Method and system for creating interactive software

• US 20040187090A1
• Filed: 08/14/2003
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Randal P. Meacham
• Original Assignee: Randal P. Meacham
• Inventors: Meacham, Randal P.
• Application Number:
  US10/641,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20040187090A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

A computerized method of efficiently creating interactive software applications includes developing a user interface pages for the application based on generic user interface components, data fields, navigation flow, logic constructs, and data access elements. Once the pages are defined for the application, the application developer may select an application platforms such as Java Server Pages or Active Server Pages, and the compiler will produce the necessary code for that application platform.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for creating an interactive software application, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an editor;

providing a database;

providing a compiler;

defining a user interface for said interactive software application with said editor;

storing said user interface in said database;

determining an application platform; and

retrieving said user interface from said database and generating an interactive software application with said compiler based on the user interface and the application platform.

2. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises the step of defining a plurality of pages.

3. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 2, where the step of defining a plurality of pages further comprises defining a page layout for each page.

4. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 2, where the step of defining one or more pages further comprises defining one or more user interface components for each page.

5. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 2, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises defining navigation between the pages.

6. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises defining one or more functions for performing logic.

7. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises defining one or more data fields.

8. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises defining one or more interfaces adapted to access an external data repository.

9. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 8, wherein the external data repository is an XML document.

10. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises defining one or more data fields, further comprising the step of mapping one or more of the data fields to tags in the XML document.

11. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 8, wherein the external data repository is a database.

12. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 10, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises defining one or more data fields, further comprising the step of mapping one or more of the data fields to tags in the XML document.

13. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the step of defining a user interface further comprises creating one or more application modules, where each module comprises one or more pages.

14. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user interface is stored in the database as metadata.

15. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the step of generating the application with the compiler further comprises the steps of:

generating pseudocode based on the user interface;

parsing the pseudocode based on the application platform; and

generating output code for the interactive software application based on the application platform.

16. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 2, where the step of generating the interactive software application further comprises the steps of:

generating pseudocode for each page;

parsing the pseudocode based on the application platform; and

generating output code for the interactive software application based on the application platform.

17. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 1, where the application platform is one of java server page, active server page, and PHP hypertext processor.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for creating an interactive software application, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a user interface, where said user interface comprises a plurality of pages, each page having a page layout;

determining the order in which said pages are to be displayed to an end user;

storing said user interface and

generating a software application based on said user interface.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for creating an interactive software application, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database for storing application modules;

providing an editor for creating and modifying application modules;

providing a compiler for generating an interactive software application;

creating an application module in said editor, each application module comprising a plurality of pages, each of said pages comprising one or more user interface elements and navigation logic for determining the next page to display;

storing said application module in said database;

generating a software application with said compiler, further comprising the substeps of;

retrieving one or more application modules from said database;

determining an application platform for said application; and

generating an application based on the application modules and application platform.

20. A system for creating an interactive software application, comprising:

a computer processor programmed to execute;

an editor adapted to create a user interface for an interactive software application;

a database adapted to store the user interface; and

a compiler adapted to retrieve the user interface from the database and generate the interactive software application based on the user interface and the application platform.