SE537814C2 - Server and method for presentation and collection of data - Google Patents

Abstract

14 ABSTRACT En server och metod beskrivs, vilken lägger till HTML-funktionalitet tillXSL-FO-standarddokumentmallar. Klienter som stödjer den utvidgade XSL-FO-standarden kan interaktivt inmata information i dokument produceradefrån nämnda mallar, medan andra klienter behandlar dokumenten somvanliga XSL-FO-formatdokument.

Description

TECHNICAL INVENTION The present invention relates to a server and method for producing documents in a computer system, in particular for interactive presentation and collection of data from a user.

Technical background Most data systems need to present data as printouts (reports, certificates, receipts, etc.) and accept user input of data (form / GUI).

This task is solved through a number of different standards and programming languages. J2EE / ASP / PHP and similar frameworks, for example, are commonly used to produce HTML interfaces in a web application. XSL-FO can also be used to produce prints, as well as other proprietary systems such as JasperReport, QuickReport, ReportMill, etc.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) can be used for printing, but lacks features such as proper layout that extends over several real pages. HTML is also not liable for certificates because the format allows changes to the content of the text.

Extendible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL-F0), an extension language for XML document formatting, (XML = Extendible Markup Language formatting, proposed by the WC group) in version 1.1) has become a market standard for printing because this standard is specially developed to solve printing problems. In its original form, however, this format does not allow data collection or user control as in HTML. XSL-FO only allows the production of PDF pages that can be read for further changes. In other words, the original XSL-FO format does not support interactive documents that can receive information entered by a user for direct charging to e.g. a database, the user must instead enter 1 537 814 his / her data in a form printed as a PDF document and send the paper printout to the recipient.

This is a significant drawback of XSL-FO and several proprietary additions of the XSL-FO format have been introduced to address this issue. However, such solutions limit document production to a fatal proprietary product, as standard tools cannot understand the proprietary form of the code.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution for interactive collection and presentation of user input data in the XSL-FO data format which overcomes the previously mentioned problems. The solution should specifically provide an extension to the XSL-FO format that takes advantage of the HTML mechanisms to provide interactivity, while tools based on the current standard for producing documents are commonly allowed.

This is achieved in a system and methods according to the following requirements.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates in particular to a server for presenting and collecting data, comprising means for storing at least one document template, said template being based on a layout definition called an editing format, the format being extended with interactive elements, the server being adapted to receiving requests for said template and processing the template to provide a presentation of the template with interactive elements, and means for collecting interactive captured information as defined in claim 1.

According to a second aspect, the invention relates to a method for presenting and collecting data, the method comprising the steps of: storing at least one document template, said template being based on layout definition for editing tools extended with interactive elements, processing the template to provide a presentation of the template with skid for interactive elements, and collect interactively captured information as defined in claim 5. 2 537 814 Several embodiments of the invention derive from the associated subclaims.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is described in the following in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing (only one) which schematically illustrates a system embodying the invention.

Detailed description of the invention The drawing illustrates a situation where the number of users working on clients 1, 2, 3 accesses a corporate or general server 4 via a network 6, such as the Internet. The server 4 stores a number of documents, such as a form which is intended to be picked up by clients 1, 2, 3 for filling and retrieval at the authority that scoops the server 4. A client can thus request a special form for review and filling information.

The clients can be of different types, with different requirements and shapes. The server 4 must thus be able to present information in several different formats that suit the individual client. Client 1 can for example be a mobile phone that wants to access information from the server 4 as WAP pages. Client 2 can anyanda a personal computer, PC, which runs a standard web browser. Client 2 would like to receive information Than server 4 in an interactive format. This meant that any information entered by the user could be sent directly to a storage device, such as a database in the server 4, without having to print out the completed form and send it to the recipient. However, a user often needs to print a receipt when the form is complete and thus the server 4 must be able to produce documents in a standard paper format. An example of the document in question may be an income tax return form.

