METHOD, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED CREATION AND MAINTENANCE OF PROGRAMS TO PROCESS INTERNET FORM RELATED SUBMISSIONS

• US 20110202824A1
• Filed: 04/22/2011
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle Systems Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle Systems Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Raje, Prasad
• Granted Patent: US 8,826,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which a form is received from an author. A parsing function is performed to extract attribute information with respect to various form elements contained in the form. A user interface is presented to the author to allow the author to configure a set of actions that are to be performed in processing the submissions of the form.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a form containing one or more input fields adapted to receive user input;

identifying the input fields contained in the received form;

providing a graphical user interface to enable selection and customization of one or more actions to be carried out in response to user submission of an instance of the form including data in at least one of the input fields to a server, wherein the graphical user interface displays the identified input fields and a plurality of selectable and customizable actions that are dependent upon the identified input fields or data input into the identified input fields upon user submission of an instance of the form;

receiving the selection and customization of an action;

automatically generating executable program code to carry out the selected and customized action; and

storing the program code on the server that will process a user submission of the form.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the user submission of the form at the server; and

executing the program code on the server in response to receipt of the user submission of the form to carry out the selected and customized action.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the form is written in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated program code is a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the form such that the user submission is directed to the generated program code.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically determining whether the generated program code is consistent with the form; and

generating an alert if the generated program code is not consistent with the form.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected and customized action is dependent upon an identified input field or data input into the identified input field upon user submission of an instance of the form.

8. A machine-readable storage medium containing data representing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a form containing one or more input fields adapted to receive user input;

identifying the input fields contained in the received form;

providing a graphical user interface to enable selection and customization of one or more actions to be carried out in response to user submission of an instance of the form including data in at least one of the input fields to a server, wherein the graphical user interface displays the identified input fields and a plurality of selectable and customizable actions that are dependent upon the identified input fields or data input into the identified input fields upon user submission of an instance of the form;

receiving the selection and customization of an action;

automatically generating executable program code to carry out the selected and customized action; and

storing the program code on the server that will process a user submission of the form.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving the user submission of the form at the server from the third party; and

executing the program code on the server in response to receipt of the user submission of the form from the third party to carry out the selected and customized action.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the form is written in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML).

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the generated program code is a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising modifying the form such that the user submission is directed to the generated program code.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

automatically determining whether the generated program code is consistent with the form; and

generating an alert if the generated program code is not consistent with the form.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the selected and customized action is dependent upon an identified input field or data input into the identified input field upon user submission of an instance of the form.

15. A server comprising:

a memory storing instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions, causing the server to

identify the input fields contained in a form containing one or more input fields adapted to receive user input,

provide a graphical user interface to enable selection and customization of one or more actions to be carried out in response to user submission of an instance of the form including data in at least one of the input fields to a server, wherein the graphical user interface displays the identified input fields and a plurality of selectable and customizable actions that are dependent upon the identified input fields or data input into the identified input fields upon user submission of an instance of the form,

receive the selection and customization of an action,

automatically generate executable program code to carry out the selected and customized action, and

store the program code on the server that will process a user submission of the form.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein the server receives the user submission of the form at the server from the third party, and executes the program code on the server in response to receipt of the user submission of the form from the third party to carry out the selected and customized action.

17. The server of claim 15, wherein the form is written in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and wherein the generated program code is a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program.

18. The server of claim 15, wherein the selected and customized action is dependent upon an identified input field or data input into the identified input field upon user submission of an instance of the form.

19. The server of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the server to modify the form such that the user submission is directed to the generated program code.

20. The server of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the server to:

automatically determine whether the generated program code is consistent with the form; and

generate an alert if the generated program code is not consistent with the form.