Discovering and updating templates

• US 7,933,871 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jackson, Anthony Lawrence, DeMaris, John Lincoln, LaToza, Kenneth Charles, Novichikhin, Kirill
• Primary Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US11/966,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172005A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• Field of Search: 707/640, 707/641, 707/644, 707/650, 707/654
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90 Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

Embodiments are provided to maintain templates associated with a client. New and updated templates can be provided to the client and accessed by a user. In an embodiment, a system can be configured to automatically update locally stored templates with updated templates associated with a library. The updated templates can replace or be used to update the locally stored templates and be used by an application user. In one embodiment, a client can be configured to automatically initiate an update process to retrieve and/or receive new and updated templates from an associated document library. The update process can also be used to provide additional information associated with a template, such as metadata describing aspects of an associated template.

Claims

1. A processor-based system to manage template updates by:

receiving an update request based in part on an update time, wherein the update request includes a request for one or more links associated with one or more document libraries having one or more templates, wherein the one or more links are targeted to an associated user and point to targets that include the one or more document libraries and associated templates used in part to maintain locally stored templates for the associated user;

generating markup data for the one or more templates associated with the one or more links, wherein the markup data includes template parameters, a description, and other information associated with the one or more templates of the one or more document libraries;

setting a template synchronization flag to identify a document library to use as part of an update process including associating a first group of users with a first set of document libraries and a second group of users with a second set of document libraries;

determining whether to replace a local template with an associated template targeted by a link including comparing a first template parameter of the local template with a second parameter of the associated template of the document library including comparing local template attribute values of the local template with attribute values of the associated template of the document library associated with the link;

maintaining the locally stored templates to correspond with new and updated templates associated with the one or more document libraries including determining which parts of a locally stored template require updating based in part on updated aspects of the associated template, including automatically updating the local template based in part on the comparison of the first and second template parameters; and

storing template schemas and associated metadata locally with a client as part of the updating.

4. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by replacing the local template if the associated template has a modification date that is more recent than a modification date of the local template.

5. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by receiving a client-initiated web service call that includes a request for one or more uniform resource locators (URLs) associated with the one or more document libraries having the one or more templates.

6. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by presenting one or more updated templates in a user interface.

7. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by caching the markup data and one or more updated templates in a local store, wherein the one or more updated templates are available in an offline mode.

8. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by using an updated template to create a work product including a site where users can create, organize, and share information, a site for document collaboration, and a site where users can post information and allow others to provide comments.

9. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by administering an update of the one or more templates associated with the one or more document libraries.

10. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by creating provider entries for each link, and requesting an extensible markup language (XML) file from a provider associated with each link.

11. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by comparing a first template attribute value of the local template with a second template attribute value of the associated template of the document library.

12. The system of claim 1, further configured to manage template updates by registering with a serving component in order to receive template updates including an XML file and metadata that describes template architectures, template locations, and template modification information.

2. A system to manage templates comprising:

a server comprising;

a service component to;

administer aspects of one or more document libraries and to maintain one or more links targeted to an associated user and that point to targets that include the one or more document libraries and associated templates used in part to maintain locally stored templates for the associated user;

set a template synchronization flag to identify a document library to use as part of an update process; and

,

associate a first group of users with a first set of document libraries and a second group of users with a second set of document libraries; and

,

a generator component to generate markup data describing templates of one or more of the document libraries;

a client including an update component configured to initiate a template update process based in part on an evaluation of an update time, wherein the update component is configured to compare local template parameters with markup data generated by the generator component including comparing local template attribute values with attribute values of templates of an associated document library to determine whether to update one or more local templates and to determine whether to replace a local template with an associated template targeted by a link as part of maintaining the locally stored templates at the client to correspond with new and updated templates associated with the one or more document libraries and includes determining which parts of a locally stored template require updating based in part on updated aspects of the associated template, wherein the client automatically updates the local template based in part on a comparison of first and second template parameters; and

,

a store to store the locally stored templates for use by a client user, template schemas, and associated metadata locally with the client as part of the update.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein the service component operates to set one or more indicators to identify particular document libraries to refer to during the update process when updating local templates associated with the client.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the service component operates to update aspects of a template located in an associated document library.

15. The system of claim 2, wherein the client operates to request one or more URLs as part of maintaining the locally stored templates in a local storage medium, wherein the one or more URLs point to one or more document libraries having templates of interest.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein the generator component operates to generate an XML file describing all templates of an associated document library, wherein the XML file includes a URL of a save path to the associated document library.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the client can use the URL of the save path to determine a default save location for an associated template.

3. A method of providing user templates comprising:

receiving a request to update the user templates, wherein the request is based in part on an update time and includes a request for links associated with document libraries, wherein the links are targeted to an associated user and point to targets that include the libraries and associated templates used in part to maintain locally stored templates for the associated user;

generating an XML file for each document library, wherein each XML file includes template data and metadata for templates associated with the corresponding document library and a description of the associated templates of each document library;

evaluating cached template data associated with a local template with template data of a template associated with one of the document libraries including comparing local template attribute values of the local template with attribute values of the template associated with one of the document libraries as part of determining whether to replace the local template with the template targeted by a link;

setting a template synchronization flag to identify a document library to use;

associating a first group of users with a first set of document libraries and a second group of users with a second set of document libraries;

replacing the local template with the template associated with one of the document libraries based in part on a comparison of first and second template parameters as part of maintaining the locally stored templates to correspond with new and updated templates, wherein replacing the local template includes determining which parts of the local template require updating based in part on updated aspects of the template associated with the link; and

,

storing template schemas and associated metadata locally with a client as part of the updating.

18. The method of claim 3, further comprising replacing the local template with the template associated with one of the document libraries if the template has a modification date that is later than a local template modification date.

19. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the template associated with one of the document libraries and the XML files in a local store available to an offline user.