Automatic spreadsheet forms

• US 5,966,716 A
• Filed: 07/14/1998
• Issued: 10/12/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Comer, Ross W., Link, Troy L., Misko, John R. H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lintz, Paul R.
• Application Number:
  US09/115,449
• Time in Patent Office: 455 Days
• Field of Search: 707/203, 707/511, 707/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A method of entering and saving data using a spreadsheet program, includes providing a spreadsheet template that defines a spreadsheet form, and creating multiple instances of the spreadsheet form defined by the spreadsheet template. Each instance of the spreadsheet form has data-entry cells containing variable data. The method includes a step of associating each form instance with a different record of a database, wherein each database record has record fields corresponding respectively to data-entry cells of the form instances. When the user saves a particular form instance as a spreadsheet using the spreadsheet program, instructions associated with the form instance also save the variable data from the data-entry cells in corresponding record fields of an associated database record.

Claims

1. A spreadsheet data file saved on a computer-readable storage medium by and apart from a spreadsheet program, comprising:

variable spreadsheet data that has been entered by a user;

instructions saved with the variable spreadsheet data, the instructions being executable by the spreadsheet program when saving the spreadsheet data file to perform a step of saving the variable spreadsheet data in a separate database apart from the spreadsheet data file.

2. A spreadsheet data file as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions perform the following additional steps when executed by the spreadsheet program:

determining whether the variable spreadsheet data has already been saved to an existing record in the database;

if the variable spreadsheet data has not already been saved to a record in the database, creating a record in the database and saving the variable spreadsheet data to the created record in the database.

3. A spreadsheet data file as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a file specification of said database where the variable spreadsheet data is to be saved.

4. A spreadsheet data file as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a cross-reference between data-entry cells of the variable spreadsheet data and record fields of the database.