Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The publish-subscribe pattern is a messaging pattern used in software design in which publishers publish messages that are delivered to unknown subscribers. Published messages are characterized into classes. A subscriber can express an interest in (subscribe to) one or more classes of messages without knowing who publishes the message. In response to subscribing to one or more classes of messages, the subscriber will receive only those messages to which the subscriber has subscribed. 
         [0002]    The observer pattern (a subset of the publish/subscribe pattern) is a software design pattern in which the subject maintains a list of observers, and automatically notifies them of changes in state. The observer pattern is often used to implement event handling systems. The observer pattern defines a one-to-many dependency between elements so that when one element changes state, all the elements dependent on the changed element are notified and updated automatically. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    An observer pattern of software design can include a first subject and a second subject. The first subject can be the same entity as the second subject. The second subject can contain or include the first subject. The pattern can also include entities comprising a first observer and a second observer. The same entity can be both the first observer and the second subject. 
         [0004]    A dependency informer can enable one or more sets of connections between pairs of elements in one or more entities to be defined. The definition can indicate identifiers (e.g., names, codes, etc.) of both elements. A set of definitions can be used by the dependency informer to select an event to fire in the second subject or a custom delegate to invoke when receiving an event from the first subject. The dependency informer can enable custom program code to be defined. The custom code can be invoked when an event is fired with a particular parameter value. Consequently, instead of registering for a single event fired by the first subject and having a single type of outcome for the event, a single event in the first subject can cause several different outcomes by generating several different types of events to be generated by the second subject. Custom code behavior can be defined for each event generated by the first subject, based on a parameter or parameters associated with the event. Hence, receiving a single event generated by the first subject can result in multiple different events being applied to one or more observers. 
         [0005]    An example of an implementation of the described observer pattern in software design is a Model View View-Model (MVVM) architecture. In one implementation, the first subject can be the Model, a first observer and second subject can be a View-Model and a second observer can be a View. A set of definitions can be used by the dependency informer to select the correct event to fire in the view-model when receiving an event from the model. The dependency informer can enable defined custom code to be invoked when an event is fired for a particular element in the model. Consequently, instead of registering for a single event fired by the model and having a single type of outcome for the event, a single event in the model can cause several different outcomes by generating several different types of events to be generated by the view-model. Custom code behavior can be defined for each event generated by the model, based on the parameter or parameters associated with the event. Hence, receiving a single event generated by the model can result in multiple different events being applied to one or more views. 
         [0006]    The first subject, second subject, first observer and second observer can be objects. An object (e.g., the dependency informer) can be created to forward events from the first subject (e.g., the model) to the second subject (e.g., the view-model) by defining element pairs. The object can include logic to determine the effects of the forwarding. 
         [0007]    A single event in the first subject may include one or more parameters that result in the different events being generated in the second subject. In response to detecting an event fired by the first subject, the event including one or more parameters or delegates, the dependency informer can execute customized code. The parameter or parameters can be used to distinguish between different events. Optionally, the order in which the delegates are invoked can be prioritized. A delegate can be an object that performs a task for another object. A delegate can act as a pointer to a function by specifying a method to call and, optionally, an object on which to call the method. A delegate can encapsulate within it a reference to a method, enabling the delegate object to be passed to code which can call the referenced method, without having to know at compile time which method will be invoked. 
         [0008]    This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    In the drawings: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1   a  illustrates an example of a system  100  that applies events fired by a first subject (e.g., a model) to a second observer (e.g., a view) by defining dependencies in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein; 
           [0011]      FIG. 1   b  illustrates an example  120  of connections between a first subject (e.g., a model), first observer/second subject (e.g., a view-model) and a second observer (e.g. view) in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein; 
           [0012]      FIG. 1   c  illustrates an example  170  of a dependency informer and interface in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  illustrates an example of a method  200  that receives an event fired by a first subject (e.g., a model) and generates one or more events to be applied to a second observer (e.g., a view) or invokes one of more delegates in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an example of a computing environment in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an example of an integrated development environment in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Overview 
       [0016]    When developing interactive applications, design considerations include separating an application&#39;s data, presentation, and user input into specialized components. Several different architecture patterns that are implementations of the observer pattern described above have evolved to address these considerations. The Model View Presenter (MVP) pattern is used mostly for building user interfaces (UIs). In the MVP pattern the model is an interface defining the data to be displayed or otherwise acted upon in the user interface, the view is an interface that displays data from the model and routes user commands (events) to the presenter to act upon that data and the presenter acts upon the model and the view. The presenter retrieves data from repositories (the model), and formats it for display in the view. In the Model View View-Model (MVVM) pattern, the model can refer to either an object model that represents the real state content (an object-oriented approach), or the model can refer to a data access layer that represents that content (a data-centric approach). The view typically refers to all elements displayed by the including buttons, windows, graphics, and other controls. The View-Model is a Model of the View meaning it is an abstraction of the View that also serves in data binding between the View and the Model. The View-Model exposes public properties, commands, and abstractions. 
