Forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a document object model (DOM) accessible application programming interface (API)

• US 20070118538A1
• Filed: 11/18/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wesley, Ajamu, Wong, Cesar, Carr, Derek, Jones, Carol, Ahern, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to deploying XForms in an enterprise environment and provide a method, system and computer program product for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a DOM accessible API. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a DOM accessible API can include generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms based application and transforming the data graph into a DOM representation of the data graph. Value changes for fields of a form in the forms based application can be applied to nodes of the DOM representation and mutations in the nodes of the DOM representation can be synchronized to corresponding nodes in the data graph.

Claims

1. A method for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a document object model (DOM) accessible application programming interface (API), the method comprising:

generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms based application;

transforming the data graph into a DOM representation of the data graph;

applying value changes for fields of a form in the forms based application to nodes of the DOM representation; and

,

synchronizing mutations in the nodes of the DOM representation to corresponding nodes in the data graph.

2. The method of claim 1, where generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms-based application, comprises generating a services data object (SDO) data graph for the external data model.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms based application, comprises generating a services data object (SDO) data graph for the external data model for an XForm specified forms-based application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming the data graph into a DOM representation of the data graph, comprises traversing the data graph using extensible markup language (XML) path language (XPATH) expressions to transform each node of the data graph into a node in the DOM representation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing mutations in the nodes of the DOM representation to corresponding nodes in the data graph, comprises:

registering an event listener for a root node of the DOM representation; and

,

responsive to detecting a mutation in a target node of the DOM representation, locating a corresponding node in the data graph and applying the mutation to the corresponding node in the data graph.

6. A data processing system for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a document object model (DOM) accessible application programming interface (API), the system comprising:

a markup language document comprising a form for a forms based application;

a resource identifier disposed in the form, the resource identifier comprising a reference to a data mediator command and associated metadata;

a data mediator coupled to the form and enabled to transform a data graph for an external data model for the forms based application into a DOM representation of the data graph; and

,

an event listener registered for the DOM representation to detect mutations in target nodes of the DOM representation and to synchronize the mutations with corresponding nodes in the data graph.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the form is an XForm specified form.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the data mediator is a data mediation system (DMS) handler.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the data graph is a services data object (SDO) data graph.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a document object model (DOM) accessible application programming interface (API), the computer program product including:

computer usable program code for generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms based application;

computer usable program code for transforming the data graph into a DOM representation of the data graph;

computer usable program code for applying value changes for fields of a form in the forms based application to nodes of the DOM representation; and

,

computer usable program code for synchronizing mutations in the nodes of the DOM representation to corresponding nodes in the data graph.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms-based application, comprises computer usable program code for generating a services data object (SDO) data graph for the external data model.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms based application, comprises computer usable program code for generating a services data object (SDO) data graph for the external data model for an XForm specified forms-based application.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for transforming the data graph into a DOM representation of the data graph, comprises computer usable program code for traversing the data graph using extensible markup language (XML) path language (XPATH) expressions to transform each node of the data graph into a node in the DOM representation.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for synchronizing mutations in the nodes of the DOM representation to corresponding nodes in the data graph, comprises:

computer usable program code for registering an event listener for a root node of the DOM representation; and

,

computer usable program code for responsive to detecting a mutation in a target node of the DOM representation, locating a corresponding node in the data graph and applying the mutation to the corresponding node in the data graph.