JP5393242B2 - Data providing method and intermediate server device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a data providing method and a server, and more particularly to a technique for customizing data to be provided to a client.

  A form of providing software functions called Software as a Service (SaaS) is attracting attention. In SaaS, a web server provides a software function as a web application (referred to as a SaaS application), and a SaaS user uses a SaaS application using a web browser. Under such a usage pattern, it is assumed that multiple companies use one SaaS application. Therefore, it is desired to customize the Web application for each company or each user according to the company or user. . In this case, it is burdensome to modify an existing web application to add a customization function or to add a customization function when developing a new web application.

  The technology described in Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which a Web browser accesses a customization database via a network to acquire customization information, and performs customization of elements displayed on the Web browser based on the customization information. Yes.

JP 2000-222324 A

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the network load is heavy because the Web browser accesses the database different from the Web server and the proxy server via the network and acquires the customized data. In addition, there is a problem that it takes time until the customized display is performed as much as the database is accessed. In addition, since the elements once displayed on the Web browser are customized, there is a problem that the display of the Web browser may appear distorted. Furthermore, in the case of a web application that dynamically generates data to be distributed by the web server or accepts input from the user, the input from the user is saved in the repository, or the URL is changed according to the data to be displayed. In such a case, there is a problem that it is difficult to customize because the content is dynamically changed.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a system including a client, a first server connected to the client via a network, and a second server connected to the first server via the network. The method of providing data in claim 1, wherein the client transmits a request to the first server, the first server transmits a request from the client to the second server, and the second server responds to the request. Transmitting the data to the first server; and transmitting the response data from the second server to the client. The first server applies the customization to the response data received from the second server based on the customization information from the client, sends the response data to which the customization is applied to the client, and the client applies the customization. Display response data.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to customize a web application with a reduced network load.

1 is a configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram of a computer. The figure which shows the flow of a process at the time of customization application. The figure which shows the flow of a response process. The figure which shows a customization information storage repository. The figure which shows the flow of a client process. The figure which shows the web page display image through a proxy server. The figure which shows a customization editor display image. The figure which shows the flow of a process at the time of customization. The figure which shows a confirmation image. The figure which shows the example of a customization type. The figure which shows the customization function addition image. The figure which shows the image of the added customization function.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, a proxy server is arranged between a web browser and a web server that publishes a web application so that requests from the web browser to the web server and responses from the web server pass through the proxy server. .

  When the proxy server receives the response, it confirms whether there is customization information to be applied to the response, and if it exists, performs customization. Each customization information has an attribute indicating whether it is executed by the server or the client.

  If the customization information is implemented on the server side, the response received by the proxy server is customized.

  If the customization information is executed on the client side, the customization program is embedded in the response and sent to the Web browser.

  A customized editor program is also embedded in the response so that the user can make further changes to the response.

  In the Web browser, the response is displayed on the screen. If the response contains customization information that should be executed on the client side, the customization is executed. It also runs a customization editor program to allow the user to create customization information.

  Also, if there is an abnormality in the customization information created with the customization editor, any operation may not be accepted by the customization editor if the customization information is applied. Therefore, the status is included in the customization information, immediately after adding or correcting the customization information, the test status is set, and when the customization information is applied for the first time, the status is invalidated. At the same time, when the customization information of the test state is applied, a function for confirming whether or not the customization information can be confirmed is included in the response. When the user is confirmed, the state of the customization information becomes valid. In this way, the number of times that the abnormal customization information is applied is limited to one time.

  In the past, URLs were used to specify the application destination of customization information, but in the case of web applications, there was a problem that it was difficult to know the URL in advance because the number of pages increased due to data input from the user. It is possible to express the application destination flexibly by expressing the URL of the application destination with a regular expression or by giving conditions for judging whether or not a specific element exists in the application destination page. And

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. A web browser processing device 110 on which the web browser 111 operates, a web server processing device 130 on which the web server 131 operates, and a proxy server processing device 120 on which the proxy server 121 operates are connected via the network 100.

