JPH07129373A - Application version managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To manage the consistency of versions between server application and a client application in an integrated/dispersed application system and to provide the application of the newest version to an application user. CONSTITUTION:A server application version managing device 101 executes version inspection for a version inspection request outputted from a client application version managing device 104 at an application prepared date. At the time of detecting the discrepancy of versions, the application of the newest version is automatically loaded down from a server system 100 to a client system 103, so that the system 103 can store always the newest application.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an application version management device in an integrated distributed application system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, applications have been LAN (Lo)
Due to the spread of the Cal Area Network) and the enhancement of database access tools and the like, the construction of a distributed application system by the server-client method has become common. When the system is constructed by the server-client method, it is necessary to make the versions consistent between the server application and the client application.

A conventional application version management device will be described below. In FIG. 13, 130 is a server application, 131 is a client application, 132 is a network, 13a is a message processing unit that processes messages from the client application, 13b is a message creating unit that creates messages to the client application, and 13c is from the client application. A version checking unit for checking the version sent, 13d is version information of the client application, 13e and 13f are transmitting / receiving units for transmitting / receiving information to / from the network, 13g is a message processing unit for processing a message from the server application, and 13h is a server. A command message creating unit 13i that creates a message to be sent to the application is version information set when creating the client application.

The operation of the application version management device configured as described above will be described below.

The client application 131 defines the version information 13i in the source code when creating the application and creates the load module. When receiving the service of the server application, a command message is transmitted to the server application 130 through the network 132. At this time, the command message creating unit 13
At h, the version information 13i of the user defined in the load module is set in the version field of the message and transmitted to the server application 130 through the message transmitting / receiving unit 13f. This is done every time the client application sends a message to the server application.

On the other hand, the server application 130 also defines the client version information 13d of the client application 131 in the source code to create a load module. The command message from the client application 131 received by the transmitting / receiving unit 13e is passed to the version checking unit 13c. Version checking unit 13c
Compares the client version information 13d held by the server application 130 with the version information set in the command message, and if a version mismatch is detected, requests the message creating unit 13b to send an error message "version mismatch". Then, the service for the client application 131 is stopped. If the versions are consistent, the message is passed to the message processing unit 13a and the service for the client application 131 is continued.

When the client application 131 detects a "version mismatch" message from the server application device 130, it notifies the application user of the version mismatch and terminates the application service. All of these version management processes are realized by the processes inside the application.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, since the version information confirmation processing is performed by the message between the server application and the client application after the application is started, the version cannot be confirmed unless the application is started. Had the problem.

In addition, since version management is performed using information that is statically held inside the application, in the integrated distributed application system composed of a plurality of server applications and client applications, the version can be applied to each application. There is also a problem that management information must be provided and there is a risk of creating an application with incorrect version information when updating the version.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to provide an application version management device which implements version management without depending on an application and provides an application user with the latest application. To do.

[0011]

In order to achieve this object, an application version management device of the present invention is a server application version management device that manages an application version on a server and a client application that manages an application version on a client. It consists of a version management device and an application definition file that describes the name of the application to be version managed.

[0012]

With this configuration, the application management device is started by the manager program that manages each application of the integrated distributed application system, and the last created date and time stored in the application definition file and the disk device of the server system are stored. By comparing the creation date and time of the existing client application, it is possible to determine the update of the application and manage the version independently of the application. Further, by automatically starting the application manager after the application version management process is performed, the user can use the application without being aware of version management. Furthermore, when a version mismatch is detected by the server application version management device, the latest application module can be downloaded to the client system by the download function and the update function, so that the latest application can be provided to the application user.

