Abstract:
A computer program for allowing a client computer program written to communicate with WMQWF to communicate with computing elements running WMQWF or WPS includes a receiving code segment receiving said requests from a WMQWF client library, a target device selection code segment for determining a target device from said request and a list of said computing elements, a first transformation code segment for transforming said request from a format understood by said client computer program to a format understood by said target device, a dispatch code segment for sending said request to said target device, a monitor code segment for waiting for a response from said target device, a second transformation code segment for transforming said response from a format understood by said target device to a format understood said client computer program, and a response code segment for providing said response to said client code segment.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This nonprovisional patent application claims priority benefit, with regard to all common subject matter, of an earlier-filed U.S. provisional patent application titled “Application Programming Interface and Method for Providing Software Compatibility”, Ser. No. 61/003,683, filed Nov. 19, 2007. The identified earlier-filed application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into the present application. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    This application relates to a system and method for facilitating a transition between IBM® WebSphere® MQ Workflow (WMQWF) and IBM® WebSphere® Process Server (WPS). More specifically, the invention relates to a computer program implemented in a machine readable format on computing devices which creates a compatibility layer around WMQWF and WPS so that any code segments written for WMQWF will operate without error if the program is executed in an environment consisting of only WMQWF servers, only WPS servers, or a heterogeneous environment of WMQWF and WPS servers. 
         [0004]    2. Background 
         [0005]    Business Process Management (BPM) software allows businesses to model and track business processes electronically. For example, such software may be used by a business or other entity to implement a purchase request process. An employee who wants to purchase an item for work requests the item through an interface to the BPM software, and the request is forwarded to a department manager. If the department manager approves the request and the cost of the item is below a set amount, the request is then forwarded to the purchasing department. If the department manager approves the request and the cost is above the threshold, it is forwarded to a company manager for approval. If the company manager approves the request, the request is forwarded to the purchasing department. The employee is notified whether the purchase request is approved or denied. 
         [0006]    A popular BP software is IBM®&#39;s WMQWF version 3.6. In accordance with the common software architecture patterns of the time it was written, WMQWF is based generally on a client-server model. In 2006, IBM® released WPS as the next generation of BPM software and supporting the latest standards and technologies. Thus, WPS supports many technologies, including Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) technologies, which its predecessor does not. In fact, while WPS is positioned as the next version of WMQWF, it is more accurate to say WMQWF and WPS are completely different product offerings that coincidentally achieve similar results. However, IBM® does expect users of WMQWF to eventually convert existing WMQWF installations to WPS. Unfortunately, customers are in a difficult position as there is no direct upgrade path between the two offerings because they are largely incompatible with each other. 
         [0007]    WMQWF expresses business processes in Flow Definition Language (FDL) while WPS uses Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). These two representations contain syntactic, structural and, most importantly, semantic differences that make translation impossible, in some cases, without additional information. The semantic and syntactic differences between process models force the schemas for storage of those processes to be completely different. Finally, the generated business events created by WMQWF and WPS vary in format, granularity, meaning and context. 
         [0008]    Externally, the differences between WMQWF and WPS are just as numerous. The primary interface points of WMQWF are the native Java API level, the Process Control Interface, the User Defined Program Execution Server (UPES), the Staffing API, the Java Authentication Interface and the Audit interface. None of these interface points are compatible between WMQWF and WPS. For these interface points, WMQWF uses a combination of Java libraries, C libraries, or XML messages sent over a Message Queue for interaction. WPS, in contrast, uses EJB, Web Services, or Web-based clients using JavaServer Faces. 
         [0009]    Thus, due to the drastically different nature of these interfaces and of the content of the data, software written for WMQWF requires complete re-engineering to facilitate compatibility with WPS. Ideally, an upgrade from WMQWF to WPS would entail copying of data from WMQWF to WPS and then deactivating WMQWF. Unfortunately, this upgrade path has not been provided and there is no way to directly convert anything but a trivial WMQWF system to WPS. 
