Managing compound XML documents in a repository

• US 10,650,080 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Murthy, Ravi
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Smith, Benjamin
• Application Number:
  US14/873,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20160026731A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2393 Updating materialised views
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/835 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets

Abstract

A declarative mechanism is used to manage large documents within a repository. The large documents are sectioned into subdocuments that are linked together by a parent document. The combination of the parent document and subdocument is referred to as a compound document. There are multiple options for configuring rules to break up a source document into a compound document and naming the subdocuments. The compound documents may be queried using statements that treat the compound document as a single XML document, or the parent document of a subdocument may be queried and treated independently. Access control and versioning can be applied at the finer granularity of the subdocument.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in response to receiving a first source document;

creating, based on the first source document, a first parent document that is separate from the first source document,

identifying multiple elements within the first source document,

creating a first plurality of subdocuments that are separate from the first parent document and the first source document,

for each element of the multiple elements;

storing said each element in a different subdocument of the first plurality of subdocuments,

creating and storing, in the first parent document, a link to the different subdocument,

storing data that identifies the first parent document and the first plurality of subdocuments as a particular compound document that is separate from the first source document;

storing, within a repository, a plurality of compound documents that includes the particular compound document, each compound document of the plurality of compound documents including;

a parent document,

a plurality of subdocuments of the parent document;

wherein the parent document includes, for each subdocument of the plurality of subdocuments, a link to said each subdocument;

creating an expanded view of a first compound document of the plurality of compound documents, wherein a link to a particular subdocument is replaced with content imported from the particular subdocument into the expanded view of the first compound document;

receiving an update to the expanded view of the first compound document, wherein applying the update changes content imported from the particular subdocument; and

applying changes corresponding to the update to the particular subdocument that is stored separately from the expanded view of the first compound document without applying any of the changes to another subdocument of the first compound document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the multiple elements comprises using an XML schema associated with the first source document to identify the multiple elements.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a statement that requires that a particular operation be performed on content stored within a certain subdocument of the plurality of subdocuments; and

based on one or more compound document declarations that are stored separate from the plurality of compound documents, making a determination that the particular operation is not permitted.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

one of the one or more compound document declarations specifies an error message; and

the method further comprising displaying the error message in response to the determination.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in association with a first compound document of the plurality of compound documents, a compound document declaration that declares at least one of the following;

a first link to at least one subdocument, of a set of first subdocuments of the first compound document, is a hard link, wherein a subdocument to which the hard link points cannot be deleted from the repository as long as the hard link is included in a parent document, and the link between the parent document and the subdocument is preserved if the subdocument is moved to another location within the repository;

a second link to at least one subdocument of the set of first subdocuments is a weak link, wherein a subdocument to which the weak link points can be deleted from the repository even while a parent document includes the weak link to the subdocument; and

a third link to at least one subdocument of the set of first subdocuments is a symbolic link, wherein a parent document that includes the symbolic link is no longer linked to a subdocument to which the symbolic link points if the subdocument is moved to a different location in the repository.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing within a certain link of a certain parent document, a resource path to a certain subdocument, wherein the certain link is either a hard link or a weak link.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a statement that requires that a particular operation be performed on content stored within a first subdocument of the plurality of subdocuments and a second subdocument of the plurality of subdocuments; and

based on one or more compound document declarations that are stored separate from the plurality of compound documents, making a determination that the particular operation is permitted for the first subdocument and is not permitted for the second subdocument.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first source document is to be stored in a particular location;

determining that the particular location is associated with one or more resource configurations;

wherein identifying the multiple elements comprises using the one or more resource configurations to identify the multiple elements.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

identifying the multiple elements comprises determining, based on one or more shredding instructions, a resource path and a name of each element of the multiple elements in the first source document;

storing said each element of the multiple elements comprises extracting said each element from the first source document based on the resource path and the name of said each element.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more shredding instructions are specified in XML.

11. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause:

storing data that (1) associates a first storage location with one or more first resource configurations that include first shredding instructions and (2) a second storage location with one or more second resource configurations that are different than the one or more first resource configurations and that includes second shredding instructions;

in response to receiving a first source document;

creating, based on the first source document, a first parent document that is separate from the first source document,

identifying multiple elements within the first source document, wherein identifying the multiple elements comprises (a) using the first shredding instructions included in the one or more first resource configurations to identify the multiple elements if the first source document is stored in the first storage location or (b) using the second shredding instructions included in the one or more second resource configurations to identify the multiple elements if the first source document is stored in the second storage location,

wherein the first source document is stored in the first storage location or the second storage location,

creating a first plurality of subdocuments that are separate from the first parent document and the first source document,

for each element of the multiple elements;

storing said each element in a different subdocument of the first plurality of subdocuments,

creating and storing, in the first parent document, a link to the different subdocument,

storing data that identifies the first parent document and the first plurality of subdocuments as a particular compound document that is separate from the first source document.

12. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 11, wherein identifying the multiple elements comprises using an XML schema associated with the first source document to identify the multiple elements.

13. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 11, wherein:

identifying the multiple elements comprises determining, based on one or more shredding instructions, a resource path and a name of each element of the multiple elements in the first source document;

storing said each element of the multiple elements comprises extracting said each element from the first source document based on the resource path and the name of said each element.

14. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

storing, within a repository, a plurality of compound documents that includes the particular compound document, each compound document of the plurality of compound documents including;

a parent document,

a plurality of subdocuments of the parent document;

wherein the parent document includes, for each subdocument of the plurality of subdocuments, a link to said each subdocument.

15. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

receiving a statement that requires that a particular operation be performed on content stored within a certain subdocument of the plurality of subdocuments; and

based on one or more compound document declarations that are stored separate from the plurality of compound documents, making a determination that the particular operation is not permitted.

16. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 15, wherein:

one of the one or more compound document declarations specifies an error message; and

the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause displaying the error message in response to the determination.

17. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

storing, in association with a first compound document of the plurality of compound documents, a compound document declaration that declares at least one of the following;

a first link to at least one subdocument, of a set of first subdocuments of the first compound document, is a hard link, wherein a subdocument to which the hard link points cannot be deleted from the repository as long as the hard link is included in a parent document, and the link between the parent document and the subdocument is preserved if the subdocument is moved to another location within the repository;

a second link to at least one subdocument of the set of first subdocuments is a weak link, wherein a subdocument to which the weak link points can be deleted from the repository even while a parent document includes the weak link to the subdocument;

or

a third link to at least one subdocument of the set of first subdocuments is a symbolic link, wherein a parent document that includes the symbolic link is no longer linked to a subdocument to which the symbolic link points if the subdocument is moved to a different location in the repository.

18. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause storing within a certain link of a certain parent document, a resource path to a certain subdocument, wherein the certain link is either a hard link or a weak link.