JP2002358280A - Client server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to use a new application service from a client terminal device without adding a new module to a relay server when the new application service is added on a network. SOLUTION: In a client server system wherein the client terminal device 1, an application service device 2 having an application service means and the relay server 3 are connected through the network, and the relay server 3, depending on a request from the client terminal device 1, makes a request of the application service means for processing, and receives the processing result from the application service means to send it back to the client terminal device 1, the system is constituted such that the relay server 3 acquires the information on a processing request method regarding the application service designated from the client terminal device 1, and creates HTML data based on the information to send the data back to the client terminal device 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a client server system capable of providing an application service via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a client server system, a client terminal device requests an application service means such as an application service device on a network for performing a predetermined application process to perform a process, and obtains the result. System. In such a system, a library for accessing the application service means and receiving and analyzing the processing result from the application service means is required on the client terminal device side. Such a library is usually provided for each application service. Be prepared. Generally, in an environment where a client terminal device accesses a plurality of application services, distributed processing middleware is often used to unify a data exchange protocol between the client terminal device and a program on an application service unit. Examples of such middleware are OMG's CORBA, Microsoft
RMI / JINI, DCE RPC, etc. However, these middlewares use the same protocol for data exchange, but the client terminal side receives information on the functions provided by the application service, how to request the functions, and how to analyze the data returned as a request result. Not allowed to get. For this reason, the client terminal device also prepares a library designed for each function provided by the application service,
It must be introduced on the client terminal device side.

[0003] In recent years, the spread of WWW technology has caused almost all personal computers to have a WEB browser. Therefore, HTTP between the client terminal device equipped with this web browser and the application service means
A server is arranged, the HTTP server receives instructions from the client terminal device, and based on that, the HTTP server requests processing from application service means on the network, converts the processing result to HTML data, and converts it to a Web browser Many systems having a three-layer structure of returning to the Internet have been proposed. In such a system, only a web browser is required on the client terminal device, and the user is not required to introduce a special library such as middleware into the client terminal device. However, even in such a system, since the functions provided by the application service means on the network and the access method therefor differ depending on the application service, the HTTP server accesses the application service means on the network and converts the result to HTML. For the process of converting to data, it is necessary that a library dependent on each application service be installed on the HTTP server. Therefore, when a new application service is added on the network, it is necessary to add a process for using the application service to the HTTP server.

[0004]

However, usually,
Since there is no fixed conversion rule between the content displayed on the web browser and the functions provided by the application service means on the network, in the prior art, each time a new application service is introduced, it is updated.
It was necessary to determine the design of the HTML data to be used from the WEB browser and develop a conversion method between the HTML data and the functions provided by the application service for each application service. Further, it is not possible to cope with an environment in which various application services are temporarily added or disconnected on a network.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem of the prior art. Specifically, in a client server system, a relay server is arranged between a client terminal device and an application service means. When the relay server accesses the application service means on the network in response to a request from the client terminal device, when a new application service is added on the network, without adding a new module to the relay server, An object of the present invention is to make it possible to use this new application service from a client terminal device. Further, in a system that can execute a processing request to an application service unit by transmitting a command to the application service unit, a user interface that allows a user to directly specify and execute each command of an application service is realized. It is in. In a system in which a processing request to an application service unit can be executed by transmitting a plurality of parameters in addition to a command, a user interface that allows a user to directly specify necessary parameters for the command and execute the command is provided. Is to make it happen. In a system in which a processing request to the application service unit can be executed by transmitting a command to the application service unit, a new list of commands that can be processed by the application service is not required to be registered in the relay server in advance, and a new command can be obtained. An object of the present invention is to realize a system in which a relay server can dynamically collect such information when a service is added. Further, when the processing result by the application service means is related to the processing of another application service associated therewith, the object is to provide the user with access to the other application service means. Another object is to enable the relay server to dynamically collect such information when a new application service is added.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client terminal having a browser, and at least one client for performing a process in response to a request from the client terminal. An application service means and a relay server including an HTTP server are connected via a network, the relay server receives request information from the client terminal device, and requests the application service means to perform processing based on the request information,