         [0010]    In large organizations, BPM processes may number in the thousands or tens of thousands. Not only would the definitions, or models, of the processes in WMQWF need to be rewritten to support WPS, but the actual ongoing business processes handled by WMQWF in FDL format would, similarly, need to be migrated to WPS in BPEL format. Some of these business processes may have durations measured by months and years, further complicating a transition from one technology to another. 
         [0011]    Thus, the only choice to move from WMQWF to WPS is a costly rewrite of existing software and reengineering of existing code and process models. In addition to the up-front cost of redesign, development and testing, businesses also face the additional costs of downtime and business processes improperly translated. In many corporations, there is insufficient business benefit to justify such costs when an existing system is in place and working properly. Eventually IBM® will retire support for WMQWF and businesses will be forced up upgrade to receive future support on their existing systems. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0012]    The present invention solves the above-described problems and advances the art by providing a more effective way to transition between WMQWF and WPS. More particularly, the present invention provides code segments that provide code-level compatibility between WMQWF and WPS and allows WMQWF and WPS to act in concert as a federated group where requests are executed on either WMQWF, WPS or both. 
         [0013]    Client programs may request data for a variety of reasons. For example, a business may implement a web page that tracks the current status of all the purchase requests in the organization. The web page would, either directly or indirectly, make a request to the BPM software to return the status of all purchase requests in the organization. It is possible that the web page would request the purchase request data from a stateless session bean from an EJB container. The stateless session bean would utilize the WMQWF client library to login to WMQWF, execute a query for all the purchase requests, then logout of the system. The client program may also be a traditional application with a standalone graphical user interface. 
         [0014]    The present invention intercepts requests for BPM data by client applications. The invention then calls one or more WMQWF or WPS servers, depending on the configuration and the specifics of the request. If a WMQWF server is called, the present invention is transparent and WMQWF is called directly without additional action by the invention. If a WPS server is called, in contrast, the intercepted calls are rerouted to an EJB called the WPS Conversion Service (Conversion Service). That service performs transformation of the data and then calls WPS. Once WPS returns its data, the Conversion Service performs additional translation of the returned data. The data is then returned to the client application. In situations where WMQWF and WPS servers are federated, the calls to WPS and WMQWF are executed simultaneously and the data is aggregated to provide the appearance of a single system before it is provided to the client. 
         [0015]    The present invention provides a Java API component for providing this compatibility. An extension for WMQWF client libraries are supplied which dispatch requests directly to WMQWF using its native protocol, and to WPS using the Conversion Service deployed in an EJB container and, additionally, a web services interface to the same. Requests made to the Conversion Service, in turn, make an additional request the WPS server, transform any data that requires transformation and returns the data to the client library extension. The extension then returns the data to the client program. 
         [0016]    In a mixed environment, certain requests will execute against a single server while others will execute on multiple servers simultaneously, depending on the action requested. For example, general queries will be executed against all servers and the data will be merged to provide the appearance of a single server. In contrast, requests for a single object will be dispatched only to the server on which it resides. 
         [0017]    The present invention also provides an XML Message Queue API component. The process control API monitors an input message queue. When an appropriately formatted XML, message is placed in the queue, a listener application will read the message and determine what needs to be done to process the request. For requests destined for WMQWF servers, the message is simply re-queued in an appropriate queue monitored by WMQWF. For requests destined for WPS servers, a SOAP/HTTP request is made to the web service interface of the Conversion Service. When the request has been executed, an appropriate XML reply message is placed in a reply queue. Client programs interested in this information will monitor this queue for updates. 
         [0018]    The XML Message Queue API also includes a dynamic cache component which is refreshed programmatically, by explicit refresh messages, and at the startup of the listener application. 
         [0019]    The present invention also provides a Java Staffing API component for providing access to user/group or organizational information. This works in the same way as the Java API mentioned previously but additionally accesses a database with user and group information, such as an LDAP or a Microsoft® Active Directory® database. 
