custom objects may only be created by administrative users and are limited to a particular amount, such as 2000 objects per tenant. Standard custom objects may be part of a service provider&#39;s default offering for all its customers (although some licensing restrictions may apply). 
     Dynamic object definitions may be stored in a standard_entity_data table, while, in contrast, custom entity definitions may be stored in a custom_entity_definition table. Any fields that are dynamically added to each dynamic object may be based on the fields in the imported file. For example, a user, via client computing device  240 , may access any number of MCOs (e.g., 65,536 MCOs) since each dynamic object entity may not have a unique key prefix that is stored in database  225 . Entity IDs for each loaded dynamic object may be dynamically calculated when dynamic objects are loaded from database  225  for a specific user. These calculated IDs may not be saved at database  225 . For example, there may be a unique 0U0 ID for each dynamic object that is stored in the standard_entity_data_id column within the standard_entity_data table. This allows a user to uniquely refer to an MCO from a feeds item, etc. 
     In one embodiment, a user, via user interface  244  provided through client-based application  242  at client computing device  240 , may generate dynamic objects (and may use them with administered objects) to manipulate and view data and related metadata in a particular format (e.g., table, etc.) as desired or necessitated by the user. Examples of users may include, but are not limited to, customers, such as organizational customers (e.g., small and large businesses, companies, corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, non-profit organization, etc.) of a service provider (e.g., Salesforece.com) and/or individual customers, such as individuals or end-users, of the organization customers. It is to be noted that terms like “user”, “customer”, “organization”, “business”, “company”, etc., may be used interchangeably throughout this document. 
     For example and in one embodiment, dynamic objects may differ from administered custom objects in several ways, such as dynamic objects may (1) have virtually unlimited key space, they are (2) not residual in memory, (3) not cached, and (4) are considered user data. With regard to unlimited key space, for example, administered objects may have a keyspace of roughly, for example, 4000, so any database tenant may have only 4000 objects defined (or even limited to 2000). The administered object limit of 2000, for example, may be due to the limited reserved area of memory in the residual memory which holds these administered custom objects. Dynamic object-based tables may have a virtually unlimited keyspace (such as, not limited to, in the billions), so instead of two character designation, they may have a full 15 character ID, which means a virtually unlimited number of dynamic objects may be given to any given tenant. Further, dynamic objects, in one embodiment, are transient and thus, for each request, additional memory is created and then released at the end of the request. Using this technique, no restrictions or limits are imposed on the newly-created dynamic objects. 
     Additionally, in on embodiment, any metadata for dynamic objects is not cached and instead, the metadata is fetched along with the corresponding data whenever a request is placed or received. Without having to continuously cache metadata, a potentially unlimited number of dynamic objects may be created. With regard to user data, setup data is distinguished from non-setup or user data, such as administered objects, user profiles, etc., may be considered setup data, while accounts, leads, opportunities, etc., are considered non-setup or user data. Similarly, table definitions may be considered user data to be distinguished from any other metadata. 
     In one embodiment, dynamic objects mechanism  110  may be employed at a server computing system, such as computing device  100  of  FIG. 1 , and may be in communication with one or more client computing devices, such as client computing device  240 , over a network, such as network  230  (e.g., a cloud-based network, the Internet, etc.). As aforementioned, a user may include an organization or organizational customer, such as a company, a business, etc., that is a customer to a provider (e.g., Salesforce.com) that provides access to dynamic objects mechanism  110  (such as via client computer  240 ). Similarly, a user may further include an individual or a small business, etc., that is a customer of the organization/organizational customer and accesses dynamic objects mechanism  110  via another client computing device. Client computing device  240  may be the same as or similar to computing device  100  of  FIG. 1  and include a mobile computing device (e.g., smartphones, tablet computers, etc.) or larger computers (e.g., desktop computers, server computers, etc.). 