[0013]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an integrated distributed application system including an application version management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 100 is a server system that holds a server application and a client application, 101 is a server application version management device that manages the version of the client application in response to a request from the client system, and 102 is a server application and a client application. Disk device, 103, 1
Reference numeral 06 is a client system on which a client application operates, 104 and 107 are client application version management devices that manage versions of client applications, 105 and 108 are disk devices that hold client applications and application definition files, and 109 is a server system and client system. Is a network that connects

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the application version management device of the server and the client.
In FIG. 2, 200 is a disk device that holds a client application, 201 is a version comparison unit that compares creation dates and times, 202 is a message processing unit that processes messages from the client system, and 203 is communication control with the network. A transmission / reception unit, 204 is a disk device that holds a client application and an application definition file, 205 is a message processing unit that processes electronic messages, 206 is a file management unit that manages client applications and application definition files in the disk device, and 207 is A transmission / reception unit for controlling communication with the network, and 208 is a file name storage area for storing a file name for which a version mismatch is detected.

FIG. 3 shows a format of a message transmitted / received between the server system and the client system.
In FIG. 3, 300 is a version inspection request message transmitted from the client to the server, and 301 is an inspection request response message for the version inspection request message.

Further, FIG. 4 is a detailed diagram of an application definition file in which an application name for version checking is described.

The version check processing in the integrated distributed application system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

The integrated distributed application system is composed of a plurality of applications. There is an application called a manager program that performs authentication processing for confirming the user of these applications and application startup processing. The user normally launches this manager program. The manager program activates the client application version management device 104 in the client system 103 immediately after activation. When the client application version management device 104 is activated, the file management unit 206 causes the application definition file (FIG. 4) to display the application name (appl001.exe in FIG. 4) and the previously created creation date (also 1993/11/23 16: 13:38) and the message processing unit 20
5 (Flowchart 5.1). The message processing unit 205 creates the version check request message 300 using the same application name and creation date and time (Flowchart 5-2) Transmission / reception unit 2
07 to the server system (Flowchart 5
・ 3).

On the other hand, when the electronic message processing unit 202 receives the version check request electronic message 300 from the transmission / reception unit 203 (Flowchart 6.1), it passes the application name and creation date and time set in the electronic message to the version comparison unit 201 (Flowchart 6).
・ 2). The version comparison unit 201 is the disk device 200.
The creation date and time of the specified application name stored in the table is acquired (Flowchart 6.3) and the difference with the creation date and time passed from the message processing unit 202 is obtained to determine whether the client application of the disk device 200 has been updated ( Flow chart 6.4) The version matching or version mismatch is notified to the message processing unit 202. The electronic message processing unit 202 sets the version inspection result in the result flag of the inspection request response electronic message 301 (Flowchart 6.5) and transmits it to the client system via the transmission / reception unit 203 (Flowchart 6
6).

The message processing unit 205 receives the inspection request response message 301 from the transmitting / receiving unit 207 (flow chart 5.4).
The result flag set in the same telegram is set in the inspection result field of the application definition file (Flowcharts 5.5). The version check process is executed for all applications specified in the application definition file.

As described above, according to this embodiment, both the server system and the client system are provided with the application version management device for managing the version of the client application by using the creation date and time when the application is created as the version information. By performing batch management, application version management can be performed without having version management processing inside the application, and the risk of creating an application with incorrect version information can be prevented. .

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the application version management device. The same components as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 700 is a download unit for transmitting an application to the client system, and reference numeral 701 is an update unit for updating the client application held by the client system by the application transmitted from the server system. Further, FIG. 8 shows a format of a message transmitted / received between the server system and the client system during the automatic update process. In FIG. 8, 800 is a download request message transmitted at the time of a download request, and 801 is a download message including the contents of the application to be updated.

The automatic update processing of the client application in the application version management device configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 9 and 10.

The message processing unit 205 calls the updating unit 701 when an old version of the application exists on the client system after the version checking process of the first embodiment. The update unit 701 has a file name storage area 2
08 to obtain the application name and create a download request message 800 (Flowchart 9.1) Transmitter / receiver 20
7 to the server system. (Flowchart 9
2) Upon receiving the download request message 800 from the transmission / reception unit 203, the message processing unit 202 passes the application name set in the message to the download unit 700. The download unit 700 opens the client application stored in the disk device 200 with this application name, reads one record at a time (Flowchart 10.1), and creates a download message 801 (Flowchart 10.2) via the transmission / reception unit 203. Send to the client system (Flowchart 10.3). A sequence number is added to the download message 801 to prevent missing records at the time of download.