         [0020]    These and other important aspects of the present invention are described more fully in the detailed description below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         [0021]    Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein: 
           [0022]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating components of a computer system that may be used to implement embodiments of the invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that utilizes a single WMQWF device. 
           [0024]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that utilizes aggregated WMQWF and WPS devices. 
           [0025]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that utilizes a single WPS device. 
           [0026]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention that utilizes the message queuing interface. 
           [0027]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating selected steps of a method in accordance with embodiments of the invention. 
           [0028]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating selected steps of a method in accordance with embodiments of the invention. 
       
    
    
       [0029]    The drawing figures do not limit the present invention to the specific embodiments disclosed and described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0030]    The following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention references the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific embodiments in which the invention can be practiced. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the invention in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. 
         [0031]    The present invention relates to systems and methods for facilitating interoperability between IBM®&#39;s WMQWF and WPS and can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented with a computer program that operates a computing device such as the computing devices  12 ,  14 ,  16  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . In one embodiment the computing system  10  includes a client computing device  12  and at least one server computing device  14 ,  16  connected through a communications network  18 . The communications network  18  may include a local area network, a wide area network, the Internet, a direct wired connection, an infra-red connection or any other communication architecture between a plurality of computing devices as would be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art. In another embodiment, the invention may be implemented with a special purpose computer such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a network appliance, or a computer specifically configured to run IBM WMQWF or WPS. A computer specifically configured to run WMQWF include at least 1 GB of RAM and a 500 MHz CPU. 
         [0032]    The computer program is stored in or on a computer-usable medium, such a computer-readable medium, residing on or accessible by a computing device, such as client computing device  12  or server computing device  14 ,  16 , for instructing the computing devices  12 ,  14 ,  16  to implement the methods and their other functions as described herein. The computing device may include a client computing device  12  or a server computing device  14 ,  16  as described below. The computer program preferably comprises an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions in the host computer and other computing devices coupled with the host computer. The computer program can be embodied in any computer-usable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions for the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, and execute the instructions. The computer program may execute within an operating system on dedicated hardware or may execute within an operating system on virtual hardware. 
         [0033]    The method is especially suited for implementation on a single computing device or computer network, such as the client computing device  12  depicted in  FIG. 1 . The computer system  10  comprises at least a client computing device  12  or a server computing device  14 ,  16 . The client device  12  or server device  14 ,  16  may include a single physical device, a logical cluster, or be part of a cloud architecture. The computer will likely be part of a communications network  18  that includes one or more server computers  14 ,  16  running WMQWF or WPS. The computer program and equipment described herein are merely examples of a program and equipment that may be used to implement embodiments of the invention and may be replaced with other software and computer equipment without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will be appreciated, however, that the principles of the present invention are useful independent of a particular invention, and that one or more of the steps described herein may be implemented without the assistance of a computing device. 
         [0034]      FIG. 2  illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention implemented within a system  20 A, in which a client program  26 A written for WMQWF resides on a client computing device  22 A. The client program  26 A can be a standalone program with or without its own graphical user interface (GUI) or, for example, a distributed application residing in an EJB container which utilizes a web-based GUI. The client program will likely utilize the standard WMQWF library  28 A, distributed by IBM® as fmcjapi.jar. This invention adds an extender  30 A to the standard WMQWF library  28 A to overload its operation. In this preferred embodiment, WMQWF  38 A will be version 3.6 which enables the extender  30 A to overload the operation of the standard WMQWF library  28 A. In an alternate embodiment, the invention could supply it&#39;s own interface that duplicates that of the WMQWF library  28 A. When client program  26 A executes a function in the WMQWF client library  28 A, instead of executing the WMQWF client code, the code of the extender  30 A is called instead. 
