Development system and methods for visually creating goal oriented electronic form applications having decision trees
First Claim
1. A goal oriented electronic form system comprising:
- means for generating and means for using form data files which define;
a graphical image of at least one goal oriented form for display on a monitor, said form including at least one field for storing information;
a graphical image of at least one decision tree, said at least one decision tree defining specific operations to be performed by the system in response to storage of information at a selected one of said at least one field;
means for generating form data files comprising means for selectively defining data links between selected fields of one or more forms and a variety of different external data sources, said means for generating form data files including means for reading data from the sources into fields and for writing information from fields to the sources;
means, responsive to a user request, for establishing a link to an external data source; and
means for creating the external data source in the event that an appropriate one does not already exist, the source being automatically created with fields which correspond in name and characteristics to the selected fields of at least one form named in said link request.
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Abstract
A system for creation and completion of goal oriented electronic forms creates a graphical image data file which defines: a graphical image of a form for display and printing; a graphical image of tree branches, tree nodes, and conclusions in association with fields of the form; reading and writing links between form fields and data sources and destinations; and links to other forms which, with the original form, comprise a related stack of forms. The system includes a form creation mode and a run time mode. The trees are defined by an application developer using the form creation mode to establish both qualitative and quantitative relationships between the various fields on the forms thereby providing the basis for the goal oriented prompting for the application user using the run time mode.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. A goal oriented electronic form system comprising:
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means for generating and means for using form data files which define; a graphical image of at least one goal oriented form for display on a monitor, said form including at least one field for storing information; a graphical image of at least one decision tree, said at least one decision tree defining specific operations to be performed by the system in response to storage of information at a selected one of said at least one field; means for generating form data files comprising means for selectively defining data links between selected fields of one or more forms and a variety of different external data sources, said means for generating form data files including means for reading data from the sources into fields and for writing information from fields to the sources; means, responsive to a user request, for establishing a link to an external data source; and means for creating the external data source in the event that an appropriate one does not already exist, the source being automatically created with fields which correspond in name and characteristics to the selected fields of at least one form named in said link request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification