Instance updating method and apparatus therefor

• US 5,983,231 A
• Filed: 02/20/1998
• Issued: 11/09/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hayashi, Takahiro, Suda, Tomonori, Minatogawa, Masamitsu, Momoyama, Chikako, Hanada, Yuhko, Sakuta, Maki, Ichie, Kazuko
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US09/026,617
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 707/200, 707/500, 707/102, 707/3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An instance updating method in which an instance of a database displayed by a list can be updated in such a manner that only necessary item is updated when necessary. The instances read from the database are displayed by a list in a state in which inputting is impossible. When an instance to be updated is selected and a command for updating is given, the field of the selected instance is changed into a state in which inputting is possible. After appropriate input is effected, when a command for input confirmation is given, the instance is rewritten into the inputted content, and the instance is returned to the state in which inputting is impossible. The updated instance is reflected in the original database. In a method of generating a fixed format document necessary for carrying out a regular process on marked documents from a marked document already created and preserved, a prepared marked document is read. Then, a mark name in the read document is searched for and retrieved, and a mark name start mark, the retrieved mark name, a mark name end mark, and a marked content end mark are set. The marked content is skipped and is not retrieved.

Claims

1. A method of generating a fixed format document from a marked document containing a mark name and a marked content specified by the mark name, comprising the steps of:

reading a marked document created according to marking rules;

searching for and retrieving a mark name contained in the read marked document;

setting a mark name start mark;

setting the retrieved mark name after the mark name start mark;

setting a mark name end mark after the set mark name;

setting a marked content end mark after the mark name end mark; and

skipping a marked content without retrieving the same, wherein said mark name corresponds to and is paired with said mark contents, with a comment preceding and following each pair of mark name and mark contents.

2. A fixed format document generation method according to claim 1, which further comprises the step of retrieving the content of a comment.

3. A fixed format document generation method according to claim 1, which further comprises the step of setting in advance the mark name start mark, the mark name end mark, and the marked content end mark.

4. A fixed format document generation method according to claim 1, wherein the marked document comprises an SGML document.

5. A fixed format document generation method according to claim 1, wherein the marked document comprises a document of ESIS format.

6. An apparatus for generating a fixed format document from a marked document containing a mark name and a marked content specified by the mark name, comprising:

an external storage device storing the marked document and a generated fixed format document, wherein said mark name corresponds to and is paired with said mark contents, with a comment preceding and following each Pair of mark name and mark contents;

a marked document reading device reading in the marked document stored in said external storage device;

a document converter affixing an identifiable mark to a mark name in the marked document read by said marked document reading device and deleting a marked content specified by the mark name, to thereby generate a fixed format document; and

a fixed format document output device transferring the generated fixed format document to said external storage device to be stored therein.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, which further comprises a marking method setting device setting the identifiable mark used in document conversion.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said marking method setting device separately sets a mark name start mark to be inserted at a start position of the mark name, a mark name end mark to be inserted at an end position of the mark name, and a marked content end mark to be inserted at a position corresponding to the marked content specified by the mark name.

9. A method of creating a fixed format document from a marked document containing a mark name and a marked content specified by the mark name, wherein when the mark name is read from the marked document, a fixed format document is created by a process including affixing identifiable marks before and after the read mark name, respectively, and replacing the marked content specified by the mark name with another identifiable mark, and wherein said mark name corresponds to and is paired with said mark contents, with a comment preceding and following each pair of mark name and mark contents.