System and method for designing electronic forms and hierarchical schemas

• US 20040189716A1
• Filed: 03/24/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Paoli, Jean D., Mollicone, Laurent, Kotler, Matthew J., Lai, Shuk-Yan, Hendel, Sharma K., Friend, Ned B., Whitmarsh, Jason, Lawrence, Thomas R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,275,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

A system and method that enables a designer to build electronic forms and corresponding hierarchical schemas are described. Displays of hierarchical schemas, electronic forms, and components used to build the hierarchical schemas and electronic forms are provided to the designer. The designer selects components and arranges them on a display to visually build an electronic form. As the form is built, the corresponding hierarchical schema is incrementally updated to reflect changes made to the electronic form.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a plurality of components;

receiving input selecting one of the components;

identifying the selected component;

building a hierarchical schema to include a schema part corresponding to the identified component;

building an electronic form to include a data-entry field corresponding to the selected component; and

displaying at least one of the electronic form and the hierarchical schema.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical schema and the electronic form are built simultaneously.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein building the hierarchical schema includes inferring properties for the schema part from properties of the identified component.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein building the hierarchical schema includes inferring, for the schema part, a data type and allowance of repeating data-entry fields from properties of the identified component.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more of the plurality of components.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input selecting a criteria to create a custom component; and

creating the custom component based on the selected criteria,

wherein the plurality of components includes the custom component.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input selecting a criteria to create a custom component;

creating the custom component based on the selected criteria; and

creating a custom schema part corresponding to the custom component,

wherein the plurality of components includes the custom component and building the hierarchical schema includes including the custom schema part if the identified component is the custom component.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input selecting an option for the selected component, wherein the hierarchical schema and electronic form are built to reflect the selected option.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the option includes a location for the component on a form-design area.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the option includes a label for the component.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the option includes replacing the component.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic form is written in a transformation language.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the transformation language is XSLT.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical schema is written in a markup language.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the markup language is XML.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical schema is described using a formalized schema description language.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical schema conforms to an XML Schema standard.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical schema is represented as a data store.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the components include code written in XSLT.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic form is rendered with XHTML.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising inferring a data store from the hierarchical schema.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein building the hierarchical schema and the electronic form further comprises linking the hierarchical schema and the electronic form so that changes made in one are made simultaneously in the other.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the hierarchical schema and the electronic form are linked using XPaths.

24. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the method of claim 1 when executed by a computer.

25. A method comprising:

displaying a representation of an electronic form including one or more existing components;

receiving input to at least one of;

add a new component; and

alter one of the existing components; and

incrementally changing, after each received input, the electronic form and a corresponding hierarchical schema to reflect each received input.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving a second input to at least one of:

add a new component; and

alter one of the existing components, wherein the incrementally changing occurs prior to the receiving the second input.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the received input includes altering an existing component.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the received input includes altering an existing component by moving the existing component within a design area.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein incrementally changing is performed in part by linking the electronic form and corresponding hierarchical schema.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the received input is received through a selection made to a screen in which the electronic form is constructed.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the received input is received through a selection made to a screen in which a list of one or more components is provided.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the received input is received through a selection made to a representation of the corresponding hierarchical schema.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the received input is received through a selection made to a word-processing style display.

34. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

displaying a new representation of the electronic form and a representation of the corresponding hierarchical schema, each reflecting the incremental change to the electronic form and the corresponding hierarchical schema.

35. The method of claim 25 further comprising displaying a list of components and a representation of the corresponding hierarchical schema.

36. The method of claim 25, wherein the electronic form includes code written in XSLT and the corresponding hierarchical schema includes code written in XML.

37. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the method of claim 25 when executed by a computer.

38. A method comprising:

enabling placement of a component on a form-design area;

determining a location for the component on the form-design area; and

inferring from the location a relationship of the component to other existing components.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the relationship is one in which the component is subordinate to one or more of the other existing components.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

altering a hierarchical schema to include a schema part corresponding to the component; and

subordinating the schema part to one or more other schema parts corresponding to the one or more existing components.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the relationship is one in which the component governs one or more of the other existing components.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

altering a hierarchical schema to include a schema part corresponding to the component that is subordinate only to a root schema part.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

adding a schema part corresponding to the component to a hierarchical schema; and

altering, in the hierarchical schema, one or more existing schema parts corresponding to the governed other existing components to subordinate the existing schema parts to the added schema part.