         [0017]    Binding in user interfaces of applications is commonly used to synchronize state between the view (which displays the data and with which the user can interact) and the model (which holds the current state of the data). The result of binding typically applies changes made in the view to the model. Changes in the model are not directly assigned to the view. Instead, to apply changes made in the model to the view, the model fires a change event that is caught by the view. The view requests the new value stored in the model and the new value is applied to the view. 
         [0018]    In some design patterns (like MVVM or MVP) the model and the view are not directly bound to each other. Instead, the view is bound to a third object, the view-model (or presenter). The view-model passes the change data to the model. In one implementation of this pattern, the view-model can act as a proxy between the view and the model. 
         [0019]    One consequence of the view-model acting as a proxy is that events fired in the model do not reach the view. “Firing an event” means to call all event handlers which are registered to that event. Thus, when an event occurs in the model, the view-model has to fire an event of its own in order for the view to be updated with the event. One way to handle the need for the view-model to fire an event is for the view-model to catch the model&#39;s event and for the view-model to fire an appropriate event as well. The event fired by the view-model can be caught by the view, the view can request an update from the view-model and the view-model can send an update to the view. This solution requires a considerable amount of coding for each view-model element to model element connection. Coding can become complex, in particular when one element in the model affects more than one element in the view-model, tending to make this solution error prone. 
         [0020]    The subject matter described herein provides an example of an observer (e.g., a view) that is registered to events in a subject (e.g., a model) indirectly using a proxy (e.g., a view-model). In accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein, a dependency informer can be created. The dependency informer can register to receive notifications of events in the first subject (e.g., the model). A table in the dependency informer can define the set of connections between pairs of elements. One of the elements can be in the first subject (e.g., the model) and its counterpart can be in the second subject (e.g., the view-model). The dependency informer can map between an element name or element identifier in the first subject and an element name or element identifier in the second subject. The dependency informer can map between an element name or element identifier in one subject and another element name or element identifier in the same subject. The dependency information can map between an element name in the first subject and a delegate. The delegate can be a pointer to a method to be invoked. The set of definition mappings can be used by the dependency informer to select the correct action to take when receiving an event from the first subject. 
         [0021]    In response to detecting an event fired by the first subject, the dependency informer by default can fire a corresponding event in the second subject to notify the second observer (e.g., the view) about the event. In response to detecting an event fired by the first subject, the event including one or more parameters, the dependency informer can execute customized code based on the value of the parameter. For example, a property change event with a parameter of “Property1” can mean that the “Property1” property was changed while the same event with a parameter of “Property2” can indicate that the “Property2” property was changed, etc.). The customized code can execute one of a number of potential code paths in response to the content of the parameters associated with the event received from the first subject. The dependency informer object created can optionally prioritize the order in which the delegates are invoked. The dependency informer can be implemented as a class with a method that can be invoked upon detection of an event (e.g., an “OnEvent” action). For an event where the parameter of the event received from the first subject is some agreed-upon, specified or configured value (e.g., the value is empty or null), the agreed-upon value may signify that all the elements are affected, and that therefore all the delegates will be invoked. Similarly, an agreed-upon value may signify that the event refers to all possible parameter values. 
       Dependency Informer 
       [0022]      FIG. 1   a  illustrates an example of a system  100  that applies changes made to a model (e.g. first subject) to a view (e.g. second observer) using a dependency informer in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein. All or portions of system  100  may reside on one or more computers such as the computers described below with respect to  FIG. 3 . System  100  may execute on a software development computer such as the software development computer described with respect to  FIG. 4 . System  100  or portions thereof may execute within an integrated development environment or IDE or may execute outside of an IDE. The IDE can be an IDE such as the one described with respect to  FIG. 4  or can be any other IDE. All or portions of system  100  may be implemented as a plug-in or add-on. 
