JP2006221556A - Program execution device, program execution method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a scenario-oriented program developing environment having high developing productivity. <P>SOLUTION: Only the order relationship of desired processing is described in an XML document, and processing is transferred to an external program. This XML document is stored in a structured data storage part 121 in a storage part 120. A control part 110 verifies whether or not there is no error on a sentence structure in the XML document stored in the structured data storage part 121 by a verifying skimmer file stored in a verifying file storage part 122 in the storage part 120. The control part 110 executes a command row recorded on the XML document without an error on the sentence structure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a program execution device, a program execution method, and a program, and more particularly, to a program execution device, a program execution method, and a program that interpret and execute an instruction sequence described in structured data on an information processing device.

Conventionally, a method capable of easily describing a desired process by combining basic processes (hereinafter referred to as components) has been desired, and a technique for that purpose has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). .
JP 2004-102436 A

  However, in the conventional proposed method, it is difficult for a person who has no programming experience to combine desired components into the logic of the program because the combination of components is too flexible. Also, such people tend to gain and make minor programming mistakes.

  In addition, the creator of the component has to create it in consideration of the usage form of the component, and requires carefulness at the time of creation, resulting in a problem that the creation time is extended.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a program execution device, a program execution method, and a program that interpret and execute a structured instruction sequence.

In order to achieve the above object, a program execution device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes:
A program execution device for executing a process described by an instruction sequence described in structured data having a hierarchical relationship between a plurality of element blocks,
Schema storage means for storing schema data defining a hierarchical relationship between element blocks appearing in the structured data and an appearance order relationship of each element block;
Discriminating means for discriminating the syntactic validity of the description in the structured data according to the schema data stored in the schema storage means;
Execution means for interpreting and executing an instruction sequence described in the structured data, the description of which is determined to be valid by the determination means;
It comprises.

  According to the present invention, the description of the structured data is verified from the syntax according to the schema data, and the instruction sequence described in the structured data is interpreted and executed. Therefore, structured data that is erroneously described in syntax is not executed. The structured data is text data in the XML format or the like, and the instruction sequence described in the structured data can be easily confirmed. The creator of the structured data need only pay attention to the hierarchical relationship and the appearance order relationship of the element blocks that appear in the structured data, and can concentrate on the description of the instruction sequence.

In the above program execution device,
The instruction sequence includes an instruction for calling external execution means for executing a predetermined process.
In this case, the execution means is
It is desirable to execute the instruction sequence by interpreting the instruction sequence, calling and executing the external execution means corresponding to the interpreted instruction, and receiving the execution result.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to increase variations of processing that can be described by structured data simply by adding external execution means for executing predetermined processing. Also, when creating the external execution means, it is not necessary to consider the calling form from the structured data, and the effort for creating the external execution means can be shortened.

In the above program execution device,
The execution means includes
Compile means for determining a part to be executed separately from the instruction sequence described in the structured data and compiling the part to be executed separately may be provided. In this case, the execution means is
The portion that is compiled and executed separately by the compiling means is executed as structured data different from the portion that should not be executed separately in the instruction sequence described in the structured data.

A program execution method according to a second aspect of the present invention includes:
A program execution method for executing processing described by an instruction sequence described in structured data having a hierarchical relationship between a plurality of element blocks,
A determination step of determining the syntactic validity of the description in the structured data according to schema data that defines a hierarchical relationship between element blocks appearing in the structured data and an appearance order relationship of each element block;
An execution step of interpreting and executing an instruction sequence described in the structured data determined to be valid by the determination step;
Is provided.

Furthermore, a program according to the third aspect of the present invention is:
Computer equipment,
According to the schema data that defines the hierarchical relationship between the element blocks that appear in the structured data and the appearance order relationship of each element block, determine the syntactic validity of the description in the structured data,
Interprets and executes an instruction sequence described in structured data whose description is determined to be valid,
It functions as a program execution device.

  According to the present invention, structured data describing various processes according to schema data can be interpreted and executed.

Hereinafter, an information processing system and its operation according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the information processing system 1 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of information processing apparatuses 100A, 100B, and 100C are connected via a communication network C.

  The communication network C is a communication network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) based on a predetermined communication protocol such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

  The information processing apparatuses 100A, 100B, and 100C read the stored structured data, interpret and execute them, and perform certain processing. An instruction sequence can be described in the structured data so that other structured data or an external program (hereinafter referred to as “agent”) can be called and a processing result can be received.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus 100A according to the present embodiment includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, an input control unit 130, an output control unit 140, and a communication control unit 150. The input device 13 is connected to the input control unit 130, and the output device 14 is connected to the output control unit 140. Other information processing apparatuses 100B and 100C have the same configuration and function as 100A.