     In one embodiment, dynamic objects mechanism  110  facilitates generation and use of dynamic objects (e.g., lightweight objects) along with administered objects to allow the user to manipulate, share, and present data/metadata any number of products, such as databases, social/business network websites, etc. For example, the technique may be applied to any number and type of social and business networking products, such as Chatter® by Salesforce.com, Facebook®, LinkedIn®, etc. Further, for example, using dynamic objects, instead of separately emailing a spreadsheet to each member of a group (e.g., accounting depart) of a company or organization, a member may choose to share data using a spreadsheet in a particular format (e.g., Excel® by Microsoft®, Numbers® by Apple®) on a business networking website (e.g., Chatter, etc.) with all or some members of the group even if the networking website does not typically support spreadsheets or particular forms of spreadsheets. In one embodiment, this is achieved by using dynamic objects mechanism  110  to generate the necessary number and type of dynamic objects (that support the spreadsheet) to work with the administered objects (already supported by the website) so that the spreadsheet may be shared and displayed on the website. It is contemplated that embodiments are not limited to any particular product, software application, website, such as Chatter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., just as the data/metadata is not limited to any particular product/format, such as spreadsheets (e.g., Excel, Numbers, etc.), word processing applications (e.g., Word® by Microsoft, Pages® by Apple, etc.), presentation applications (e.g., PowerPoint® by Microsoft, Keynote® by Apple, etc.), browsers (e.g., Explorer® by Microsoft, Safari® by Apple, etc.), etc. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, dynamic objects mechanism  110  may include various components, such as authentication logic  202 , request reception logic  204 , processing logic  206  (including detection module  208  having scanner  209 , decision module  210 , creation module  212 , import module  214 , conversion module  216 ), reporting logic  218 , communication/access logic  220 , and compatibility logic  222 . Dynamic objects mechanism  110  is in communication with database  225  to store data and metadata relating to administered and dynamic objects. Object mechanism  110  is further in communication with any number and type of client computing devices, such as client computing device  240  over network  230 . Throughout this document, the term “logic” may be interchangeably referred to as “component” or “module” and may include, by way of example, software, hardware, and/or any combination of software and hardware, such as firmware. This combination of components provided through dynamic objects mechanism  110  facilitates user-based control and manipulation of particular data products/software applications (e.g., social websites, business websites, word processing, spreadsheets, database products, etc.) to be manipulated, shared, communicated, and displayed in any number and type of formats as desired or necessitated by user and communicated through user interface  244  at client computing device  240  and over network  230 . 
     In one embodiment, authentication logic  202  may be used to authenticate a user/customer and/or computing device  240  before the user is allowed to access and use dynamic objects mechanism  110 . It is contemplated that in some embodiments, the authentication process may be a one-time process conducted when computing device  240  is first allowed access to dynamic objects mechanism  110  or, in some embodiments, authentication may be a recurring process that is performed each time a request for creating and/or using a dynamic object (is placed via computing device  240  and further via user interface  244 ) is received by request reception logic  204  at components mechanism  110  at the cloud-based server computer over network  230 . 
     Once the request to generate one or more dynamic objects is received at request reception logic  204 , it is then sent to processing logic  206  for processing so that the dynamic objects may be generated and properly applied. For example, placing or receiving a request for creating dynamic objects may include having a user (e.g., accounting manager at a company, etc.) place a request to share data/metadata (e.g., company annual report) with other individuals at the company (e.g., accounting group, Central Financial Officer (CFO), etc.) using a software product (e.g., Excel spreadsheet) that is not supported by a website or business application (e.g., Chatter). In other words, for example, when a user requests a particular format or product to share, communicate, display or use data/metadata on a business application/website, the request may be interpreted as a request to generate a necessary set of dynamic objects so that the requested format may be supported by the business application/website, which is not typically supported by the administered objects of that business application/website. It is contemplated that the newly-generated set of dynamic objects may work with any administered objects to accomplish the aforementioned task of using the particular format or product. 