In a client server system that receives a processing result from the application service means and returns the processing result to the client terminal device, the relay server obtains information on a processing request method for the service for the application service specified in the request information from the client terminal device. Then, HTML data is generated based on the acquired information and returned to the client terminal device. Further, in the invention according to claim 2, in the invention according to claim 1, in order to create the request information in the client terminal device, the HTML data generated by the relay server is an input item corresponding to each command of each application service. When the application service can execute a plurality of different processes in response to a request from the client terminal device and the processing request from the client terminal device is performed in a form of transmitting a command corresponding to the processing content, the input item is used. And transmitting the content input or selected on the browser of the client terminal device to the relay server. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, when the application service means needs to specify a parameter in addition to the command to execute each command, the relay server transmits the parameter on the browser. HTML with input items that allow you to specify values
It is configured to generate data. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect of the present invention, a directory service means for managing all application services on the network is provided in the network, and processing for the application services is performed. The information on the requesting method is obtained from the directory service means.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in each of the first, second and third aspects of the invention, each application service means manages information on a method of requesting a process for an application service, and The method is characterized in that information on the request method is acquired by sending a specific command common to services to each application service means. In the invention according to claim 6, in the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the HTML data including the input items sent is displayed on the browser on the client terminal device. The input item is input or input value is selected, and the input value is selected. The input value is sent from the client terminal device to the relay server, and the relay server sends the input value according to the information on the method of requesting processing for the application service. , Generating actual commands and parameters for the service from and transmitting them to the application service means. Also,
In the invention according to claim 7, in the invention according to claim 6, the relay server receives a processing result from the application service means as a response to the command transmission, generates HTML data based on the processing result, and generates the generated HTML. Data is returned to the client terminal device. In the invention according to claim 8, in the invention according to claim 7, the service identifier of the application service or another application service is returned from the application service means as a processing result for the command transmission to the application service means,
The method is characterized in that the relay server obtains a method of requesting a process related to the application service corresponding to the returned service identifier, generates HTML data based on the obtained information, and returns the generated HTML data to the client terminal device. According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect of the present invention, the application service is implemented using middleware that can be referred to from an external interface as a service object. The information on the external interface of the service object is acquired from the application service means as the information on the method of requesting the process for the service object. According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the ninth aspect, information on an external interface of a service object is acquired by using a Java language RMI / JINI function as the middleware and using a Java language Reflection function. It is characterized by the following.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a client server system showing one embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, the client server system of this embodiment includes one or more client terminal devices 1 each having a web browser, one or more application service devices 2 each having one or more application service means, It comprises a server 3, a directory service device 4, and the like. In the above, communication between the client terminal device 1 equipped with a web browser and the relay server 3 is performed using HTTP. For this reason, the relay server 3 is equipped with an HTTP server. Each application service means and the relay server 3 are connected by middleware for realizing a distributed object environment. Examples of such middleware are OMG CORBA, Sun Microsy
stems RMI / JINI, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOA
P) and the like. As the middleware function, an application service access protocol client 35 is mounted on the relay server 3, and an application service access protocol server is mounted on the application service side. Each application service means receives a processing request from the outside via a network, executes a processing according to the processing request, and returns a processing result to a request source. The processing instruction to each application service means is composed of a command for specifying a processing type and parameters for the processing. Inside the application service means, a different application processing procedure is started by a command dispatcher according to the type of the received command. Also, the client terminal device 1 includes:
A means for acquiring a list of commands provided by the application service and information on parameters for the commands is provided. As a method of realizing such means, a method of acquiring interface (I / F) specification description data in which an application service is described by transmitting a predetermined command to the corresponding application service side, There is a method of dynamically generating and sending I / F specification description data from API information of each internal application processing procedure. Further, a method of registering I / F specification description data for each application service in the directory service device 4 existing on the network is also possible. In the case of middleware that provides a self-reflection function (reflection) such as Sun Microsystems' RMI / JINI, the client-side module proxy
It is also possible to get the API specification of the corresponding server from.

The directory service device 4 stores list information of application services provided on the network. Examples of directory service implementations include Light Weight Directory Protocol (LDAP), Servi
ce Location Protocol (SLP), Sun Microsystems J
INI registry function. If each application service has a function to automatically register the information, such as SLP or JINI, the application service information consisting of basic information about the service such as the name, identifier, network address, etc. is stored in the directory service directory service.
The eAgent unit automatically registers in the directory service device 4. In a directory service such as LDAP that does not have an automatic information registration function, an administrator manually registers application service information of each application service. Access to the directory service is performed by the directory service client 39 which is a client function of the directory service.