  The proxy server 121 is a response processing unit 122 that processes the response returned by the Web server 131, a customization information storage repository 123 that stores customization information created in advance by the user, and a customization editor that allows the user to create customization information by embedding it in the response There is program 124.

  The Web server 131 may be a Web application that accepts user input or dynamically generates a page.

  Each processing device, that is, the Web browser processing device 110, the proxy server processing device 120, and the Web server processing device 130 has the configuration of the computer 200 shown in FIG. 2, and the Web browser 111, the Web server 131, and the proxy server 121 are programs. Realize with.

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a general computer 200. The hard disk 203 stores programs and data. Here, a hard disk will be described as an example. In the central processing unit 202, the programs and data stored in the hard disk 203 are read into the memory 201 as necessary, and are processed using the central processing unit 202. The video memory 204 is a memory used for display, and changes to the video memory 204 are reflected in the display device 205. The communication device 206 is used to communicate with another computer via a network. The program or data obtained by communication is stored in the hard disk 203 using the central processing unit 202 or stored in the memory 201 for processing. In the processing operation of the present embodiment described in the following drawings, the central processing unit 202 in each processing device reads a program and data for executing each processing operation into the memory 201, executes necessary processing, and sets the communication device 206. To communicate with other processing devices.

  The response processing unit 122 in FIG. 1 may be hardware or software. In the case of software, necessary processing is executed by the central processing unit 202 of FIG. 2 as described above. Also, the customization editor program 124 executes necessary processing by the central processing unit 202 of FIG. The customization information storage repository 123 is stored in the hard disk 203 as a storage device.

  Further, FIG. 1 shows a system in which there is one Web browser 111, one Web server 131, and one proxy server 121 for the sake of simplicity. . When there are a plurality of Web servers 131, the proxy server 121 may be arranged for each Web server 131, or the plurality of Web servers 131 may be accessed through one proxy server 121. When accessing a plurality of Web servers 131 through one proxy server 121, information about the Web server 131 to be accessed is transmitted to the proxy server 121, and the proxy server 121 accesses the Web server 131 based on the information. Is executed.

  In FIG. 1, the web browser 111, the web server 131, and the proxy server 121 are operated on different processing devices, but may be operated on the same processing device.

  The proxy server 121 may operate as a reverse proxy server or may operate as a forward proxy server.

  In the reverse proxy server, the distribution settings to the web server are set in advance. When the web browser 111 issues a request to the IP address of the reverse proxy server, the request is forwarded to the appropriate web server 131 and the response from the web server 131 is sent. Is returned to the Web browser 111. The proxy server 121 can perform appropriate processing on the request or response.

  In the forward proxy server, the IP address of the forward proxy server is set in the Web browser 111, and a request issued from the Web browser 111 to the Web server 131 and a response received from the Web server 131 are automatically passed through the forward proxy server. The forward proxy server can perform appropriate processing for requests and responses. FIG. 3 shows the flow of processing for applying the customization information when there is customization information to be applied to the response returned by the Web server 131.

  It is assumed that the user 301 who uses the Web server 131 is determined in advance using a login process or the like.

  When the user 301 performs 302 such as a link click, the Web browser 111 sends a request 303 to the proxy server 121, and the proxy server 121 sends a request 304 to the Web server 131 in the same manner. A request 304 is sent to the Web server 131. When the Web server 131 receives the request 304, the process 305 corresponding to the request 304 is performed and a response 306 is returned.

  When the proxy server 121 receives the response 306, the response processing 307 is performed on the response 306, and the processed response 308 is returned.

  When the Web browser 111 receives the processed response 308, the client processing 309 displays the HTML included in the response or executes the included program. The Web browser 111 displays the result 310, and the user 301 browses.

  FIG. 4 shows the flow of the response processing process 307.

  First, the response returned by the Web server 131 is analyzed (401). The Web server 131 generally returns HTML data as a response, but this HTML data is text data and is difficult to process with a program. Therefore, it is easy to process the elements included in the HTML data by making them objects such as Document Object Model (DOM). Here, it explains as having done in DOM.