When the update section 701 receives the download message 801 from the transmission / reception section 207, the disk unit 2
The download message is written in the corresponding client application 04 (flow chart 9.3). When all the records are received and the update processing of the client application ends normally, the updated creation date and time is set in the application definition file creation date and time, and the content of the result flag is changed to version match (Flowchart 9.4).
Perform the download processing of the following applications.
If the update process ends abnormally, the next download process is performed without updating the creation date and time and the result flag.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the first embodiment
If a version mismatch on the client system is detected by, the latest load module can be automatically distributed to the client system by providing the function to download the latest load module, and the application user will always be aware of it. The application can be used with the latest version.

(Third Embodiment) A third embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the client application version management device. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 111 is an application start check unit that checks whether the version update is normally executed when the application is started, and 112 is an error display unit that displays a version mismatch message to the application user.

The process of the version consistency check at the time of starting the application in the application version management device configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Each application that constitutes the integrated distributed application system is activated from the manager program according to an instruction from the application user.
The manager program checks the application start check unit 111 before starting the specified application.
Call. At this time, the load module name of the application to be activated is passed to the application activation check unit 111 as a parameter.

If the same application name does not exist in the application name field of the application definition file, the application activation check unit 111 determines that the application is not a version management application and returns control to the manager program (Flowchart 12).
・ 1). If the application name exists, check the contents of the result flag. If the result flag is the version match, the version match is passed to the manager program as a return value and the control is returned (Flowchart 12.2). If the versions do not match, an error message is displayed on the error display unit 112 to notify the application user of the version mismatch (Flowchart 12.3). When the error display is canceled by the application user, the application start check unit 111 returns a version mismatch to the manager program and returns the control (Flowchart 12
4).

The manager program executes the designated application starting process when the version matching is returned as the return value of the application starting checking unit 111, and stops the application starting process when the version mismatch is returned.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the version update is normally performed by providing the means for notifying the application user and the manager program of the version mismatch based on the file holding the version update information and the same version update information. If we couldn't
It is possible to prevent unpredictable failures when using the application with the wrong version.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the environment of the integrated distributed application client application system, by providing the version management device on both the server and the client, the entire system can be processed without performing the version management processing inside the application. It is possible to realize an excellent application version management device capable of performing version management of the above and automatically updating the load module of the client.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a distributed application system including an application version management device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of an application version management device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a message format diagram during version check processing in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application definition file according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a client application version management device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a server application version management device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of an application version management device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a message format diagram during download processing according to the second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a client application version management device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a server application version management device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of an application version management device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an application activation check process according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a conventional application version management device.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 server system 101 server application version management device 102 disk device 103 client system 104 client application version management device 105 disk device 106 client system 107 client application version management device 108 disk device 109 network 200 disk device 201 version comparison unit 202 message processing unit 203 Transmitter / receiver 204 Disk device 205 Message processing unit 206 File management unit 207 Transmitter / receiver 300 Version inspection request message 301 Inspection request response message 700 Download unit 701 Update unit 800 Download request message 801 Download message 111 Application startup check unit 112 Error display unit 13 0 server application device 131 client application device 132 network 13a message processing unit 13b message creating unit 13c version checking unit 13d client version information 13e message sending / receiving unit 13f message sending / receiving unit 13g message processing unit 13h command message creating unit 13i version information

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An application definition file having version information of an application, a server application version management means for managing the creation date and time of the application as a version, and a client application version for checking a version confirmation request from the server. An application version management device comprising a client application version management means for notifying the server of the result. 2. When the version of the application on the client system is old, the server application version management means for sending the upgraded application to the client, and the old version existing on the client by receiving the client application sent from the server. The application version management device according to claim 1, further comprising client application version management means for updating the version application. 3. An application definition file that holds version update information of an application, and means for checking whether or not the version update of an application which is called by a manager program that manages an integrated distributed application and is about to be started has been normally executed. A means for notifying the application user and the manager program of the version inconsistency when the version update is not carried out as a result of the inspection.
The described application version management device.