Done through. In a configuration in which a directory service does not exist on the network, the directory service client function on the client terminal device performs broadcast communication (mu
Directory Service for all application service means on the network using lticast or broadcast)
A configuration is possible in which each Agent accesses the Agent and responds with application service information of the application service to which each Directory Service Agent belongs. The service location protocol described above is one that enables such an implementation.
l (SLP), Microsoft's Universal Plug & Play (U
PnP). The relay server 3 receives a request from the client terminal device 1 equipped with a web browser by HTTP, and returns a list of application services on the network and a list of commands as HTML data. Further, in response to a request from the client terminal device 1, a command is transmitted to a specific application service means, the command execution result is received from the application service means, and returned to the client terminal device 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the relay server 3 includes:
A client control unit 32 for processing a request from the client terminal device 1 received via the HTTP server (HTTPD) 31; a list of application services on the network obtained by accessing the directory service device 4 or by other methods; And an I / F specification acquisition unit 34 that acquires I / F specification description data of a specific application service and generates the data as HTML data. Further, it is started by the client control unit 32, generates a command for the application service, transmits it to the actual application service means via the application service access protocol (client) 35, and then processes the command (execution result) ), Generates a HTML data based on the processing result through the execution result analysis unit 36, and returns the HTML data to the client control unit 32. Also, as a means to actually generate HTML data,
Service list generation unit started from the service list acquisition unit 33, command list generation unit and command argument input item generation unit started from the I / F specification acquisition unit 34, and command execution result generation started from the execution result analysis unit 36 There is an HTML generation unit 38 composed of a section and the like.

FIG. 9 shows the flow of processing in this embodiment.
The process starts when the web browser in the client terminal device 1 requests the relay server 3 for a service list.
Request from WEB browser is HTTP server 3 of relay server 3
1 and is notified to the client control unit 32.
The client control unit 32 calls the service list acquisition unit 33. The service list obtaining unit 33 accesses the directory service device 4 on the network using the directory service client 39, obtains a list of application services on the network, and returns the result.
Using the service list generation function of the HTML generation unit 38, FIG.
Generate HTML data like The HTML data is configured so that the user can select any application service, and can notify the relay server 3 again of the identifier of the selected application service. For example, the information described in the HTML data is a name and an identifier of the application service, and also includes information to be provided to the user such as location and function information as application service information that can be obtained from the directory service. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the URL of the application service is used as the identifier of the application service. However, if the application service can be specified by middleware between the relay server 3 and the application service, an identifier other than the URL is used. It is possible. Also, in this example, hyperlinks for each application service are used as input means by the user, but the user must use the FORM function of HTML, select the application service name from a list box, etc., and press the send button. It is also possible to configure HTML so as to send the identifier of the application service selected in the above to the relay server 3. The generated HTML data is returned from the client control unit 32 to the requesting web browser via the HTTP server 31. In this embodiment, a configuration is shown in which the directory service device 4 holding a list of application services on the network exists on the network. How the client functions directly access the Directory Service Agent for all application services on the network,
A configuration to directly access the rectory Service Agent is also possible.

When the web browser of the client terminal device 1 receives this HTML data, it displays, for example, as shown in FIG. Next, when the user selects a specific application service name from the displayed HTML data, the selected information including the identifier of the selected application service is MIME-converted and sent to the relay server 3 again by HTTP. Is notified to the client control unit 32. The client control unit 32 extracts the identifier of the selected application service from the received information, sends the result to the I / F specification acquisition unit 34, and outputs an HTML corresponding to the I / F specification description data of the corresponding application service.