  The control unit 110 includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage device (RAM (Random Access Memory)) serving as a work area. The control unit 110 reads out and executes the operation program stored in the storage unit 120, so that the control unit 110 controls each unit of the information processing apparatus 100 and executes an execution process and the like described later.

  The storage unit 120 includes a storage device such as a hard disk device. The storage unit 120 is structured data that is interpreted and executed in the information processing system 1, a verification schema file that verifies syntax errors in the structured data, and the control unit 110. Stores the operation program and so on. As shown in FIG. 2, the storage unit 120 includes a structured data storage unit 121, a verification file storage unit 122, and a program storage unit 123.

  The structured data storage unit 121 stores “structured data”. The structured data is a script-like file executed by the information processing apparatus 100, and is executed by a “base program” (also described later) after verification by a “parser program” described later. FIG. 3 shows a description example of the structured data. The structured data shown in this description example is for acquiring data from a database that can be referred to via a network.

The description on the first line in FIG. 3 is an XML declaration indicating that the structured data is an XML document.
In the description on the second line, a verification schema file is designated. A predetermined extension (for example, “XSD”) is omitted.
In the element block starting with “<xap: Information>”, attribute information (creation date, version number, comment, etc.) of the structured data is described.
In the element block starting with “<xap: Agents>”, “agent” necessary for executing the structured data is specified.
An element block beginning with “<xap: Embedding” (hereinafter referred to as “executable element block”) is an instruction sequence necessary for executing the structured data, and is executed as an “agent”. Is described. In this “executable element block”, an exceptional behavior different from the general method described in “agent” and a method that is executed only by this structured data are described.

In the element block starting with “<xap: Scenarios>”, an instruction sequence executed with the structured data and constants and character strings referred to at the time of execution are described.
Among these, constants and character strings referred to by the structured data are described in the element block starting with “<xap: Define”.
Among these, an element block starting with “<xap: Scene” describes methods defined by several instruction sequences. Here, each instruction is described by an element block starting with one of “<xap: Setting” (not shown), “<xap: Action”, and “<xap: Waiting”. In these element blocks, the method defined in “Agent” is called. Calling rules (calling methods) for “agents” are defined. For example, in the block starting with “<xap: Action” in FIG. 3, the method specified by “Function =” is called at the time of execution. The processing result (return value) of this method is stored in the variable specified by “Return =”. However, if this specification is empty, the return value will not be used later.
Each element block starting with “<xap: Scene” is associated by a transition condition described in an element block indicating a conditional branch or repetition (for example, an element block starting with “<xap: If” in FIG. 3).
An element block starting with “<xap: Scenarios>” can be described in an element block starting with “<xap: Scene” or an element block indicating conditional branching or repetition. Therefore, although it is necessary to know the calling convention of "agent" and the element block description system (hierarchical relationship and appearance order relationship), the user can construct various processes by combining instruction sequences with conditional branches and repetitions. Can be described in the data.

Depending on how the element blocks are combined, the structured data is
(1) An element block that simply describes the calling order of some methods defined in the “agent” (element blocks starting with “<xap: Scenarios>”): “scenario part”
(2) Describe the calling order of “components” that define basic methods, hide unnecessary methods, and define element blocks that are defined as new methods (element blocks beginning with “<xap: Agents” and “< (Applicable to element blocks starting with “xap: Embedding”): “Agent part”
And can be classified. Those who have no programming experience can (1) concentrate on creating a “scenario section”. In addition, those who have extensive programming experience can create not only (1) “scenario part” but also (2) “agent” defined in “agent part”.
In this way, it is possible to make a difference in the complexity of structured data created according to programming skills.

  The verification file storage unit 122 stores an XML schema necessary for the control unit 110 to determine whether the description of the structured data stored in the structured data storage unit 121 conforms to a predetermined description specification. Store the described file. The file describing the XML schema is prepared in advance on the side of providing the “base program” described later, and is applied to the verification of all structured data, and structured data prepared by a third party or a user. Some applications can be switched in units. Since the XML schema to be applied can be switched for each structured data unit, the verification content can be changed according to the operation specification of the “agent”.

