Architecture to expose internal business data on a website

• US 8,281,233 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Billharz, Alan, Monarch, Michael, Rey-Babarro, Marta
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, THU V
• Application Number:
  US12/484,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20100318890A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/237, 715/238, 715/255, 715/200, 715/247, 715/277, 715/212, 715/213, 715/209, 715/236
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

A method for importing document data into a website hosted on a server computer includes a block of document data that is received at the server computer. The block of document data includes data from an identified section of a document. In response to receiving the block of document data, the server computer automatically updates a web page component on the website. The web page component is selected via a document widget on the server computer. The document data is mapped to the web page component.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a server computer for importing data into a website hosted on the server computer, the method comprising:

selecting, at the server computer, a document widget, the document widget being a graphical user interface component available at the server computer;

moving the document widget to a location on a web page of the website;

when the document widget is positioned at the location, identifying a document from which data is to be obtained;

after the document is identified, establishing a connection between the document widget and the document;

after the connection is established, identifying a section of the document from which data is to be obtained;

after the document widget is moved to the location, selecting a web page component on the website in which to display data from the document within the document widget;

receiving, at the server computer, a block of document data from the document, the block of document data comprising data from the identified section of a document;

in response to receiving the block of document data, automatically updating, by the server computer, the web page component on the website, the document data being mapped to the selected web page component within the document widget; and

displaying the mapped document data within the document widget positioned at the location on the web page.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the web page component displaying the document data in tabular or graphical form.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the web page component being selected via the document widget on the server computer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the document widget being configurable to extract data from a word processing document or spreadsheet.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the document widget being configurable to extract data from a third-party application document.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the third-party application being configured to periodically send a spreadsheet to the server computer.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising the configuration of the document widget identifying the section of the document to be mapped to the web page component.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the document widget being selected from a plurality of widgets on the server computer, the selection of the document widget activating a user interface associated with the document widget on the server computer, the document being identified and selected via the user interface.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, providing a secure connection between the server computer and a client computer, the block of document data being transmitted to the server computer from the client computer using the secure connection.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the document originating from a third party application.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending configuration and security information from the server computer to the third party application.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the block of data being automatically received at the server computer when data in the identified section of the document is updated.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the server computer periodically requesting the block of data from a data storage system.

14. A computing device, comprising:

a processing unit;

a system memory connected to the processing unit, the system memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to create;

a document widget module that receives a block of document data from an identified section of a document and that displays the document data on a web page hosted by the computing device, the document widget module comprising;

one or more document widget components, each document widget component being selectable and being moveably locatable to a position on the web page, each selected document widget component facilitating a selection of the document and permitting a connection to be established between the selected document and the selected document widget component;

a web page components module that provides one or more web page components for displaying the document data;

a user interface module that permits a user to identify the document and the section of the document from which the document data is to be obtained after a document widget component from the one or more document widget components is selected and positioned at a location on the web page, and to select a web page component from the one or more web page components to display the document data from the document within the positioned document widget component;

a security module that implements a secure connection between the computing device and a client computer to establish a connection between the positioned document widget component and the document after the document is identified; and

a mapping module that maps the document data to the selected web page component within the positioned document widget component; and

a display unit to display the mapped document data within the positioned document widget component at the location on the web page.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the document widget module further comprises a third-party application module that processes the display of document data on the computing device from a third-party software application.

16. A computer-readable data storage memory comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing unit of an electronic computing device, cause the processing unit to:

select a document widget, the document widget being a graphical user interface component available at the electronic computing device;

move the document widget to a location on a web page rendered on the electronic computing device;

when the document widget is positioned at the location, identify a document from which data is to be obtained;

after the document is identified, establishing a connection between the document widget and the document;

after the connection is established, identify a section of the document from which data is to be obtained;

after the document widget is moved to the location, select a web page component on the website in which to display data from the document within the document widget;

receive a block of document data from the document, the block of document data comprising data from the identified section of a document;

in response to receiving the block of document data, automatically updating, by the electronic computing device, the web page component, the document data being mapped to the selected web page component within the document widget; and

display the mapped document data within the document widget positioned at the location on the web page.