Generate data. Further, in the I / F specification acquisition unit 34,
As described above, a common command is transmitted between the services to the application service specified by the identifier, the information registered in the directory service device 4 is obtained, or the corresponding application service is transmitted from the client-side module proxy. Get the I / F specification description data by acquiring the API specification. In short, the description method of the specification that can be acquired at this time is described in other than HTML data, and the subject of the present invention is that the I / F specification acquisition unit 34 converts the data into HTML data based on a certain rule. I /
The F specification description may be in any format as long as a conversion algorithm for HTML data can be defined. FIG. 4 shows an example of a CORBA IDL description as an example of such an I / F specification description. In the Sun Microsystems JAVA language, the program object of each application service can be queried at runtime for the specifications of its own external I / F function. If the application service is implemented in the JAVA language, the application service It is possible to collect external I / F function specifications of each program object contained in the means at the time of a request from the client terminal device 1 and dynamically generate, for example, an I / F specification description in an XML format. In the RMI / JINI middleware environment based on the JAVA language, the API specification of the corresponding application service can be acquired as a JAVA program object from proxy which is a client side module in the relay server. FIG. 5 shows a code example in the JAVA language in this case. In this example, the I / F specification description is generated as character string data in a unique format. After acquiring the I / F specification description, the I / F specification acquisition unit 34
To the command list generation unit. The command list generation unit uses I /
The command is extracted from the F specification description, and the command argument input item generation unit is called for each command to generate <FORM></FORM> items corresponding to the command name and the parameter. RMI / J
When middleware such as INI and RPC implements the remote procedure call format, the command uses the name of each external I / F function and the parameters use the arguments of each function.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of <FORM> in this case. In the configuration example here, <INP
UT> tag and <INPUT type = sub corresponding to submit button
mit "name =" command ">. The command name is <INPUT
set as the VALUE attribute of type = submit "name =" command "> Also, when the send button is pressed as the attribute of the <FORM> tag, the command name and the parameter value are sent as the transmission destination URL to the relay server 3 designates the URL of the HTTP server 31. The command list generation unit calls the command argument input item generation function for each command to generate <FORM> tags corresponding to these commands, and combines them to form one tag. HTML data is generated and returned to the I / F specification acquisition unit 34. The I / F specification acquisition unit 34 returns this to the client control unit 32, and the HTML data is transmitted to the WEB browser of the client terminal device 1. Fig. 7 shows an example of the generated HTML data and a display example on the WEB browser.The user inputs each parameter for one command on the WEB browser, and the button is labeled with the command name. Pressing the client terminal device 1 transmits the HTTP message as shown in FIG. 8. HTTP server 31 of the relay server 3 receives this, the application server identifier, the command name, client control unit 3 sets the parameter values
Send to 2. The client control unit 32 transmits this to the service activation control unit 37. Service activation control unit 3
In step 7, the command generation means is activated to perform the conversion shown in FIG. 8 in a form corresponding to the middleware for accessing the application service, generate a command, and transmit the command to the application service specified by the application server identifier. . Thereby, when the command execution result (processing result) returns from the application service, the service activation control unit 37 passes the result to the command execution result analysis unit 36, and generates HTML data according to the type of the return value. And then sends the HTML data to the client control unit 3.
2 to the client terminal device 1 via the HTTP server 31 and display it on the web browser. At this time, if the command execution result is an application service identifier, the identifier is not returned as HTML data, but this identifier is passed to the client control unit 32, and the client control unit 32 sends the I / F specification acquisition unit 34 Start and acquire the I / F specification of the application service corresponding to the identifier,
Generate the HTML data and send it back to the web browser.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention,
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the relay server including the HTTP server receives the request information from the client terminal device, requests the application service means for processing based on the request information, and receives the processing result from the application service means. When returning to the client terminal device
The relay server obtains information on a processing request method for the service for the application service specified in the request information from the client terminal device, generates HTML data by the relay server based on the obtained information, and sends the HTML data to the client terminal device. Since the application service is returned, in the client server system using the browser, when a new application service is added to the network, the application service can be automatically used from the client terminal device. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the processing request from the client terminal device is performed by transmitting a command corresponding to the processing content, the input item transmitted from the relay server is transmitted. The content input or selected on the browser of the client terminal device is transmitted to the relay server by using the user terminal device, so that the user can directly specify each command of the application service and provide all functions provided by the new application service to the client terminal device. Available from. Claim 3
In the invention described in claim 2, in the invention according to claim 2, when the application service means needs to specify a parameter in addition to the command to execute each command, the relay server can specify the parameter value on the browser. Since the HTML data having the input items to be generated is generated, all functions provided by the new application service can be used from the client terminal device even when the parameters need to be specified. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect of the present invention, information on a method of requesting processing for all application services on the network is obtained from the directory service means. Even when the request method is not registered in the relay server in advance, the relay server can dynamically collect the information when a new service is added.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect of the invention, information on a method of requesting a process for an application service is managed by each application service means, and Since information on the request method is obtained by sending a specific command common to the services to each application service means, similarly, a new service can be obtained even if the request method is not registered in the relay server in advance. When is added, the relay server can dynamically collect such information. According to the invention described in claim 6, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 5, the HTML data including the input items sent is displayed on the browser on the client terminal device and used. The request is sent from the client terminal device to the relay server by the user inputting the input value or selecting the input value in the input item, and the relay server sends the request content to the relay server according to the information on the method of requesting processing for the application service. Since the actual command and parameters for the service are generated from the input values and transmitted to the application service means, the desired application service content can be specified and executed by an easy operation. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect, the relay server receives a processing result from the application service means as a response to the command transmission, and generates HTML data based on the processing result. Since the HTML data is returned to the client terminal device, the desired application service content can be specified by an easy operation, and the result of the application service can be obtained at the client terminal device. In the invention according to claim 8, in the invention according to claim 7, the service identifier of the application service or another application service is returned from the application service means as a processing result for the command transmission to the application service means, and the relay server The method of requesting the processing related to the application service corresponding to the returned service identifier is obtained, and the HTML data is generated based on the obtained information.
