MXPA06003684A - A system, a method and an apparatus for importing text data in a database. - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention includes an apparatus, method and system for loading data into a database. The invention includes a spreadsheet dataset, having data in the form of one or more records, a control file containing a set of rules, each rule having a condition and a spreadsheet loader. The spreadsheet dataset and the control file are inputs to the spreadsheet loader. Each rule in the control file is evaluated for each record to determine if the condition is true for the record, and the records are parsed if the condition is true. The spreadsheet loader sends the parsed data to the database. The invention includes a user interface to facilitate creation of the control file.

Description

A SYSTEM, A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR IMPORTING TEXT DATA IN A DATABASE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED REQUESTS This is an alternate application of the previous pending provisional application numbered series 60 / 507,576 filed on October 1, 2003 and titled "System, Method, and Apparatus for Data Text in a Datábase" ("System, Method and Apparatus for Loading Text Data in a Database "). BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to methods and systems for use in computer software having databases. In particular, the invention provides methods, apparatus and systems for loading text data more effectively and efficiently in a database. Previous Technique Most software programs use a database as a repository to store data.

Examples of such databases include Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase to name a few. The data is stored in relational database tables in a pre-defined schema.

The data can be created in the database using GUI's (Graphical User Interface) such as, for example, Oracle Forms by manual input or more frequently by the user loading the data into the database using a software program such as Loader. An external storage unit, such as a file on disk or a tape containing the data to be loaded ("data set") is usually encoded in binary or text (ASCII) format. If a software load program is used to load the data set, the load program reads the data set, decodes the encoding and loads it into the database tables. This is a very common scenario for the software used, for example, in the oil and gas industry where the need is for data to be loaded in various industry standard formats, such as DLIS, Geoshare, WITSML, to name a few. These standard formats are in binary, XLM or ASCII. Therefore, for such industry data in standard formats, "custom" loaders are written to load the data. Customized loaders read a specific format and upload (create / update) data into a specific repository. For example, GeoFrame DLIS Loader reads DLIS data and loads data only in the GeoFrame repository. However, there is a large amount of data in text files for which there are no standards. Non-standard text files can contain data in any format and it is almost impossible to create custom loaders for all such text data arrangements. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an objective of the present invention is to provide improved methods, apparatus and systems for loading data, especially in non-standard text files, into a database while eliminating or minimizing the impact of the problems and limitations described. The data in the data set of the spreadsheet can be data based on the row or data based on the column. A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a control file containing a set of rules, each rule having a condition and a spreadsheet loader having as inputs the spreadsheet data set and the control file. Each rule in the control file is evaluated for each record to determine if the condition is true for the record and the records are analyzed syntactically if the condition is true. The spreadsheet loader sends the syntactically analyzed data to the database. The set of rules within the control file may include a variable rule, an entity rule or both (including but not limited to a plurality of both). The variable rule comprises a condition, a syntactic descriptor-parser and a values clause and a values clause and may include a final condition and / or a list of attributes. The entity rule is comprised of a condition and a list of attributes and may include a final condition clause and / or a reference entity clause. The invention may also include a user interface used to create the control file. The user interface can include an information section of the control file, which has a tree of objectives, an indicator of attributes and a planned area of control files and an information section of the data file that has a data area of the spreadsheet that reflects the data set of the sheet of calculation. Using the user interface, which selects a business objective in the objectives tree, a list of one or more attributes for the business object is opened in the attributes indicator. The attributes of the open list of attributes can be dragged and dropped in the columns in the data area of the spreadsheet; and the spreadsheet data loader uses the attributes released in the data area of the spreadsheet to correlate the columns with the business objectives and to create the control file from the map. The control file can be pre-visualized in a planned area of the control file in the user interface. Attributes in the attribute indicator that are not mandatory for the selected business purpose can be distinguished from attributes that are not mandatory, such as a color, shadow or the use of a special font. The data area of the user interface worksheet can include editing functions. The objectives tree can display three commercial objectives using a hierarchy of two rows with a list of sub models (being groups of commercial objectives) and with commercial objectives under each sub model. The invention may also include a data access layer in the database that allows the use of definitions and persistence maps of the entity to create new business objectives in the objectives tree. The attributes of business objectives are defined in the database. Attributes can be evaluated using a value expression clause and can be analyzed syntactically using a descriptor-parser command and the value of the syntactically parsed attribute is referenced using a value clause. A preferred embodiment of the invention includes a method for loading data from a spreadsheet