Data processing: presentation processing of document – operator i – Presentation processing of document – Layout
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-15
2003-09-02
Herndon, Heather R. (Department: 2176)
Data processing: presentation processing of document, operator i
Presentation processing of document
Layout
C715S252000, C715S252000, C715S252000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06613098
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally pertains to a method for storing non-HTML information related to a table of data in an HTML document so that the table of data are displayed in a browser program, and more specifically, to a method for enabling an HTML document to contain all the information related to a table of data that is required by a spreadsheet application to manipulate that table of data.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the widespread use of the Internet and of corporate or business intranets, it is becoming increasingly common to translate data from application-specific file formats into HTML file formats, to enable the data to be readily transmitted as a web page and viewed with browser programs. HTML documents or files have thus become the universally accepted format for sharing data “on-line.”
An HTML document includes a hierarchical set of markup elements; most elements have a start tag, followed by content, followed by an end tag. The content is typically a combination of text and nested markup elements. Tags, which are enclosed in angle brackets (‘<’ and ‘>’), indicate how the document is structured and how to display the document, i.e., its format. There are tags for markup elements such as titles and headers, for text attributes such as bold and italic, for lists, for paragraph boundaries, for links to other documents or other parts of the same document, for graphic images, for non-displayed comments, and for many other features. Further details regarding HTML may be found in reference books such as “HTML For Dummies,” by Ed Tittel and Steve James (1996).
The following lines of HTML briefly illustrate how the language is used:
Here we start a new paragraph <P>.
Some words are <B>bold</B>, others are <I>italic</I>.
The viewer of the document will see:
Here we start a new paragraph.
Some words are bold, others are italic.
As noted above, a user who wishes to retrieve and display an HTML document generally uses a Web browser program. Two of the more popular Web browser programs are NAVIGATOR™ from NetScape Communications Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., and INTERNET EXPLORER™ from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. The primary functionality of web browsers is directed to finding, retrieving, and displaying documents. A browser program is generally not intended for word processing or data manipulation of the information contained within an HTML document, but can display documents or data generated by word processing or spreadsheet applications, once converted into an appropriate HTML compatible format.
A wide variety of data may be shared among different users in a network environment using HTML. Typical HTML documents include images, text, and data. HTML documents can be created using programs specifically designed for that purpose, such as Microsoft Corporation's FRONTPAGE™ Web Page publishing program. Additionally, some applications, such as Microsoft Corporation's WORD™ word processing program, allow a user to save a text document as an HTML document. Microsoft Corporation's EXCEL 97™ spreadsheet program also enables a user to save a data table or chart created in a workbook as an HTML file.
A characteristic of many applications is the use of specific formatting of data in a manner that is unique to some functionality of the application. Generally, some or all of this type of information is lost when the data are translated into HTML. If the data being translated is a table generated by a spreadsheet application, HTML has been very useful in enabling computer network users to view the table with a browser program. However, in the past, users have not been able to manipulate the data presented in a table, since browser programs have not supported such functionality. In addition, the table in the HTML document could not be restored to the original spreadsheet application, since not all of the information originally associated with the table when it was created with the spreadsheet application would have been retained in the HTML document.
To ensure that a data table translated into HTML might thereafter be available for use and manipulation in the spreadsheet program, it has been necessary to save both a file in the original spreadsheet format, and the HTML document in which the table from the spreadsheet was inserted. Often, a table created in a spreadsheet contains information that changes regularly (monthly sales reports, year-to-date profit figures, etc.), and these changes need to be entered in the HTML document to be available for view with a browser program. To accomplish this task, it was previously necessary to manage and update both files—the spreadsheet file and the HTML file. To improve efficiency and productivity with which this task is accomplished, it would be desirable to include the functionality of a table created in a spreadsheet with the table after it is exported to an HTML document from the spreadsheet application, so that only the HTML file need be maintained. In this way, the table could be reintroduced into the spreadsheet program from the HTML document with all its original formatting and functionality intact, and network users would always have access to the most current table.
When a data table is created in a spreadsheet application, some of the information associated with the table and its functionality has no equivalent in HTML. For example, a formula relating to the manipulation of the data in a cell of the spreadsheet will not be readily conveyed by HTML. It would be desirable to include such information in an HTML document, so that the information is ignored when the HTML document is viewed by a browser program, yet is available to be used by the spreadsheet application if the table is imported from the HTML document and opened in the spreadsheet program.
Some of the information associated with a data table created in a spreadsheet program is related to similar information in HTML, but the information is used and stored differently in HTML than in the spreadsheet program format. An example of this arises in connection with the formatting and layout of a data table. Often spreadsheets employ formatting functionality that does not have a direct correspondence with formatting of the data table in HTML. In a spreadsheet program, a user can apply number formatting that displays a value in red if the value of the data in a cell is negative. A user can also arbitrarily change the color of a font for a cell to red. When a data table is translated into an HTML document, all of the cells with data shown as red will be displayed in HTML with a red font. However, HTML does not have the ability to associate the number formatting with a cell, or to distinguish those cells with values displayed in red because they are negative from cells in which the font is arbitrarily chosen to be red. If a cell value changes from negative to positive, the value in the cell should no longer be displayed in a red font, but HTML cannot make that determination, since it does not provide a way to save the number formatting rule for negative value data. It would be desirable to preserve such spreadsheet-specific functional formatting information within an HTML document, so that the information is available if the table is export from HTML document back into the spreadsheet program.
Currently, no prior art technique exists that enables virtually all function and formatting information to be preserved when a data table is exported from a spreadsheet into an HTML document, so that the information can be employed by the spreadsheet program if it becomes necessary to “round trip” the information back into a spreadsheet format file. The preservation of the functionality and formatting information associated with the spreadsheet formatted file when a data table is exported into: an HTML document should not adversely impact the functionality of the HTML document to view the data in a browser program.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accord with the present invention, a method is defined for saving d
Coffen Robert W.
Fischer Kevin J.
Johnson Russell S.
Misra Rajeev S.
Natarajan Ramakrishnan
Anderson Ronald M.
Herndon Heather R.
Microsoft Corporation
Queler Adam
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