         [0023]    System  100  may include one or more computers or computing, devices such as a computer  102  comprising: one or more processors such as processor  143 , etc., a memory such as memory  145 , and one or more program modules comprising a dependency informer such as dependency informer  116 , which when loaded into the memory  145  cause the processor  143 , etc. to execute the actions attributed to the dependency informer  116 . A process such as process  106  may execute on computer  102 . The process  106  may affect or may be affected by a model  108  that stores data on which the process  106  acts or on which the process  106  depends. System  100  may also include one or more view-models such as view-model  110 , etc. and one or more views of the model such as view  112 , etc. The model  108  can generate an event. The event (e.g., event  118 ) can be sent to the dependency informer  116 . The event can identify an element in the model to which the event relates. The event can identify particular semantics of the event to which the sent event refers. One or more parameters can be used to identify the element in the model to which the event relates. One or more parameters can be used to identify the semantic to which the event refers. 
         [0024]    An instance of the dependency informer  116  can be initialized in the view-model  110 . The instance of the dependency informer  116  can be initialized with a delegate to a method in the view-model  110 . The method in the view-model  110  can fire an event. Dependency informer  116  may use this method in order to fire events in view-model  110  which are associated with a reference to the events such as event  118  that occurred in the instance of the model  108 . Connections between elements in the model  108  and elements in the view-model  110  can be defined. Alternatively, connections between elements in the model  108  and elements in the view-model  110  can be read from a configuration file by the dependency informer upon initialization or the connections between elements in the model  108  and elements in the view-model  110  can be read from a configuration file by an object that calls a series of add functions with the appropriate parameters. 
         [0025]    Custom code behavior can also be configured. The custom code behavior can be invoked when one of the elements in the model  108  changes or when any event is fired by the model by creating a connection between an element in the model  108  and a delegate to a method which includes the custom code (e.g., custom code  121 ) or to an anonymous method which includes the custom code. An anonymous function is a function or subroutine that is defined or called without being bound to an identifier. 
         [0026]    The dependency informer  116  can be initialized with an input parameter comprising a reference to an inspected (observed) object (i.e., the first subject). The inspected object can be any object that implements the interface with the referenced event. An input parameter can comprise a delegate to a method that fires an event in the containing object (i.e., the second subject including but not limited to a view-model such as view-model  110  that includes dependency informer  116 ). The dependency informer  116  can save the input parameters on initialization for later use. The dependency informer  116  can register to receive notifications whenever the event in the model  108  occurs. 
         [0027]    The dependency informer  116  can maintain a mapping such as but not limited to map  114  between an element name and a list of delegates. Connections between the model (i.e., the first subject) elements and delegates can be added to the map. Connections can be forwarding connections. Connections can be splitting connections. When a forwarding connection is added, the dependency informer  116  can create a new delegate which, when called, can invoke the on event delegate method with the element identifier. This new delegate can be added to the map using the splitting method logic. When the model fires event such as change event  118 , the dependency informer&#39;s event handler can be invoked. The dependency informer&#39;s event handler can check if the element identifier sent in the event exists in the map  114 . If it does, the event handler can invoke one or more of the delegates in the list of delegates mapped to the element identifier to generate one or more events such as event  119 , etc. If the event was fired with an agreed-upon, specified or configured value (e.g., an empty parameter), all the delegates in the map can be invoked. 
         [0028]      FIG. 1   b  illustrates an example  120  of a use of a dependency informer in a system with a model  122  (i.e., first subject), a view-model  128  (i.e., first observer and second subject) and a view  142  (i.e., second observer). In accordance with aspects of the subject matter described herein, the view  142  can have a pointer  144  to the view-model  128 . The view-model  128  can have a pointer  130  to the model  122 . Suppose in the view there are text boxes or labels that display some or all of three numbers such as num2v  146 , num2v  148  and sumv  150 . Suppose sumv  150  is the sum of num1v  146  and num2v  148 . Suppose the text boxes or labels display the data stored in corresponding elements of the model  122  for the numbers num1v  146  and num2v  148 . Suppose the same elements exist in the view-model  128  as num1vm  134 , num2vm  136  and sumvm  138 . Suppose that in the model  122  only the corresponding element num1m  124  exists for num1vm  134 , and model element num2m  126  corresponds to num2vm  136 . Suppose the sum is not included in the model  122  because calculation of the sum is done in the UI logic. 