data set, having data in the form of one or more records, into a database including the steps of creating a control file that has rules, including each rule a condition; enter the data set of the spreadsheet and the control file into a spreadsheet loader; evaluating each rule with respect to each record to determine if the condition for the rule is true for that record and if the condition is true, then the record is parsed in one or more symbols and the value of the syntactically analyzed record is referred to using a value clause of the rule and sending the syntactically valued analyzed data to the database. Creating a control file can include the steps of: when using a user interface for a spreadsheet loader, selecting a business goal in a section of the user interface's goal tree, so that the selection of the business goal opens a list of attributes for the selected business objective in a section of attribute indicators of the user interface, by dragging and dropping the attributes for the selected business objective in the columns of a data area of the spreadsheet of the user interface. user, reflecting the data area of the spreadsheet a data set of the spreadsheet to be loaded by the spreadsheet loader, using the drag and drop attributes to correlate the columns in which the attributes were dragged towards the business objectives of the dragged attributes and generating a control file that reflects the correlation stage. In addition, the generated control file can be pre-visualized in a pre-view area of the user interface control file. Attributes in the attribute indicator that are mandatory for the selected business purpose can be distinguished from attributes that are not mandatory, such as with a color, shading, or the use of a special font. The data area of the user interface worksheet can include editing functions. The objectives tree can display the commercial objectives using a hierarchy of two rows, with a list of sub models (being groups of commercial objectives) and with the commercial objectives under each sub model. The control file rules may include a variable rule, an entity rule or both. The variable rule includes a condition, a syntactic descriptor-parser, and a values clause and may include a final condition and / or list of attributes. The entity rule includes a condition and a list of attributes and may include a final condition clause and / or a reference entity clause. The invention may include a data access layer in the database that allows the entity definitions and persistence maps to be used to create new business objectives in the objectives tree. Attributes are defined in the database and can be evaluated using a value expression clause, they can be analyzed syntactically using a descriptor-parser command, and the value of the parsed attribute can be referred to using a value clause. A preferred embodiment of the invention includes a system for loading data from a data set of the spreadsheet (which has data in the form of one or more records) in a database. Including the system a control file that has rules, including each rule a condition, a spreadsheet loader that has entries from the data set of the spreadsheet and the control file. The spreadsheet loader has a machine-readable program storage device by tangibly incorporating a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform the following method steps: evaluate each rule with respect to each record to determine whether the condition for the rule is true for that record and if the condition is true, then parsing the record in one or more symbols and referring the value of the syntactically analyzed record using a value clause of the rule and sending the valued data parsed syntactically to the database. The system control file of this embodiment of the invention can be created by the following steps: Using a user interface for a spreadsheet loader to select a business purpose in a user interface section of the user interface, in where the selection of the business objective opens a list of attributes for the selected business objective in a section of indicator of attributes of the user interface, dragging and dropping the attributes for the selected business objective in the columns of a data area of the sheet of calculation of the user interface, reflecting the data area of the spreadsheet a set of data from the spreadsheet to be loaded by the spreadsheet loader, correlating. the columns in which the attributes were dragged towards the commercial objectives of the attributes dragged when using the released and dragged attributes and generating a control file that reflects the correlation stage. The generated control file can be pre-visualized in a pre-view area of the user interface control file. The set of rules within the control file can include a variable rule that has a condition, a parser-descriptor, and a values clause, and can include an entity rule that has a condition and a list of attributes. Attributes in the attribute indicator that are mandatory for the selected business purpose can be distinguished from attributes that are not mandatory, such as by color, by shading, or by a special font. They can also be distinguished by sound for visually impaired users. The editing functions can be carried out using the data area of the user interface spreadsheet. The objectives tree can display the business objectives using a hierarchy of two rows, with a list of sub models, with the groups of business objectives, followed by business objectives under each sub model. The invention may include a data access layer in the database. The data access layer can allow the use of entity definitions and persistence maps to create new business objectives in the objectives tree. The attributes are defined in the database. Attributes can be evaluated using a value expression clause. Attributes can be parsed using a parser-descriptor command and the value of the syntactically parsed attribute referred to using a value clause. An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a simple interface for loading all the text data of the spreadsheet into a database. Another advantage of the present invention is that it loads any text data whose arrangement is in spreadsheet format. Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of experience in the art by reference to the figures, the following description and the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates entries that enter a spreadsheet loader of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the schema for the entity rules and variable rules of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a block diagram showing additional details for the variable rule in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a block diagram representing additional details for the entity rule in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is a block diagram showing additional details for the attributes in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 is a block diagram of a user interface of the spreadsheet loader for a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 8 is a block diagram of a data set of the spreadsheet of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 9 is a block diagram of the control file of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 10 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 11 is a flow chart for how to create a control file in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and other embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that those skilled in the art will readily observe other modalities and changes that can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Figure 1 illustrates entries that enter a spreadsheet loader 10 of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The spreadsheet loader 10 of this preferred embodiment has two entries: a data set of the spreadsheet 20, which contains a data set of data and a control file 30 and the spreadsheet loader 10 outputs data to a base of data. data 35. A data set of the spreadsheet 20 can be read by this preferred embodiment of the invention in two ways: as a sequence of rows ("data on the basis of the row") or a sequence of columns ("data in base to columns "). Referring to Figure 8 each entry in the data set of the spreadsheet is called a record 21. There is a difference in the way the data is processed by the spreadsheet loader 10 for each of the two ways of reading a spreadsheet, as described below. • Da cough based on the row The data in each row represent one or more of the business objectives. A business objective is an entity, such as a well in the exploration and production domain ("E &P"). Each column represents an attribute of the business objective (Figure 5 that contains more details about the attributes and is described below). Attributes are used to describe some aspects of the business objective. In the spreadsheet of the data based on the row, the attributes are usually separated by a special character, e.g., comma (,), vertical line (|), space or indicator, etc. EXAMPLE 1: #well_name | uwi | drill_total_depth | tvd_depth | spud_d DEPAR ET AL 7B WAINWR 7-4-46-6 | 100070404606W400 | 632 | 632 | 25-SEP-98 HOME EPPING A16 29 47 27 | 111162904727W300 | 652.3 | 652.3 | 04-JUL-78 PENN WEST PROVOST 14-9-41-8 | 100140904108W400] 905 | 905 | 20-FEB-00 397510 WAINWR 11 D-17-45-5 | 1 D0111704505W400 | 650.7 | 650.7 | 29-JUL- 76 397510 WAINWR 11 D-17-45-5 | 1 D0111704505W402 | 650.7¡650.7 | 29-JUL-76 397510 WAINWR 7-32-45-5 | 100073204505W400 | 664.5 | 664.5 | 19-OCT-72 397510 WAINWR 7-32 -45-5 | 100073204505W402 | 664.5 | 664.5 | 19-OCT-72 397510 WAINWR 7A-29-45-5 | 100072904505W4001 | 652.3 | 652.3 | 25-AUG-72 397510 WAINWR 7A-29-45-5 | 100072904505W402 | 652.3 | 652.3 | 25-AUG-72 397510 WAINWRIGHT 13-17-45-5 | 100131704505W400 | 750 | 647.4 | 03-MAY-94 397510 WAINWRIGHT 6-33-45-5 | 100063304505W400 | 676.7 | 676.7 | 05-JUN-77 623396 BRACO EDGER 7-16-45-3 | 100071604503W400 | 710 | 710 | 29-MAY-90"PENN WEST PROVOST 14 -9-41-8 | 100140904108W400 | 905 | 905 | 20-FEB-00" The previous row describes a well target with the following attribute s: the name of the well, uwi (unique well identifier), "drill_total_depth" (total measured depth), true vertical depth (tvd) and spud_date (the date the well was drilled). So in the row above, the well target and its attributes are: Well (well_name = PENN WEST PROVOST 14-9-41-8 uwi < = 100140904108W400, drill_total_depth = 905, tvd_depth = 905, spud date = 20 -FEB-00) Data based on the column The data in each column is a business objective, typically volume of channel data in the exploration and production domain.EXAMPLE 2 DEPT SP RHOB GR PER PER DEN 2000.0000 1888.01 -426.127 -452.644 124.576 2.193 79.500 2001.0000 1887.03 -426.654 -453.271 124.574 2.174 80.812 2002.0000 1887.60 -427.180 -453.899 133.241 2.178 78.562 In Example 2 above, the business objectives are Registration Channels and one of such business objectives is RHOB. In Example 2, DEPT means depth and the other column names, different logging measurements: RHOB, means Volume Density, SP, Spontaneous Potential, GR, Gamma Ray, POR, Porosity, DEN, Density and PER, Photoelectric Factor , Law. In Example 2, at 2001 ft depth in the well, the SP measurement was 1887.03, the volume density measurement was -427.180, the gamma ray measurement was -453.271, the porosity measurement was 124.574, the factor measurement photoelectric, right was 2,174 and the density measurement was 80,812. Referring to Figure 9, the control file 30 contains a set of rules 100. The rules 100 can be defined in any language that the spreadsheet loader 10 understands. For the spreadsheet 10 loader of the preferred embodiment of the present invention illustrated in Figure 1, the rules of the control file are described in XML. Each rule in the control file 100 describes how to parsing and correlating the data in the data set of the spreadsheet. Each rule 100 has a condition that has to be true for the rule to be evaluated. The conditions are discussed below, with reference to Figure 3 and Figure 4. Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the scheme for the rules in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in Figure 2, there are two main types of rules 100 in this preferred embodiment of the present invention: variable rules 110 and entity rules 120. Mixing of variable rules and entity rules that make up the file Control parameters are evaluated for each record found in the data set, to determine if the condition for the rule is evaluated as true. • Variable Rule 110 The variable rule is used to read a symbol. A symbol is a string or a number read from the recorded data as described by a syntactically analyzed string. The variable rule reads the symbol from the data in the form of an input text file and stores it as a variable to be used later, in either an entity rule 120 or a condition of another rule. More information on variable rules is illustrated in Figure 3 (and discussed below).

• Entity Rule 120 Entity Rule 120 describes an entity, an objective that is to be created. The entity rule 120 lists the attributes of the object and describes how the attributes are set, using a variable rule 110 or the symbol, which is read from the input text file. More details on the entity rules are illustrated in Figure 4 (and discussed below). The symbol represented in Figure 2 to the right of the rules 100 (and to the left of the branches leading to the variable rule 110 and the entity rule 120) is an aggregate 122 and refers to one or many entity rules or variable that comprise a set of rules. Below is an example of the control file 30 that reads the data based on the row as shown in EXAMPLE 1 above. < ControlFile name = "GAL Loader" version = "l .0" > < Header > < StringDelimiter data_type = "string" > | < / StringDelimiter > < Comment data_type = "str ± ng" > # < / Comment > < StartRo data_type = "string" > 2 < / StartRow > < StopRow data_type = "string" > 5 < / StopRo > < RecordLength data_type = "string" > < / RecordLength > < / Header > < Rules > < Entity name = "XWell" entity_type = "Well" operation = "create" continue = "true" rank = "l" version = "l. Q ">; < Condition > true < / Condition > < EndCondition > true < / EndCondition > < AttributeList > < Attribute name = "Name" type = "ParseDescription" > < ParseDescriptor > gal_String (I,, "¡") < / ParseDescriptor > < Values > Name [O] < / Values > < / Attribute > < Attribute name = "O I" type = "ParseDescriptor" > < ParseDescriptor > gal_String (,, "1") < / ParseDescriptor > < Values > U I [O] < / Values > < / Attribute > < / AttributeList > < / Entity > < Entity name = "XBorehole" entity_type = "Borehole" operation = "create" continue = "true" rank = "l" version = "l .0" > < Condition > true < / Condition > < EndCondition > true < / EndCondition > < AttributeList > < Attribute name = "ÜBHI" type = "ParseDescriptor" > < ParseDescriptor > gal_String (1,, "|"), gal_String (,, "I") < / ParseDescriptor > < Values > UBHI [l] < / Values > < / Attribute > < Attribute name = "Driller__PBTD" type = "ParseDescriptor" > < ParseDescriptor > gal_Number (,, "|", "floaT") < / ParseDescriptor > < Values > Driller_PBTD [O] < / Values > < / Attribute > < Attribute name = "Spud_Date" type = "ParseDescriptor" > < ParseDescriptor > gal_String (,, "|"), gal_Date (,, "!", "") < / ParseDescriptor > < Values > Spud_Date [1] < / Values > < / Attribute > < / AttributeList > < / Entity > < / Rules > < / ControlFile > Figure 3 is a block diagram showing additional details for the variable rule 110 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The variable rules 110 are evaluated based on the conditions processed from each record in the data set of the spreadsheet. The symbol to the right of the variable rule 110 in Figure 3 is a sequence 124 and refers to the variable rule being constructed as a sequence of a condition 125, a parser-descriptor 130, a value clause 135, and (optionally) include a final condition 140 and an attribute list 145. A condition 125 is a logical state that must be evaluated to true if a variable rule (or entity rule as discussed below) is to be processed. The variable rule 110 can include expressions in the condition. An expression describes data, variables or entities. If condition 125 is true, the parser descriptor 130 is used to parse the record by decomposing it into either a single symbol or a symbol array. The value of the syntactically analyzed data set is referred to using a value clause 135. The value clause 135 is an expression that refers which of the syntactically parsed symbols using the parser descriptor 130 was assigned a value for a variable or a attribute and refers in other expressions by name. The optional final condition 140 is an expression that allows to specify either a variable or entity to be continuously evaluated for the subsequent data records - in the case of continuous evaluation, the final condition 140 in the preferred embodiment of the invention is will evaluate true. The optional list of attributes 145 is a list of attributes that can be assigned values 135 for a given entity. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing additional details for the entity rule 120 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The symbol to the right of the entity rule 120 in Figure 4 is a sequence 124 and refers to an entity rule 120 being comprised of condition 125 and attribute list 145 clauses and optional end condition 140 and the reference entity 155. The optional reference entity 155 is a list of one or more entities that are referred to by the current entity. Reference entity 155 is used to establish the relational reference between the current entity and other entities to be processed by the spreadsheet loader. For example, in the exploration and production domain, a Polling entity refers to the Well entity, so that in the example, the Polling entity rule may use the reference entity clause 155 to refer to the rule of the Well. Figure 5 is a block diagram showing additional details for the attributes 200 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Attributes 200 refer to aspects of a business objective and are defined in the database in which the spreadsheet loader will load the data. The attributes 200 are evaluated as a value expression 210 or a parser-descriptor 220 and a value clause 230. The value expression 210 is a simple expression or a constant value that is assigned to the attribute. If an attribute 200 is an expression, then the value for the attribute 200 is evaluated by the expression of value 210. As with the variable rules, the descriptor-parser 220 command is used to synthetically analyze the data record by decomposing it into either a single symbol or an order of symbols. The value of the syntactically analyzed data record is referred to using the value