     In one embodiment, detection module  208  may be used to review the request to determine the requested datatypes (e.g., dates, numbers, text, etc.) within the request so that a determination may be made as to whether the requested datatypes may be supported or provided in database  225  or imported. Detection module  208  may include scanner  208  to not only scan various parts of the request, but also to scan any data/metadata for datatypes when the data/metadata is uploaded from database  225 . Database  225  may be accessed by and its uploading may be triggered using communication/access logic  220 . In one embodiment, once detection and the subsequent scanning is completed by detection module  208  and its scanner  209 , decision module  210  determines and decides whether the requested datatypes are available or may be imported and that any necessary dynamic objects may be created to support the requested datatypes to facilitate the user-requested format/product. 
     Upon determining that the relevant datatypes for the requested format are accessible, the corresponding dynamic objects may be created using creation module  212 . The newly-created dynamic objects may then be used with any custom objects to satisfy the user request for the particular format. In one embodiment, import module  214  may be used to important any number of entities, such as datatypes, data, metadata, objects, etc. This importation may be local, such as import module  214  may work with communication/access logic  220  to obtain any number and type of entities from database  225 , such as accessing an entity (e.g., data) directly from database  225  or through another entity, such as through a report (e.g., metadata relating to the data from a report), etc., residing at database  225 . The importation may be remote, such as obtaining any number and type of entities from any number and type of remote sources, such as another database or server computer, etc., in communication with the computing device employing dynamic objects mechanism  110  over network  230 . 
     Further, conversion module  216  may be used to perform various types of conversions, such as converting one datatype to another (e.g., from text to number, etc.), converting formats, converting objects, etc. Dynamic objects mechanism  110  further includes reporting logic  218  to facilitate reporting-related tasks, such as generating reports (e.g., default reports, customized reports, etc.), copying reports, deleting reports, amending reports, etc. Compatibility logic  222  allows for dynamic objects mechanism  110  to work with any number and types of datatypes, software products, client computing devices  240 , networks  230 , and the like. 
     It is contemplated that any number and type of components may be added to and/or removed from dynamic objects mechanism  110  to facilitate various embodiments including adding, removing, and/or enhancing certain features. For brevity, clarity, and ease of understanding of dynamic objects mechanism  110 , many of the standard and/or known components, such as those of a computing device, are not shown or discussed here. It is contemplated that embodiments are not limited to any particular technology, topology, system, architecture, and/or standard and are dynamic enough to adopt and adapt to any future changes. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a transaction sequence  300  for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects according to one embodiment. Transaction sequence  300  may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, etc.), software (such as instructions run on a processing device), or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, transaction sequence  300  may be performed by dynamic objects mechanism  110  of  FIG. 1 . 
     In the illustrated embodiment, transaction sequence  300  begins with a user accessing a user interface  244  (e.g., an Internet browser, such as Explorer, Safari, etc.) at a client computing device for placing a request  305  for data any associated metadata (e.g., accounting report having the data/metadata) to be provided in a specific format (e.g., Excel, Word, etc.) using a software product (e.g., Chatter, Facebook, etc.). The request is received and processed  310  at objects mechanism  110  employed at a server computing device that is in communication with the client computing device over a network (e.g., cloud-based network, the Internet, etc.). The processing of the request may include generating new dynamic lightweight objects if the default or administered objects provided by the service provider (e.g., owner/provider of the software product, such as Salesforce.com providing Chatter) do not support the requested format. 
     Upon processing the request and generating the new dynamic objects, the requested data/metadata (including associated datatypes) is accessed  315  from database  225  (maintain Table data, Table metadata, etc.). The requested data/metadata is received  320  from database  225 . The data/metadata is processed  325  so it may be provided in the request format and upon processing, the data/metadata is provided in the requested format  330 , such as sharing an accounting spreadsheet in Excel format with various members of an accounting group by posting the spreadsheet using the software product (such as on Chatter, Facebook, etc.). 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a method  400  for facilitating management and customization of lightweight objects according to one embodiment. Method  400  may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, etc.), software (such as instructions run on a processing device), or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, method  400  may be performed by dynamic objects mechanism  110  of  FIG. 1 . 