Since the HTML data is returned to the client terminal device,
When the processing result by the application service means is related to the processing of another application service associated therewith, the other application service can be easily received.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect of the present invention, the application service is implemented using middleware that can be referenced from an external interface as a service object. Since information on the external interface of the service object is obtained from the application service means as information on a method of requesting a process for the application service, even if the application service is implemented as a service object using middleware, the claims may be omitted. 1,
The effect of the invention described in claim 2 or 3 can be realized. According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, in the ninth aspect of the present invention, the RMI / JINI function of the JAVA language is used as the middleware, and the information on the external interface of the service object is acquired using the Reflection function of the JAVA language. Therefore, even when the application service is implemented as a service object using the RMI / JINI function of the JAVA language, the effects of the invention described in claim 1, claim 2, or claim 3 can be realized. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a client server system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a client server system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is another explanatory diagram of the client server system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is another explanatory diagram of the client server system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is another explanatory diagram of the client server system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another explanatory diagram of the client-server system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is another explanatory diagram of the client server system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is another explanatory diagram of the client server system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a client-server system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 client terminal device 2 application service device 3 relay server 4 directory service device 31 HTTP server 32 client control unit 33 service list acquisition unit 34 I / F specification acquisition unit 35 application service protocol unit 36 execution result analysis unit 37 service activation control unit 38 HTML generator

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A client terminal device equipped with a browser, one or more application service means for performing processing in response to a request from the client terminal device,
A relay server including a TP server is connected via a network, the relay server receives request information from a client terminal device, requests processing to an application service unit based on the request information, and returns a processing result to the application. In a client server system for receiving from a service means and returning to a client terminal device, a relay server acquires information on a processing request method for a service for an application service specified in request information from the client terminal device, and the acquired information A client-server system, which generates HTML data based on a URL and sends it back to a client terminal device. 2. The client server system according to claim 1, wherein the HTML data generated by the relay server includes input items corresponding to each command of each application service, in order to create the request information in the client terminal device. When the application service can execute a plurality of different processes in response to a request from the client terminal device, and the processing request from the client terminal device is performed by transmitting a command corresponding to the content of the process, the client terminal uses the input item. A client-server system for transmitting contents input or selected on a browser of a device to a relay server. 3. The client server system according to claim 2, wherein when the application service means needs to specify a parameter in addition to the command to execute each command, the relay server specifies the parameter value on the browser. A client-server system that generates HTML data having input items that allow the user to perform the operation. 4. The client server system according to claim 1, wherein a directory service means for managing all application services on the network is provided in the network, and a method for requesting a process for the application service is provided. Characterized in that the client server system is configured to acquire information on the directory service from the directory service means. 5. The client server system according to claim 1, wherein each application service means manages information on a method of requesting a process for an application service, and specifies information common among the application services. The client server system is configured to acquire the information on the request method by sending the above command to each application service means. 6. The client server system according to claim 1, wherein the client terminal device displays HTML data including the transmitted input items on a browser, and displays the HTML data including the input items on the client terminal device. An input value is input or an input value is selected, and the input value is selected. The input value is sent from the client terminal device to the relay server. A client-server system for generating actual commands and parameters and transmitting them to an application service means. 7. The client server system according to claim 6, wherein the relay server receives a processing result from the application service means as a response to the command transmission, generates HTML data based on the processing result, and generates the generated HTML data. Client server system for sending back to the client terminal device. 8. The client server system according to claim 7, wherein a service identifier of the application service or another application service is returned from the application service means as a processing result for the command transmission to the application service means, and the relay server is returned. A client server system, which obtains a method of requesting a process related to an application service corresponding to the service identifier, generates HTML data based on the obtained information, and returns the generated HTML data to the client terminal device. 9. The client server system according to claim 1, wherein the application service is implemented using middleware that can be referred to from an external interface as a service object, and processing for the application service is performed. A client server system, wherein information on an external interface of the service object is acquired from an application service means as information on a request method. 10. The client server system according to claim 9, wherein an RMI / JINI function of JAVA language is used as said middleware, and a REFLEC of JAVA language is used.
A client server system for acquiring information about an external interface of a service object by using an option function.