Method and apparatus for locating and transforming data

• US 8,271,874 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2003
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ye, Sheng, Sun, Wei, Tian, Zhong
• Primary Examiner(s): Paula, Cesar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hillery, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US10/689,186
• Publication Number:
  US 20040083242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,256 Days
• Field of Search: 715/539, 715/523, 715/531, 715/517
• US Class Current: 715/272
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

The invention provides method and apparatus for locating data in a data file and for transforming the data. The method comprises the steps: determining the data unit to be located in the data file; determining a type for the data unit, the type including “Text”, “SingleLine”, “MultiLine”, “Block” and “Iterator”; when the type of the data unit is not “Text”, selecting a different data unit as the location reference for the data unit; generating the location description for the data unit, based on the type of the data unit and the position relationship between the data unit and the different data unit, the description including the type of the data unit, one or more location elements for locating the data unit and including “Top”, “Bottom”, “Left” and “Right”, each of the location elements including a combination of attributes so as to determine the position of the location element. The invention may locate the data position by two dimensional area.

Claims

1. A method for generating at least a first output file from at least one input file, comprising the steps of:

defining at least one data unit of the at least one input file;

determining one or more locations within the at least one input file of the at least one data unit; and

transferring the at least one data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to the one or more locations within the first output file specified by a mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file;

wherein each location comprises a horizontal position, the horizontal position comprising at least one of an uppermost position of the data unit or a lowermost position of the data unit, and a vertical position, the vertical position comprising at least one of the leftmost position of the data unit or the rightmost position of the data unit; and

wherein each data unit is defined based on at least one of;

at least one string, at least one absolute position of the data unit within the input file, at least one relative position of the data unit to a start or end of at least one of a row or column of the input file, and at least one relative position of the data unit to another data unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one string is within the data unit.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one string is adjacent to the data unit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transferring the at least one data unit comprises transforming the at least one data unit from a first format to a second format.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of generating a second output file from the at least one input file by transferring the at least one instance of the data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to the one or more locations within the second output file specified by the mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of generating a second output file from the at least one input file by transferring the at least one instance of the data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to one or more locations within the new output file specified by a mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the second output file.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a second output file from at least one new file by determining one or more locations within the at least another new file of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file and transferring the at least one data unit from the determined one or more locations within the at least one new file to the one or more locations within the output file specified one or more locations within the new output file specified by the mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file.

8. An apparatus for generating at least a first output file from at least one input file, the apparatus comprising:

a memory, operative to store at least a portion of at least one of the at least first output file and the at least one input file;

at least one processor, operative to perform the operations of;

defining at least one data unit of the at least one input file;

determining one or more locations within the at least one input file of the at least one data unit; and

transferring the at least one data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to the one or more locations within the first output file specified by a mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file;

wherein each location comprises a horizontal position, the horizontal position comprising at least one of an uppermost position of the data unit or a lowermost position of the data unit, and a vertical position, the vertical position comprising at least one of the leftmost position of the data unit or the rightmost position of the data unit; and

wherein each data unit is defined based on at least one of;

at least one string, at least one absolute position of the data unit within the input file, at least one relative position of the data unit to a start or end of at least one of a row or column of the input file, and at least one relative position of the data unit to another data unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one string is within the data unit.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one string is adjacent to the data unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the operation of transferring the at least one data unit comprises transforming the at least one data unit from a first format to a second format.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operative to perform the operation of generating a second output file from the at least one input file by transferring the at least one instance of the data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to the one or more locations within the second output file specified by the mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operative to perform the operation of generating a second output file from the at least one input file by transferring the at least one instance of the data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to one or more locations within the new output file specified by a mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the second output file.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operative to perform the operation of generating a second output file from at least one new file by determining one or more locations within the at least another new file of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file and transferring the at least one data unit from the determined one or more locations within the at least one new file to the one or more locations within the output file specified one or more locations within the new output file specified by the mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file.

15. A computer program product for generating at least a first output file from at least one input file, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising computer usable program code configured to perform the operations of:

defining at least one data unit of the at least one input file;

determining one or more locations within the at least one input file of the at least one data unit; and

transferring the at least one data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to the one or more locations within the first output file specified by a mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file;

wherein each location comprises a horizontal position, the horizontal position comprising at least one of an uppermost position of the data unit or a lowermost position of the data unit, and a vertical position, the vertical position comprising at least one of the leftmost position of the data unit or the rightmost position of the data unit; and

wherein each data unit is defined based on at least one of;

at least one string, at least one absolute position of the data unit within the input file, at least one relative position of the data unit to a start or end of at least one of a row or column of the input file, and at least one relative position of the data unit to another data unit.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the at least one string is within the data unit or wherein the at least one string is adjacent to the data unit.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the operation of transferring the at least one data unit comprises transforming the at least one data unit from a first format to a second format.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, the computer usable program code further comprising computer usable program code configured to perform the operation of generating a second output file from the at least one input file by transferring the at least one instance of the data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to the one or more locations within the second output file specified by the mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, the computer usable program code further comprising computer usable program code configured to perform the operation of generating a second output file from the at least one input file by transferring the at least one instance of the data unit from the one or more locations within the at least one input file to one or more locations within the new output file specified by a mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the second output file.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, the computer usable program code further comprising computer usable program code configured to perform the operation of generating a second output file from at least one new file by determining one or more locations within the at least another new file of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file and transferring the at least one data unit from the determined one or more locations within the at least one new file to the one or more locations within the output file specified one or more locations within the new output file specified by the mapping of the at least one data unit of the at least one input file to one or more locations within the first output file.