Storage of application specific data in HTML

• US 6,613,098 B1
• Filed: 06/15/1999
• Issued: 09/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Natarajan, Ramakrishnan, Fischer, Kevin J., Niemisto, Juha, Coffen, Robert W., Timasheva, Anna V., Johnson, Russell S., Sorge, Terri L., Misra, Rajeev S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): QUELER, ADAM M
• Application Number:
  US09/333,815
• Time in Patent Office: 1,540 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 715/501.1, 715/503, 715/504, 715/522
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

A spreadsheet program saves data into a hypertext markup language (HTML) document that can be viewed with a browser program, but persists all of the information associated with that data necessary to maintain formatting and functionality of the data if reintroduced into the spreadsheet program. The HTML document can then be used both for displaying the data over the Internet or other network in a browser program, and also for opening the data in the spreadsheet program. The information necessary for preserving the format and functionality of the data in the spreadsheet program is incorporated into the HTML document using HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and Extended Markup Language (XML). HTML is used for expressing cell data information that is displayed in the browser program, CSS are used for expressing cell-level properties of the data, and XML is used for expressing information that is not displayed in the browser program, but which is necessary for some functionality of the data when used in the spreadsheet program. If any formatting of the data are changed to enable display of the data in the browser program as displayed in the spreadsheet program, the original formatting information is retained in a supporting file that is ignored by a browser program.

Claims

1. A method for saving data having a format and functionality specific to a parent spreadsheet program into a hypertext markup language (HTML) document, such that the data are viewable with a browser program, and so that the data can be reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program without loss of the format and functionality that the data previously exhibited in the parent spreadsheet program, comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling a user to select the data from within the parent spreadsheet program;

(b) incorporating the data from the parent spreadsheet program into the HTML document by;

(i) using HTML to represent data that are displayable with a browser program;

(ii) using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to represent cell-level properties of the data so as to minimize a code required to represent the data in the HTML document, as compared to using HTML to represent cell-level properties of the data; and

(iii) using Extended Markup Language (XML) to represent information required for preserving the functionality of the data when reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program, but which is not required for the display of the data with a browser program; and

(c) saving representations of the data in HTML, CSS, and XML in at least one file, said at least one file including the HTML document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the data includes multiple data tables, the step of saving the representations comprises the step of generating a separate HTML file for each different data table.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of saving the representations further comprises the step of generating a frame-set that includes a navigation file with links to each file representing a different data table.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of saving the representations comprises the step of generating at least one supporting file to which the HTML document is linked.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of generating at least one supporting file comprises the step of including within a supporting file information required for proper functionality of the data when reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program, but which is not required for the display of the data in a browser program.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the supporting file contains information in one of a binary format and an XML format.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the supporting file contains PivotTable data in an XML format.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of generating at least one supporting file comprises the step of including image data in an image supporting file.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of generating at least one supporting file comprises the step of including the cell-level properties of the data in a CSS supporting file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using XML to represent information required for preserving the functionality of the data when reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program comprises the step of using XML to define at least one of document-level properties of the data in the parent spreadsheet program and parameters of a last data sort that was executed in the parent spreadsheet program.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using XML to represent the information required for preserving the functionality of the data when reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program comprises the step of including the XML within a head section of the HTML document.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using CSS to represent the cell-level properties of the data comprises the step of including the CSS within a head section of the HTML document.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using CSS to represent the cell-level properties of the data comprises the step of defining at least one of the properties of a font, a background, a color, a number formatting, a border of a cell, and an alignment of a value within a cell.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using CSS to represent cell-level properties of the data comprises the step of creating a new CSS property if a cell property of the data does not correspond to an existing CSS property.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using HTML to represent data comprises the step of using HTML to define a cell-level property if that property is unique to a sufficiently small number of cells so that an efficiency of representing the property using HTML is greater than an efficiency of representing the property using CSS.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using HTML to represent data comprises the steps of:

(a) changing formatting of the data for at least one cell so that an appearance of the data when displayed by a browser program will be substantially identical to that of the data when displayed by the parent spreadsheet program; and

(b) including in the HTML document or in a supporting file information relating to a format of the data when displayed by the parent spreadsheet program, such that the information is ignored by a browser program when the HTML document is display by a browser program, but used by the parent spreadsheet program to recreate the format of the data when reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of changing the formatting of the data comprises the step of including an MSO-Ignore property with HTML related to the changed formatting, so that the changed formatting indicated by the MSO-Ignore property will be ignored by the parent spreadsheet program when the data are reintroduced into the parent spreadsheet program.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of including the information related to the formatting of the data comprises the steps of using CSS to include information for a cell-level property, and using XML to include information related to a document-level property.