     Method  400  begins with receiving a request, at block  405 , placed by a user by accessing a user interface (e.g., an Internet browser, such as Explorer, Safari, etc.) at a client computing device for data and any associated metadata (e.g., accounting report having the data/metadata) to be provided in a specific format (e.g., Excel, Word, etc.) using a software product/website (e.g., Chatter, Facebook, etc.). The request is received and processed at objects mechanism  110  of  FIG. 1  that may be employed at a server computing device that is in communication with the client computing device over a network (e.g., cloud-based network, the Internet, etc.). The processing of the request may include generating new dynamic lightweight objects if the default or administered objects provided by the service provider (e.g., owner/provider of the software product, such as Salesforce.com providing Chatter) do not support the requested format. 
     At block  410 , a determination is made as to whether the requested format is supported by the administered objects of the service provider. If yes, at block  415 , the process continues with using the relevant default or administered objects for generating the requested format. At block  425 , the process further continues with accessing the requested data/metadata from a local or remote database in communication with the server computing device so that the data/metadata may be put into the requested format and provided to the user at the client computing device. At block  430 , the requested data/metadata is provided via the requested format using the administered objects. As aforementioned, the providing of the data/metadata may include, but is not limited to, posting or sharing a file (having the data/metadata) on the requested software product/website via the requested format. 
     Referring back to block  410 , if the administered objects do not support the requested format, dynamic lightweight objects are generated at block  420 . At block  425 , the requested data/metadata is accessed at the database. The newly-generated lightweight objects are used to generate the requested format so that the requested data/metadata may be provided in the requested format. It is contemplated that to achieve the task of supporting the requested format, certain default/administered objects may also be used or employed to provide default functionalities for which there may not be any need to generate new objects. At block  430 , the requested data/metadata is provided via the requested format. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine  500  in the exemplary form of a computer system, in accordance with one embodiment, within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine  500  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. Machine  500  is the same as or similar to computing device  100  and computing device  240  of  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , respectively. In alternative embodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a network (such as host machine  100  of  FIG. 1  connected with client machine  240  of  FIG. 2  over network  230 ), such as a cloud-based network, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN), an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment or as a server or series of servers within an on-demand service environment, including an on-demand environment providing multi-tenant database storage services. Certain embodiments of the machine may be in the form of a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, computing system, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines (e.g., computers) that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 
     The exemplary computer system  500  includes a processor  502 , a main memory  504  (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), etc., static memory such as flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), volatile but high-data rate RAM, etc.), and a secondary memory  518  (e.g., a persistent storage device including hard disk drives and persistent multi-tenant data base implementations), which communicate with each other via a bus  530 . Main memory  504  includes emitted execution data  524  (e.g., data emitted by a logging framework) and one or more trace preferences  523  which operate in conjunction with processing logic  526  and processor  502  to perform the methodologies discussed herein. 
     Processor  502  represents one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the processor  502  may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processor  502  may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like. Processor  502  is configured to execute the processing logic  526  for performing the operations and functionality of dynamic objects mechanism  110  as described with reference to  FIG. 1  and other figures discussed herein. 
     The computer system  500  may further include a network interface card  508 . The computer system  500  also may include a user interface  510  (such as a video display unit, a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device  512  (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device  514  (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device  516  (e.g., an integrated speaker). The computer system  500  may further include peripheral device  536  (e.g., wireless or wired communication devices, memory devices, storage devices, audio processing devices, video processing devices, etc. The computer system  500  may further include a Hardware based API logging framework  534  capable of executing incoming requests for services and emitting execution data responsive to the fulfillment of such incoming requests. 
     The secondary memory  518  may include a machine-readable storage medium (or more specifically a machine-accessible storage medium)  531  on which is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software  522 ) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions of dynamic objects mechanism  110  as described with reference to  FIG. 1  and other figures described herein. The software  522  may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory  504  and/or within the processor  502  during execution thereof by the computer system  500 , the main memory  504  and the processor  502  also constituting machine-readable storage media. The software  522  may further be transmitted or received over a network  520  via the network interface card  508 . The machine-readable storage medium  531  may include transitory or non-transitory machine-readable storage media. 