         [0029]    In the example, num1v  146  can be bound to num1vm  134  and num2v  148  can be bound to num2vm  136 . The value of num1m  124  can be returned to num1v  146  and the value of num2m  126  to num2v  148 . Whenever num1m  124  changes, the change can be reflected in num1v  146 . Whenever num2m  126  changes, the change can be reflected in num2v  148 . Whenever either num1m  124  or num2m  126  changes, the change can be reflected in sumv  150 . In accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein, changes in model elements can be reflected in values displayed in the view because the dependency informer  132  includes an change event handler that is invoked whenever the model  122  fires a change event. The change event handler can receive the element identifier of the model element that has changed allowing the dependency informer  132  to use the on change method  140  to fire a change event in the view model  128  with an appropriate element identifier. 
         [0030]    To define the connections between the view-model  128  and the model  122 , the dependency informer  132  can be informed of dependencies that exist between elements in the view-model  128  and the model  122 . The dependency information comprises the mapping information. For example, dependency informer  132  can be told that num1vm  134  is dependent on num1m  124  and that num2vm 136  is dependent on num2m  126 . The dependency informer  132  can also be told that sumvm  138  is dependent on num1m  124  and num2m  126 . Thus if num1m  124  changes, the model  122  can fire a change event identifying num1m  124  as the element that changed. The dependency informer  132  can catch that change event, and can access the map information. The map information will indicate that there are two elements that depend on num1m  124 : num1vm  134  and sumvm  138 . Dependency informer  132  can use the on change event  140  to which dependency informer  132  delegates, to inform the view-model  110  that the values for num1vm  134  and sumvm  138  have changed. The dependency informer  132  can call on change event  140  with num1vm  134  and sumvm  138 A. change event can also be fired in the view-model  128  for num1vm  134  and sumvm  138 . These change events can be caught by the view  142 . The view  142  can see that num1m  134  and sumvm  138  have been updated. In response the view  142  can determine the updated values by asking the view-model  128  for num1vm  134  and the view-model  128  can return the value which it got from the model  122  for num1m  124 . For sumv  150  the view-model  128  can be asked for sumvm  138 . The view-model  128  can return the sum of num1m  124  and num2m  126 . Alternatively, a second method (in addition to the on-change method  140 ) can be called to compute the sum of num1vm  134  and num2vm  136 . 
         [0031]      FIG. 1   e  illustrates an example  170  of a dependency informer  152  and an interface (e.g., INotifyEvent  164 ). A dependency informer  152  can include a delegate to an on event method  154 , an event handler  156  and a map  158 . The map  158  can include information including the element name and a list of delegates. The dependency informer  152  can also include one or more add methods (e.g., method  160  and method  162 ) having parameters comprising a string and a string or comprising a string and a delegate. The dependency informer  152  can have a pointer to the object that has the on event method in it. For example, in  FIG. 1   b , dependency informer  132  has the pointer to the on change method  140  inside view-model  128 . The dependency informer  152  of  FIG. 1   c  can also have an event handler such as event handler  156 . The event handler  156  can register for the event  166  of the INotifyEvent interface  164 . INotifyEvent interface  164  in this example is an interface that declares the event. To register to receive notifications when events occur, the object can implement this interface. In the example, the model implements the INotifyEvent interface  164  with the Event  166  event. 
         [0032]    The dependency informer  152  is given the pointer to the model which implements INotifyEvent interface  164 . Since model  122  implements interface  164 , the dependency informer  152  can register event handler  156  to the model&#39;s event by using Event  166  defined in the INotifyEvent interface  164 . The dependency informer  152  can then register for the events fired by the model. By registering, the dependency informer  152  will be told to call the event handler  156  whenever the event fires. The dependency informer  152  also includes the map  158  which has the element identifier and a list of delegates. The map holds the definitions of dependencies described above between the objects. In  FIG. 1   b,  the dependencies defined included: num1vm  134  is dependent on num1m  124 , and sumvm  138  is dependent on num1m  124 . The second parameter is a list of delegates. Because num1vm  134  ( b ) depends on num1m  124  (a), a delegate which calls the on change event  140  for num1vm  134  can be added into the list for the key num1m  124 . Whenever num1m  124  fires a change event, a change event in view model  128  can be fired with num1vm  134  as the parameter. Similarly, when the connection between num1m  128  and sumvm  138  is defined, the dependency informer  132  can check the map for a key of num1m  124 . If a key of num1m  124  is found, the list of delegates can be retrieved and the delegate related to sumvm  138  can be added to the list of delegates. If the key of num1m is not found, a new list of delegates can be created and the delegate related to sumvm  138  can be added to the new list of delegates. 