         [0035]    In this embodiment, the extender  30 A must first determine the agent implementation class name. The agent implementation class name is listed in a properties file  34 A with a predetermined property name that is loaded by the extender  30 A. The agent implementation class name could be determined by other means, such as being hard-coded, stored in a database, or determined programmatically. The agent implementation class, once determined, is instantiated and stored by the extender  30 A as an agent implementation object  32 A. In the current embodiment, three different agent implementation classes are envisioned with three separate behaviors with each facilitating a step along a staged conversion from WMQWF to WPS. The behavior of each class is shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4 . 
         [0036]    The first agent implementation class is a WMQWF agent. This agent simply allows a connection to a single WMQWF device  24 A. Multiple WMQWF devices organized into one cluster are also envisioned as a single WMQWF device  24 A because they function as one logical device. This agent is used in the first step of the conversion to WPS. This agent allows connections from a client program  26 A to a single existing WMQWF device  24 A and, once confirmed that the client program  26 A functions normally with this invention, the next agent implementation can be used. This allows problems to be rolled-back without significant changes elsewhere in the system. In this scenario, the agent implementation object  32 A must be provided or determine the names of a device  24 A running WMQWF  38 A. This information can be provided by a configuration file  36 A, database or programmatically. 
         [0037]      FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which a client computer program  26 B communicates with WMQWF  38 B and WPS  48 B through an aggregated agent object  32 B. This implementation is used in a federated computer system  20 B and allows connections by a client program  26 B residing on a client device  22 B to WMQWF  38 B and WPS  48 B simultaneously. The computer program functions as described for  FIG. 2 , until the agent implementation object  32 B communicates with the WMQWF device  24 B or WPS device  44 B. The aggregated agent class allows client applications to use both WMQWF  38 B and WPS  48 B simultaneously. Multiple WMQWF devices  24 B, multiple WPS devices  44 B or both organized into respective clusters are also envisioned as a single device because they function as one logical device. The aggregated agent implementation  32 B allows, through an additional configuration parameter stored in a properties file  42 B, selection of the method used to connect to the WPS device  44 B. There are two choices. Both options have the same logical behavior, but the protocol used for communication with the WPS device  44 B is different in each. One allows for an RMI/IIOP connection to the Conversion Service  50 B; the other allows for a SOAP/HTTP connection to a Web Services interface  54 B to the same. This agent implementation allows a gradual conversion of WMQWF processes to WPS. It also allows all long-running process that exist in WMQWF  38 B to reach the end of their life before shutting down the WMQWF  38 B device. This agent implementation class will also aggregate data returned from multiple sources to give the appearance of a single WMQWF device. Once all the business processes existing in WMQWF  38 B have terminated, the final agent implementation class can be used. 
         [0038]      FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of the invention in a WPS-only computer system  20 C in which a client computer program  26 C communicates WPS  48 C through an WPS agent object  32 C. An instantiated WPS agent object  32 C allows connections to a single device  44 C running WPS  48 C. Multiple WPS devices organized into one cluster are also envisioned as a single WPS device  44 C because they function as one logical device. The WPS agent functionality is implemented in two separate classes. Both have the same logical behavior, but the protocol used for communication with the WPS device  44 C is different in each. One allows for an RMI/IIOP connection to the Conversion Service  50 C; the other allows for a SOAP/HTTP connection to a Web Services interface  54 C to the Conversion Service  50 C. All other behavior is the same. When this agent is used, any remaining WMQWF devices may be decommissioned. 
         [0039]    Referring to  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4  together, once an agent implementation object  32 A,  32 B,  32 C is instantiated by the extender  30 A,  30 B,  30 C, the extender  30 A,  30 B,  30 C must determine the list of WMQWF and WPS devices  36 A,  36 B,  36 C and a method of communicating with each device. There may be a single WMQWF device  24 A as shown in  FIG. 2 , a single WPS device  44 C, as shown in  FIG. 4 , or there may be WMQWF  24 B and WPS  44 B devices, as shown in  FIG. 3 , as determined by the agent implementation class used. The method of communication is likely an Internet Protocol address and associated port, but it could specify other methods such as a pipe or queue. The list  36 A,  36 B,  36 C may reside in a text-based file on a storage medium accessible to the invention or it may reside in a database. Alternatively, the list may be determined programmatically, for example, by sending a broadcast packet on a network device that requests WMQWF  38 A,  38 B and WPS  48 B,  48 C perform an action, such as a reply to the broadcast over the network, that makes their identity known to the client  22 A,  22 B,  22 C. 
