Method and system for importing HTML forms

• US 7,222,291 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2000
• Issued: 05/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Estrada, Julio, Shore, Maurice B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon; Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Blackwell; James H
• Application Number:
  US09/752,121
• Publication Number:
  US 20020152234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: 715/501.1, 715/505, 715/506, 715/507, 715/508, 715/513, 715/522, 709/201, 709/204, 709/206, 709/230
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Collaboration space object model provides for a place consisting of rooms created by users interacting with a client browser. A skin (i.e., theme) may be used as template for creating places. PlaceBots (i.e., agents) provide for accessing, processing and managing data in a place. HTML may be dragged and dropped into a place, where it is parsed and corresponding place fields created. MS Excel or Word documents may be dragged and dropped into a place, which creates a corresponding form, and users may create new documents using that form. A place type comprising a template of an entire place, or collaboration space, may be used to create new places. Changes made to a place may be reported, subject to security controls, by selecting what'"'"'s new. Task fields are provided allowing web browser creation of forms for work flow. Place enabled objects are provided for synchronous communications. A quick browse feature provides a simplified format for browser windows based on selection of HTML links. MS Office documents may launched within a place for in place editing and importing the resulting document into the place.

Claims

1. Method for integrating forms including fields defining the schema of a collaboration space into said collaboration space, comprising the steps of:

creating a form containing fields defining said schema and hyperlinks that point to web pages;

saving said form to local storage at said browser;

dragging and dropping said form from local storage into an upload control panel in a user interface to said collaboration space;

parsing said form to identify said fields and incorporate them into said schema;

integrating said form into said collaboration space;

rendering said form to a user;

receiving said form from said user with new data content for said collaboration space; and

said collaboration space being implemented within an object model consisting of place, room, folder, page, member, form, field, placetype, roomtype, skin, and placebot objects.

2. The method of claim 1, with said room object visible as a unique identifier in uniform resource locators (urls).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of using said field object to construct html formatted input fields in forms.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of defining said form object using said form including imported hyperlinks.