TWI467482B - A method for software system differentiation - Google Patents

Description

A method for realizing software system differentiation

The present invention relates to an implementation method, and in particular to a method for implementing software system differentiation.

At present, for software products, large-scale development generally requires standardization, and at the same time, it must have a high degree of customization, providing differentiated services and functions for different customers, which objectively requires that software products must be differentiated. In addition, as the product itself continues to evolve, it will face the problem that some functions need to be added, and some functions need to be canceled. The traditional practice is usually to modify the original code by the software developer, or through a plug-in. -in), configuration, etc. to solve this problem. However, modifying the original code through the software developer will go through a long release process; while the plug-in can solve this problem, the plug-in is easy to bring too much granularity; and to adopt the configuration to solve this problem, Different from the technical means used in the function, the technical requirements are high, and thus it is not easy to maintain.

In addition, in the process of using the software, when the customer needs to add some simple functions to the software, it still needs to be completed by the software developer, which will cause a certain time difference, so that the customer cannot use the software function more quickly, thereby causing Loss of customer value.

In view of this, how to design a software system differentiation implementation method, to realize the function of the software system can be arbitrarily changed and scalable, and easy to maintain and improve customer benefits, is the relevant technical staff in the industry A technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a method for implementing software system differentiation, comprising: (a) defining a native configuration resource, the native configuration resource corresponding to a pre-configuration of a software system. (b) Defining one or more delta resources related to configuration changes of the software system. (c) Applying native configuration resources and differential resources to the software system to generate a new object.

In an embodiment of the invention, step (c) comprises: (c1) scanning configuration resources from different physical locations and configuration resource hosts and forming a discrete configuration resource set; (c2) sorting the discrete configuration resource sets Generating a sorted configuration resource set, and then distinguishing the native configuration resource and the differential configuration resource; and (c3) reading the sort configuration resource set and parsing the difference resource to perform a change operation on the native configuration resource.

In an embodiment of the invention, the native configuration resource includes a plurality of sub-native configuration resources of separate packages.

In an embodiment of the invention, the child native configuration resource corresponds to a variable function of the software system.

In an embodiment of the invention, the delta resource includes a base object, a predicate, and a data, wherein the base object is used to define a target of the change operation, and the predicate is used to define an action of the change operation, and the data is used to define Change the content of the operation.

In an embodiment of the invention, the differential resource is transmitted through a visual design The meter is designed.

In an embodiment of the invention, the delta resource is based on a unified object model.

In an embodiment of the invention, the delta resource is a text stream.

In an embodiment of the invention, the delta resource is hosted in a file, database or file server.

In an embodiment of the invention, the delta resource and the native configuration resource and the delta resource are coupled to each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the differential resource supports multiple languages.

In an embodiment of the invention, the delta resources having the same language type are placed in a centralized manner.

In an embodiment of the invention, the software system is an enterprise resource planning system.

In summary, a method for implementing software system differentiation according to the present invention forms a new object by using a defined original configuration resource and one or more difference resources, and when the software system is executed, when a new object is invoked, Realize the new functions of the software system, so that the software system has better scalability. The separate packaging of the software system's variability is simplified, which simplifies subsequent functional changes. The visual designer is used to set the difference resources, and for some simple functional changes of the software system, the customer can directly design the differential resources through the visual designer, thereby implementing the functional changes of the software system without the need for the software developer. Complete functional changes to save time and increase efficiency.

In order to make the technical solutions proposed by the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The "native configuration resource" that appears in this document refers to the configuration resource of the standard software system. It can refer to the collection of all configuration resources of the software system, and can also refer to any of the configuration resources of all configuration resources. .

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic flowchart diagram of a method for implementing software system differentiation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, in step 110, a native configuration resource is defined, wherein the native configuration resource corresponds to a pre-configuration of a software system. In this embodiment, the software system may be, for example, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, but not limited thereto, and may be other application software. The native configuration resource, which is the pre-configured resource of the software system, can be determined in the early development of the software system, specifically, which configuration resources are needed according to the functions required by the software system in the early stage.