19. A method for reintroducing into a spreadsheet program, data that were originally created using the spreadsheet program and were subsequently included in a hypertext markup language (HTML) document, such that the format and functionality of the data thus reintroduced from the HTML document are substantially identical to an original format and functionality of the data when created in the spreadsheet program, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing the HTML document into which the data originally created in the spreadsheet program and information related to the original format and functionality have been incorporated, such that;

(i) the data originally created in the spreadsheet program are viewable with a browser program in which the HTML document is displayed;

(ii) cell-level properties of the data originally created in the spreadsheet program are incorporated into the HTML document using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS); and

(iii) the information related to the original format and functionality, but not related to the display of the data with a browser program, are incorporated into the HTML document using Extended Markup Language (XML);

(b) enabling a user of the spreadsheet program to select the HTML document for reintroducing the data back into the spreadsheet program; and

(c) providing substantially the original format and functionality of the data that are being reintroduced into the spreadsheet program by;

(i) loading the data from the HTML document into the spreadsheet program;

(ii) using the CSS from the HTML document to recreate the cell-level properties of the data loaded into the spreadsheet program from the HTML document;

(iii) using the information related to the original format and functionality that was incorporated into the HTML document as XML to produce substantially the original format and functionality for the data loaded into the spreadsheet program from the selected HTML document; and

(iv) applying the format and functionality thus produced and the cell-level properties to the data loaded into the spreadsheet program.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the HTML document is linked to at least one supporting file, and wherein the step of producing the format and functionality within the spreadsheet program comprises the step of using the information in the at least one supporting file to produce the format and functionality for the data loaded into the spreadsheet program from the selected HTML document.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the information related to the original format and functionality that is incorporated into the HTML document as XML includes at least one of a document-level property of the data as originally created in the spreadsheet program and parameters of a last data sort executed by the spreadsheet program before the data originally created in the spreadsheet program were included into the HTML document, and the step of producing the format and functionality within the spreadsheet program comprises the step of using the information related to the original format and functionality that was incorporated into the selected HTML document as XML to recreate at least one of the document-level property of the data originally created in the spreadsheet program and the parameters of the last data sort executed by the spreadsheet program.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the data comprises a plurality of data tables in the HTML document, and the step of loading the data comprises the step of creating a separate worksheet for each data table in the HTML document.

23. A method for saving data created in a spreadsheet program into a hypertext markup language (HTML) document, so that the data are viewable in a browser program, and so that formatting information for the data that is required for full functionality of the data within the spreadsheet program is preserved, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling a user to select the data within the spreadsheet program that is to be saved into the HTML document;

(b) separating the data into groups, including a first group of data that is not displayable by a browser program, but which is required for some functionality of the data within the spreadsheet program, a second group of data that is displayable by a browser program, with a substantially identical appearance to the data displayed by the spreadsheet program, and a third group of data displayable by a browser program, but requiring a formatting change so that the appearance of the data displayed by a browser program will appear substantially identical to that of the data when displayed by the spreadsheet program;

(c) incorporating the first group of data into the HTML document using Extended Markup Language (XML), such that the first group of data are ignored when the HTML document is displayed by a browser program, but is preserved and thus available to be used to reintroduce the data from the HTML document into the spreadsheet program;

(d) incorporating the second group of data into the HTML document such that;

(i) cell-level properties of the data are incorporated into the HTML document using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), when an amount of code required to incorporate the second group of data into the HTML document can be reduced by the use of CSS; and

(ii) cell-level properties of the data are incorporated into the HTML document using inline HTML, when an amount of code required to incorporate the second group of data into the HTML document can be reduced by the use of HTML instead of CSS;

(e) incorporating the third group of data into the HTML document using HTML such that;

(i) any formatting change required to display the data with a browser program includes a marker associated with the formatting change;

(ii) information related to the formatting is incorporated into the HTML document, such that the formatting change is employed when the HTML document is displayed by a browser program, but is ignored when the third group of the data is reintroduced from the HTML document into the spreadsheet program;