     Portions of various embodiments may be provided as a computer program product, which may include a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer program instructions, which may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to the embodiments. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), and magneto-optical disks, ROM, RAM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnet or optical cards, flash memory, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. 
     The techniques shown in the figures can be implemented using code and data stored and executed on one or more electronic devices (e.g., an end station, a network element). Such electronic devices store and communicate (internally and/or with other electronic devices over a network) code and data using computer-readable media, such as non-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g., magnetic disks; optical disks; random access memory; read only memory; flash memory devices; phase-change memory) and transitory computer-readable transmission media (e.g., electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals—such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals). In addition, such electronic devices typically include a set of one or more processors coupled to one or more other components, such as one or more storage devices (non-transitory machine-readable storage media), user input/output devices (e.g., a keyboard, a touchscreen, and/or a display), and network connections. The coupling of the set of processors and other components is typically through one or more busses and bridges (also termed as bus controllers). Thus, the storage device of a given electronic device typically stores code and/or data for execution on the set of one or more processors of that electronic device. Of course, one or more parts of an embodiment may be implemented using different combinations of software, firmware, and/or hardware. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a block diagram of an environment  610  wherein an on-demand database service might be used. Environment  610  may include user systems  612 , network  614 , system  616 , processor system  617 , application platform  618 , network interface  620 , tenant data storage  622 , system data storage  624 , program code  626 , and process space  628 . In other embodiments, environment  610  may not have all of the components listed and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed above. 
     Environment  610  is an environment in which an on-demand database service exists. User system  612  may be any machine or system that is used by a user to access a database user system. For example, any of user systems  612  can be a handheld computing device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a work station, and/or a network of computing devices. As illustrated in herein  FIG. 6  (and in more detail in  FIG. 7 ) user systems  612  might interact via a network  614  with an on-demand database service, which is system  616 . 
     An on-demand database service, such as system  616 , is a database system that is made available to outside users that do not need to necessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system, but instead may be available for their use when the users need the database system (e.g., on the demand of the users). Some on-demand database services may store information from one or more tenants stored into tables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). Accordingly, “on-demand database service  616 ” and “system  616 ” will be used interchangeably herein. A database image may include one or more database objects. A relational database management system (RDMS) or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information against the database object(s). Application platform  618  may be a framework that allows the applications of system  616  to run, such as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an embodiment, on-demand database service  616  may include an application platform  618  that enables creation, managing and executing one or more applications developed by the provider of the on-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand database service via user systems  612 , or third party application developers accessing the on-demand database service via user systems  612 . 
     The users of user systems  612  may differ in their respective capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system  612  might be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. For example, where a salesperson is using a particular user system  612  to interact with system  616 , that user system has the capacities allotted to that salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that user system to interact with system  616 , that user system has the capacities allotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have access to applications, data, and database information accessible by a lower permission level user, but may not have access to certain applications, database information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level. Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard to accessing and modifying application and database information, depending on a user&#39;s security or permission level. 
     Network  614  is any network or combination of networks of devices that communicate with one another. For example, network  614  can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriate configuration. As the most common type of computer network in current use is a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global internetwork of networks often referred to as the “Internet” with a capital “I,” that network will be used in many of the examples herein. However, it should be understood that the networks that one or more implementations might use are not so limited, although TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol. 
     User systems  612  might communicate with system  616  using TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTP is used, user system  612  might include an HTTP client commonly referred to as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP messages to and from an HTTP server at system  616 . Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network interface between system  616  and network  614 , but other techniques might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the interface between system  616  and network  614  includes load sharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality of servers. At least as for the users that are accessing that server, each of the plurality of servers has access to the MTS&#39; data; however, other alternative configurations may be used instead. 
