System and method of format specification

• US 8,904,273 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2004
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ferguson, Kevin M., Wu, Xu
• Primary Examiner(s): Stork, Kyle R
• Assistant Examiner(s): TSUI, WILSON W
• Application Number:
  US10/884,805
• Publication Number:
  US 20060005127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,805 Days
• Field of Search: 715/503, 715/504, 715/522, 715/908, 715/202, 715/204, 715/258, 715/251, 715/221
• US Class Current: 715/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• 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

Abstract

A value formatting system for determining format specifications in reports is provided. The value formatting system comprises a format collection unit for collecting data value attributes and patterns for a data item in a report, and a format merging unit for merging the collected data value attributes and patterns into a format specification for the data item.

Claims

1. A value formatting system for determining format specifications in reports, the value formatting system comprising:

a computer;

a format collection unit that collects data value format attributes and patterns for one or more value types in a report from a first source and data value format attributes and patterns for the one or more value types from a second source, the data value format attributes and patterns being used to convert a data value from an internal format into a string of characters for display purposes, wherein each of the data value format patterns comprises a substitution mask that includes one or more meta-characters;

a format repository that stores the collected data value format attributes and patterns; and

a format merging unit that merges the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a single format specification for each of the value types, wherein, for each value type, the format merging unit merges the collected data value format attributes and patterns associated with the respective value type according to a precedence list that specifies an order of precedence between the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the first source and the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the second source, and

wherein one or more of the format collection unit and the format merging unit are executable by the computer.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a format analysis unit that analyzes and orders the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a hierarchy.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a rendering unit that renders a value associated with a data item to the report using the single format specification.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the precedence list specifies that the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the first source take precedence over the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the second source and wherein, for each value type, the format merging unit overrides the data value format attributes collected from the second source with the data value format attributes collected from the first source based on the precedence list.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a conditional formatting resolution unit that processes conditional formatting styles set in a reporting application;

an inherited format classification unit that classifies inherited format specifications;

a defined format classification unit that classifies defined format specifications;

a defined format selection unit that selects a defined format specification from the classified defined format specifications; and

a format association unit that associates the selected defined format specification to a corresponding inherited format specification, and that applies the associated format specification to a data item value.

6. A method of formatting data item values in reports, the method comprising:

collecting data value format attributes and patterns for one or more value types in a report from a first source and data value format attributes and patterns for the one or more value types from a second source, the data value format attributes and patterns being used to convert a data value from an internal format into a string of characters for display purposes, wherein each of the data value format patterns comprises a substitution mask that includes one or more meta-characters;

storing the collected data value format attributes and patterns in a repository; and

merging, by a computer, the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a single format specification for each of the value types, wherein merging the collected data value format attributes and patterns comprises merging, for each value type, the collected data value format attributes and patterns associated with the respective value type according to a precedence list that specifies an order of precedence between the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the first source and the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the second source.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising analysing and ordering the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a hierarchy.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising rendering a value associated with a data item to the report using the format specification.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

processing conditional formatting styles set in a reporting application;

classifying inherited format specifications in the reporting application, wherein classifying the inherited format specifications includes gathering and merging the inherited format specifications;

classifying defined format specifications in the reporting application;

selecting a defined format specification from the classified defined format specifications;

associating the selected defined format specification to a corresponding inherited format specification; and

applying the associated selected defined format specification to a data item value.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for use in the execution in a computer to:

collect data value format attributes and patterns for one or more value types in a report from a first source and data value format attributes and patterns for the one or more value types from a second source, the data value format attributes and patterns being used to convert a data value from an internal format into a string of characters for display purposes, wherein each of the data value format patterns comprises a substitution mask that includes one or more meta-characters;

store the collected data value format attributes and patterns in a repository; and

merge the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a single format specification for each of the value types, wherein the code for use in the execution in the computer to merge the collected data value format attributes and patterns comprises code for use in the execution in the computer to merge, for each value type, the collected data value format attributes and patterns associated with the respective value type according to a precedence list that specifies an order of precedence between the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the first source and the data value format attributes and patterns collected from the second source.

11. A value formatting system for determining format specifications in reports, the value formatting system comprising:

a computer;

a format collection unit that collects a first format specification from a first source for a data item in a report and a second format specification from a second source for the data item in the report, each of the first format specification and the second format specification including respective data value format attributes and patterns for the data item in the report, the data value format attributes being used to convert a data value from an internal format into a string of characters for display purposes;

a format repository that stores the collected data value format attributes and patterns; and

a format merging unit that merges the first format specification and the second format specification into a single format specification for the data item, wherein the format merging unit merges the first format specification and the second format specification at least in part by overriding values for data value format attributes included in the first format specification with any values for the same data value format attributes included in the second format specification,

wherein one or more of the format collection unit and the format merging unit are executable by the computer.

12. A value formatting system for determining format specifications in reports, the value formatting system comprising:

a computer;

a format collection unit that collects data value format attributes and patterns for a data item in a report, wherein the data value format attributes are used to convert a data value from an internal format into a string of characters for display purposes, wherein the format collection unit collects a first format specification that includes data value format attributes and patterns from a first source and a second format specification that includes data value format attributes and patterns from a second source, wherein each of the data value format patterns comprises a substitution mask that includes one or more meta-characters, and wherein the data value format attributes and patterns from the first source are stored in a report specification;

a format repository that stores the collected data value format attributes and patterns;

a format analysis unit that analyzes and orders the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a hierarchy; and

a format merging unit that merges the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a single format specification for the data item, wherein the format merging unit merges the collected data value format attributes and patterns into a single format specification at least in part by replacing data value format attributes included in the first format specification with data value format attributes included in the second format specification to generate the single format specification,

wherein one or more of the format collection unit, the format analysis unit and the format merging unit are executable by the computer.