METHOD AND SYSTEM TO BUILD INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTS

• US 20120221933A1
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Text Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Heiney, Ronald Lee, Pruitt, Byron S., Ryavec, Matthew F., Zdzitavetskaya, Anastasiya Aleksandrovna
• Granted Patent: US 8,924,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

In one embodiment, during a design mode an editing interface is provided, the interface including a plurality of cells arranged in a layout. An instruction is received to cause binding of a widget to a first cell, and data is received at the first cell. During a production mode, a view of the document is displayed. The first cell is updated to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the widget is changed via user input at the widget. The widget is updated to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the first cell has changed for a reason other than user input at the widget.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions to build an interactive document that, when executed, cause a computer to:

during a design mode,

provide an editing interface including a plurality of cells arranged in a two-dimensional grid layout with labeled rows and columns;

receive an instruction to cause binding of a widget within the document to a first cell,

receive first data at the first cell; and

during a production mode, display a view of the document and

update the first cell to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the widget is changed via user input at the widget, and

update the widget to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the first cell has changed for a reason other than user input at the widget.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein each cell of the plurality is capable of receiving user input, performing calculations and binding to another cell or a widget within the document.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein each cell is capable of being simultaneously bound to a plurality of widgets.

4. The medium of claim 1, further comprising updating other widgets or other cells bound to the first cell when the data within the first cell changes.

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein the editing interface further comprises a binding tool to receive user input and cause binding of a widget to a cell, and wherein the instruction is received via the binding tool.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein the first cell is additionally bound to an external data source.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the first cell is additionally bound to an external data source accessible via the Internet or an intranet.

8. The medium of claim 6, further comprising updating the first cell and the widget to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the external data source is changed.

9. The medium of claim 6, wherein the first cell and the widget are bidirectionally bound, and the first cell and the external data source are bidirectionally bound.

10. The medium of claim 6, further comprising updating other cells or other widgets bound to the first cell.

11. The medium of claim 1, wherein the editing interface is stored within the document.

12. A system to build an electronic interactive document, comprising:

an editing interface module, operable to during a design mode, provide an editing interface including a plurality of cells arranged in a two-dimensional grid layout with named rows and columns;

a binding module, operable to, during the design mode, receive an instruction to cause binding of a widget to a first cell;

a data receipt module, operable to during the design mode, receive first data at the first cell; and

a display and update module, operable to, during a production mode, display a view of the document and

update the first cell to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the widget is changed via user input at the widget, and

update the widget to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the first cell has changed for a reason other than user input at the widget.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each cell of the plurality is capable of receiving user input, performing calculations and binding to another cell or a widget within the document.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein each cell is capable of being simultaneously bound to a plurality of widgets.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising updating other widgets or other cells bound to the first cell when the data within the first cell changes.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the editing interface further comprises a binding tool to receive user input and cause binding of a widget to a cell, and wherein the instruction is received via the binding tool.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the first cell is additionally bound to an external data source accessible via Intranet or an intranet, and further comprising further comprising updating the first cell and the widget to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the external data source is changed.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first cell and the widget are bidirectionally bound, and the first cell and the external data source are bidirectionally bound.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the editing interface is stored within the document.

20. A method to build an interactive document, the method comprising:

during a design mode,

providing an editing interface including a plurality of cells arranged in a spreadsheet-like layout with named rows and columns, wherein each cell of the plurality is capable of receiving user input, performing calculations and binding to another cell, a widget within the document, or an external data source,

providing a binding tool to receive user input and cause binding of a widget to a cell,

receiving an instruction via the binding tool to cause binding of a widget to a first cell,

receiving an instruction to cause binding of the first cell to an external data source,

receiving first data at the first cell; and

during a production mode, displaying a view of the document and

updating the first cell to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the widget is changed via user input at the widget, and

updating the widget to reference changed data when it is detected that data within the first cell has changed for a reason other than user input at the widget, and

updating the first cell and the widget to reference the changed data when it is detected that data within the external data source is changed, and

updating other cells or other widgets bound to the first cell.