Data collection technology useful for form manipulation

#The present invention relates to a novel method of data collection which is useful for the manipulation of forms used in connection with commerce on a global information network.

#Traditionally, forms used for collecting relevant information for conducting commerce on a global information network has demanded significant effort involving the expertise of a database administrator, a midlevel developer or an HTML developer. To make even minor field additions, changes or order changes, the expert needed to spend several hours per simple field or validation. Typically, to make a design change, the database administrator or HTML developer needed to update the database, SQL, program logic as well as the HTML front end. More desirable would be a system of form manipulation which would enable the non-expert end-user to make any required manipulation rapidly without further training.

#The present invention provides a quasi-intelligent, language-independent platform technology which, on deployment, permits the display, modification, and manipulation of internet forms, without any changes in the underlying software code. All changes made in a form using the method of the invention are implemented in the database itself. The method of the present invention is based on dynamic logic, and is database-driven, so the form fields do not need to be addressed by a hard-coded name. The present invention also offers scalability, flexibility, and quasi-intelligence with built-in question dependencies, and greatly alleviates the complexities of form development and modification, thereby facilitating data collection in a wide range of applications.

#FIG. 1 shows the high-level overview of the form manager in accordance with the invention.

#FIG. 2 shows an exemplary implementation of the application architecture for generic form display in accordance with the invention.

#FIG. 3 shows (a) the tables of parameters (including the validation parameters, security parameters and dependency parameters) required for operating the form manager and the display of forms in accordance with the invention and (b) complementary utilities tables (for control of appearance, map PDF, query string alerts and notifications) useful for operating the form manager in accordance with the invention.

#As illustrated in the accompanying FIGS. 1-3, the present invention provides a generic form utility which allows an information technology development group, or specifically a non-technical business person, to quickly and easily design all types of enterprise level or simple forms, which can then be displayed, updated and retrieved in a web-based environment. As used herein, the term “IntelliForm” refers to a form generated in accordance with the form manager of the invention.

#As used herein, a PACKAGE, referred to in FIG. 3(a), consists of one or more FORMS. FORMs consist of one or more SECTIONs. SECTIONs are related to a specific section of a FORM. Each section is comprised of one or more GROUPs of questions. Each GROUP is comprised of several individual questions that are usually presented together. Each select list, radio button and check box QUESTION is associated with possible ANSWERs to be presented to the user. There is provided a facility to give each SECTION, GROUP, QUESTION and ANSWER a priority which will determine the order that they will be presented to the user. This structure permits an information technology group, or specifically a non-technical business person, to quickly and easily add new forms to their intranet, internet or extranet site simply by adding a Section and then selecting the question Groups that are applicable to that section.

#Questions can be of the following types: Text Box, Text Area, Drop Down Select List, Check Boxes, and Radio Buttons, as illustrated in FIG. 4. A question definition specifies the question type and other parameters that define the way a question and its possible answers will be displayed. For a Text Box, the question definition includes the width of the field in characters. It also includes: Format—such as, date (in various formats), currency, decimal, etc. (wherein each format is validated upon user entry); Data validation—a logical statement that is used to validate the information that is entered. For a Text Area, it includes the width in characters and the height in lines. For a Drop Down Select List, it includes whether or not it is multi-select. For Check Boxes, it includes whether or not it is vertical or horizontal. Radio Buttons can be vertical or horizontal. Each question much have a question definition associated with it.