Method and system for stylesheet rule creation, combination, and removal

• US 20040205605A1
• Filed: 03/12/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Berglund, Anders LR, Boulia, Donald Jon, Rose, Kristoffer H., Adler, Sharon C., Grotjohn, D. Kirk, Brawn, Thomas Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,117,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/517
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines

Abstract

A method (and system) for editing rules contained in a first document, where the rules define a transformation of data on a second document and where the first document and second document have elements constructed in a tree structure having nodes, each rule having a template structure including at least one match condition, the match condition being an expression in the template that describes a subset of tree nodes, includes selecting at least one rule in the first document and checking a match condition of the user-selected rule with the tree nodes from the second document to determine which structures in the second document match the selected rule.

Claims

1. A method of editing a set of rules contained in a first document, said rules defining a transformation of data on a second document, said first document and said second document having elements constructed in a tree structure having nodes, each said rule on said first document having a template structure including at least one match condition, said match condition being an expression in said template that describes a subset of tree nodes, said method comprising:

selecting at least one rule in said first document; and

checking a match condition of said at least one selected rule with said tree nodes from said second document to determine which structures in said second document match said selected rule.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a listing of proposed rule modifications, based on said determination of matched structures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first document comprises an XSLT (extensible Style Language Transformations) stylesheet and said second document comprises an eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) source data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

merging any rules having an identical effect into a single rule.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting a preferred one of said choice of proposed rule modifications; and

modifying said listing of proposed rule modifications based on said user selection.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said listing of proposed rule modifications comprises at least one of:

a list of common refinements that permit a simple rule creation with minimal inputs; and

a selective refinement panel that permits selection of possible refinements in each of a listing of categories.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said selection includes an indication of nodes required to be processed by the rule being edited.

8. A computer comprising:

an editing module programmed to execute a method of editing a set of rules contained in a first document, said rules defining a transformation of data on a second document, said first document and said second document having elements constructed in a tree structure having nodes, each said rule on said first document having a template structure including at least one match condition, said match condition comprising an expression in said template that describes a subset of tree nodes, said editing module comprising;

an input module for receiving a selection of at least one rule in said first document; and

a comparator for checking a match condition of said at least one selected rule with said tree nodes from said second document to determine which structures in said second document match said selected rule.

9. The computer of claim 8, further comprising:

a display for presenting a listing of proposed rule modifications, based on said determination of matched structures.

10. The computer of claim 8, wherein said first document comprises an XSLT (eXtensible Style Language Transformations) stylesheet and said second document comprises an eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) source data.

11. The computer of claim 8, further comprising:

an input module to receive a selection of a preferred one of said choice of proposed rule modifications; and

a rule modification module to modify said listing of proposed rule modifications, based on said selection.

12. The computer of claim 9, wherein said listing of proposed rule modifications comprises at least one of:

a list of common refinements that permit a simple rule creation with minimal inputs; and

a selective refinement panel that permits selection of possible refinements in each of a listing of categories.

13. The computer of claim 11, wherein said selection includes an indication of nodes required to be processed by the rule being edited.

14. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of editing a set of rules contained in a first document, said rules defining a transformation of data on a second document, said first document and said second document having elements constructed in a tree structure having nodes, each said rule on said first document having a template structure including at least one match condition, said match condition being an expression in said template that describes a subset of tree nodes, said method comprising:

selecting at least one rule in said first document; and

checking a match condition of said at least one selected rule with said tree nodes from said second document to determine which structures in said second document match said selected rule.

15. The signal-bearing medium of claim 14, said method further comprising:

presenting a listing of proposed rule modifications, based on said determination of matched structures.

16. The signal-bearing medium of claim 14, wherein said first document comprises an XSLT (eXtensible Style Language Transformations) stylesheet and said second document comprises an eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) source data.

17. The signal-bearing medium of claim 14, said method further comprising:

merging any rules having an identical effect into a single rule.

18. The signal-bearing medium of claim 15, said method further comprising:

selecting a preferred one of said choice of proposed rule modifications; and

modifying said listing of proposed rule modifications based on said user selection.

19. The signal-bearing medium of claim 15, wherein said listing of proposed rule modifications comprises at least one of:

a list of common refinements that permit a simple rule creation with minimal inputs; and

a selective refinement panel that permits selection of possible refinements in each of a listing of categories.

20. The signal-bearing medium of claim 18, wherein said selection includes an indication of nodes required to be processed by the rule being edited.