This document is stored as one of several templates in the server 4, typically stored in a database 5. The templates have been created by using new software that supports an XSL-FO format according to the present invention. The templates thus include proprietary commands in addition to standard XSL-FO format commands. Client 1, 2 can access the server 4 and request a 3 537 814 fill-in presentation of a special template. The server 4 then processes the template, produces the fill presentation and returns it to the client in a format that can be read by the client. During processing, server 4 will encounter extended XSL-FO format commands in the template. These commands 5 extend the XSL-FO presentation to make it possible for HTML-specific functions to add interactivity to the document. Data filled in such forms are separated from the layout and can be verified for transmission to an external party or stored directly on a database. When the template is retrieved, the server 4 will typically also retrieve other information regarding the client, 10 such as address information, the database 5 or other calls 7 and include this information in the form presented to the client. The client can then possibly correct this information and complete the form with other information before it is entered into the database 8 (which may be local or located at a distance from the server 4, eg located at an external party). This database 15 may be a separate database or identical to the database 5 which stores the templates. As mentioned earlier, the declarant can also ask for a receipt of the completed form, and the server will then use standard XSLFO interpretation to produce a PDF page.

Client 3 is a large company that operates an industrial computer system. The 20 can retrieve a tower template Than server 4 for processing in their own system. They typically fill in relevant information for a number of customers or employees and then produce PDF files that are printed and sent to the recipients. The enterprise client 3 uses document processing software, such as Apache Fop, Render X, Antenna XSL Formats, which support standard XSL-FO, but not the extended version of the present invention. While processing a template retrieved Than server 4, client 3 does not understand the extended commands embedded in the template. In fact, client 3 will not mark the presence of said connmandon, but treat the template like any other XSL-FO-based document. The extension of the XSL-FO format is thus transparent to the software that does not support the present invention.

The transparent extension of the XML-FO standard can be realized in a number of ways: 4,537,814 1.XSLT comments extended with additional semantics In XSL-FO, lines starting with an exclamation mark are interpreted as comments added in favor of the laser, ie. to make the Ora template document easier to read. Such lines are skipped by the 5 document processing programs because the content is not for any use in the processing of the template. According to the present invention, a specific nannnrynnd (xfo :) is indivisibly added after the exclamation mark informing the document processing program that the comment line is also to be processed.

The following program list shows an example of user control / fill fields realized by the comment line: The line in bold is a comment line, which is indicated by the exclamation mark. In this case, however, the lines include extended comment commands such as any heist document processing program that supports the extended format will come first & which has defines a fill box where the user can enter his first name. The following line defines the box in the standard case, which can also be interpreted by conventional programs (ie 20 conventional programs will first this as a definition of a box as such, but do not assign the flag interactivity or data binding properties to the box).

As used in the present invention, the structure of the comment lines provides the possibility to: • classify an element based on a collection of XSL-F0 syntax (appearance) which means that it can be interpreted to create the corresponding HTML or protocol for 537 814 GUI / user control. In the example, this element is described by xfo: text-box. This provides opportunities for the Ora box to be interactive, ie. that the content entered by a user can be taken as input parameters. provide references to child data elements (XML) 5 independently of the entry in XSL-FO. In the example, this is described as ref = "first name". This meant that the server 3 could skip reading the FO syntax described by the appearance of the box instead of as a connector. This provides great freedom for future changes to the implementation. provide element-specific identity / class that allows CSS control 10 (CSS control) in HTML (CSS = overlapping document template, a language used to define the appearance of the files written in HTML or XML). In the example, this is described by id = "id-0aa73961-012ffad0". An alternative is to use the ID field of the element in the XSL-FO code. However, this means that the ID will not always be unique, and will produce unnecessarily large HTML documents. For example, when listing elements, an unambiguous classification of the ID for each element should be avoided to prevent multiple CSS elements from describing the same appearance, an appearance that is common to all repeating elements. • additional attributes in the comment field thanks to other properties, such as tabular -1610, default values for fill fields, support for the blind, etc. use comments at different levels in XSL-FO documents that stood for page titles in HTML, skid for translations (as described later) . 2.XSLT variables extended with additional functionality as needed An alternative technology to provide transparent extensions of the XSL-FO format can be realized by using nested XSLT variables. These will normally be processed by the XSLT engine but will not produce PDF exposure. (XSLT = Extended Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) is part of the XSL set of tools defined by the W3C group, which is used for 6,537,814 to transform XML elements in a document into HTML). The following examples show user control with skids for trades and validation: Nested variables provide the possibilities to: create several levels that are common in XML. This is done by placing variables inside other variables. In the example above, an overriding level of a transaction is created and all specific attributes / properties of the transaction are defined in additional variables. The outer level is shown in bold in the example. 7,537,814 use multi-level / nested elements that provide the ability to easily expand the format in the future. separate information from the general format. Standard tools for PDF / printing will then skip this 5 information. allow the information to be read at logical levels. easily add new features and functions. 8 537 814 Support for translations into other languages (The extension to the XSL-FO format is based on the assignment of identities to different elements (id). This gives the possibility to retrieve translations of the elements if necessary.