  Next, the customization information is searched from the customization information storage repository 123 (402). Prior to the description of the following steps, the customization information will be described with reference to FIG.

  The customization information is information indicating how the response of the Web server 131 should be customized. The customization information is stored in the customization information storage repository 123 shown in FIG. Each line in FIG. 5 is a piece of customization information. Each customization information has an ID 501, an application condition 502, an application organization / user 503, customization contents 504, a state 505, and an execution location 506.

  ID 501 is an ID for uniquely identifying customization information.

  The application condition 502 stores an HTML condition to which the customization content 504 is applied. The following application conditions can be considered.

  (1) Request destination URL condition: Request destination URL is used as an application condition. The URL may be described not only by a fixed expression but also by a regular expression, and the customization contents may be applied only when the URL matches the regular expression.

  (2) Presence / absence of elements contained in HTML: Presence / absence of elements contained in HTML is used as an application condition. For example, if there is a condition that there is a table whose ID in the HTML is table_id, there is a method of using XPath to acquire the element and checking the existence. As an example of XPath, for example, “// table [@ id =’ table_id ’]” can be considered.

  (3) Value of element included in HTML: The customization content is applied only when the value of the element included in HTML is a specific value. As a method for acquiring the value of an element included in HTML, a method using XPath can be considered as described above. The plurality of conditions may be combined with and / or as application conditions.

  The application organization / user 503 determines whether to apply the customization content according to the attribute of the user 301 of the Web server 131. As attributes of the user 301, for example, an organization name, a department / section name, a user name, and the like are conceivable.

  Set to apply customization when each attribute has a specific value. Further, it is assumed that the user attribute of each user 301 is managed separately using a user management repository or the like.

  The customization content 504 is customization content for HTML data. The customization content 504 may be described by an executable program, or may be configured as a customization definition and customized while interpreting the customization definition by another program.

  A state 505 indicates an application state of the customization content 504, and it is conceivable to have the following state 505.

  (1) test: represents a test state. Immediately after creating new customization information, it is in a test state. Details will be described later.

  (2) available: Indicates that the state is valid.

  (3) disable: Indicates an invalid state.

  Note that how the state changes will be described later.

  An execution location 506 represents a location where customization is executed. The following can be considered.

  (1) server... Indicates execution by the proxy server 121. When customizing an element that exists in the HTML returned by the Web server 131, server may be set.

  (2) client: represents customization information executed by the Web browser 111. When customizing an element that appears when a program included in HTML is executed by the Web browser 111, client is set, and customization is performed after the element appears.

  In addition, it is possible to write by conditions instead of explicitly describing server and client. For example, when a URL matches a specific regular expression, a specific element exists in the response received by the server proxy, a specific element has a specific value, etc. It may be determined in the proxy server 121 that processing is performed by the server, and processing is performed as client if it does not hold.

  Here, the description returns to FIG. The processing 402 for searching for customization information is processing for searching for customized information to be applied by referring to the analyzed response data, the user 301 being used, and the state 505.

  Next, each row in the customization information storage repository 123 is acquired (403). Specifically, the following three determinations are performed, and customization information that fits all is obtained. In other words, it is determined by evaluating whether the URL or the analyzed response matches the application condition, and whether the currently logged-in user name and the user attribute information are compatible with the application organization / user is determined, the state is test, It is three judgments of judging whether it is available. When the search processing is completed for all customization information, the following processing is performed for each acquired customization information.

  It is determined whether the server-side customization information is present (404). If the server-side customization information is obtained, server-side customization is executed (405). When customization is executed, the DOM created in the process 401 for analyzing the response is changed.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the client side customization information exists (406). If it exists, the client side customization information is embedded in the DOM (407). It is determined whether the status of the customization information is test (408). If it is test, the processing 409 for disabling the status of the customization information in the customizable information repository is performed, and the processing for confirming the confirmation is embedded (410) ). Confirmation will be described later using the screen of FIG.