clause 230. Some attributes 200 are mandatory for business purposes because the attributes 200 are required to be present to create the business purpose in the relational database (columns without cancellation). Other attributes are not mandatory. Figure 6 is a block diagram of a user interface 300 of the spreadsheet loader in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is used to build the control file. (The operation of the user interface 300 is also illustrated further in Figure 7 and described below). Referring to Figure 6, the user interface 300 has two main panels, the Control File Information panel 305 and the Data File Information panel 310. The Control File Information panel 305 has three areas: a target tree area 315, an attribute indicator area 320 and a pre-view area of the control file 325. The target tree area 315 displays the business objectives (not represented) as supported by the database ( not shown in Figure 6). The definition of commercial objectives is preferably described in XML. The objective tree area 315 is preferably displayed in a two-row hierarchy, with a list of Sub Models (not represented) and then the business objectives (not represented) under each Sub Model. The Sub Models are a grouping of business objectives. For example, in the domain E &; P, there may be a Sub-Model Well that consists of all the entities / objectives related to the Well. The attribute indicator area 320 displays the attributes (not represented) of the selected business objectives. Each business objective when selected in the objective tree area 315 carries an indicator in the attribute indicator area 320 with a list of attributes for the selected business objective. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the attributes that are mandatory for that commercial purpose are displayed in a special form, such as using a different color, so that the user can easily identify them for correlation purposes. (In other modalities, for users who are color blind, for example, you can use shading or highlighting the format to indicate the mandatory attributes.

The data file information panel 310 has a data area of the spreadsheet 340. The data area of the spreadsheet 340 displays the data from the data set of the spreadsheet 20. The area of data from spreadsheet 340 includes basic editing operations. The pre-view area of the control file 325 of the information panel of the control file 305 displays a control file as it is constructed when the user maps the attributes to the columns in the data set of the spreadsheet, as reflected in the data area of the spreadsheet 340. The operation of the user interface is further explained by reference to Figure 7, which is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It can be difficult to create a control file and a user interface 300 can be used to facilitate this. Referring to Figure 7, in order to create the control file 30, the user uses the user interface 300 to correlate the columns in the data set of the spreadsheet 20, as reflected in the data area 340 of the user interface worksheet 300, for the attributes of one or more business objectives in the objectives tree 315 when using a drag-and-drop feature of the user interface 300. Specifically, the user may select a business purpose in the objectives tree 315, a list of the attributes of the selected business objective will be opened in the attribute indicator 320 and the user can drop and drag the name of the attribute in a column in the data area of the spreadsheet 340, which reflects the data set of the spreadsheet 20. The spreadsheet loader 10 then correlates the name of the attribute to the data area of the spreadsheet 340 and generates a rule. a control file (which can be pre-displayed in the preview area of the control file 325). Once the correlation is complete, the user can upload the data into the database 35 using the spreadsheet loader 10. The user can also define new business objectives in the objectives tree 315, by adding entity definitions and persistence maps (eg, in XML) for use by a generic data access layer (not shown in Figure 7) for the database 35. The entity definitions (not to be confused with the entity rules) are descriptions of database objectives. Persistence maps are rules that describe, for the data access layer, how the data is written to the database 35 or to some other repository, such as a uniform file. To create a new business goal, the user has to create an Entity Definition for the new business objective by saying what the new business objective is and create a Persistence map for the new business objective by saying how the new business objectives will be written in the database. The spreadsheet loader 10 can capture the entity definitions in the area of the objectives tree 315 and the user can use a high level view for the correlations. Figure 10 depicts a flow chart for a preferred embodiment of the present invention. First, a control file that has rules is created or obtained 400, each rule including a condition. (A method for creating a control file is illustrated in Figure 11, discussed below, as well as discussed above with respect to Figure 6 and Figure 7). A data set from the spreadsheet, which has data in the record form and the control file, is entered 410 into a spreadsheet loader. Each rule in the control file is evaluated 415 for each record found in the data set to determine 420 if the condition for the rule is true for that record. If in 425 the condition is not trued C , all other rules for that record are evaluated 430 until it is completed. If the condition is true, then the record is parsed 435 in one or more symbols. The value of the syntactically analyzed record is referenced 440 using a value clause. If all the rules have not been evaluated for the 425 record, then it evaluates 430 all the other rules until it is completed and then evaluates 445, 450 the rules for all the other records until it is completed. Once all the rules for a record have been fully evaluated, the syntactically evaluated data analyzed is loaded into a database and finished in the process. Remember that the rules can be variable rules or entity rules. As part of this process, 'a rule (variable or entity) can have a final condition that evaluates for truth if the rule is to be continuously evaluated for the subsequent data records.

In addition, an entity rule will have a list of attributes for the entity and may have a reference entity used to establish the relational reference between the current entity and other entities. Figure 11 depicts a flow chart for how to create a control file in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Using a user interface for a spreadsheet loader, 500 is selected as a business goal (in a user interface section of the user interface), thereby opening a list of attributes for the business purpose selected in a section of attributes indicator of the user interface.

Attributes for the business goal are dragged and dropped 510 into the columns of a data area of the user interface worksheet, the data area of the worksheet that reflects a data set of the worksheet that will be loaded by the spreadsheet loader. Using the drop and drag attributes, the spreadsheet loader maps 515 the columns in which the attributes were dragged towards the business objectives of the dragged attributes. The spreadsheet loader generates 520 a control file that reflects the correlation stage 515 and allows the control file to be pre-displayed 525 in a planned area of the user interface control file. If at 530 all business objectives have not been represented, 535 is selected as the next business objective and the process is repeated until 540 is completed. The present invention solves the problem of inserting / updating / overwriting data entering the sheet of ASCII calculation (including excel files) in a generic form. Although the data is loaded, the present invention hides from the end user the complexity of the objective of the database and resolves any relationship (using the EntityReference clause) among commercial objectives, totally transparent to the user. The present invention can be used to load into any target deposit as long as the generic data access layer supports a target adapter. The present invention can also be used to create business objectives in memory for direct use by applications. The front end of the spreadsheet loader, which reads data as business objectives (which can be defined by the user) from the data file of the spreadsheet, can allow the user to perform the mapping using an interface of generic user. This procedure can also be used to load the data into the memory in the commercial objectives defined by the user for direct use by the applications. Although the foregoing is provided for purposes of illustration, explaining and describing certain embodiments of the inspection invention of automated repetitive array microstructure defect in particular detail, modifications and adaptations to the described methods, systems and other modalities will be apparent to those skilled in the art. in the matter and can be done without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS 1. An apparatus for loading data from a data set of the spreadsheet, which has data in the form of one or more records, in a database comprising: a) a control file containing a set of rules, each rule having a condition; b) a spreadsheet loader that has as entries the dataset of the spreadsheet and the control file, where: i) each rule in the control file is evaluated for each record to determine if the condition is true for the record and the records are analyzed syntactically if the condition is true; and ii) the spreadsheet loader sends the syntactically analyzed data to the database. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rule set in the control file includes a variable rule. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the variable rule comprises a condition, a syntactic descriptor-parser, and a values clause. . An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the variable rule includes a final condition. 5. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the variable rule includes a list of attributes. 6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the set of rules within the control file includes an entity rule. 7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the entity rule is comprised of a condition and a list of attributes. 8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the entity rule includes a final condition clause. 9. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the entity rule includes a reference entity clause. 10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rule set in the control file contains a variable rule and an entity rule. 11. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface used to create the control file. 12. An apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the user interface includes a control file information section, which has a goal tree, attribute indicator and pre-view area of the control file and a section of data file information that has a data area of the spreadsheet that reflects the spreadsheet data set, where: a) selecting a business goal in a goal tree opens a list of one or more attributes for the business purpose in the attributes indicator; b) the attributes of the open attribute list can be dragged and dropped into columns in the data area of the spreadsheet; and c) the data loader of the spreadsheet uses the attributes dragged into the data area of the spreadsheet to correlate the columns with the business objectives and to create the control file from the correlation. 13. