Systems and methods for supporting custom graphical representations in reporting software
First Claim
1. A computer readable storage medium bearing instructions for generating a report, comprising:
- instructions for generating at least one report according to a custom layout, said instructions comprising;
instructions for reading a report definition file, wherein the report definition file defines a graphical representation of a report;
instructions for providing a plurality of software objects, each of the plurality of software objects for generating a plurality of graphical features for reports, each of the plurality of software objects being a discrete unit of software implemented using object oriented techniques;
instructions for providing an interface that allows an external third party software process to access the plurality of objects;
instruction for receiving via the interface a request from the external third party software process to operate a first of the plurality of objects on the report definition file to revise the graphical representation of a report and in response to the request from the external third party software process creating an instance of the first of the plurality of objects to handle the request;
instructions for receiving via the interface a request from the external third party software process to operate a second of the plurality of objects on the report definition file to revise the graphical representation of a report and in response to the request from the external third party software process creating an instance of the second of the plurality of objects to handle the request; and
instructions for performing initial processing on said report definition file, wherein initial processing occurs prior to processing by said external third party process, and wherein said initial processing enforces a set of criteria for the report definition file.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for supporting custom report layouts allow features that may be available to supported report layouts to also be made available to custom layouts. A custom layout definition may first meet a set of report definition criteria so that it is recognizable to report processing software. A design tool is provided that may be used to create such a custom layout definition. The custom layout may then be passed to report processing software. The report processing software can initially process the custom layout, and provide it with any features available in the initial processing stage. The reporting software may provide an interface for custom processing of the custom layout. The interface may be accessible to custom layout builder objects. Custom layout builder objects can be designed to use the report building components provided through the interface to build a custom report layout.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer readable storage medium bearing instructions for generating a report, comprising:
instructions for generating at least one report according to a custom layout, said instructions comprising; instructions for reading a report definition file, wherein the report definition file defines a graphical representation of a report; instructions for providing a plurality of software objects, each of the plurality of software objects for generating a plurality of graphical features for reports, each of the plurality of software objects being a discrete unit of software implemented using object oriented techniques; instructions for providing an interface that allows an external third party software process to access the plurality of objects; instruction for receiving via the interface a request from the external third party software process to operate a first of the plurality of objects on the report definition file to revise the graphical representation of a report and in response to the request from the external third party software process creating an instance of the first of the plurality of objects to handle the request; instructions for receiving via the interface a request from the external third party software process to operate a second of the plurality of objects on the report definition file to revise the graphical representation of a report and in response to the request from the external third party software process creating an instance of the second of the plurality of objects to handle the request; and instructions for performing initial processing on said report definition file, wherein initial processing occurs prior to processing by said external third party process, and wherein said initial processing enforces a set of criteria for the report definition file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method, implemented in a computing system, for generating a report, comprising:
generating at least one report according to a custom layout, said generating comprising; reading a report definition file, wherein the report definition file defines a graphical representation of a report; providing a plurality of software objects, each of the plurality of software objects for generating graphical features for reports, each of the plurality of software objects being a discrete unit of software implemented using object oriented techniques; providing an interface that allows an external third party software process to access the plurality of objects; receiving via the interface a request from the external third party software process to operate a first of the plurality of objects on the report definition file to revise the graphical representation of a report and in response to the request from the external third party software process creating an instance of the first of the plurality of objects to handle the request; and receiving via the interface a request from the external third party software process to operate a second of the plurality of objects on the report definition file to revise the graphical representation of a report and in response to the request from the external third party software process creating an instance of the second of the plurality of objects to handle the request. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
Specification