Method and system for delivering dynamic information in a network

• US 20030050995A1
• Filed: 09/13/2001
• Published: 03/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mateos, Marino Tapiador
• Granted Patent: US 7,131,063 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and system for delivering dynamic web pages, for example including a report resulting from a database query, in the INTERNET. The query is run on a server computer and the resulting records are then transmitted to a client computer as script variables in a header of an HTML document. The body of the HTML document includes tags for displaying the script variables, which define a view template for the records. A browser on the client computer is responsible for interpreting the HTML tags, in order to display the result of the query on the client computer according to the corresponding view template.

Claims

1. A method of delivering dynamic information in a network including the steps of:

requesting, by a client computer, the dynamic information from a server computer of the network,

retrieving the dynamic information under control of the server computer, retrieving a view template for the dynamic information under control of the server computer,

transmitting the dynamic information and the view template from the server computer to the client computer, and

combining the dynamic information with the view template under control of the client computer for displaying the dynamic information on the client computer according to the view template.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dynamic information includes a plurality of records and the view template includes a first section with instructions for displaying a plurality of variables;

wherein the step of retrieving the dynamic information includes the steps of sequentially fetching each record and inserting a statement assigning the record to a corresponding variable in a second section of the view template; and

the step of combining the dynamic information with the view template includes the step of executing the instructions.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the view template with the inserted statements defines a web page, the instructions include markup tags, and the statements include script code.

4. The method according to claim 1, further including the steps of:

providing a plurality of structural models each one for a corresponding structure to be displayed on the client computer, each structural model including a plurality of static parameters,

providing a current set of values for the static parameters of each structural model,

off-line generating each structure from the corresponding structural model by replacing the static parameters with the current set of values, and

making available the generated structures on the server computer.

5. The method according to claim 4, further including the steps of:

storing a plurality of different sets of values for the static parameters of each structural model, each set of values being defined by a corresponding version identifier,

associating the version identifier of the current set of values with each structural model, and

retrieving the current set of values for the static parameters of each structural model according to the associated version identifier.

6. The method according to claim 4, further including the step of associating a style identifier with each structural model, the style identifier defining a displaying style of the corresponding structure, and wherein the step of off-line generating each structure includes inserting the current set of values in the displaying style defined by the style identifier.

7. The method according to claim 5, further including the steps of:

storing a plurality of authorization profiles for a development system of the structures,

starting a section on the development system with a selected authorization profile, and

accessing the structural models or the sets of values for the static parameters according to the selected authorization profile.

8. A computer program application loadable into a working memory of a data processing system for performing a method of delivering dynamic information in a network when the application is run on the data processing system, the method including the steps of:

requesting, by a client computer, the dynamic information from a server computer of the network,

retrieving the dynamic information under control of the server computer,

retrieving a view template for the dynamic information under control of the server computer,

transmitting the dynamic information and the view template from the server computer to the client computer, and

combining the dynamic information with the view template under control of the client computer for displaying the dynamic information on the client computer according to the view template.

9. A program application product comprising a computer readable medium on which the application of claim 8 is stored.

10. A computer program loadable into a working memory of a server computer of a network for performing a method of delivering dynamic information in the network when the program is run on the server computer, the method including the steps of:

receiving a request for the dynamic information from a client computer of the network,

retrieving the dynamic information,

retrieving a view template for the dynamic information,

transmitting the dynamic information and the view template to the client computer for causing the client computer to combine the dynamic information with the view template for displaying the dynamic information on the client computer according to the view template.

11. A program product comprising a computer readable medium on which the program of claim 10 is stored.

12. A system for delivering dynamic information in a network including a client computer and a server computer, wherein the client computer includes means for requesting the dynamic information from the server computer, and wherein the server computer includes means for retrieving the dynamic information, means for retrieving a view template for the dynamic information and means for transmitting the dynamic information and the view template to the client computer, the client computer further including means for combining the dynamic information with the view template to display the dynamic information on the client computer according to the view template.

13. A system for delivering dynamic information in a network including a client computer and a server computer, wherein the client computer includes a software module for requesting the dynamic information from the server computer, and wherein the server computer includes a software module for retrieving the dynamic information, a software module for retrieving a view template for the dynamic information and a software module for transmitting the dynamic information and the view template to the client computer, the client computer further including a software module for combining the dynamic information with the view template to display the dynamic information on the client computer according to the view template.

14. A system for delivering dynamic information in a network including a client computer and a server computer, wherein the client computer includes a browser for requesting the dynamic information from the server computer, and wherein the server computer includes a script module for retrieving the dynamic information and a web page template for the dynamic information, and a web server module for transmitting the dynamic information and the web page template to the client computer, the browser of the client computer combining the dynamic information with the web page template to display the dynamic information on the client computer according to the web page template.