assistant for creation of layouts or reports for databases

• US 7,000,182 B1
• Filed: 08/20/1999
• Issued: 02/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Iremonger, Stephen, Crim, Christopher L., Raffarin, David, Holsztynska, Joanna, Reddy, Jhansi, Tsubota, Tak
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Assistant Examiner(s): YUAN, ALMARI ROMERO
• Application Number:
  US09/378,526
• Time in Patent Office: 2,370 Days
• Field of Search: 707/505, 707/506, 707/507, 707/517, 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103, 707/104, 715/505, 715/506, 715/507, 715/517
• US Class Current: 715/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An assistant for the creation of layouts/reports for databases is disclosed. A layout for a database is the arrangement of information for the database such as for data entry or screen viewing, and a report (or report format) for a database is the arrangement of information from the database for presentation of the data in a printed document or with on-line viewing. The assistant serves to automate in the creation of the layout/reports after an interview sequence with a user.

Claims

1. A method for creating a report or layout for data stored in a database, said method comprising:

(a) performing an interview sequence, by a database program, to obtain organization information associated with the database, the organization information including at least a list of fields defined for the database and at least one summary field for the report or layout, the at least one summary field being associated with at least one of the fields in the list of field, wherein the database program is capable of accessing the data stored in the database, and wherein the interview sequence comprises determining whether a script should be generated for the report or layout; and

(b) automatically creating, by the database program, the report or layout based on the organization information obtained by the database program through the interview sequence, wherein the database program operates to automatically create the report or layout; and

(c) automatically generating the script by the database program when it is determined during the interview sequence that the script should be generated, wherein the script when executed allows another report or layout to be automatically generated based on the interview sequence.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the summary field is a subtotal or a grand total of the data in the associated fields.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the summary field provides one of a total, count, average, minimum, and maximum of the data for the field associated with the summary field.

4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the list of fields is an ordered list or fields.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the organization information further includes a style for the layout or report.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the organization information further includes a style for the layout or report.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the style for the layout or report identifies particular characteristics for the layout or report including a plurality of background color, text size, text font, text style, and other colors.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the organization information further includes header or footer information for the layout or report, the header or footer information including at least one of a logo and custom text.

9. A method as recited in claim 1,

wherein said method produces a report, and

wherein the organization information further includes a category that identifies the field on which the report is organized.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the organization information further includes a plurality of categories that are ordered, and the categories identify the fields and a hierarchy on which the report is organized.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the summary field is a subtotal or a grand total of the data in the associated fields.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the summary field provides one of a total, count, average, minimum, and maximum of the data for the field associated with the summary field.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the organization information further includes sort fields for the report or layout.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the report or layout has a plurality of parts, the parts including header, grand total, summary, body, and footer.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the interview sequence further comprises:

determining during the interview sequence whether one or more of;

a leading grand total, a leading sub-summary, a trailing sub-summary, and a trailing grand total should be generated for the layout or report; and

generating one or more of;

the leading grand total, the leading sub-summary, the trailing sub-summary and the trailing grand total when it is determined during the interview that one or more of;

the leading grand total, the leading sub-summary, and the trailing grand total, the trailing sub-summary should be generated.

16. A method as recited in claim 1,

wherein the interview sequence further comprises:

determining during the interview sequence whether a leading grand total, a leading sub-summary, a trailing sub-summary, and a trailing grand total should be generated for the layout or report; and

generating the leading grand total only when it is determined during the interview sequence that the leading grand total should be generated;

generating the leading sub-summary only when it is determined during the interview sequence that the leading sub-summary should be generated;

generating the trailing sub-summary only when it is determined during the interview sequence that the trailing sub-summary should be generated; and

generating trailing grand total only when it is determined during the interview sequence that the trailing grand total should be generated.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein said method further comprises:

determining based on the interview sequence whether the report or layout should include a body;

placing the grand total in a leftmost position in a grand total area when the determining determines that report or layout should not include a body;

determining based on said interview whether the grand total to be placed is dependent on a field to be placed in the report or layout;

placing the grand total in a grand total area based on the placement of the field to be placed when the determining determines that grand total to be placed is dependent on a field to be placed; and

placing the grand total in a leftmost position in a grand total area in the report or layout when said determining determines that that grand total to be placed is not dependent on a field to be placed.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein said method further comprises:

