Robust modification of persistent objects while preserving formatting and other attributes

• US 6,560,616 B1
• Filed: 05/05/2000
• Issued: 05/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Garber, David G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby; Frantz
• Application Number:
  US09/565,330
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• Field of Search: 707/203,8,100,101,102,103 R
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

Attributes of objects within a file that was created in a different environment from that in which the file is opened are preserved, enabling the attributes to be maintained after the file is saved. For example, an HTML document created with a text editor includes objects such as plain text and HTML tags with which attributes such as whitespace, line breaks, and indent level are associated. When such a document is opened in an HTML editor implementing the present invention, the attributes of these objects are preserved. Even when changes to these objects occur, to the extent possible, attributes of objects that were in the document as originally opened in the HTML editor are determined, so that these attributes can be applied to related objects that are added to the document or in regard to changes that are made by the user. The preservation of persistent object attributes is also applicable to other types of software applications such as language development systems and word processing programs. This invention thus insures, for example, that functions developed in newer versions of a program, although not recognized in an earlier version, persist when a file is opened in the earlier version and then saved.

Claims

1. A method for preserving attributes of original objects in a file when the file is opened in a different environment than that in which the file was originally created, comprising the steps of:

(a) defining a set of preservation rules defining how objects and associated attributes are to be preserved in the different environment;

(b) temporarily storing attributes of any original objects included in the file when the file is opened in the different editing environment in a manner that links each object to any associated attributes;

(c) enabling changes to be made to the file, said changes being temporarily stored in the different editing environment; and

(d) writing a revised file to a temporary file and/or a persistent medium, said revised file including the original objects and their associated attributes, and any new object and any attributes associated with said any new object resulting from changes made to the file, said file preserving the attributes of the original objects remaining in the revised file based on preservation rules corresponding to the original objects and their attributes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the attributes for at least some of the original objects define a stylistic format for a document corresponding to the file, said stylistic format defined by the attributes for any original objects remaining being preserved when the revised file is written.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a specific object that is one of the original objects in the file comprises text and an attribute associated with said object defines a whitespace around the object, data corresponding to said object and its associated attribute being temporarily stored in a data structure that is linked to the object.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of preservation rules is stored in a lookup table, and wherein any preservation rules that are to be applied to preserve any attributes corresponding to said object are determined as a function of the data stored in the data structure corresponding to the object.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the whitespace includes at least one of an indent level and a line spacing applied to the text of the object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of preservation rules include rules for handling stylistic formats associated with new objects added to change the file, further comprising the step of applying the rules for handling the stylistic formats associated with any new objects to determine the stylistic format for a new attribute associated with each new object that has been added to change the file, each new attribute being written to the revised file.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of parsing the file to identify the original objects and the attributes associated with each original object, producing internal representations of the original objects and their attributes that are temporarily stored while the file is open in the different environment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the original objects include a tag element having attributes that defines leading and trailing whitespace for the tag element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the trailing whitespace for the tag element is used to determine an indent level for a subsequent object in the file.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of automatically determining a set of rules to apply in formatting, for new objects added to the file, so as to be consistent with the attributes of the original objects.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of merging the attributes of any new object added by the changes made to the file with the attributes of the original objects, based on formatting criteria defined by a set of predefined formatting rules.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the file corresponds to a markup language document that is rendered by a browser to produce a display page, further comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying any omitted objects in the markup language document that are implicitly added by the browser to produce the display page; and

(b) leaving omitted the original objects that are identified as omitted objects in the revised file, unless omission of one or more of such omitted objects would cause the display page to appear differently than if said one or more of omitted objects were present in the revised file, and, if so, explicitly adding said one or more omitted objects to the revised file.

13. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

14. A method for preserving attributes of original elements in a document written in a programming language when the document is opened in a different environment than that in which the document was originally created, comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing the document to identify each original element and its associated attributes and temporarily storing information concerning each original element that is identified and its associated attributes, when the document is opened in the different environment;

(b) enabling changes to be made to the document, including adding new, elements and any attributes corresponding to the new elements to the document, said changes being temporarily stored in the different environment;

(c) merging the attributes of any new elements added by the changes made to the document with the attributes of the original elements, to produce an internal representation of a revised document; and