(iii) cell-level properties of the data are incorporated into the HTML document using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), when an amount of code required to incorporate the second group of data into the HTML document can be reduced by the use of CSS; and

(iv) cell-level properties of the data are incorporated into the HTML document using inline HTML, when an amount of code required to incorporate the second group of data into the HTML document can be reduced by the use of HTML instead of CSS; and

(f) saving the HTML document incorporating the first group of data, the second group of data, and the third group of data in at least one file.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the cell-level properties comprise at least one of a font, a background, a color, a number formatting, a border of the cell, and an alignment of cell data within the cell.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of incorporating the first group of data into the HTML document using XML comprises the step of incorporating within the HTML document at least one of a definition of document-level properties of the data created in the spreadsheet program and a definition of parameters of a last data sort that was executed in the spreadsheet program.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of incorporating the first group of data into the HTML document using XML comprises the step of generating at least one supporting file.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of generating at least one supporting file comprises generating at least one of a binary file, an image file, and an XML file that defines document-level properties of the original spreadsheet document.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the data created in the spreadsheet program includes multiple data tables, and the steps of incorporating the second group of data into the HTML document and incorporating the third group of data into the HTML document comprise the step of generating multiple files.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of generating multiple files comprises generating a unique file for data from each data table.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of generating multiple files further comprises the step of generating a frame-set, including a navigation file with links to each unique file representing a data table.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of generating multiple files comprises the step of generating a CSS file in which cell-level properties of any of the first, second and third groups of data are defined.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein the marker is an MSO-Ignore property.

33. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of incorporating the third group of data into the HTML document using HTML comprises the step of including within the HTML document the information related to an original formatting of the data by using CSS to define cell-level properties of the original formatting and using XML to define document-level properties of the original formatting.

34. An article of manufacture adapted for use with a computer, comprising:

(a) a memory medium; and

(b) a plurality of machine instructions comprising a spreadsheet computer program, which are stored on the memory medium, said plurality of machine instructions when executed by a computer, causing the computer to;

(i) enable a user to specify a data selection in the spreadsheet program to be saved into a hypertext markup language (HTML) document, such that the resulting HTML document can support both the display of the data in a browser program and preserves the format and functionality of the data so that the data in the HTML document can be opened in the spreadsheet program with the format and functionality that the data had when created in the spreadsheet program;

(ii) separate the data into a first portion of the data that is related to both a feature in a browser program and in the spreadsheet program, and a second portion of the data that is only related to a feature of the spreadsheet program;

(iii) incorporate the second portion of the data into the HTML document using Extended Markup Language (XML) to represent any of said second portion of the data that can appropriately be represented as text, using at least one binary file to represent any of said second portion of the data that cannot appropriately be represented as text, and including a link within the HTML document to said at least one binary file;

(iv) incorporate the first portion of the data that is related to both a feature in a browser program and a feature in the spreadsheet program into the HTML document by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to define cell-level properties of the data and by using HTML to represent the first portion of the data; and

(v) save the HTML document including the HTML, CSS, and XML in at least one file.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 34, wherein the plurality of machine instructions, when executed by a computer, further cause the computer to:

(a) identify any part of the data requiring a change to be made to enable said part of the data to be displayed in a browser program with an appearance that is substantially identical to an appearance of the data in the spreadsheet program; and

(b) change the formatting of any part of the data so identified; and

(c) incorporate within the HTML document the original formatting of any part of the data that was so changed, such that the original formatting is ignored by a browser program, but is available to be used by the spreadsheet program to recreate the format and functionality that the data had in the spreadsheet program when created therein.

36. A system for enabling a hypertext markup language (HTML) document to support both the display of data parented in a spreadsheet program in a browser program as well as the opening of that data with its original formatting and functionality intact, in the spreadsheet program, comprising:

(a) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions defining the spreadsheet program are stored;

(b) a display; and

(c) a processor that is coupled to the memory to access the machine instructions and to the display, said processor executing said machine instructions and thereby implementing a plurality of functions within the spreadsheet program, including;

(i) enabling a user to select the data within the spreadsheet program; and

(ii) saving the data from the spreadsheet program into the HTML document by using HTML to represent data that are displayable with a browser program;

using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to represent cell-level properties of the data to minimize an amount of code required to incorporate the data into the HTML document, and using Extended Markup Language (XML) to represent formatting information not required by a browser program, but required for opening the data from the HTML document with its formatting and functionality intact, within the spreadsheet program.