High-performance extensible document transformation

• US 6,941,511 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2000
• Issued: 09/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hind, John R., Li, Yongcheng, Tan, Yih-Shin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ludwig, Matthew J.
• Application Number:
  US09/653,080
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: 715/511, 715/522, 715/523, 715/513, 715/517, 717/143
• US Class Current: 715/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for applying transformations to extensible documents, enabling reductions in the processing time required to transform arbitrarily-structured documents having particular well-defined elements. Signatures for structured document types are defined, along with one or more transformations to be performed upon documents of that type. The transformations are specified using syntax elements referred to as maps. A map specifies an operation code for the transformation to be performed, and describes the input and output of the associated transformation. A special map processing engine locates an appropriate transformation object to a particular input document at run-time, and applies the transformation operation according to the map definition. This technique is preferably used for a set of predetermined core transformations, with other transformations being processed using stylesheet engines of the prior art. The input documents may be encoded in the Extensible Markup Language (XML), or in other structured notations. The techniques of the present invention are particularly well suited to use in high-volume and throughput-sensitive environments such as that encountered by business-to-business transaction servers.

Claims

1. A computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media, the computer program product adapted for efficiently transforming extensible structured documents and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for identifying a source document type;

computer-readable program code means for specifying one or more fast transformations to be performed on documents of the source document type;

computer-readable program code means for specifying a source node description and a target node description for each of the specified fast transformations;

computer-readable program code means for storing transformation information for each of the specified fast transformations, the transformation information comprising a transformation identifier, a source node description, and the target node description; and

computer-readable program code means for processing incoming source documents to generate output documents using the stored transformation information, further comprising;

computer-readable program code means for receiving a source document;

computer-readable program code means for selecting, manually or based upon a comparison of the received some document to the stored transformation information, zero or more fast transformations to be performed;

computer-readable program code means for applying the selected fast transformations; and

computer-readable program code means for generating one or more output documents using a result of the computer-readable program code means for applying.

2. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the received source document is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

3. The computer program product according to claim 2, further comprising computer-readable program code means for parsing the XML document.

4. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

5. The computer program product according to claim 4, and wherein the computer-readable program code means for applying the selected transformations further comprises computer-readable program code means for manipulating selected nodes by manipulating the array-based representation.

6. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the received source document is a machine-oriented markup language document.

7. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of a machine-oriented markup language document.

8. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the received source document is a parsed representation of an extensive document.

9. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the source node description identifies one or more source nodes in an input document of the source document type and wherein the target node description identifies zero or more target nodes in an output tree to be generated in the one or more output documents.

10. The computer program product according to claim 1, wherein the computer-readable program code means for processing further comprises computer-readable program code means for applying a general purpose transformation engine to perform transformations other than the selected fast transformations, wherein the general purpose transformation engine is a stylesheet engine, and wherein the computer-readable program code means for generating uses the result of the computer-readable program code means for applying the selected fast transformations as well as a result of the computer-readable program code means for applying the general purpose transformation engine.

11. The computer program product according to claim 10, wherein the stylesheet engine is an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) engine.

12. A system for transforming extensible structured documents, comprising;

means for specifying fast transformations to be applied to incoming source documents, further comprising;

means for specifying a signature that identifies a source document type;

means for specifying one or more fast transformations to be performed on documents that match the specified signature;

means for specifying a source node description and a target node description for each of the specified fast transformations; and

means for storing transformation information for each of the specified fast transformations, the transformation information comprising a transformation identifier, the source node description, and the target node description;

means for applying the fast transformations to particular incoming source documents matching criteria of the specified fast transformations; and

means for applying general purpose transformation to incoming source documents not matching criteria of the specified fast transformations.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the means for applying the fast transformations further comprises:

means for receiving a source document;

means for selecting, manually or based upon a comparison of the received source document to the stored transformation information, zero or more fast transformations to be performed; and

means for applying the selected fast transformations by manipulating selected nodes of the received source document according to the selected fast transformations.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received source document is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising means for parsing the XML document.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received source documents is an array-based representation of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document, and wherein the means for applying the selected fast transformations by manipulating selected nodes further comprises means for manipulating the array-based representation.

18. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received source document is a machine-oriented markup language document.

19. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of a machine-oriented markup language document.

20. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received source document is a parsed representation of an extensible document.

21. The system according to claim 12, wherein the source node description identifies one or more source nodes in an input document of the source document type and wherein the target node description identifies zero or more target nodes to be generated in one or more output documents, responsive to operation of the means for applying the fast transformations.

22. The system according to claim 12, wherein the general purpose transformations are applied using a stylesheet engine.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the stylesheet engine is an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) engine.

24. A method for transforming extensible structured documents, comprising the steps of:

specifying fast transformations to be applied to incoming source documents, further comprising the steps of;

specifying a signature that identifies a source document type;

specifying one or more fast transformations to be performed on documents that match the specified signature;

specifying a source node description and a target node description for each of the specified fast transformations; and

storing transformation information for each of the specified fast transformations, the transformation information comprising a transformation identifier, the source node description, and the target node description;

applying the fast transformations to particular incoming source documents matching criteria of the specified fast transformations; and

applying general purpose transformations to incoming source documents not matching criteria of the specified fast transformations.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the step of applying the fast transformations further comprises the steps of:

receiving a source document;

selecting, manually or based upon a comparison of the received source document to the stored transformation information, zero or more fast transformations to be performed; and

applying the selected fast transformations by manipulating selected nodes of the received source document according to the selected fast transformations.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the received source document is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising the step of parsing the XML document.

28. The method according to claim 25, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

29. The method according to claim 25, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document, and wherein the step of applying the selected fast transformations by manipulating selected nodes further comprises the step of manipulating the array-based representation.

30. The method according to claim 25, wherein the received source document is a machine-oriented markup language document.

31. The method according to claim 25, wherein the received source document is an array-based representation of a machine-oriented markup language document.

32. The method according to claim 25, wherein the received source document is a parsed representation of an extensible document.

33. The method according to claim 24, wherein the source node description identifies one or more source nodes in an input document of the source document type and wherein the target node description identifies zero or more target nodes to be generated in one or more output documents, responsive to operation of the step of applying the fast transformations.

34. The method according to claim 24, wherein the general purpose transformations are applied using a stylesheet engine.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the stylesheet engine is an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) engine.

36. The method according to claim 25, further comprising the step of preloading one or more templates prior to operation of the step of applying the select fast transformations.

37. The method according to claim 24, further comprising using a result of the step of applying the fast transformations and a result of the step of applying general purpose transformations to create an output document, and wherein the source document and/or the output document may be represented as in-memory structures which may have been produced by or may be sent to another software process.