         [0040]    Next, the extender  30 A,  30 B,  30 C must decide how many target devices must be called to handle to respond to the request. The number of target devices could be as low as one to as many as all the defined systems. How many systems are queried depends on agent implementation, the environment and the nature of the function called by the client library. In an environment with only one WMQWF device  24 A, as in  FIG. 2 , or WPS device  44 C, as in  FIG. 4 , only one target device can be called. In an environment with a plurality of WMQWF devices  24 B or WPS devices  44 B, as in  FIG. 3 , the nature of the function called is relevant to the determination. 
         [0041]    Certain functions must be executed on every WMQWF device  24 A,  24 B and WPS device  44 B,  44 C and others are executed on only one device chosen from among all the WMQWF  24 A,  24 B and WPS  44 B,  44 C devices. An example of functions needing to be executed on all the devices are logins or a general list queries. An example of a function requiring to be executed on only a single device is a query for data pertaining to one specific object, for example a business process object. 
         [0042]    When one or more target devices are chosen by the extender  30 A,  30 B,  30 C, the target devices are then called. If a WMQWF direct access agent object  32 A is used, as in  FIG. 2 , all the data in simply passed between the client program  26 A and the one target WMQWF  38 A without change. 
         [0043]    However, if aggregated access, as in  FIG. 3 , or WPS only access is used, as in  FIG. 4 , more steps are involved. A stateless session EJB, the Conversion Service  50 B,  50 C, deployed in an EJB container on the target WPS device  44 B,  44 C is called with the WMQWF request. 
         [0044]    The Conversion Service  50 B,  50 C must first translate the request into a format understood by WPS  48 B,  48 C by utilizing a first transformation code segment  46 B,  46 C. This transformation involves structural and syntactic changes, but may also involve semantic changes requiring data from a database  56 B,  56 C. 
         [0045]    The database  56 B,  56 C in this embodiment is a relational database residing in the BPE database, which is created as part of WPS  48 B,  48 C, and augmented with additional tables and views for this invention. It is appreciated, that the database  56 B,  56 C need not reside with the BPE database nor does it even need to be relational in nature. One or more queries may be required to collect all the required data to facilitate the transformation. 
         [0046]    Once the request for data is transformed into a format WPS  48 B,  48 C understands, the query is executed by passing the request to WPS  48 B,  48 C. The request may be made directly to the Conversion Service  50 B,  50 C or through the Web Services interface to the same  54 B,  54 C. 
         [0047]    Regardless if the request made to a single WPS device  48 C, as in  FIG. 4 , or a federated set of target devices  24 B, 44 B, as in  FIG. 3 , once WPS  48 B,  48 C has completed the request, a code segment in the Conversion Service  50 B,  50 C receives the response data. The data is provided to a second transformation code segment  52 B,  52 C. This transformation segment  52 B,  52 C transforms the WPS-specific response into a WMQWF response. Again, this transformation will involve at least syntactic and structural changes. Likely, this transformation will also require semantic changes necessitating additional data to be provided. For this, the views in the BPE database  56 B,  56 C are queried to supplement the data. One or more queries may be required to collect all the required data to facilitate the transformation. 
         [0048]    Once the data has been fully transformed, it is returned to the agent implementation  32 B,  32 C in the extender  30 B,  30 C. In the case of a federated system, as in  FIG. 3 , the agent implementation object  32 B then aggregates all the data returned from all the target devices  24 B,  48 B queried. Based on the input parameters of the function, the data may be sorted as well. 