(d) saving the revised document to a temporary file and/or in a persistent format, said revised document being saved so as to preserve the attributes of the original elements and so as to include any new elements and corresponding attributes that were added in accord with any changes made to the document.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the document includes a plurality of language elements arranged in an overall stylistic layout when it is first opened in the different environment, said overall stylistic layout being preserved when the document is saved in the different environment.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of language elements in the document include text entries having whitespace attributes, and wherein a whitespace attribute that is associated with a text entry is preserved in the document unless changed while the document is open in said different environment.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of language elements in the document include tag entries having whitespace attributes, and wherein a whitespace attribute associated with a tag entry is preserved in the document when it is saved unless changed while the document is open.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein any original element that is unrecognized in the different editing environment is preserved along with any attributes associated with the original element that is unrecognized, when the document is saved, unless said original element that is unrecognized and its associated attributes are removed while the document is open.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the document, when initially opened in the different environment, comprises an original internal representation corresponding to an environment in which the document was originally created, said document being saved in the different environment so as to have a different internal representation than the original internal representation.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

(a) determining the attributes of specific original elements when the document was opened; and

(b) applying attributes for any related new elements that are added to the document while the document is changed, so that the attributes of the related new elements are consistent with the attributes of the specific original elements.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of saving the document comprises the steps of:

(a) defining a set of preservation rules defining how different elements and attributes associated with those different elements are to be preserved upon saving the document; and

(b) writing each element in the document and any attributes associated with the element to the document when it is saved based upon any preservation rules that are applicable to the element and/or to its associated attributes.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the document is written in a markup programming language that enables the document to be rendered by a browser, and wherein elements in the document include text entries having whitespace attributes, further comprising the step of removing a whitespace attribute that is associated with a specific text entry so that the specific text entry and any elements related to the specific text entry are arranged in accordance with a predefined stylistic format, so long as removal of the whitespace attribute does not alter how the document is rendered by the browser.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the document is written in a markup programming language and the original elements comprise markup language tags, and further wherein the document is rendered by a browser to produce a display page, further comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying any omitted markup language tags in the document that are implicitly added by the browser to produce the display page; and

(b) leaving omitted any omitted markup language tags that are identified in the revised document, unless omission of one or more of such omitted markup language tags would cause the display page to appear differently than if said one or more of omitted markup language tags were present in the revised document, and if so, explicitly adding said one or more omitted markup language tags to the revised document.

24. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 14.

25. A system for preserving attributes of original objects in a file when the file is opened in a different environment than that in which the file was originally created, comprising:

(a) a memory adapted to store data and machine instructions, said data including data defining a set of preservation rules corresponding to how various objects and associated attributes are to be preserved in the different environment;

(b) a processor coupled to the memory, said processor controlling storage of the data in the memory and executing the machine instructions to implement a plurality of functions;

(c) a display on which graphics and text are presented to a user in accord with the machine instructions, said display being controlled by the processor; and

(d) a user input device adapted to enable the user to input data and to control the processor, said plurality of functions implemented by the processor including;

(i) temporarily storing attributes of any original objects included in the file when the file is opened in the different editing environment in a manner that links each original object to its associated attributes;

(ii) enabling changes to be made to the file, including adding new objects and any attributes associated with said new objects to the file, said changes being temporarily stored in the different editing environment; and

(iii) writing a revised file to a temporary file and/or a persistent medium, said revised file including the original attributes and their associated attributes and any new objects and attributes associated with said new objects added in accord with any changes made to the file, said revised file preserving the attributes of the original objects remaining in the revised file based on preservation rules from the set that correspond to those original objects and their attributes.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the original objects in the file include text entries having whitespace attributes, and wherein a whitespace attribute that is associated with a text entry is preserved in the revised file unless changed while the file is open in said different environment.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the original objects in the file include tag entries having whitespace attributes, and wherein a whitespace attribute associated with a tag entry is preserved in the revised file unless changed while the file is open in said different environment.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein objects in any class that is unrecognized in the different environment are ignored while the file is open in the different environment, but are merged with recognized objects when the revised file is written.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the machine instructions further cause the processor to merge the attributes associated with any new objects added to the file, with the attributes associated with the original objects based on a format style for the attributes associated with the original objects.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the file has an original internal representation in the environment in which it was created, and wherein the machine instructions further cause the processor to parse the file to identify the original objects and their associated attributes, and to create a different internal representation of the original objects and their associated attributes upon writing the revised file.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the machine instructions further cause the processor to determine attributes associated with specific original objects when the file was open and to apply said attributes to any related new objects that are added to the file while the file is open, so that attributes associated with the related new objects are consistent with those of said specific original objects.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the file is written in a markup programming language and the original objects include markup language tags, and further wherein the document is rendered by a browser to produce a display page, the machine instructions further causing the processor to perform the functions of:

(a) identifying any omitted markup language tags in the file that are implicitly added by the browser to produce the display page; and

(b) leaving omitted any omitted markup language tags that are identified in the revised file, unless omission of one or more of such omitted markup language tags would cause the display page to appear differently than if said one or more of omitted markup language tags were present in the revised file, and if so, explicitly adding said one or more omitted markup language tags to the revised file.