  When all the customization information obtained as a result of the search has been processed (411), a text editor program is embedded in the DOM (412). The customization editor program 124 is realized by a program such as JavaScript (registered trademark) that can be executed by a Web browser.

  Finally, processing 413 for converting the DOM into text data is executed, and response data 308 processed in the Web browser is returned.

  Fig. 6 shows the flow of client processing. The client is a Web browser and has an HTML rendering function and a JavaScript (registered trademark) execution function. First, the HTML included in the response is displayed using the HTML rendering function (601). If a JavaScript (registered trademark) code is included in the original response returned by the Web server 131, the page is displayed in the Web browser by executing it.

  If the client side customization information exists in the response (602), the client side customization is executed using the JavaScript (registered trademark) execution function (603), thereby correcting the page displayed on the Web browser. Finally, the customization editor is executed (604). It is assumed that the customization editor is also realized by JavaScript (registered trademark).

  A display image of the Web page generated as a result of the above processing is shown in FIG. A customize button 701 is newly added at the bottom right of the page. This is the entrance to the customization editor. In this way, the entrance to the customization editor is usually placed in an inconspicuous position so as not to get in the way.

  When the customize button 701 is pressed, a customize menu 801 is displayed as shown in FIG. The state of customization will be described by taking as an example the operation of deleting the rightmost operation column in the employee information list table 806.

  When “delete column” is selected from the “change table” submenu of the customize menu 801, a delete column dialog 802 is displayed. The range 803 to be deleted is selected, and “application condition”, “execution location”, and “publication range” are set.

  FIG. 9 shows the flow of processing when the OK button 804 is pressed.

  When the customization instruction 901 is issued, the customization information 902 set by the user 301 is transmitted from the Web browser 111 to the proxy server 121.

  The proxy server 121 performs customization information storage processing 903 and stores the customization information in the customization information storage repository 123. At this time, the state of the customization information is set to test.

  Next, the page currently displayed on the Web browser 111 is reloaded. Request 303 is sent from the Web browser to the same URL as the current one. When the request 304 reaches the Web server via the proxy server 121, the processing 305 in the Web server 131 is performed and a response 306 is returned. When the proxy server 121 receives the response 306, a response processing process 307 is performed. Response processing is the same as in FIG.

  This time, customization information whose state is test is included. In the process of searching for customization information, if customization information whose state is test is acquired, the state of the customization information is disabled.

Next, the processed response 308 is sent to the Web browser 111, and the client process 310 shown in FIG. 6 is executed to display the customization result 310 for the user. (The sequence after the confirmation button is pressed 904 will be described later.)
An example of the screen to be displayed as a result of customization is shown in FIG. Confirmation confirmation is performed by displaying the page in which the column 803 designated to be deleted is deleted and displaying a confirmation confirmation dialog 1001 displaying a message “Are you sure you want to confirm customization?”. Press the cancel button to reload the current page. When reloading, column deletion customization is disabled, so customization is not applied.

  The process when the confirm button is pressed will be described using the latter half of FIG. When the confirmation button is pressed 904, the Web browser 111 executes a confirmation instruction 905 for the proxy server. It is assumed that an ID indicating which customization information to be confirmed is transmitted at the same time. The proxy server 121 changes the status 505 of the customization information corresponding to the ID 501 of the customization information storage repository 123 as available as the confirmation process.

  With the above processing, column deletion customization is performed when a page suitable for the application condition and application organization / user is read through the proxy server 121.

  So far, only the customization for the response output by the Web server 131 has been described. However, the proxy server 121 may have a request processing unit and may customize the request. For example, processing in which data input by the user 301 in the Web browser 111 is appropriately converted by the proxy server 121 and transmitted to the Web server 131 can be considered. As a specific example, when a user enters the employee's name in the Web browser 111, the request processing unit converts the employee's name into an employee number and sends it to the Web server 131. The Web server 131 accepts the employee number for processing. It can be considered.

