Extensible ordered information within a markup language document

• US 6,910,181 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2001
• Issued: 06/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: David, Paul Christian, Byrd, Marion Michael, Hyman, Michael Irvin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William L
• Application Number:
  US09/907,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20010044812A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• Field of Search: 715/501.1, 715513-514, 709200-202, 345/760, 717/108
• US Class Current: 715/237
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities

Abstract

An extensible set of information is defined within a Web page, which is retrievable in an ordered manner. Web page variables are defined and populated with commands and data which are executed according to the order defined by the naming convention employed in defining the Web page variable names. Within a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document, an open-ended series of commands are defined to be read and processed by a control without having to extend HTML or using an alternative language. For instance, a series of vector graphics commands can be defined using PARAM Tag statements and subsequently executed by a Web control in the specified order. Moreover, by defining an graphics object in this manner, a standard ASCII text editor can be used to review and modify the commands, and the graphics can be completely defined within the HTML document which does not require any external reference and thus reduces processing and network overhead.

Claims

1. In a computer system, a method of processing a markup language document written in a markup language, comprising the steps of:

presenting a plurality of requests for values for a plurality of property variables, each of the plurality of property variables named in accordance with an order-defining naming convention to indicate an execution sequence;

receiving from the markup language document the values for the plurality of property variables requested, the markup language document having a plurality of statements defining the property variables;

obtaining from the value of each of the plurality of property variables a command associated with said each property variable; and

executing the commands associated with the respective property variables in the execution sequence indicated by the names of the property variables.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the commands include commands for generating graphical images associated with the markup language document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the name of each of the property variables includes a sequence number indicating an execution order for the command obtained from the value of said each property variable in relation to the commands obtained from the values of other property variables.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the name of said each property variable includes an alphanumeric prefix and a numerical suffix as said sequence number.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining includes parsing the value of said each property variable to retrieve the command associated with said each property variable.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the step of storing the commands associated with the respective property variables in an ordered command list in accordance with the execution sequence prior to execution of the commands.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language is the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the statements defining the property variables represent PARAM elements of the HTML markup language document.

9. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

retrieving values of a plurality of property variables from a markup language document written in a markup language and having a plurality of statements defining said plurality of property variables, names of the plurality of property variables provided in accordance with an order-defining naming convention to indicate an execution sequence;

obtaining from the value of each of the property variables a command associated with said each property variable; and

executing the commands associated with the property variables in the execution sequence indicated by the names of the property variables.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the commands associated with the property variables include commands for generating graphical images.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the name of each of the property variables includes a sequence number indicating an execution order for the command associated with said each property variable in relation to the commands associated with the other property variables.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where in the name of said each property variable includes an alphanumeric prefix and a numerical suffix as said sequence number.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the step of obtaining includes parsing the value of said each property variable to obtain the command associated with said each property variable.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, including further computer-executable instructions for performing the step of storing the commands obtained from the values of the property variables in an ordered command list in accordance with the execution sequence prior to execution of the commands.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the markup language is the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the statements defining the property variables represent PARAM elements of the HTML markup language document.