Software tools that support the extended format can easily extract translatable information based on the structure of the format. This information can then be translated using a standard editor.

An example of exporting translatable information for user control: 9 537 814 Note that this listing continues than the previous example. The example shows that the element (user control) is defined in a parent comment (extension) of the original format. The elements are organized with a part that shows the original information in its original language which provides a simple starting point for the translation. The student's ID allows translated information to be relocated to the document when it is displayed or produced in the desired language. This is done by setting a parameter in the processing software that specifies which language field is to be retrieved from the standby server.

The structure prevents the person performing the translation from changing the original format, appearance or functions of the document.

The translator can use any available editor or word processing software.

The inventive use of XSLT variables allows a template to be used both for interactive form filling and for document production in different languages. These features require the availability of a backup server. However, the format can also be used by the client to create output based on the original format and which is not dependent on said support server.

Although the invention has been described in a specific embodiment using HTML elements to provide interactivity, one skilled in the art will appreciate that there are several alternatives available for this purpose from other terrestrial languages such as XHTML, WML, etc.

An embodiment of the invention provides interactivity by using the otherwise unused comment field in the template. When processing the template, the server is informed of the presence of an interactive command with a specific namespace that follows the comment declaration character (exclamation mark). However, any heist monster that can be recognized by the server can be used for this purpose.

Another embodiment will use nested XSLT variables to provide interactivity. The term 'variable' is intended to refer to all commands to any party involved and in this disclosure of the invention, the term 'command' is used in a broad sense. A 537 814 command can e.g. be a transaction manager who starts an action if the user places a mark & in a specific fait (or when he / she moves the markiiren Than named field) as well as provide a comment / explanation to the user or an instruction to the server to read information entered 5 into a field, to modify the contents of the field or to open another page, etc. 11

Claims (9)

537 814 PATE NTKRAV An apparatus for presenting and collecting data, including means (5) for storing a document template, said template being based on an XSL-FO layout definition for editing format, a server (4) for retrieving an XML document form and named template, can n et e ckn adav that the template is extended with interactive elements, narrinda interactive elements are included in the template's comment field, where habit habit field includes a pattern or namespace that identifies the comment field that includes one or more interactive elements and assigns an identity to the field, the server (4) is adapted to receive requests for said form and process the template to provide a presentation of the form with support for the interactive elements, and means (8) for collecting interactively entered information. Device according to claim 1, wherein the server (4) is adapted to present said form in HTML, XHTML or WML format. Device according to claim 1, wherein said storage means (5), and / or said means (8) for collecting information, comprise a database. The device of claim 1, wherein the server is further adapted to incorporate information from other sources in said presentation. A method for presenting and collecting data, comprising the steps of: a client requesting an XML document form from a server, retrieving a document template from a server, said template being based on XSL-FO layout definition for edit format commands, 12,537,814 may be the result of extending said template with interactive elements, the interactive elements being included in the comment field in said template, the habitual comment field including a pattern or namespace which identifies the comment field to include one or more interactive elements and which assigns an identity to the field, process the template to provide a presentation of the form with skids for interactive elements, and collect interactively entered information. 10 The method of claim 5, including presenting the form in HTML, XHTML or WML. The method of claim 5, further including incorporating information from other sources in said presentation. The method of claim 5, including enclosing said interactive element in a command, as a variable within another variable. The method of claim 8, comprising the step of including speech-specific information in said presentation. 13 537 814 1/1