         [0033]    Dependency informer  152  may include two add methods, one which gets two strings, add method  160  and one which gets a string and a delegate, add method  162 . Add method  162  gets a string and a delegate. The string reflects the identifier of an event parameter in the first subject (e.g. element in the model) and the delegate reflects an action or actions to be taken. For example, suppose num1m  124  changes, and the action to be taken is to change the background color by calling a method called changebackgroundcolor. Add method  162  can be called with num1m  124  as the first parameter and a pointer to the changebackgroundcolor method as the second parameter. The dependency informer can go to the map, and search for a key of num1m  124  in the map. If the key of num1m  124  is found in the map, the list of delegates can be retrieved and the delegate (the pointer to the changebackgroundcolor method) can be added to the list of delegates. 
         [0034]    In the second add method, method  160 , the same logic can execute except that instead of having a delegate, the add method would have an event parameter in the second object (e.g. view-model&#39;s element identifier) as the second parameter. A new delegate can be created. The action of the new delegate can be to call on event (e.g., OnEvent  154 ) created in the first field with the second string as the parameter. Change event handler can handle the firing of the change event. The change event can be formed with the element name as a parameter. The change event handler can receive the element name and search the map for a key with this element name. If there is no key with the element name, nothing else has to be done. If the key with the element name is found, each delegate in the list of delegates can be called, invoking whatever method the delegate in the list calls. 
         [0035]      FIG. 2  illustrates a method  200  that can use a dependency informer to apply changes made to a model to a view in accordance with aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein. The method described in  FIG. 2  can be practiced by a system such as but not limited to the one described with respect to  FIG. 1   a  and for which examples were provided in  FIGS. 1   b  and  1   c . While method  200  describes a series of acts that are performed in a sequence, it is to be understood that method  200  is not limited by the order of the sequence. For instance, some acts may occur in a different order than that described. In addition, an act may occur concurrently with another act. In some instances, not all acts may be performed. 
         [0036]    At  202  a map, as described more fully above, can be received. The dependency informer can register for the event in the first subject (e.g. model) at  203 . At  204  an event fired by a first subject can be received by the dependency informer. The event can identify different semantics of the event by using a parameter. At  206  the dependency informer&#39;s event handler can be invoked. At  208  the dependency informer can access its map to determine what delegates need to be invoked. At  210  the dependency map can be searched for a key matching the parameter sent by the event. At  212  if the key is found, each delegate in the list can be invoked at  216 . At  214  if the key is not found in the map the process can end. 
       Example of a Suitable Computing Environment 
       [0037]    In order to provide context for various aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein,  FIG. 3  and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief general description of a suitable computing environment  510  in which various embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented. While the subject matter disclosed herein is described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other computing devices, those skilled in the art will recognize that portions of the subject matter disclosed herein can also be implemented in combination with other program modules and/or a combination of hardware and software. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, physical artifacts, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. The computing environment  510  is only one example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended to limit the scope of use or functionality of the subject matter disclosed herein. 
         [0038]    With reference to  FIG. 3 , a computing device in the form of a computer  512  is described. Computer  512  may include at least one processing unit  514 , a system memory  516 , and a system bus  518 . The at least one processing unit  514  can execute instructions that are stored in a memory such as but not limited to system memory  516 . The processing unit  514  can be any of various available processors. For example, the processing unit  514  can be a GPU. The instructions can be instructions for implementing functionality carried out by one or more components or modules discussed above or instructions for implementing one or more of the methods described above. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures also can be employed as the processing unit  514 . The computer  512  may be used in a system that supports rendering graphics on a display screen. In another example, at least a portion of the computing device can be used in a system that comprises a graphical processing unit. The system memory  516  may include volatile memory  520  and nonvolatile memory  522 . Nonvolatile memory  522  can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory  520  may include random access memory (RAM) which may act as external cache memory. The system bus  518  couples system physical artifacts including the system memory  516  to the processing unit  514 . The system bus  518  can be any of several types including a memory bus, memory controller, peripheral bus, external bus, or local bus and may use any variety of available bus architectures. Computer  512  may include a data store accessible by the processing unit  514  by way of the system bus  518 . The data store may include executable instructions, 3D models, materials, textures and so on for graphics rendering. 
