Data processing system and method for random access formatting of a portion of a large hierarchical electronically published document with descriptive markup

A method for random access formatting of a portion of a large hierarchical electronically published document, the electronically published document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element, and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the electronically published document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element and comprising the steps of:

• receiving an indication of a starting point within the electronically published document;
• identifying one of the plurality of hierarchical within the electronically published document as an initial element containing the indicated starting point using the representation of electronically published document;
• traversing the representation of the electronically published document to select elements of the electronically published document beginning with the initial element;
• and
• formatting only the text content contained in the selected elements.

A data processing system for random access formatting of a portion of a large hierarchical electronically published document, the electronically published document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the data processing system using a representation of the electronically published document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element and comprising:

• means for requesting a portion of the electronically published document using an indication of a starting point within the electronically published document;
• means for receiving only the requested portion of the electronically published document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point;
• and
• means for formatting only the text content of the received portion of the electronically published document by applying a format specification corresponding to the received selected elements.

A method for random access formatting of a portion of a large hierarchical electronically published document, the electronically published document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the electronically published document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element and comprising the steps of:

• sending a request for a portion of the electronically published document using an indication of a starting point within the electronically published document;
• receiving only the requested portion of the electronically published document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point;
• and
• formatting only the text content of the received portion of the electronically published document by applying a format specification corresponding to the received selected elements.