  In this example, customization is performed after the response from the web server 131 is displayed on the web browser 111. However, after customization, the customization information is stored in the customization information storage repository 123 of the proxy server 121. Thereafter, it is possible to automatically display the customized content on the Web browser 111 without performing the setting process from the Web browser 111.

  In this embodiment, as an example of customization, description has been made using deletion of a column from a table, but customization as shown in FIG. 11 is also conceivable.

  In FIG. 11, the customization type 1101 represents the name displayed on the customization menu 801, the description 1102 represents the description of customization, the user setting information 1103 represents information input by the user through the customization editor, and the example 1104 is a specific example of customization. Represent.

  Each customization type 1101 will be described below.

  The character string change is customization for changing a specific character string existing in the page to another character string.

  Attribute change is customization that changes the attributes of elements that exist in the page. You can change attributes such as color and font size.

  The input form change is customization for changing an input form that receives input from the user.

  Table change is customization that changes the appearance and operability of a table.

  The addition of browsing authority is customization that adds browsing authority for a page.

  The customization authority addition is customization for setting the use authority for each customization function.

  The customization function addition is customization in which a customization function is newly added by combining a program or a plurality of customization functions.

  Element addition is customization that adds a new element to the page.

  Element deletion is customization that deletes an element in a page.

  A mashup is a customization that obtains information from another web server or web application and embeds it in the page to be customized.

  The program is customized by describing a program that realizes page customization.

  Management is not a customization, but a function that changes the state of customization already applied, changes the scope of disclosure, and deletes customization information.

  The customization function addition will be described in more detail. Figure 12 shows an image of adding the customization function.

  An example of creating a customization function for setting a screen theme will be described. The theme represents the color of the screen. For example, when spring is selected, the background of the screen is changed to pink and the characters are changed to red.

  The customization function addition dialog 1200 is displayed, and the user 301 defines the customization function. In the menu name 1201, a name to be added to the customization menu 801 is set. A user setting item 1202 represents an item to be set when using the customization function added by the user 301 who uses this customization function. Consists of item name, input form, variable name, and type. The item name is the name of the question. The input form specifies the input method from the user. In this example, it is set so that any one of spring, summer, autumn, and winter can be selected. The variable name is a variable name when used in a program that executes customization. The type is the type of data to be input.

  The customization program 1203 is a column for setting a customization program, and is assumed to be specified by a file. A method of changing the code directly in the customization function addition dialog 1200 by making this an editable text area or the like is also conceivable.

  The customization function can be easily created by providing the existing customization function as a library that can be easily used by the program. This time, since the background color of each element of HTML and the color of each character are changed by changing the attribute, it is better to make a library so that the existing attribute changing function can be easily used from the customization program.

  When the created customization function is registered, a theme change menu 1302 is added to the customize menu 801 as shown in FIG. 13, and when this is selected, a theme change dialog 1300 appears. In the theme change dialog 1300, an input form 1301 for selecting spring, summer, autumn, and winter appears according to the setting of the setting item 1202. When an appropriate theme is selected and the OK button 1303 is pressed, the theme is changed and the coloring of the page is changed.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, an existing application can be customized. In addition, since customization can be performed on either the proxy server or the Web browser, the amount of customization previously performed on the Web browser can be eliminated or reduced. The screen flickering that tends to occur can be prevented.

  In addition, the information required for customization in the Web browser is embedded in the proxy server and the response is returned to the Web browser, so the network load can be reduced compared to the conventional technology.

  In addition, by managing the status of the customization information and applying the customized information having an abnormality only once, it is possible to easily recover from the abnormal state.

  Furthermore, it is possible to apply to customization of various Web applications by allowing the application destination of customization to be expressed flexibly.