         [0039]    Computer  512  typically includes a variety of computer readable media such as volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. Computer storage media may be implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other transitory or non-transitory medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by computer  512 . 
         [0040]    It will be appreciated that  FIG. 3  describes software that can act as an intermediary between users and computer resources. This software may include an operating system  528  which can be stored on disk storage  524 , and which can allocate resources of the computer  512 . Disk storage  524  may be a hard disk drive connected to the system bus  518  through a non-removable memory interface such as interface  526 . System applications  530  take advantage of the management of resources by operating system  528  through program modules  532  and program data  534  stored either in system memory  516  or on disk storage  524 . It will be appreciated that computers can be implemented with various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. 
         [0041]    A user can enter commands or information into the computer  512  through an input device(s)  536 . Input devices  536  include but are not limited to a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, and the like. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit  514  through the system bus  518  via interface port(s)  538 . An interface port(s)  538  may represent a serial port, parallel port, universal serial bus (USB) and the like. Output devices(s)  540  may use the same type of ports as do the input devices. Output adapter  542  is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices  540  like monitors, speakers and printers that require particular adapters. Output adapters  542  include but are not limited to video and sound cards that provide a connection between the output device  540  and the system bus  518 . Other devices and/or systems or devices such as remote computer(s)  544  may provide both input and output capabilities. 
         [0042]    Computer  512  can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer(s)  544 . The remote computer  544  can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer  512 , although only a memory storage device  546  has been illustrated in  FIG. 3 . Remote computer(s)  544  can be logically connected via communication connection(s)  550 . Network interface  548  encompasses communication networks such as local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) but may also include other networks. Communication connection(s)  550  refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface  548  to the bus  518 . Communication connection(s)  550  may be internal to or external to computer  512  and include internal and external technologies such as modems (telephone, cable, DSL and wireless and ISDN adapters, Ethernet cards and so on. 
         [0043]    It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples only and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that a computer  512  or other client device can be deployed as part of a computer network. In this regard, the subject matter disclosed herein may pertain to any computer system having any number of memory or storage units, and any number of applications and processes occurring across any number of storage units or volumes. Aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein may apply to an environment with server computers and client computers deployed in a network environment, having remote or local storage. Aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein may also apply to a standalone computing device, having programming language functionality, interpretation and execution capabilities. 
         [0044]      FIG. 4  illustrates an integrated development environment (IDE)  600  and Common Language Runtime Environment  602 . An IDE  600  may allow a user (e.g., developer, programmer, designer, coder, etc) to design, code, compile, test, run, edit, debug or build a program, set of programs, web sites, web applications, and web services in a computer system. Software programs can include source code (component  610 ), created in one or more source code languages (e.g., Visual Basic, Visual J#, C++, C#, J#, Java Script, APL, COBOL, Pascal, Eiffel, Haskell, ML, Oberon, Perl, Python, Scheme, Smalltalk and the like), The IDE  600  may provide a native code development environment or may provide a managed code development that runs on a virtual machine or may provide a combination thereof. The IDE  600  may provide a managed code development environment using the .NET framework. An intermediate language component  650  may be created from the source code component  610  and the native code component  611  using a language specific source compiler  620  using a modeling tool  652  and model store  653  and the native code component  611  (e.g., machine executable instructions) is created from the intermediate language component  650  using the intermediate language compiler  660  (e.g. just-in-time (HT) compiler), when the application is executed. That is, when an IL application is executed, it is compiled while being executed into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Alternatively, in other embodiments, programs may be compiled to native code machine language (not shown) appropriate for its intended platform. 
         [0045]    A user can create and/or edit the source code component according to known software programming techniques and the specific logical and syntactical rules associated with a particular source language via a user interface  640  and a source code editor  651  in the IDE  600 . Thereafter, the source code component  610  can be compiled via a source compiler  620 , whereby an intermediate language representation of the program may be created, such as assembly  630 . The assembly  630  may comprise the intermediate language component  650  and metadata  642 . Application designs may be able to be validated before deployment. 
         [0046]    The various techniques described herein may be implemented in connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with a combination of both. Thus, the methods and apparatus described herein, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein. As used herein, the term “machine-readable medium” shall be taken to exclude any mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) any form of propagated signals. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device will generally include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. One or more programs that may utilize the creation and/or implementation of domain-specific programming models aspects, e.g., through the use of a data processing API or the like, may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations. 
         [0047]    Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Technology Category: g