Method, system, and apparatus for presenting forms and publishing form data

• US 7,469,270 B1
• Filed: 11/14/2001
• Issued: 12/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkpatrick, Mark A, Jennings, Wendy, Lopez, Mauricio
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nawaz, Asad M
• Application Number:
  US09/993,787
• Time in Patent Office: 2,596 Days
• Field of Search: 709202-238, 707 2- 4, 707/100, 707/506, 707/103, 715/501.1, 715/507, 715/501, 715/509, 715/513, 715/505, 715221-226
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

A computer system, method, and computer-readable medium for presenting forms and publishing form data are provided. A software component is operative to determine if a request for a network resource containing a form has been received. If such a request has been received, the software component determines whether a previously compiled class file should be utilized to respond to the form request. If a previously compiled class file cannot be utilized, the software component compiles a class file capable of generating the fields of the requested form. When the class file is compiled, a field engine table is consulted and field names for the fields to be placed on the requested form are retrieved. A field name specified in the field engine table is associated with the correspondence fields in a form. When a submission containing response data for the fields in the form as received, the software component saves the response data in an output table having fields named identically to the fields in the form.

Claims

1. A method for presenting forms and publishing form data, the method comprising:

maintaining a field engine table, the field engine table comprising data identifying at least one form field, the data identifying the at least one form field comprising;

a field name for the at least one form field, wherein the field name specifies the at least one form field that is to be utilized to identify response data submitted for the at least one form field, a form name for the at least one form field, wherein the form name identifies a particular form associated with the at least one form field, a data type for the at least one form field, the data type comprising one of the following;

a text field, a text area field for multi-line text entries, and a radio button, and a version number for the at least one form field;

receiving a request for a network resource including a form comprising the at least one form field;

in response to the request, determining whether a previously compiled class file is to be utilized to respond to the request;

in response to determining that the previously compiled class file is to be utilized, executing the previously compiled class file and responding to the request with content generated by the previously compiled class file;

in response to determining that the previously compiled class file is not to be utilized to respond to the request, creating an executable class file utilizing the field engine table to retrieve the following;

at least one field name of the form, the form name corresponding to the at least one field name, the data type corresponding to the at least one field name, and the version number corresponding to the at least one field name, wherein the at least one field name is associated with a corresponding response data of the form and a corresponding data type indicating a type of input field to display for the at least one field name, wherein the executable class file is configured to generate markup language for displaying the at least one form field in a web browser and wherein the executable class file is not hard coded with the at least one field name;

generating the markup language by executing the class file;

returning the markup language as a response to the request for the network resource; and

maintaining an output table for storing the response data, wherein maintaining the output table comprises;

receiving a request to publish the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form, and

storing the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form in the output table, the output table having output table fields with at least one name identical to the at least one field name of the form, wherein storing the response data in the output table comprises writing the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form to the at least one output table field name matching the field name of the form.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the previously compiled class file is to be utilized comprises determining whether the request for the network resource was a first request for the network resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the previously compiled class file is to be utilized comprises determining whether the request for the network resource was a first request for the network resource or whether a web server operative to provide the network resource was reset since the last time the network was accessed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a submission of response data associate with the field names; and

saving the response data associated with the field names in the output table.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the executable class file further comprises selecting a runtime extension based upon a file extension associated with the request.

6. A computer system operative to presenting present forms and publish form data, the computer system comprising:

a field engine table comprising data identifying at least one form field, the data identifying the at least one form field comprising a field name for the at least one form field, a form name for the at least one form field, a data type for the at least one form field, and a version number for the at least one form field, wherein the form name identifies a particular form associated with the at least one form field and wherein the field name specifies the at least one form field name that is utilized to identify response data submitted for the at least one form field;

a network resource including a form comprising the at least one form field; and

a software component for receiving and responding to requests for the network resource, the software component operative to;

determine whether a previously compiled class file should be utilized to respond to a request for the network resource,

in response to determining that the previously compiled class file is to be utilized, execute the previously compiled class file and respond to the request with content generated by the previously compiled class file,

in response to determining that the previously compiled class file is not to be utilized create an executable class file utilizing a field engine table to retrieve the following;

at least one field name of the form, the form name corresponding to the at least one field name, the data type corresponding to the at least one field name, and the version number corresponding to the at least one field name, wherein the at least one field name is associated with a corresponding response data of the form and a corresponding data type indicating a type of input field to display for the at least one field name, wherein the executable class file is configured to generate markup language for displaying the at least one form field in a web browser and wherein the executable class file is not hard coded with the at least one field name, and wherein a runtime extension is selected to create the executable class file based upon a file extension associated with the request,

execute the class file, and respond to the request with the markup language generated by the execution of the class file, and

maintain an output table for storing the response data, wherein the software component being operative to maintain the output table comprises the software component operative to;

receive a request to publish response data associated with the at least one field name, and

store the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form in the output table, the output table having output table fields with at least one name identical to the at least one field name of the form, wherein storing the response data in the output table comprises writing the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form to the at least one output table field name matching the field name of the form.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein determining whether the previously compiled class file is to be utilized comprises determining whether the request for the network resource was a first request for the network resource or whether the software component was reset since a previous request for the network resource.

8. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for presenting forms and publishing form data, the method comprising:

determining whether a request has been received for a network resource for providing a form comprising at least one form field;

in response to determining that a request for the network resource has been received, determining whether a previously compiled class file is to be utilized to respond to the request for the form;

in response to determining that the previously compiled class file is to be utilized, executing the previously compiled class file and responding to the request with content generated by the previously compiled class file;

in response to determining that a previously compiled class file is not to be utilized, creating an executable class file utilizing a field engine table to retrieve the following;

at least one field name of the form, a form name corresponding to the at least one field name, a data type corresponding to the at least one field name, and a version number corresponding to the at least one field name, wherein the at least one field name is associated with a corresponding response data of the form and a corresponding data type indicating a type of input field to display for the at least one field name, wherein the form name identifies a particular form associated with the at least one form field and wherein the field name specifies the at least one form field name that is utilized to identify response data submitted for the at least one form field, wherein the executable class file is configured to generate markup language for displaying the at least one form field in a web browser and wherein the executable class file is not hard coded with the at least one field name, and wherein a runtime extension is selected to create the executable class file based upon a file extension associated with the request;

maintaining an output table for storing the response data, wherein maintaining the output table for storing the response data comprises;

receiving a request to publish response data associated with the at least one field name, and

storing the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form in the output table, the output table having output table fields with at least one name identical to the at least one field name of the form, wherein storing the response data in the output table comprises writing the response data associated with the at least one field name of the form to the at least one output table field name matching the field name of the form; and

execute the class file and transmitting the content generated by the class file in response to the request.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising utilizing the previously compiled class file if the request for the network resource is not a first request for the network resource and if a software component for receiving the request has not been reset since a previous request for the network resource.