         [0049]    If the extender  30 C has been configured to access WPS only, as in  FIG. 4 , the extender behaves just as with the federated WPS system of  FIG. 3 , but without performing the aggregation functions required for multiple datasets. The same transformation steps must be performed, just as in the federated scenario. 
         [0050]      FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of the invention implemented within a system  60  in which a client program  26 D written communicates with WMQWF  38 D and WPS  48 D through a Message Queue interface in XML format. When a client computer program  26 D residing on a client device  22 D queues a message to the input queue  62 , a listener service computer program  66  removes the request from the queue  62 . The listener the determines the target device for the request from among all the WMQWF devices  24 D and WPS devices  44 D. 
         [0051]    If the request is destined for a WMQWF computing device  24 D, the message is requeued into a separate WMQWF input queue  68  for processing. A corresponding response will be queued by the same WMQWF instance  38 B on a reply queue  72 . The listener service  66  will monitor the reply queue  72  and queue a new reply in an output queue  64  monitored by the client computer program  26 D. 
         [0052]    If the request is destined for a WPS computing device  44 D, the listener service  66  will receive a message and then call the Web Services interface  54 D of the Conversion Service  50 D with the request. In the Conversion Service  50 D, the message data is passed to a first transformation code segment  46 D and transformed syntactically, structurally and semantically into a format understood by WPS, as described previously and possibly using a database  56 D. It is then executed by the WPS instance  48 D, and transformed back into a WMQWF format by a second transformation code segment  52 D, as previously described, and possibly utilizing data from a database  56 D. The data is then returned to the listener service computer program  66 . The listener service  66  then queues a response message in the output queue  64  for processing by the client computer program  26 D. 
         [0053]    An additional aspect of the MQ services listener program  66  is the caching of data from WPS  48 D. Rather than repeatedly querying WPS  48 D for duplicate data, returned data is cached. In addition, the cache is updated when the listener process is started, when “explicit cache” refresh messages are received on a specific queue  74 , and when certain WPS errors are received. This allows some future messages, specifically process create or process “create and start” messages, to simply query the cache to determine if WPS  48 D or WMQWF  38 D should process the request. 
         [0054]      FIGS. 6-7  illustrate steps in exemplary methods  80 A and  80 B of using the computer system  10 . Some or all of the steps may be implemented on the client computing device  22 A,  22 B,  22 C, the server computing device  24 A,  24 B,  24 C or by other computer programs stored in or accessed by those devices. The particular order of the steps illustrated in  FIGS. 6-7  and described herein can be altered without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, some of the illustrated steps may be reversed, combined, or even removed entirely. 
         [0055]    Method  80 A shown in  FIG. 6  is used by this invention when communicating with a WMQWF device. First a request is received  82 A, generally from a client computer program. Then a target device must be determined  84 A from among all the WMQWF devices in the system. Once the device is identified, a request must be sent to that device  86 A. The computer program must then wait for a response from the target device  88 A. At some time in the future, a response is created and that response must be provided to an external actor  90 A. That actor is generally the same actor who created the original request. 
         [0056]    Method  80 B shown in  FIG. 7  is a more a generalized method used by this invention when communicating with a WPS device. The process is the same as shown in  FIG. 6  except, after the target device is determined  84 B, if the target device is a WPS device  92 , the request must be transformed  94  into a format understood by WPS. Then, after the response is received  88 B, if the target system was a WPS device  96 , the response must be transformed back into a format understood by WMQWF  98 . 
         [0057]    Although the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment illustrated in the attached drawing figures, it is noted that equivalents may be employed and substitutions made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as recited in the claims. 
         [0058]    In this disclosure, references are made to the WMQWF device  24 A,  24 B,  24 D and the WPS device  44 B,  44 C,  44 D. WMQWF and WPS are software applications that reside on a physical device. Therefore, the phrase WMQWF device specifically refers to the computing device having WMQWF installed thereon. Similarly, WPS device specifically refers to the computing device having WPS installed thereon.