determining based on the interview sequence whether placement of a leading or trailing sub-summary is dependent on a field that is to be placed in the body of the report or layout only when the determining determines based on said interview that the report or layout should include a body; and

placing the leading or trailing sub-summary in a sub-summary area in the report or layout based on the placement of the field that is to be placed in the body when said determining determines based on the interview sequence that the placement of the leading or trailing sub-summary is dependent on a field that is to be placed in the body.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein said method further comprises:

determining based on the interview sequence whether placement of a leading or trailing sub-summary is dependent on a field that is to be placed in a position other than the body only when the determining determines based on said interview that the report or layout should include a body; and

placing the leading or trailing sub-summary in a sub-summary area in the report or layout based on the placement of the field that is to be placed in a position other than the body in the report or layout when said determining determines based on the interview sequence that the placement of the leading or trailing sub-summary is dependent on a field that is to be placed in the body.

20. A method for creating a report layout for data stored in a database, said method comprising:

(a) performing an interview sequence, by a database program, to obtain organization information, the organization information including at least a list of fields and at least one summary field for the report layout, the at least one summary field being associated with one of the fields in the list of fields, the report layout including a plurality of parts including a header area, a grand total area, a summary area, a body area, and a footer area, wherein the database program is capable of accessing the data stored in the database, and wherein the interview sequence comprises determining whether a script should be generated for the report or layout; and

(b) automatically creating the report layout based on the interview sequence, said creating includes placing the summary field in at least one of the grand total area and the summary area, and placing the fields in the list of fields in the body area and;

(c) automatically generating the script when it is determined during the interview sequence that the script should be generated, wherein the script when executed allows another report or layout to be automatically generated based the interview sequence.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein when the summary field is a subtotal, said creating (b) places the subtotal in the summary area.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the subtotal in placed in the summary area at a position corresponding to the position as the associated one of the fields placed in the body.

23. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the subtotal is placed in the summary area in the same column location in the report layout as the one of the fields placed in the body that corresponds thereto.

24. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein when the summary field is a grand total summary field, said creating (b) places the grand total in the grand total area.

25. A method as recited in claim 24, wherein the grand total summary field is placed in the grand total area at a position corresponding to the position as the associated one of the fields placed in the body.

26. A method as recited in claim 24, wherein the grand total summary field is placed in the grand total area in the same column location in the report layout as the one of the fields placed in the body that corresponds thereto.

27. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the organization information further includes sort fields for the report or layout.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein said method further comprises:

(c) producing a report for the data using the report layout.

29. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein said producing (c) sorts the data in accordance with the sort fields for the report.

30. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the organization information further includes a theme selection for the report layout.

31. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the organizational information includes at least first and second of summary fields, the first summary field is a grand total summary field and the second summary field is summary field, and

wherein said creating (b) of the report layout comprises:

(b1) placing the first summary field in the grand total area;

(b2) placing the second summary field in the summaries area; and

(b3) placing the fields in the list of fields in the body area.

32. A computer readable medium including computer program code for a database program that is capable of creating a report layout for data stored in a database, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for performing an interview sequence to obtain organization information, the organization information including at least a list of fields, the report layout including a plurality of parts including a header area, a grand total area, a summary area, a body area, and a footer area, wherein the database program is capable of accessing the data stored in the database, and wherein the interview sequence comprises determining whether a script should be generated for the report or layout;

computer program code for creating the report layout based on the interview sequence, the creating of the report layout includes placing the fields in the list of fields in the body area; and

computer program code for automatically generating the script when it is determined during the interview sequence that the script should be generated, wherein the script when executed allows another report or layout to be automatically generated based the interview sequence.

33. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the organization information further includes header or footer information for the layout or report, the header or footer information including at least one of a logo and custom text.

34. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the organization information further includes a category that identifies the field on which the report layout is organized.

35. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the organization information further includes a plurality of categories that are ordered, and the categories identify the fields and a hierarchy on which the report layout is organized.

36. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the organizational information further includes at least one summary field for the report layout, the at least one summary field being associated with one of the fields in the list of fields, and

wherein said computer program code for creating the report layout comprises:

computer program code for placing the summary field in at least one of the grand total area and the summary area and placing the fields in the list of fields in the body area.

37. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the summary field is a subtotal or a grand total of the data in the associated fields.

38. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 37, wherein the summary field provides one of a total, count, average, minimum, and maximum of the data for the field associated with the summary field.