System and method for integrated management of components of a resource

Abstract

Exemplary techniques are provided for defining a binding or relationship between the content of a document managed by an application and a service entity managed by an application service. The binding may enable the user to retrieve the service entity by selecting the document content within the application. The binding may comprise application metadata associated with the document content which provides a reference to the service entity, and context metadata which specifies a transformation performed on the application metadata to retrieve the service entity.

1 . In a system which includes an application executing on a first computer and an application service executing on a second computer, the first and second computers being coupled via a network, the application being operable to manage a document and receive input from a user comprising document content, the document content corresponding to a service entity managed by the application service, a method for defining a binding between the document content and the service entity, the binding enabling the user to access the service entity by selecting the document content within the application, the method comprising: 
 (A) defining application metadata for the document content, the application metadata being associated with the document content, the application metadata including information which provides a reference to the service entity; and    (B) defining context metadata which specifies a transformation performed on at least a portion of the information included in the application metadata to access the service entity.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application metadata is provided via an XML schema which is associated with the document content.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the XML schema is provided in a data structure employed by a smart tag.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the XML schema is attached to the document.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application metadata is provided via a URL.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application metadata includes references to the context metadata, the service entity, and a view of the service entity.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further including an act, performed before the act (A), comprising automatically recognizing that the document content provided by the user corresponds to the service entity.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the acts (A) and (B) are performed transparently to the user.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the act of automatically recognizing further comprises comparing the document content to at least one of the context metadata and a derivation of the context metadata.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the document comprises one of a word processing document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, a drawing and a web page.  
   
   
       11 . At least one computer-readable medium for use in a system which includes an application executing on a first computer and an application service executing on a second computer, the first and second computers being coupled via a network, the application being operable to manage a document and receive input from a user comprising document content, the document content corresponding to a service entity managed by the application service, the at least one computer-readable medium including information which defines a binding between the document content and the service entity, the binding enabling the user to access the service entity by selecting the document content within the application, the binding comprising: 
 application metadata for the document content, the application metadata being associated with the document content, the application metadata including information which provides a reference to the service entity; and    context metadata which specifies a transformation performed on at least a portion of the information included in the application metadata to access the service entity.    
   
   
       12 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the application metadata is provided via an XML schema which is associated with the document content.  
   
   
       13 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the XML schema is provided in a data structure employed by a smart tag.  
   
   
       14 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the XML schema is attached to the document.  
   
   
       15 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the application metadata is provided via a URL.  
   
   
       16 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the application metadata includes references to the context metadata, the service entity, and a view of the service entity.  
   
   
       17 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further including an act, performed before the act (A), comprising automatically recognizing that the document content provided by the user corresponds to the service entity.  
   
   
       18 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the acts (A) and (B) are performed transparently to the user.  
   
   
       19 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the act of automatically recognizing further comprises comparing the document content to at least one of the context metadata and a derivation of the context metadata.  
   
   
       20 . The at least one computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the document comprises one of a word processing document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, a drawing and a web page.