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein the control file can be pre-displayed in a pre-view area of the control file in the user interface. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein attributes in the attribute indicator that are mandatory for the selected business purpose are distinguished from attributes that are not mandatory. 15. An apparatus as in claim 14, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by color. 16. An apparatus as in claim 14, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by shading. 17. An apparatus as in claim 14, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by a special source. 18. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein the data area of the user interface spreadsheet includes editing functions. 19. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein the objective tree displays a hierarchy of two rows, with a list of sub models, being the groups of the commercial objectives with the commercial objectives under each sub model. 20. An apparatus as in claim 12, further comprising a data access layer in the database that allows entity definitions and persistence maps to be used to create new business objectives in the objectives tree. 21. An apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the data in the data set of the spreadsheet is data based on the row. 22. An apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the data in the data set of the spreadsheet is data based on the column. An apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the set of rules within the control file includes a variable rule comprising a condition, a syntactic descriptor-parser and a values clause and an entity rule comprised of a condition and a list of attributes. 24. An apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising a user interface used to create the control file, wherein the user interface includes an information section of the control file, which has a goal tree, indicator of attributes and pre-view area of the control file and an information section of the data file, which has a data area of the spreadsheet that reflects the data set of the spreadsheet, where: a) selecting a business goal in a goal tree opens a list of one or more attributes for the business purpose in the attributes indicator; b) attributes of the open attribute list can be dragged and dropped on the columns in the data area of the spreadsheet; c) the data loader of the spreadsheet uses the attributes dragged to the data area of the spreadsheet to correlate the columns with the business objectives and to create the control file from the correlation; and d) the control file can be pre-visualized in a pre-view area of the control file in the user interface. 25. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein the attributes are defined in the database. 26. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein at least one attribute is evaluated using a value expression clause. 27. An apparatus as in claim 12, wherein at least one attribute is analyzed syntactically using a descriptor-parser command and the value of the syntactically analyzed attribute is referred to using a value clause. 28. A method for loading data from a spreadsheet data set, which has data in the form of one or more records, into a database comprising: a) creating a control file that has rules , including each rule one condition; b) enter the data set of the spreadsheet and the control file into a spreadsheet loader; c) evaluate each rule with respect to each record to determine if the condition for the rule is true for that record and if the condition is true, then parsing the record in one or more symbols and referring the value of the syntactically analyzed record using a value clause of the rule; d) send the syntactically evaluated data analyzed to the database. 29. A method as in claim 28, wherein the data in the data set of the spreadsheet is data based on the row. 30. A method as in claim 28, wherein the data in the data set of the spreadsheet is data based on the column. 31. A method as in claim 28, wherein the step to create a control file further comprises: i) when using a user interface for a spreadsheet loader, selecting a business purpose in a section of the spreadsheet tree; objectives of the user interface, wherein the selection of the business objective opens a list of attributes for the selected business objective in a user interface attribute indicator section; ii) drag and drop the attributes for the selected business purpose in the columns of a data area of the user interface worksheet, with the data area of the spreadsheet reflecting a data set from the spreadsheet which will be loaded by the spreadsheet loader; iii) use the released and dragged attributes, correlating the columns in which the attributes were dragged towards the commercial objectives of the dragged attributes; iv) generate a control file that reflects the correlation stage a) (iii). 32. A method as in claim 31, wherein the step for creating a control file further comprises: v) previewing the generated control file in a pre-view area of the user interface control file. 33. A method as in claim 28, wherein the rule set within the control file includes a variable rule. 34. A method as in claim 33, wherein the variable rule comprises a condition, a syntactic descriptor-parser, and a values clause. 35. A method as in claim 34, wherein the variable rule further includes a final condition. 36. A method as in claim 34, wherein the variable rule further includes a list of attributes. 37. A method as in claim 28, wherein the rule set within the control file includes an entity rule. 38. A method as in claim 37, wherein the entity rule comprises a condition and a list of attributes. 39. A method as in claim 38, wherein the entity rule includes a final condition clause. 