Patent ID: 7483914

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for processing names by a naming service within a data processing system, the computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining an application name that is associated with an application; obtaining a deployment name that is associated with a deployment attribute that characterizes a deployment of an instance of the application; generating an application-based name for the instance of the application; storing the application-based name for the instance of the application, wherein the application-based name represents a context within a naming system; the application-based name is a compound name that comprises the application name and multiple deployment names associated with multiple deployment attributes; each of the multiple deployment attributes is a metadata value that characterizes a manner in which the instance of the application is deployed within the data processing system, each of the multiple deployment attributes is selected from a group comprising a deployment identifier, the deployment identifier being a unique identifier associated with the deployment operation, the deployment identifier being unique over all deployment operations within the data processing system or unique over all deployment operations for all instances of the application within the data processing system; a version identifier or an edition identifier associated with a version of the application; and an identifier for a deployment-associated characteristic or metric; binding the application-based name to a data object; relating the data object to a context for an application server; and resolving the application-based name to a previously bound data object; and wherein an application comprises a plurality of application modules, each module being associated with a module name and each module being associated with an application-based name based on its module name.