Thereafter, in step 120, one or more delta resources are defined, wherein the delta resources are related to configuration changes of the software system. Specifically, although the software system has formed the above-mentioned native configuration resources, when the software system needs a function change, for example, different services need to be provided for different customers, the software functions of the provided software system will be adjusted. , or when the software system itself needs to add or cancel certain features, obviously if If the software system only configures the native configuration resources, it may not meet the requirements. In this case, the configuration of the software system needs to be changed, that is, the original configuration resources need to be changed. In this embodiment, the concept of the differential resources is proposed. This difference resource is related to the function change (configuration change) of the software system. In this embodiment, each delta resource is composed of a base object, a predicate, and a data, and the base object is used to define a target in the native configuration resource that needs to be changed. The target of the change operation may be, for example, a native configuration resource. Object or property, but not limited to it, and the predicate is used to define the specific actions of the change operation, such as add, modify, and delete. Used to define the specific content of this change operation, such as the specific assignment of objects or attributes in the native configuration resource. In addition, the difference resources and the original configuration resources and the difference resources are logically coupled to each other; for the mutual coupling between the difference resources and the original configuration resources, since the difference resources have the basic objects, The base object may be an object or attribute corresponding to the native configuration resource, so that the difference resource is logically coupled with the native configuration resource; and the differential resources need to be coupled to each other, for example, a differential resource. The meaning is to delete an attribute in the native configuration resource, and the meaning of another difference resource is to modify the attribute value of the attribute. Obviously, the two difference resources in this time have a logical relationship, therefore, in this In an embodiment, the delta resources are coupled to each other.

Then, in step 130, the native configuration resource and the differential resource are applied to the software system to generate a new object. For details, refer to the following.

Referring to FIG. 2 again, the device of step 130 described in FIG. 1 is illustrated. Schematic diagram of the body flow.

In step 132, the configuration resources are scanned from different physical locations and configuration resource hosts and a discrete set of configuration resources is formed. In this embodiment, the configuration resource is scanned, that is, the configuration resource is read from different physical locations and the configuration resource host through a scanner, a scanning means or a tool (for example, a design interface with a scanning function, etc.), and a discrete configuration resource is generated. set.

In step 134, the discrete configuration resource set is sorted to generate a sorted configuration resource set, and the native configuration resource and the delta configuration resource are distinguished. In this embodiment, the discrete configuration resource reference hierarchy levels may be sorted by a sequencer to generate an ordered set of ordered configuration resources.

In step 136, the ordered configuration resource set is read and the delta resource is parsed to perform a change operation on the native configuration resource. In this embodiment, the sequence configuration resource set can be read by a sequencer/deserializer, and when the change operation target matching the basic object of the difference resource in the native configuration resource is read, then the difference is The predicate (the action of the change operation) in the quantity resource is parsed, that is, the action is executed, and when the action is executed, the target to be changed in the original configuration resource has been changed. The process of superimposing the original configuration and the differential overlap, the function acts on the same object, and a new object is generated.

In addition, the following table lists the specific meanings of the multiple actions in this embodiment, as follows:

It should be noted that the Add, Edit, and Remove actions in Table 1 operate on the object in the native configuration resource, and the SetValue, ResetValue, and SetNull actions are performed on the properties in the native configuration resource. operating.

In order to better understand the embodiments of the present invention, further details are described below in conjunction with a specific example.

Example 1: If there is only one FAX field in the entity definition of the company COMPANY in the standard software product, now the customer wants to add the FAX2 field to store the extra fax number, and also wants to modify the original FAX field name to FAX1.

The solution is as follows: First, in the standard software product, define a native configuration resource, In this case, a native entity COMPANY is defined, and several attribute members, such as CODE, FAX, or other attributes, are defined in this native entity COMPANY. Then, at the request of the customer, when the attribute FAX of the entity COMPANY needs to be changed into FAX1 and FAX2, the difference resource needs to be defined. Here, a difference entity is defined, and the basic object of the difference entity (the target of the change operation) is COMPANY, The predicate (the action of the change operation) is Edit, which indicates that the COM fundamental base object is modified. At the same time, the attributes FAX1 and FAX2 are defined on the difference entity, and the predicate is Add, that is, the attributes FAX1 and FAX2 are added. It should be noted that the predicate Add may not be provided here, because it is found that there is no defined in the original configuration resource. When the attributes FAX1 and FAX2 are used, the implicit convention is the Add action. In addition, the difference definition of the FAX attribute is also added to the difference entity. The base object of the difference is the attribute FAX, and the predicate is Remove. The purpose is to remove the FAX. After that, the defined difference resource is loaded into the original configuration resource. For the specific process, reference may be made to the above, and details are not described herein. When the defined difference resource is loaded on the original configuration resource, a new object may be generated, that is, The entity COMPANY of this new object has the attributes FAX1 and FAX2, which meet the customer's needs.

It can be seen from the above that after all the difference resources are parsed, that is, after all the actions are performed, then the native configuration resource has been changed, and a new object is generated, and when the software system is re-run, it calls a new object. In this way, the software system can achieve new functions.

Preferably, in this embodiment, some variability functions in the software system are separately packaged. Accordingly, the native configuration resource may include a plurality of separately packaged sub-native configuration resources, where the sub-native configuration resources respectively correspond to the software. The variability of the system, thereby reducing the granularity and facilitating subsequent Perform changes to the native configuration resources. According to this principle, the complex function change set of the software system can also be split into a plurality of mutually independent differential resources, which maintains the simplicity of each function change and makes the software system easier to maintain.

Preferably, in the embodiment, the differential resource can be designed through a visual designer, which will facilitate the design of the differential resources by the software system developer or maintenance personnel, especially for the simple function change of the software system. Software system customers can design differential resources directly through the visual designer to change the native configuration resources of the software system, so that the software system can achieve new functions without waiting for the software system developers or maintenance personnel to The software system changes, saving time. In addition, in the present embodiment, each difference resource is based on a unified object model. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the delta resource may be a text stream, but is not limited thereto. In addition, the differential resources can be hosted in a file or database, that is, the host of the differential resources not only supports the file mode, but also supports the database mode, but not limited thereto, the differential resources can also be hosted on other types of carriers. , such as in the file server.

Preferably, in the present embodiment, the differential resource can support multiple languages, and the differential resources of the same language type are collectively placed together, which is applicable to a software system having a multi-language version. In practice, the same software system, because it may be used in different countries or regions, may have multi-language versions, such as Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese or English versions. In order to match this situation, the differential resources can also support multiple Language, however, it should be emphasized that the differential resources may not support multiple languages, but only support a single language, which can be flexibly determined according to the software system. Also, when the difference resources When multiple languages are supported, you can put together the difference configurations in the same language. Further, even if the differential resource supports multiple languages, it is also possible to determine whether or not to support multi-language by setting conditions in the native configuration resource, and when the target of the change operation in the native configuration resource does not support multi-language, when performing the change operation , does not load multi-language difference resources, only load differential resources in a single language.

In summary, a method for implementing software system differentiation according to the present invention forms a new object by using a defined original configuration resource and one or more difference resources, and when the software system is executed, when a new object is invoked, Realize the new functions of the software system, so that the software system has better scalability. The separate packaging of the software system's variability is simplified, which simplifies subsequent functional changes. The visual designer is used to set the difference resources, and for some simple functional changes of the software system, the customer can directly design the differential resources through the visual designer, thereby implementing the functional changes of the software system without the need for the software developer. Complete functional changes to save time and increase efficiency.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and the present invention can be modified and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope is subject to the definition of the scope of the patent application attached.

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The above and other objects, features, advantages and embodiments of the present invention will become more <RTIgt; A schematic diagram of the process of implementing the method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart showing the step 130 of FIG. 1 .

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Claims (13)

A method for implementing software system differentiation includes: (a) defining a native configuration resource, the native configuration resource corresponding to a pre-configuration of a software system; (b) defining at least one difference resource, the difference resource and the software And (c) applying the native configuration resource and the difference resource to the software system to generate a new object. The implementation method of claim 1, wherein the step (c) further comprises: (c1) scanning configuration resources from different physical locations and configuring resource hosts and forming a discrete configuration resource set; and (c2) performing the discrete configuration resource set. Sorting to generate a sorted configuration resource set and distinguishing the native configuration resource from the delta configuration resource; and (c3) reading the sort configuration resource set and parsing the delta resource to perform a change operation on the native configuration resource. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the native configuration resource comprises a plurality of independently wrapped sub-native configuration resources. The implementation method of claim 3, wherein the sub-native configuration resource corresponds to a variable function of the software system. The implementation method of claim 2, wherein the difference resource comprises: a base object for defining a target of the change operation; a predicate for defining an action of the change operation; and a data for defining the Change the content of the operation. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the difference resource is designed through a visual designer. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the difference resource is based on a unified object model. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the difference resource is a text stream. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the delta resource is in a file, a database, or a file server. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the difference resource and the difference configuration resource are coupled to each other. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the delta resource supports at least one language. The implementation method of claim 11, wherein the difference resources having the same language type are placed in a centralized manner. The implementation method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the software system is an enterprise resource planning system.