Method and system for inferring a schema from a hierarchical data structure for use in a spreadsheet

• US 20060117250A1
• Filed: 01/06/2006
• Published: 06/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McCormack, Michael J., Lynch, Kelly J., Burke, Eoin, Rothschiller, Chad, Dumas, Roy E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/84 Mapping; Conversion

Abstract

A method and system are provided for inferring a schema from an electronic document containing hierarchical data for use in a spreadsheet application program. The electronic document containing the hierarchical data is received into an application program. The application program may be a spreadsheet application program. The format of the hierarchical data structure may be XML. The hierarchical data includes a set of nodes making up the structure of the hierarchical data. The nodes may be XML elements and attributes. The hierarchical data is then parsed to discover one of the nodes in the hierarchical data. Once the node has been discovered, content associated with the discovered node is saved to a memory location in the computer system. The content may include data associated with the discovered node and the type of data associated with the node. The hierarchical data is then parsed again to discover subsequent nodes until the content for all of the nodes has been saved to the memory location. Then a schema generator generates schema elements using complex rules based on the particular qualities of each discovered node for each discovered node until a schema is generated for the hierarchical data.

Claims

1. A method for inferring a schema from hierarchical data comprising:

in an application program, receiving the electronic document containing the hierarchical data, wherein the hierarchical data includes one or more fields;

(a) discovering one of the fields in the hierarchical data;

(b) saving content associated with the discovered field;

(c) repeating tasks (a)-(b) until the content for each discovered field has been saved; and

generating the schema based on the content saved for each discovered field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein saving the content associated with the discovered field comprises:

determining whether the discovered field has previously been discovered;

if the discovered field has been previously discovered, then storing a first indicator indicating that the field is a repeating field; and

examining the content associated with the repeating field and updating a memory location with a data type of the repeating field; and

if the discovered field has not been previously discovered, then saving the content associated with the discovered field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises data associated with the discovered field, wherein the data includes information for locating the discovered field.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a data type for the data associated with each discovered field.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining a data type for the data associated with each discovered field comprises:

comparing the data associated with the discovered field to a list of known data types; and

determining the data type based on the list of known data types.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the relationship between each discovered field prior to generating the schema comprises:

determining at least one hierarchical relationship among the discovered fields by examining the content saved for the discovered fields, wherein the at least one hierarchical relationship includes a parent-child relationship.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application program is a spreadsheet application program.

8. A computer system for inferring a schema from an electronic document containing hierarchical data comprising:

a memory for storing the hierarchical data, wherein the hierarchical data includes one or more fields;

a parser for receiving the hierarchical data from the memory and parsing the hierarchical data in the electronic document to discover the one or more fields;

a logical memory module for;

(a) receiving one of the discovered fields from the parser;

(b) determining content associated with the discovered field; and

(c) saving the content associated with the discovered field in the memory;

(d) repeating tasks (a)-(c) until the content for each discovered field has been saved in the memory; and

a schema generator module for generating the schema based on the content saved for each discovered field.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein in saving the content associated with the discovered field in the memory, the logical memory module:

determines whether the discovered field has previously been discovered;

if the discovered field has been previously discovered, then

stores a first indicator indicating that the discovered field is a repeating field in the memory; and

saves the content associated with the repeating field in the memory; and

if the discovered field has not been previously discovered, then saves the content associated with the discovered field in the memory.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the content comprises data associated with the discovered field, wherein the data includes information for locating the discovered field.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the logical memory module determines a data type for the data associated with each discovered field.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein in determining a data type for the data associated with each discovered field, the logical memory module:

compares the data associated with each discovered field to a list of known data types; and

determines the data type based on the list of known data types.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the logical memory module determines at least one hierarchical relationship among the discovered fields by examining the content saved for the discovered fields, wherein the at least one hierarchical relationship includes a parent-child relationship.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the application program is a spreadsheet application program.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed on a computer, perform a method for inferring a schema from hierarchical data comprising:

in an application program, receiving the electronic document containing the hierarchical data, wherein the hierarchical data includes one or more fields;

(a) discovering one of the fields in the hierarchical data;

(b) saving content associated with the discovered field;

(c) repeating tasks (a)-(b) until the content for each discovered field has been saved; and

generating the schema based on the content saved for each discovered field.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein saving the content associated with the discovered field comprises:

determining whether the discovered field has previously been discovered;

if the discovered field has been previously discovered, then storing a first indicator indicating that the field is a repeating field; and

examining the content associated with the repeating field and updating a memory location with a data type of the repeating field; and

if the discovered field has not been previously discovered, then saving the content associated with the discovered field.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the content comprises data associated with the discovered field, wherein the data includes information for locating the discovered field.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising determining a data type for the data associated with each discovered field.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein determining a data type for the data associated with each discovered field comprises:

comparing the data associated with the discovered field to a list of known data types; and

determining the data type based on the list of known data types.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the application program is a spreadsheet application program.