Forms conversion and deployment system for mobile devices

A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for controlling a computer system to generate a target form definition file designed for execution by a target forms display program on a device of the target device type, by a method comprising:

• providing a generic form definition file for execution by the target forms display program on a variety of devices, the generic form definition file including a view file and other forms data, the view file for being applied to data to generate a view of the data and tailored to characteristics of the device of the target device type;
• applying a transform to the view file to create a transformed view file that is compatible with the target forms display program;
• generating an information file that records information extracted from the other forms data;
• and
• packaging the transformed view file with the information file into a forms package for distribution to a device of the target device type that executes the target forms display program.

A method in a computing system for converting a form definition file designed for execution by a forms display program on a variety of devices to a target form definition file designed for execution by a target forms display program on a device of the target device type, comprising:

• providing the form definition file for execution by the forms display program on a variety of devices, the form definition file including a manifest file, a schema file, and a view file, the view file for being applied to data to generate a view of the data and tailored to characteristics of the device of the target device type;
• applying a transform to the view file to create a transformed view file that is compatible with the target forms display program;
• generating an information file that records information extracted from the manifest file and the schema file;
• and
• packaging the transformed view file, the schema file, and the information file for distribution to a device of the target device type that executes the target forms display program.