DOCUMENT TEMPLATES FOR SCHEMA-BASED DATA TRANSFER INTO AND OUT OF A DATA-BASED APPLICATION

• US 20090327321A1
• Filed: 06/26/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Watkins, Michelle A., El Haddad, Marc V., Khanzode, Rutuja V., Mortensen, Joern L., McCormack, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,251 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for using templates associated with a document application to facilitate schema-based data transfers into and out of a database associated with a database application. Such templates may be made available to a user so that the user can easily export various data entities out of the database for display, editing, or report generation as well as to import new or edited data entities into the database. The templates may include fixed or user-customizable reports that are populated with data entities exported from the database and/or that present data and graphics derived from such data entities. The templates may also be created during an initial data transfer between a first document and the database and then saved for use in performing subsequent data transfers between other documents and the database.

Claims

1. A method for importing data into a database associated with a data-based application based on a template associated with a document application comprising:

transferring data entities entered into fields of the template by a user to a structured data document in accordance with a map associated with the template; and

providing the structured data document and connection information associated with the template to a database integration engine;

wherein the connection information identifies a schema definition to be used by the database integration engine to extract the data entities from the structured data document and further identifies a data set within the database within which the extracted data entities are to be inserted by the database integration engine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the template associated with the document application comprises:

a spreadsheet associated with a spreadsheet application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the template associated with the document application comprises:

a word processing document associated with a word processing application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the data entities entered into fields of the template by a user to a structured data document comprises transferring the data entities into an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document and wherein the schema definition identified by the connection information comprises an XML schema definition.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the map associated with the template maps each of the template fields to an element or attribute of the schema definition.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a portion of the connection information that identifies the data set within the database from the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing access to a plurality of templates to the user, wherein each template is associated with a corresponding map and connection information; and

identifying the template to be used for importing data into the database based on user input.

8. A method for populating fields within a template associated with a document application based on data stored in a database associated with a data-based application, comprising:

providing connection information associated with the template to a database integration engine, wherein the connection information identifies a data set within the database from which data entities are to be extracted and further identifies a schema definition to be used by the database integration engine to generate a structured data document that includes the extracted data entities;

receiving the structured data document from the database integration engine; and

transferring the extracted data entities from the structured data document to the template fields in accordance with a map associated with the template.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the template associated with the document application comprises:

a spreadsheet associated with a spreadsheet application.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the template associated with the document application comprises:

a word processing document associated with a word processing application.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein transferring the extracted data entities from the structured data document comprises transferring the extracted data entities from an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document and wherein the schema definition identified by the connection information comprises an XML schema definition.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the map associated with the template maps each of the template fields to an element or attribute of the schema definition.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

obtaining a portion of the connection information that identifies the data set within the database from a user.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing access to a plurality of templates to a user, wherein each template is associated with a corresponding map and connection information; and

identifying the template for which fields are to be populated based on user input.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a means by which a user can customize content and/or a format of the template.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein providing a means by which a user can customize content of the template comprises:

providing a means by which a user can add or remove one or more of the fields to be populated within the template.

17. A method for providing a template for transferring data into or out of database associated with a data-based application comprising:

saving a map that maps fields of a first document associated with a document application to a schema definition, wherein the map was used to insert data entities into or extract data entities from a structured data document used for transferring the data entities between the fields of the first document and a data set within the database;

saving connection information used to identify the data set within the database into which the data entities were transferred or from which the data entities were transferred and to identify the schema definition; and

making the saved map and connection information available to a user for association with a second document associated with the document application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first document associated with the document application and the second document associated with the document application each comprise a spreadsheet associated with a spreadsheet application.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first document associated with the document application and the second document associated with the document application each comprise a word processing document associated with a word processing application.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

associating the saved map and connection information with the second document associated with the document application responsive to user input.