Machine declarative language for formatted data processing

• US 20070250821A1
• Filed: 04/21/2006
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mola Marti, Jordi, Ahs, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,492 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/141
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

A machine declarative language for formatted data processing is provided. The machine declarative language may be used to generate constraints which can be projected onto a string according to one or more anchor points. The constraints can correspond to evaluation criteria. At least a portion of a string can be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable components for processing source data, comprising:

a constraint component operable to evaluate at least a portion of a string corresponding to evaluation criteria; and

an anchoring component operable to define a set of anchor points for mapping the evaluation criteria onto the string.

2. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the evaluation criteria corresponds to a sequence.

3. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the evaluation criteria determines whether a count of elements in the corresponding mapped portion of the string falls within a specified range.

4. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the evaluation criteria corresponds to escaped characters.

5. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the evaluation criteria corresponds to a set of elements, and wherein each element in the set of elements is compared to each element in the corresponding mapped portion of the string.

6. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the criteria evaluate to a severity level.

7. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein each anchor point included in the anchoring component corresponds to a defined location within the string.

8. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein each anchor point included in the anchoring component is loosely anchored to a range of locations within the string.

9. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one anchor point in the set of anchor points corresponds to a defined location within the string, and wherein at least one anchor point in the set of anchor points is loosely anchored to a range of locations within the string.

10. A method for processing source data comprising:

obtaining source data, wherein the source data includes a source string;

obtaining metadata corresponding to the source string, wherein the metadata includes one or more constraints, and wherein the one or more constraints correspond to evaluation criteria and one or more anchor points mappable to a target string; and

projecting the metadata onto the target string.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the projected metadata identifies at least one of a group of items, and wherein each item corresponds to a sequence, an element, or an escaped character, and wherein the projected metadata can further be used to determine whether a count of elements in at least a portion of a target string falls within a specified range.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein each anchor point corresponds to a defined location within a string or a range of locations within a string.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

validating the target string against the projected metadata.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

translating the target string in accordance with the projected metadata such that placeholders within the target string are preserved.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

modifying the translated target string such that the one or more projected constraints are satisfied.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the modified, translated target string for selection by a user.

17. A method for processing source data comprising:

obtaining source data;

generating a set of constraints; and

associating the set of constraints with at least one anchor point.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

normalizing the set of constraints such that redundant constraints are reduced to a single equivalent constraint and conflicts amongst incompatible constraints are resolved.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the set of constraints corresponds to evaluation criteria that can be evaluated to determine whether a string is valid.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the at least one anchor point defines the placing of the set of constraints on top of a string.