     In one embodiment, system  616 , shown in  FIG. 6 , implements a web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, in one embodiment, system  616  includes application servers configured to implement and execute CRM software applications as well as provide related data, code, forms, webpages and other information to and from user systems  612  and to store to, and retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical database object, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of one tenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that one tenant does not have access to another tenant&#39;s data, unless such data is expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system  616  implements applications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. For example, system  616  may provide tenant access to multiple hosted (standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application. User (or third party developer) applications, which may or may not include CRM, may be supported by the application platform  618 , which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or more database objects and executing of the applications in a virtual machine in the process space of the system  616 . 
     One arrangement for elements of system  616  is shown in  FIG. 6 , including a network interface  620 , application platform  618 , tenant data storage  622  for tenant data  623 , system data storage  624  for system data  625  accessible to system  616  and possibly multiple tenants, program code  626  for implementing various functions of system  616 , and a process space  628  for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional processes that may execute on system  616  include database indexing processes. 
     Several elements in the system shown in  FIG. 6  include conventional, well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example, each user system  612  could include a desktop personal computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other network connection. User system  612  typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer browser, Netscape&#39;s Navigator browser, Opera&#39;s browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user system  612  to access, process and view information, pages and applications available to it from system  616  over network  614 . Each user system  612  also typically includes one or more user interface devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface (GUI) provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms, applications and other information provided by system  616  or other systems or servers. For example, the user interface device can be used to access data and applications hosted by system  616 , and to perform searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As discussed above, embodiments are suitable for use with the Internet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of networks. However, it should be understood that other networks can be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like. 
     According to one embodiment, each user system  612  and all of its components are operator configurable using applications, such as a browser, including computer code run using a central processing unit such as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system  616  (and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) and all of their components might be operator configurable using application(s) including computer code to run using a central processing unit such as processor system  617 , which may include an Intel Pentium® processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units. A computer program product embodiment includes a machine-readable storage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to program a computer to perform any of the processes of the embodiments described herein. Computer code for operating and configuring system  616  to intercommunicate and to process webpages, applications and other data and media content as described herein are preferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storing program code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof, may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over a transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, as is well known, or transmitted over any other conventional network connection as is well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated that computer code for implementing embodiments can be implemented in any programming language that can be executed on a client system and/or server or server system such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such as VBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known may be used. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.). 
     According to one embodiment, each system  616  is configured to provide webpages, forms, applications, data and media content to user (client) systems  612  to support the access by user systems  612  as tenants of system  616 . As such, system  616  provides security mechanisms to keep each tenant&#39;s data separate unless the data is shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another (e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or they may be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one or more servers located in city A and one or more servers located in city B). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/or physically connected servers distributed locally or across one or more geographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant to include a computer system, including processing hardware and process space(s), and an associated storage system and database application (e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also be understood that “server system” and “server” are often used interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object described herein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, a collection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include a distributed database or storage network and associated processing intelligence. 
       FIG. 7  also illustrates environment  610 . However, in  FIG. 7  elements of system  616  and various interconnections in an embodiment are further illustrated.  FIG. 7  shows that user system  612  may include processor system  612 A, memory system  612 B, input system  612 C, and output system  612 D.  FIG. 7  shows network  614  and system  616 .  FIG. 7  also shows that system  616  may include tenant data storage  622 , tenant data  623 , system data storage  624 , system data  625 , User Interface (UI)  730 , Application Program Interface (API)  732 , PL/SOQL  734 , save routines  736 , application setup mechanism  738 , applications servers  700   1 - 700   N , system process space  702 , tenant process spaces  704 , tenant management process space  710 , tenant storage area  712 , user storage  714 , and application metadata  716 . In other embodiments, environment  610  may not have the same elements as those listed above and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed above. 