44. The method of claim 38, wherein the relationship is one in which the component does not govern and is not subordinate to one or more of the other existing components.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

altering a hierarchical schema to include a schema part corresponding to the component that is subordinate only to a root schema part.

46. The method of claim 38, wherein:

the enabling placement comprises enabling placement of the component within a subordination area, and

the inferring comprises determining whether the component was placed within the subordination area.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the subordination area is associated with one of the existing components.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the inferring comprises determining the relationship of the component to be subordinate to the existing component if the component is located within the subordination area associated with the existing component.

49. The method of claim 46, wherein the subordination area, when graphically depicted, includes a box surrounding the existing component.

50. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the method of claim 38 when executed by a computer.

51. A user interface comprising:

a component display area;

an interface to enable a designer to select a component from the component display area;

a form-design area to display the selected component on the form-design area;

a hierarchical schema display area to display a schema part corresponding to the selected component; and

a structure submenu to display options to select structural changes to the schema part.

52. The user interface of claim 51, further comprising:

a word-processing menu to display options to select stylistic changes to a label for the component.

53. The user interface of claim 51, wherein the structure submenu displays options to select structural changes to the component.

54. The user interface of claim 51, further comprising:

a component context menu to display options to select stylistic changes to the component.

55. The user interface of claim 51, wherein the interface enables the designer to alter a structure of the component in the form-design area by selecting a schema part corresponding to the component.

56. The user interface of claim 51, wherein the interface enables the designer to alter an appearance of the component in the form-design area.

57. The user interface of claim 51, wherein the interface enables the designer to alter a font, size, and color of the component in the form-design area.

58. The user interface of claim 51, further comprising:

a word-processing icon display to display options to select stylistic changes to the electronic form.

59. A user interface comprising:

a form-design area to display a representation of an existing component including a subordination area; and

an interface to enable a designer to select a location for another component on the form-design area,

wherein, in response to the selection of the location of the other component, graphically subordinating the other component to the existing component if the other component'"'"'s location is within the subordination area.

60. The user interface of claim 59, further comprising:

a hierarchical schema display area that displays, in response to the selection of the location of the other component, a first schema part corresponding to the other component subordinate to a second schema part corresponding to the existing component if the other component'"'"'s location is within the subordination area.

61. The user interface of claim 60, wherein the hierarchical schema display area displays the first and second schema parts.

62. The user interface of claim 60, wherein the first and second schema parts are graphically offset to convey hierarchy.

63. The user interface of claim 59, wherein the representation of the existing component includes a label.

64. The user interface of claim 59, wherein the representation of the existing component includes a data-entry field.

65. The user interface of claim 59, wherein the subordination area includes a label.

66. The user interface of claim 59, wherein the subordination area is enclosed by a box.

67. A system comprising:

a user-input device;

a computer having a display;

a user interface executable on the computer and configured to;

display components in a component display area of the display;

facilitate a designer'"'"'s selection of the component; and

display a representation of the selected component in a form-design area of the display that corresponds to the selected component, and

a design application executable on the computer and configured to incrementally and simultaneously build an electronic form visually mimicking the form-design area of the display.

68. An apparatus comprising:

means for displaying components;

means for selecting one of the components;

means for incrementally building an electronic form and corresponding hierarchical schema based on the selected component; and

means for displaying a representation of the electronic form.

69. The apparatus of claim 68, further comprising:

means for choosing one or more selected components represented in the representation of the electronic form in the form-design area; and

means for incrementally altering the electronic form and the corresponding hierarchical schema based on the chosen selected component represented in the representation of the electronic form in the form-design area.

70. The apparatus of claim 68, further comprising:

means for choosing a schema part corresponding to one or more selected components within the electronic form; and

means for incrementally altering the electronic form and the corresponding hierarchical schema based on the chosen schema part.

71. The apparatus of claim 68, further comprising:

means for choosing a criteria to create a custom component; and

means for creating the custom component based on the selected criteria, wherein the components include the custom component.

72. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, perform acts comprising:

displaying an electronic form and one or more components existing within the electronic form;

displaying a list of new components for addition to the electronic form;

facilitating selection of at least one of;

an alteration to one of the existing components; and

an addition of one of the new components;

changing the electronic form and a hierarchical schema corresponding to the electronic form to include the selected alteration or the selected addition; and

displaying the change in the electronic form.