The program storage unit 123 stores, for example, the following program as well as an operating system (OS) that manages the basic operation of the information processing apparatus 100A.
(1) “parser program”: a program for determining whether or not there is a syntax error in the structured data stored in the structured data storage unit 121 according to the verification schema file stored in the verification file storage unit 122 (2) “Platform program”: a program for executing structured data stored in the structured data storage unit 121. Accompanying the execution of structured data, "parser program", "compiler", "communication program", etc. are started and these programs are controlled (3) "compiler": "executable" included in structured data Program that compiles “element block” and compiles it as “agent” (4) “Communication program”: a program that controls communication control unit 150 and communicates with information processing apparatuses 100A and 100B via communication network C. It stores external programs and “agents” that are required when executing structured data.

  Returning to FIG. 2, for example, the input control unit 130 connects the input device 13 such as a keyboard and a mouse, receives an instruction to the control unit 110 input from the input device 13, and transmits the instruction to the control unit 110.

  For example, the output control unit 140 connects the output device 14 such as a display, and outputs the processing result of the control unit 110 to the output device 14 as necessary.

  The communication control unit 150 is composed of a communication device such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) or a router, for example, and connects the information processing device 100A and the communication network C, and this information processing device and the other information processing devices 100B and 100C. Control the communication that takes place between them.

Hereinafter, operations of the information processing apparatuses 100A, 100B, and 100C according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. A description will be given assuming that structured data stored in the structured data storage unit 121 of 100A is executed by a base program.
It should be noted that other structured data and external programs necessary for executing the instruction sequence described in the structured data are installed in the information processing apparatuses 100A, 100B, and 100C as necessary.
In the following description, unless otherwise required, the individual operations of the control unit 110 and the like will not be described, and will be described as the entire information processing apparatus 100A.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the execution process according to the present embodiment. The execution process is started when the user operates the input device 13 to start the base program by specifying the structured data stored in the structured data storage unit 121.
First, the control unit 110 reads designated structured data from the structured data storage unit 121 (step S101).

  Next, the control unit 110 reads the verification schema file stored in the verification file storage unit 122, and the hierarchical structure between the element blocks described in the read structured data is described in the verification schema file. It is determined whether or not the hierarchical structure is defined (step S102). When it is determined that the hierarchical structure between the element blocks described in the structured data does not conform to the hierarchical structure definition described in the verification schema file (step S102: NG), it indicates that execution is not possible due to a syntax error. An error message is output to the output device 14 and the execution process is terminated.

  When it is determined that the hierarchical structure between the element blocks described in the structured data conforms to the hierarchical structure definition described in the verification schema file (step S102: OK), the control unit 110 describes the structured data. Scan to determine whether there is an “executable element block” embedded in the structured data (step S103). Specifically, it is determined whether or not there is an element block starting with “<xap: Embedding” in FIG. 3 in the structured data. When it is determined that the “executable element block” is embedded in the structured data (step S103: YES), the control unit 110 is a compiler for the programming language specified in the “executable element block”. The instruction sequence described in the “executable element block” is compiled to generate “agent” (step S104). Note that, depending on the type of program language specified in the “executable element block”, the control unit 110 reads the interpreter for that language from the program storage unit 123 and activates it. When it is determined that the “executable element block” is not embedded in the structured data (step S103: NO), the control unit 110 does not execute step S104 but directly proceeds to execution of step S105.

  Next, the control unit 110 scans the description of the structured data again, and whether or not there is a description specifying “agent” in the structured data, that is, the “agent executed for executing the structured data”. "Is present or not (step S105). Specifically, it is determined whether or not there is an element block of <xap: Agents> to </ xap: Agents> in FIG. 3 in the structured data. When it is determined that there is a description specifying “agent” in the structured data (step S105: YES), it is described after “Name =” in the element block of <xap: Agents> to </ xap: Agents>. The “agent” corresponding to the character string is read from the program storage unit 123 (step S106). If it is determined that there is no description specifying “agent” in the structured data (step S105: NO), the control unit 110 does not execute step S106, but directly proceeds to execution of step S107.

  Finally, the control unit 110 describes between <xap: Senarios> and <xap: Scene> to </ xap: Scene> in <xap: Senarios> to </ xap: Senarios> in the outermost hierarchy in the structured data. The executed instruction sequence is executed (step S107). Here, the control unit 110 executes a method in the “agent” according to the description content of the instruction sequence. This includes requesting processing to other information processing apparatuses 100B and 100C by a method such as remote procedure calling from a method and receiving a processing result. 3 will be described. For example, since the name GUIController is defined in the element block starting with “<xap: Agents>”, the control unit 110 in the element block starting from the 41st line from the top is used. Interprets the method called Navigate () included in the “agent” called GUIController to be executed with the argument “UrlTopPage”. Control unit 110 executes the method.