100 network
110 Web browser processor
111 Web browser
120 Proxy server processing unit
121 Proxy server
122 Response processing section
123 Customized information storage repository
124 Customized editor program
130 Web server processor
131 Web server
200 computers
201 memory
202 Central processing unit
203 hard disk
204 Video memory
205 Display device
206 Communication equipment
501 ID field
502 Applicable condition column
503 Applicable organization / user field
504 Customized content field
505 Status column
506 Execution location field
701 Customize button
801 Customize menu
802 Delete column dialog
803 Range to delete
804 OK button
805 Cancel button
1001 Confirmation confirmation dialog
1002 Confirm button
1003 Cancel button
1200 Customize function addition dialog
1201 Menu name field
1202 User setting item field
1203 Customized program setting field
1204 OK button
1205 Cancel button
1300 Theme change dialog
1301 Select theme name
1302 Theme change menu
1303 OK button
1304 Cancel button

Claims (12)

A data providing method in a system comprising: a client device; a first server device that communicates with the client device; and a second server device that communicates with the first server device,
The first server device is
Transmitting a request from the client device to the second server device;
When customization information is received from the client device and the customization information is stored in a test state, the customization information of the test state is applied to response data received from the second server device for the request , A step of invalidating the applied customization information of the test state;
Transmitting the response data to which the customization information is applied to the client device. The data providing method according to claim 1,
The first server is
Along with the response data to which the customization information is applied, a program for displaying a confirmation dialog on the client device is transmitted to the client;
When an instruction for confirming application of the customization information is input to the confirmation dialog displayed on the client device, executing the step of enabling the customization information that has been invalidated. A characteristic data providing method. The data providing method according to claim 2,
The first server device is
When response data including corresponding customization information is received from the second server device, if the corresponding customization information is invalid, a step of transmitting response data to which the customization information is not applied is executed. A data providing method characterized by the above. The data provision method according to claim 2 or 3,
The first server device is
If the corresponding customization information exists for the response data to be transmitted to the client device and the corresponding customization information is valid, a step of transmitting response data to which the customization information is applied is executed. To provide data. The data providing method according to claim 3,
The first server device is
When an instruction to cancel application of the customization information is input to the confirmation dialog,
A method for providing data, comprising: transmitting the request to the second server device, and reloading the response data from the second server device. A data providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising:
The client device is a Web browser processing device,
The first server device is a proxy server processing device;
The data providing method, wherein the second server device is a Web server processing device. An intermediate server device connected to a client device and a server device by communication, and a communication unit for communicating with the client device or the server device;
A storage unit for storing data received from the client device or the server device via the communication unit;
An arithmetic unit that controls the communication unit and the storage unit,
The communication unit is
Sending the request received from the client device to the server device;
The computing unit is
When customization information is received from the client device, in a test state, and stored in the storage unit,
Apply the test state customization information to the response data received from the server device for the request ,
Disable the customization information of the applied test status,
The intermediate server device, wherein the communication unit transmits the response data to which the customization information is applied to the client device. The intermediate server device according to claim 7,
The communication unit is
Along with the response data to which the customization information is applied, a program for displaying a confirmation dialog on the client device is sent to the client,
When the communication unit receives an instruction from the client device to confirm application of the customization information to the confirmation dialog displayed on the client device, the calculation unit is stored in the storage unit. The intermediate server device is characterized in that the customization information in an invalid state is made valid. The intermediate server device according to claim 8, wherein
When the communication unit receives response data in which corresponding customization information exists from the second server device, the calculation unit determines that the customization is performed on the response data if the corresponding customization information is in an invalid state. Without applying information,
The said communication part transmits the response data which do not apply the said customization information to the said client apparatus. The intermediate server apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The intermediate server device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein
The computing unit applies the customization information if the corresponding customization information exists for the response data to be transmitted to the client device, and the corresponding customization information is valid.
The intermediate server device, wherein the communication unit transmits the response data to which the customization information is applied to the client device. The intermediate server device according to claim 9,
The communication unit is
When an instruction to cancel application of the customization information is received from the client device with respect to the confirmation dialog displayed on the client device,
The intermediate server device, wherein the request is transmitted to the second server device, and the response data is reloaded from the server device. The intermediate server device according to any one of claims 7 to 11,
The client device is a Web browser processing device,
The server device is a Web server processing device,
The intermediate server device is a proxy server processing device.

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