Systems and methods for editing XML documents

• US 20050183006A1
• Filed: 02/17/2004
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rivers-Moore, Jonathan E., Veselov, Eugene N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,430,711 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

A system and method capable of identifying that a node of an extensible markup language (XML) document is editable using an element of an electronic-form template is described. In at least some embodiments, the system and method are capable of determining operations that are permitted for the identified node using another element of the electronic-form template.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the following when executed by one or more computers:

identifying a node of an extensible markup language (XML) document as editable using an editability element of an electronic-form template; and

determining operations permitted for the identified node using an operation element of the electronic-form template.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the instructions further perform a method comprising:

enabling selection of the operations through an electronic form;

receiving selection of one of the operations; and

performing the selected operation on at least one node of the XML document.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the one node of XML document comprises the identified node.

4. The media of claim 2, wherein the one node of XML document comprises other nodes subordinate or sibling to the identified node.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of determining the operations permitted comprises determining a context in which the operations are permitted.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein the act of determining the context in which the operations are permitted comprises locating a character string of “

container”

in the editability element.

7. The media of claim 5, wherein the act of determining the context in which the operations are permitted comprises determining the context by locating a value associated with a character string of “

container”

in the editability element.

8. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of identifying comprises finding an XPath expression in the editability element and comparing the XPath expression to nodes of the XML document.

9. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of identifying comprises finding a character string of “

xmlToEdit” and

an XPath expression associated with the character string.

10. The media of claim 1, wherein the act of determining the operations comprises finding a character string of “

editWith” and

syntax associated with the character string that is usable to determine the operations.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the syntax comprises a second character string of “

component”

.

12. The media of claim 10, wherein the syntax comprises a second character string of “

component”

, and a value of the second character string comprises a third character string of “

xCollection”

, the third character string being usable to determine that the operations comprise insertion or deletion of a node corresponding to or sibling to the identified node.

13. The media of claim 10, wherein the syntax comprises a second character string of “

component” and

a value of the second character string comprises a third character string of “

xOptional”

, the third character string being usable to determine that the operations comprise insertion or deletion of the identified node.

14. The media of claim 10, wherein the syntax comprises a second character string of “

component” and

a value of the second character string comprises a third character string of “

xTextList”

, the third character string being usable to determine that the operations comprise modification, insertion or deletion of a node corresponding to or sibling to the identified node.

15. The media of claim 10, wherein the syntax comprises a second character string of “

component”

, and a value of the second character string comprises a third character string of “

xField”

, the third character string being usable to determine that the operations comprise textual editing of data of the identified node.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the syntax further comprises a fourth character string of “

rich”

, the fourth character string being usable to determine that the operations comprise rich-text textual editing of data of the identified node.

17. The media of claim 15, wherein the syntax further comprises a fourth character string of “

plain”

, the fourth character string being usable to determine that the operations comprise plain-text textual editing of data of the identified node.

18. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the following when executed by one or more computers:

presenting extensible markup language (XML) data of a node of a first XML document in an electronic form;

enabling one or more operations in the electronic form;

receiving selection of an operation of the one or more operations; and

modifying the XML data of the first XML document based on the received operation, wherein;

the act of presenting comprises determining that the node is identified in a first element in a second XML document; and

the act of enabling comprises determining that the operations are identified in a second element associated with the first element in the second XML document.

19. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of presenting comprises presenting a blank data-entry field.

20. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of presenting comprises presenting a data-entry field having content, the content contained in the node.

21. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the node is identified comprises determining that the first element comprises a character string of “

xmlToEdit”

.

22. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the node is identified comprises determining that a location of the node matches an XPath expression determinable from a value of an attribute on the first element.

23. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the node is identified comprises determining that the first element comprises a character string of “

item” and

that a value associated with that character string is usable to determine an XPath expression matching a location of the node.

24. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified comprises determining that the second element comprises a character string of “

editWith”

.

25. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified comprises determining that the second element comprises a character string of “

component” and

a value associated with the character string, and using the value to determine the operations.

26. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of presenting comprises determining that the second XML document comprises a namespace having a namespace resource indicator having a character string of either “

microsoft”

or “

infopath”

.

27. The media of claim 18, wherein the first XML document comprises data not represented with XML.

28. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified comprises determining that the second element comprises an attribute indicating that the operations comprise insertion or deletion of the identified node, or of a sibling node to the identified node.

29. The media of claim 28, wherein the value of the attribute comprises a character string of “

xCollection”

.

30. The media of claim 28, wherein the value of the attribute comprises a character string of “

xOptional”

.

31. The media of claim 28, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified further comprises determining:

(a) that the second element indicates that the operations comprise insertion of the nodes; and

(b) a location where the nodes are to be inserted based on one or more character strings in the first element, the character strings being treatable as an XPath expression.

32. The media of claim 28, further comprising determining a location for the insertion with an XPath expression associated with a character string of “

item”

in the first element.

33. The media of claim 28, further comprising determining the identified node or the sibling of the identified node using a child element of the second element, the child element comprising a character string “

chooseFragment.”

34. The media of claim 33, further comprising determining a location for inserting the identified node or the sibling of the identified node using an XPath expression associated with an additional character string of the child element.

35. The media of claim 34, wherein the additional character string is associated with a character string “

parent.”

36. The media of claim 18, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified comprises determining that the second element comprises an attribute indicating that the operations comprise addition to or alteration of data within the identified node.

37. The media of claim 36, wherein the act of determining that the second element comprises the attribute comprises determining that a value of the attribute comprises a character string of “

xField”

.

38. The media of claim 37, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified further comprises determining that the second element comprises a second attribute having a character string of “

type”

.

39. The media of claim 38, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified further comprises determining that the second attribute is associated with a character string of “

rich” and

the act of enabling one or more operations comprises enabling creation and modification of rich-text-data within the identified node.

40. The media of claim 38, wherein the act of determining that the operations are identified further comprises determining that the second attribute is associated with a character string of “

plain” and

the act of enabling one or more operations comprises enabling creation and modification of plain-text-data within the identified node.

41. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the following when executed by one or more computers:

presenting a first extensible markup language (XML) document as an electronic form having one or more data-entry fields representing one or more nodes of the first XML document; and

enabling an operation to be performed on one of the nodes through its data-entry field, wherein;

the one node is identified in an element comprising a character string of “

xmlToEdit”

in a second XML document; and

the operation enabled to be performed on the one node is identified in a child element of the ‘

xmlToEdit’

element, the child element comprising a character string of “

editWith”

.

42. The media of claim 41, wherein the one node is identified by an XPath expression associated with a value of an “

item”

attribute in the ‘

xmlToEdit’

element.

43. The media of claim 41, wherein the operation to be performed is identified by a value of a “

component”

attribute in the child element.

44. The media of claim 41, wherein the act of enabling the operation comprises enabling the operation only if the electronic form comprises a representation of a context node, and wherein the context node is identified in a “

container”

attribute of the ‘

xmlToEdit’

element

45. An apparatus comprising:

means for identifying an editable node of an extensible markup language (XML) document by analyzing an editability element of an electronic-form template; and

means for determining an operation permitted for the editable node by analyzing an operation element of the electronic-form template.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising:

means for enabling selection of the operation;

means for receiving selection of the operation; and

means for performing the operation on the editable node or other nodes subordinate or sibling to the editable node.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the means for identifying the editable node comprises means for finding a character string of “

xmlToEdit” and

an XPath expression associated with the character string.

48. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the means for determining the operation permitted comprises means for determining a context in which the operation is permitted by locating a value associated with a character string of “

container”

in the editability element.

49. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the means for determining the operation comprises means for finding a character string of “

editWith” and

a syntax associated with the character string that is associated with the operation.