Delivery, organization, and management of data capture elements

• US 7,739,592 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2005
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dailey, Paul William
• Primary Examiner(s): RIES, LAURIE ANNE
• Application Number:
  US11/271,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20070106687A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,678 Days
• Field of Search: 715/202, 715/235, 715/236, 715/243, 715/248
• US Class Current: 715/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer usable code are provided for dynamically creating data capture elements. The aspects of the present invention receive a request for a data capture form and retrieve template build data for building the data capture form to form retrieved template build data in response to receiving the request. Using the retrieved template build data, a form definition is retrieved to form a retrieved form definition and data element definition is retrieved to form a retrieved data element definition. Using at least one of the retrieved template build data, the retrieved form definition, and the retrieved data element definition, a data capture form template is then created.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for dynamically creating data capture elements, the method comprising:

receiving, at a request router, a request for a data capture form from a client device, wherein the request router is one of a set of request routers;

identifying, by the request router, a template factory in a plurality of template factories, wherein the template factory contains template build data for building a data capture form template;

forwarding the request from the request router to the template factory that contains the template build data;

retrieving, by the template factory, template build data for building the data capture form to form retrieved template build data in response to receiving the request;

identifying, by a repository router, a form definition from a plurality of form definitions, wherein the plurality of form definitions is stored in a plurality of form definition repositories;

retrieving, by the template factory, the form definition using the retrieved template build data to form a retrieved form definition;

identifying, by the repository router, a data element definition from a plurality of data element definitions, wherein the plurality of form definitions is stored in a plurality of data element definition repositories;

retrieving, by the template factory, the data element definition using the retrieved template build data to form a retrieved data element definition; and

creating, by the template factory, a data capture form template using the retrieved template build data, the retrieved form definition, and the retrieved data element definition.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data element definition includes information to generate the data element field, the method further comprising:

presenting the data capture form template to a requestor.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a template for the data capture form exists in the template build data;

responsive to a nonexistence of the template for the data capture form, creating a new data capture form template;

saving instructions for building the new data capture form template to the template build data; and

saving the form definition of the new data capture form template to the form definition repository.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second request to add a data element field to the data capture form;

determining if the data element field exists in a data element definition repository;

responsive to the nonexistence of the data element field, identifying parameters associated with the data element field;

saving the data element field and the data element field parameters to the data element definition repository; and

adding the data element field to the data capture form.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data element definition is retrieved from a data element definition repository.

6. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to receive, at a request router, a request for a data capture form from a client device, wherein the request router is one of a set of request routers;

identify, by the request router, a template factory in a plurality of template factories, wherein the template factory contains template build data for building a data capture form template;

forward the request from the request router to the template factory that contains the template build data;

retrieve, by the template factory, template build data for building the data capture form to form retrieved template build data in response to receiving the request;

identify, by a repository router, a form definition from a plurality of form definitions, wherein the plurality of form definitions is stored in a plurality of form definition repositories;

retrieve, by the template factory, the form definition using the retrieved template build data to form a retrieved form definition;

identify, by the repository router, a data element definition from a plurality of data element definitions, wherein the plurality of form definitions is stored in a plurality of data element definition repositories;

retrieve, by the template factory, the data element definition using the retrieved template build data to form a retrieved data element definition; and

create, by the template factory, a data capture form template using the retrieved template build data, the retrieved form definition, and the retrieved data element definition.

7. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the data element definition includes information to generate the data element field, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to present the data capture form template to a requestor.

8. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to determine if a template for the data capture form exists in the template build data;

create a new data capture form template responsive to a nonexistence of the template for the data capture form;

save instructions for building the new data capture form template to the template build data; and

save the form definition of the new data capture form template to the form definition repository.

9. The data processing system of claim 6, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to receive a second request to add a data element field to the data capture form;

determine if the data element field exists in a data element definition repository;

identify parameters associated with the data element field responsive to the nonexistence of the data element field;

save the data element field and the data element field parameters to the data element definition repository; and

add the data element field to the data capture form.

10. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for dynamically creating data capture elements, the computer program product including;

computer usable program code for receiving, at a request router, a request for a data capture form from a client device, wherein the request router is one of a set of request routers;

computer usable program code for identifying, by the request router, a template factory in a plurality of template factories, wherein the template factory contains template build data for building a data capture form template;

computer usable program code for forwarding the request from the request router to the template factory that contains the template build data;

computer usable program code for retrieving, by the template factory, template build data for building the data capture form to form retrieved template build data in response to receiving the request;

computer usable program code for identifying, by a repository router, a form definition from a plurality of form definitions, wherein the plurality of form definitions is stored in a plurality of form definition repositories;

computer usable program code for retrieving, by the template factory, the form definition using the retrieved template build data to form a retrieved form definition;

computer usable program code for identifying, by the repository router, a data element definition from a plurality of data element definitions, wherein the plurality of form definitions is stored in a plurality of data element definition repositories;

computer usable program code for retrieving, by the template factory, the data element definition using the retrieved template build data to form a retrieved data element definition; and

computer usable program code for creating, by the template factory, a data capture form template using the retrieved template build data, the retrieved form definition, and the retrieved data element definition.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the data element definition includes information to generate the data element field, the computer program product further including:

computer usable program code for presenting the data capture form template to a requestor.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further including:

computer usable program code for determining if a template for the data capture form exists in the template build data;

computer usable program code for creating a new data capture form template responsive to a nonexistence of the template for the data capture form;

computer usable program code for saving instructions for building the new data capture form template to the template build data; and

computer usable program code for saving the form definition of the new data capture form template to the form definition repository.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, further including:

computer usable program code for receiving a second request to add a data element field to the data capture form;

computer usable program code for determining if the data element field exists in a data element definition repository;

computer usable program code for identifying parameters associated with the data element field responsive to the nonexistence of the data element field;

computer usable program code for saving the data element field and the data element field parameters to the data element definition repository; and

computer usable program code for adding the data element field to the data capture form.