40. A method as in claim 38, wherein the entity rule includes a reference entity clause. 41. A method as in claim 28, wherein the rule set in the control file contains a variable rule and an entity rule. 42. A method as in claim 31, wherein attributes in the attribute indicator that are mandatory for the selected business purpose are distinguished from attributes that are not mandatory. 43. A method as in claim 42, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by color. 44. A method as in claim 42, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by shading. 45. A method as in claim 42, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by a special source. 46. A method as in claim 31, wherein the editing functions can be carried out using the data area of the user interface spreadsheet. 47. A method as in claim 31, wherein the objectives tree displays a hierarchy of two rows, with a list of sub-models, with the commercial objectives groups, with the commercial objectives under each sub-model. 48. A method as in claim 31, further comprising a data access layer in the database, allowing the data access layer to use entity definitions and persistence maps to create new business objectives in the objective tree. 49. A method as in claim 31, wherein the attributes are defined in the database. 50. A method as in claim 49, wherein at least one attribute is evaluated using a value expression clause. 51. A method as in claim 49, wherein at least one attribute is analyzed syntactically using a descriptor-parser command and the value of the syntactically analyzed attribute is referred to using a value clause. 52. A method as in claim 32, wherein the rules within the control file include a variable rule, comprising a condition, a parser-descriptor, and a values clause and the rules include an entity rule comprised of a condition and a list of attributes. 53. A system for the method of loading data from a data set in the spreadsheet, which has data in the form of one or more records, into a database comprising: a) a control file that has rules, including each rule one condition; b) a spreadsheet loader that has inputs from the spreadsheet data set and the control file and that has a machine-readable program storage device, which tangibly incorporates an executable program of instructions by the machine to carry out the following steps of the method: c) evaluate each rule with respect to each record to determine if the condition for the rule is true for that record and if the condition is true, then parsing the record in one or more symbols and referring the value of the syntactically analyzed register using a value clause of the rule; d) send the syntactically evaluated data analyzed to the database. 54. A system as in claim 53, where the data in the data set of the spreadsheet is data based on the row. 55. A system as in claim 53, wherein the data in the data set of the spreadsheet is data based on the column. 56. A system as in claim 53, wherein the control file is created by the following steps: i) by using a user interface for a spreadsheet loader, by selecting a business purpose in a section of the spreadsheet tree; objectives of the user interface, where the selection of the business objective opens a list of attributes for the selected business objective in a user interface attribute indicator section; ii) Drag and drop the attributes for the selected business purpose into columns of a data area of the user interface worksheet, the data area of the spreadsheet reflecting a data set from the spreadsheet that it is going to be loaded by means of the charger of the calculation sheet) using the released and dragged attributes, correlating the columns in which the attributes were dragged towards the commercial objectives of the dragged attributes; iv) generate a control file that reflects the correlation stage a) (iii). 57. A system as in claim 56, further comprising: v) previewing the generated control file in a pre-view area of the control file of the user interface. 58. A system as in claim 53, wherein the set of rules within the control file includes a variable rule that has a condition, a parser-descriptor, and a values clause. 59. A system as in claim 53, wherein the set of rules within the control file includes an entity rule that has a condition and a list of attributes. 60. A system as in claim 53, wherein the set of rules in the control file contains a variable rule and an entity rule. 61. A system as in claim 56, wherein the attributes in the attribute indicator that are mandatory for the selected business purpose are distinguished from the attributes that are not mandatory. 62. A system as in claim 61, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by color. 63. A system as in claim 61, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by shading. 64. A system as in claim 61, wherein the mandatory attributes are distinguished by a special source. 65. A system as in claim 56, wherein the editing functions can be carried out using the data area of the user interface spreadsheet. 66. A system as in claim 56, wherein the objectives tree displays a hierarchy of two rows, with a list of sub-models, with the commercial objectives groups, with the commercial objectives under each sub-model. 67. A system as in claim 56, further comprising a data access layer in the database, allowing the data access layer to use entity definitions and persistence maps to create new business objectives in the objective tree. 68. A system as in claim 56, wherein the attributes are defined in the database. 69. A system as in claim 68, wherein at least one attribute is evaluated using a value expression clause. 70. A system as in claim 69, wherein at least one attribute is analyzed syntactically using a descriptor-parser command and the value of the syntactically analyzed attribute is referred to using a value clause.