  When execution of all the instruction sequences is completed or abnormally ended, the control unit 110 ends execution of the execution process.

  As described above, according to the information processing apparatus 100A and the like according to the embodiment of the present invention, the structured data described by the user as needed is interpreted and executed. Here, the information processing apparatus 100A and the like can execute various processes described in the structured data by performing a cooperative operation with the “agent”.

The description of the structured data is performed according to the XML format, and the parser program refers to the verification schema file to verify the validity of the structured data description before execution. Here, a writer of structured data can call a method necessary for processing from an “agent”, and can describe structured data in the execution order of methods.
However, an instruction sequence treated as an “agent” can be embedded in the structured data. This is used to describe a method that is inappropriate to describe in an “agent”. It is also used when the “agent” cannot be modified.

  In addition, the “base program” calls and executes the method of the external program, and returns the call result to the structured data side. For this reason, a person who describes the process to be called in the external program can describe the process without considering the appearance order in the structured data.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and application are possible.
For example, as long as a syntax error is checked immediately before the start of execution, the structured data may be structured data described in a markup language other than the XML format, a data description language, or the like. The element blocks shown in the above embodiment are examples, and can be expanded / modified as necessary. In this case, the description of the schema file is also changed according to the extension / modification. Further, the “agent” may be called from the structured data so that the called “agent” can call another “agent”. In this case, the called “agent” is configured to have a predetermined calling routine.

  In the above embodiment, the three information processing apparatuses 100A, 100B, and 100C are connected to the network. However, the process described in the structured data is completed within the single information processing apparatus 100. It is also possible to use such a form.

  Note that the information processing apparatus for realizing the information processing apparatus 100A and the like according to the embodiment of the present invention can be realized using a normal computer system, not a dedicated system. For example, the information processing apparatus 100A or the like that executes the above-described processing by installing the program in a program storage unit 123 from a medium (such as a CD-ROM) that stores the program for executing the above-described processing in a general-purpose computer. Can be configured.

  Further, when the above-described functions are realized by sharing between an OS (Operating System) and an application, or by cooperation between the OS and the application, only a part other than the OS may be stored in the medium.

  It is also possible to superimpose a program on a carrier wave and distribute it via a communication network. For example, the program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS, Bulletin Board System) on a communication network and distributed through the network. The program may be activated and executed in the same manner as other application programs under the control of the operating system, so that the above-described processing may be executed.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the information processing system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of description of the structured data stored in the structured data storage part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the information processing apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing system 100, 100A, 100B, 100C Information processing apparatus 110 Control part 120 Storage part 121 Structured data storage part 122 Verification file storage part 123 Program storage part 130 Input control part 13 Input device 140 Output control part 14 Output device 150 Communication control unit

Claims (5)

A program execution device for executing a process described by an instruction sequence described in structured data having a hierarchical relationship between a plurality of element blocks,
Schema storage means for storing schema data defining a hierarchical relationship between element blocks appearing in the structured data and an appearance order relationship of each element block;
Discriminating means for discriminating the syntactic validity of the description in the structured data according to the schema data stored in the schema storage means;
Execution means for interpreting and executing an instruction sequence described in the structured data, the description of which is determined to be valid by the determination means;
A program execution device comprising: The instruction sequence includes an instruction for calling an external execution means for executing a predetermined process,
The execution means includes
Interpreting an instruction sequence, calling and executing the external execution means corresponding to the interpreted instruction, and executing the instruction sequence by receiving an execution result;
The program execution device according to claim 1. The execution means includes
A compiling unit for determining a part to be executed separately from the instruction sequence described in the structured data, and compiling the part to be executed separately;
Executing the part that is compiled by the compiling means and should be executed separately as structured data different from the part that should not be executed separately from the instruction sequence described in the structured data. ,
The program execution device according to claim 1 or 2. A program execution method for executing processing described by an instruction sequence described in structured data having a hierarchical relationship between a plurality of element blocks,
A determination step of determining the syntactic validity of the description in the structured data according to schema data that defines a hierarchical relationship between element blocks appearing in the structured data and an appearance order relationship of each element block;
An execution step of interpreting and executing an instruction sequence described in the structured data determined to be valid by the determination step;
A program execution method comprising: Computer equipment,
According to the schema data that defines the hierarchical relationship between the element blocks that appear in the structured data and the appearance order relationship of each element block, determine the syntactic validity of the description in the structured data,
Interprets and executes an instruction sequence described in structured data whose description is determined to be valid,
A program characterized by functioning as a program execution device.

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