     User system  612 , network  614 , system  616 , tenant data storage  622 , and system data storage  624  were discussed above in  FIG. 6 . Regarding user system  612 , processor system  612 A may be any combination of one or more processors. Memory system  612 B may be any combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system  612 C may be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system  612 D may be any combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown by  FIG. 7 , system  616  may include a network interface  620  (of  FIG. 6 ) implemented as a set of HTTP application servers  700 , an application platform  618 , tenant data storage  622 , and system data storage  624 . Also shown is system process space  702 , including individual tenant process spaces  704  and a tenant management process space  710 . Each application server  700  may be configured to tenant data storage  622  and the tenant data  623  therein, and system data storage  624  and the system data  625  therein to serve requests of user systems  612 . The tenant data  623  might be divided into individual tenant storage areas  712 , which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage area  712 , user storage  714  and application metadata  716  might be similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user&#39;s most recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage  714 . Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is a tenant might be stored to tenant storage area  712 . A UI  730  provides a user interface and an API  732  provides an application programmer interface to system  616  resident processes to users and/or developers at user systems  612 . The tenant data and the system data may be stored in various databases, such as one or more Oracle™ databases. 
     Application platform  618  includes an application setup mechanism  738  that supports application developers&#39; creation and management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage  622  by save routines  736  for execution by subscribers as one or more tenant process spaces  704  managed by tenant management process  710  for example. Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL  734  that provides a programming language style interface extension to API  732 . A detailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments is discussed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478 entitled, “Method and System for Allowing Access to Developed Applicants via a Multi-Tenant Database On-Demand Database Service”, issued Jun. 1, 2010 to Craig Weissman, which is incorporated in its entirety herein for all purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one or more system processes, which manage retrieving application metadata  716  for the subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as an application in a virtual machine. 
     Each application server  700  may be communicably coupled to database systems, e.g., having access to system data  625  and tenant data  623 , via a different network connection. For example, one application server  700   1  might be coupled via the network  614  (e.g., the Internet), another application server  700   N-1  might be coupled via a direct network link, and another application server  700   N  might be coupled by yet a different network connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between application servers  700  and the database system. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that other transport protocols may be used to optimize the system depending on the network interconnect used. 
     In certain embodiments, each application server  700  is configured to handle requests for any user associated with any organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to a specific application server  700 . In one embodiment, therefore, an interface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the application servers  700  and the user systems  612  to distribute requests to the application servers  700 . In one embodiment, the load balancer uses a least connections algorithm to route user requests to the application servers  700 . Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as round robin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, in certain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user could hit three different application servers  700 , and three requests from different users could hit the same application server  700 . In this manner, system  616  is multi-tenant, wherein system  616  handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data and applications across disparate users and organizations. 
     As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs a sales force where each salesperson uses system  616  to manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user&#39;s personal sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage  622 ). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internet access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby. 
     While each user&#39;s data might be separate from other users&#39; data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system  616  that are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keep data, applications, and application use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions that may be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data and tenant specific data, system  616  might also maintain system level data usable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data might include industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharable among tenants. 
     In certain embodiments, user systems  612  (which may be client systems) communicate with application servers  700  to request and update system-level and tenant-level data from system  616  that may require sending one or more queries to tenant data storage  622  and/or system data storage  624 . System  616  (e.g., an application server  700  in system  616 ) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. System data storage  624  may generate query plans to access the requested data from the database. 
     Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefined categories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and custom objects. It should be understood that “table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or more data categories logically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a table contains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes a customer with fields for basic contact information such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields for information such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standard entities might include tables for Account, Contact, Lead, and Opportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word “entity” may also be used interchangeably herein with “object” and “table”. 
     In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/817,161, filed Apr. 2, 2004, entitled “Custom Entities and Fields in a Multi-Tenant Database System”, and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows are stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to customers that their multiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table or that their data may be stored in the same table as the data of other customers. 
     Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together with one another in any combination. Embodiments encompassed within this specification may also include embodiments that are only partially mentioned or alluded to or are not mentioned or alluded to at all in this brief summary or in the abstract. Although various embodiments may have been motivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, which may be discussed or alluded to in one or more places in the specification, the embodiments do not necessarily address any of these deficiencies. In other words, different embodiments may address different deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification. Some embodiments may only partially address some deficiencies or just one deficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and some embodiments may not address any of these deficiencies. 
     While one or more implementations have been described by way of example and in terms of the specific embodiments, it is to be understood that one or more implementations are not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive.