Abstract: A system providing an improved method for compiler-assisted refactoring of a software application is described. Upon receiving a request for refactoring of a software application (e.g., changing a given symbol of the application), the binary files of the application are parsed to identify those binary files containing references to the given symbol. The source files of the identified binary files are then retrieved and fed into a compiler. The compiler is used to generate a list of all uses of the given symbol in the software application. This list includes not only the text name of the symbol, but also type information and position information regarding its location(s) in the source file. Based upon the list, changes are applied to the software application.

Abstract: A database system providing methods for eager and opportunistic property enforcement is described. Plan fragments are generated for obtaining data requested by a query. Plan fragments are grouped together in classes based upon tables of the database covered by each plan fragment. For each class, a particular plan fragment having the lowest execution costs for obtaining the data requested by the query is determined. If grouping is not required at a given class, an operator enforcing ordering is added to this particular sub-plan. However, if grouping is required at the given class, an operator enforcing both grouping and ordering is added to this sub-plan.

Abstract: A transaction processing system providing improved methodology for invoking two-phase commit protocol (2PC) is described. More particularly, a transaction is handled without use of 2PC until the system determines that the transaction does, in fact, involve changes to more than one database. The methodology improves overall system performance by looking at each transaction to determine whether the transaction actually requires use of 2PC before incurring the overhead associated with use of the two-phase commit protocol. Because only a small percentage of real world transactions result in updates to more than one database, the methodology improves the overall performance of transaction processing systems considerably.

Abstract: A system providing methods enabling data in Extensible Markup Language (“XML”) format to be extracted, transformed and stored in a database, file system or main memory is described. The extraction and transformation process is generalized and can be used on various types of XML data, enabling XML data to be stored and queried using standard database query methodologies. The system includes parse-time functionality to transform XML documents into a structure having an interface that enables efficient access to the underlying data. The system also includes query execution-time functionality providing greater efficiency by bringing only the relevant portions of transformed XML data into memory in response to a query. The system parses and translates queries into a structure that can be executed without the need to write custom application-specific navigation code to search XML data. The system also enables original XML documents (or portions thereof) to be recomposed when required.

Abstract: A Client/Server Database System with improved methods for providing access to highly-concurrent data, such as of B-Tree data structures, is described. When the system receives a request to insert a key value into a B-Tree at page that does not have sufficient room, the system must split at the tree at the leaf level. This is done by allocating a new page, and moving some of the key values from the old page to the new page. The split itself propagates upward. To do the split itself, the system obtains address locks for the two pages, and marks both as undergoing “split” (i.e., a split operation)—the system sets a Boolean flag or “split bit” to “true.” When the split is propagated up, a “side entry” is added to the old page to point to the newly allocated page. The old page, however, may not have sufficient room for storing this new entry (e.g., when it is already full). Accordingly in such a case, the parent page must split also.

Abstract: A multiprogrammed multiprocessor system comprises a plurality of processors and some communications resources such as networks through which the processors communicate with each other. A plurality of tasks may be executed on the system, and the allocation of the communications resources among the tasks is globally controlled. The allocation of resources among the tasks running on the system can be dependent on the signature of the tasks, where one component of a task signature is a measure of the communication resources needed by the task. The scheduling of a task running on the system may also be dependent on the signature of the task. The allocation of communications resources can be globally controlled using a variety of techniques including: packet injection into the communications resources using periodic strobing or using global flow control; using global implicit acknowledgments; by destination scheduling; by pacing; or by prioritized communication scheduling.

Abstract: A database system providing improved methods for asynchronous logging of transactions is described. Log records are created describing changes to a database made by a transaction. When a command committing changes to the database for the transaction is received, a logging request is placed in a queue. An asynchronous logging service removes requests from the queue and transfers log records from the transaction to a shared cache. The shared cache stores log records before they are written to the transaction log. The logging service writes log pages containing log records for the transaction from the cache to the transaction log. After all log pages in the cache for the transaction have been written to the transaction log, changes to the database made by the transaction can be committed to the database.

Abstract: A Database Development System is described that provides methodologies for creating an HTML or Web database control object (the “HTML DataWindow”) for use in a Client/Server Database System The HTML DataWindow serves as a thin-client DataWindow implementation for Web applications that provides most of the data manipulation, presentation, and scripting capabilities of the PowerBuilder DataWindow, without requiring any runtime DLLs (e.g., PowerBuilder runtime dynamic link libraries) on the client. DataWindow validation rules, formatting, and edit styles are automatically converted by the system into equivalent HTML and JavaScript, without coding by the user. HTML is generated that is suitable for the target browser. A plurality of functions and events are implemented by the generation of JavaScript which is downloaded to the client. In this manner, the Web or HTML DataWindow Design-Time Dontrol supports generation of a runtime DataWindow object in HTML.

Abstract: A browser-based system is described that provides a methodology for labeling of photo compact discs with a photo-facsimile table of contents. The system allows a customer at an e-commerce photo Web site to easily archive multiple albums that are on-line onto a CD-ROM along with a personalized table of contents printed onto the CD itself. This provides a user-friendly index of the digital images stored on the CD, thus saving a user from having to load the CD in a CD drive to be able to determine which pictures it contains. In this manner, people having multiple photo-CDs can quickly and easily identify the particular CD that has photographs that are of interest.

Abstract: An improved method for creating an index based on a path-compressed binary trie in a database system comprising database tables and indexes on those tables is described. For a given index to be created, a path-compressed binary trie for the given index is determined. The path-compressed binary trie comprises internal nodes and leaf nodes. Based on a traversal of the path-compressed binary trie, an index is created comprising a first array of internal nodes encountered during the traversal, and a second array of leaf nodes encountered during the traversal. The database system employs said first and second arrays for providing index-based access for a given key value.

Abstract: A system and method for providing critical end user feedback as to the color correction status of imagery shown on a client display, thus notifying the user that the color image being viewed is color accurate. In particular, the invention includes server and or client based applets which automatically informs viewers and/or other receivers of digital images as to the state of color correction for a particular digital image, thus notifying a viewer of the visual integrity of the digital image being displayed. The notification may be an icon that provides users with a visible indication about the integrity of color imagery currently being viewed by the client at a specific web site. It does this by briefly flashing the cursor for a fraction of a second to indicate if whether or not the page is being viewed utilizing calibrated color.

Abstract: A database system providing improved methods for optimization and execution of queries aggregating information from multiple database tables is described. The improved method breaks serial operations into a group of child operations that can be individually optimized and processed in parallel. A query including a grouping operator over a union node is split by pushing the grouping operation down into each input arm of the union node. Specifically, grouping operators are inserted into each child arm of qualifying union nodes, enabling separate physical database tables to be summarized in parallel. Each of the child grouping operators concurrently groups data and generates summary results in parallel, taking advantage of capabilities of available parallel processing hardware. The aggregate operators of the original master grouping operator are modified to accept and correctly synthesize sub-aggregated results generated by each of the child grouping operators.

Abstract: A multi-tier database system is modified such that a middle-tier application server (EJB server) and a database server run on the same host computer and communicate via shared-memory interprocess communication. The system includes a database (e.g., JDBC) driver thread that attaches to the database server, specifically by attaching to the database server's shared memory segment. Operation of the JDBC driver is modified to provide direct access between the middle tier (i.e., EJB server) and the database server, when the two are operating on the same host computer.

Abstract: An improved normalization methodology enabling better optimization of SQL queries is described. The normalization methodology effectively handles three-valued SQL search conditions and operates in reduced memory environments. A query is examined and selectively normalized by examining each segment of the query to determine whether it is advantageous to fully convert that segment to conjunctive normal form (CNF). If full conversion of the segment to CNF is not advantageous, then only the useful conjunctive conditions (prime implicates) that can be derived from the original input are saved. These useful conjuncts (prime implicates) are unioned with the original statement, resulting in a search condition that is semantically equivalent to the original expression, but that can be better exploited by a query optimizer. This enables better optimization of the original query without the system overhead that would result from full normalization of the query.

Abstract: An electronic mail (“e-mail”) system providing improved methodology for processing messages sent to mailing lists is described. The system include an “Injector” component which serves to “inject” messages into one or more Message Transfer Agents (MTAs). The system's Mailing List Manager (MLM), acting through the Injector, posts the address to a first MTA. If that MTA successfully processes the address, it responds with a “success” result, which may be passed back through the Injector to the MLM. If, on the other hand, that MTA is not successful, then the address is passed off to a second MTA. Again, if that MTA is successful, it will indicate that success back to the MLM; otherwise, the address is then passed off to the next MTA. The foregoing sequence continues until either the address for the given recipient is successfully processed by one of the MTAs or all of the available MTAs have been exhausted.

Abstract: An electronic Personal Information Manager (PIM) including a calendar/scheduling system with an EarthTime™ module is described. In operation, the system tracks different types of times: “local” time, “home” time, and “remote” time. Home time is the time zone of where the user typically spends most of his or her time; this is usually the time zone for the user's home office. Local time is the time for the locality where the user is located physically at any particular instance in time. “Remote” time represents the time zones of the other individuals (i.e., other than the user). The system may show events and appointments in the user's own “local” time (or other user-selected type of time), regardless of where the user is presently located. Using these three types of time (i.e.

Abstract: A database system is described that provides a methodology for significantly reducing latching costs associated with index pages in non-covered index scans, all without the need for using a conventional “shadow page.” The database system uses a “look ahead” list (LA) to save up to a preset number (e.g., 60) of ROWIDs (row identifiers) from the qualifying index keys. Since a ROWID is typically small (e.g., about 6 bytes), the space needed to store 60 ROWIDs is typically much smaller than the underlying page size (which typically range from 2K to 32K in systems). Thus, instead of finding just one next qualifying key as is conventionally done, up to a selected number (e.g., 60) of qualifying keys on the current page are found and the ROWIDs from them are stored in the look ahead list. In many cases, the copying costs are eliminated too.

Abstract: A database system providing a methodology, implemented as an “Abstract Plan on Disc” technology (referred to herein as, “Ariadne”), is described for turning cost based optimization decisions into stored, reusable items. In particular, the present invention provides a novel language interface to the optimizer, through an Abstract Plan, through which it can be given a description of the desired query execution plan (QEP). The language interface defines a declarative language syntax that allows description of the QEP. It does not specify the sequence of operations the database system's optimizer and code generator should accomplish to generate the QEP, but rather describes the desired outcome. Such an approach provides an abstraction barrier between an optimizer directives language and some specific optimizer and code generator. In this manner, the present invention allows a database system the ability to generate a better execution plan, and thereby realize better query performance.

Abstract: A Client/Server Database System with an enhanced Lock Manager for improving concurrency is described. The system tracks information about database columns that are updated in the Lock Manager, in addition to the exclusive lock on the data row (in case of data row locking) or data page (in case of data page locking). In particular, a new field, lrcolumns, is added to the system's record lock data structure to track which columns have been modified. When an exclusive lock is requested on a row of the table being updated in the update statement, the Lock Manager sets the value of lrcolumns. In the context of an exclusive lock that was acquired to update one or more columns of a data row, if an exclusive lock was used only to insert or delete (but not update) the data row, the lrcolumns field would be set to 0. Similarly, the lrcolumns field is 0 for locks that are not exclusive locks (e.g., shared locks). With the Lock Manager enhancement of storing information about updated columns, scan (i.e.