Systems and methods for viewing product information, and methods for generating web pages

A system for viewing product information, comprising:

• a web server configured to run on a first computer;
• a product information database including information describing a hierarchical relationship between a product and a group of products, said product information database stored on a computer storage media, said web server having access to said product information database;
• a web browser configured to run on a second computer, said web browser configured to generate a user interface, said user interface displaying an icon representing said groups of products, said web browser responsive to user input such that a user, by selecting said icon, queries said product information database for any products having said relationship to said group of products and, in response to said selection, said user interface displays information representing said product;
• a network message including a database query command, said message sent over a network by said web browser to said web server, said web server extracting said database query command from said network message to query said product information database;
• and
• a web page including information representing said product, said web page sent over said network by said web server to said web browser, said web browser extracting said information representing said product to display a product icon representing said product, wherein an arrangement of said information displayed on said user interface represents said hierarchical relationship between said product and said group of products.

A system for generating web pages of an electronic store, comprising:

• a web browser configured to run on a first computer;
• a web server configured to run on a second computer;
• a product information database including information describing a relationship between a group of products, said product information database comprising a relationship table that describes a relationship among a group of products, and a group table that is referenced by the relationship table, the group table containing data records that are identifiable by an ID value and further containing a product name and a template file name, said product information database stored on a computer storage media, said web server having access to said product information database;
• a first web page including a first hyperlink identifying a template file stored on said computer storage media, said template file including content data complying with an Internet protocol and a database query command;
• an Internet message including information identifying said template file, said Internet message generated by said web browser and sent over the Internet to said web server in response to a user selecting said first hyperlink;
• and
• a second web page generated by said web server in response to receipt of said Internet message, said web page including said content data and also including result data generated by querying said product information database using said database query command, said result data containing at least one product name and at least one corresponding template file name.

A method for automatically generating a web page wherein variable content data included in said web page are extracted from a database, said method comprising the steps of:

• embedding a database reference within a template web page at a server, said database reference representing a database query, said template web page including fixed content data compatible with a network protocol;
• monitoring web page requests;
• responding to a request for a web page by scanning said template web page for said database reference;
• extracting variable content data from said database by querying said database using said database query;
• combining said variable content data with said fixed content data to create a web page;
• and
• transmitting said web page to said network.

A method for viewing product inventory information, said method comprising the steps of:

• displaying, on a user interface of a web browser running on a first computer, a first group icon representing a first group of products of an electronic store;
• monitoring user input for selection of said first group icon;
• responding to said selection of said first group icon by embedding a database query command in a network message, said database query command designed to query a product inventory database for information describing groups of products related to said first group of products, the database query command containing at least one HTML template file request;
• processing said network message with a second computer to extract from said network message said database query command including the one HTML template file request;
• opening a template file corresponding to the one HTML template file request;
• searching the opened template file for any query scripts;
• querying a product inventory database using a query script to generate query result data including information describing a second group of products related to said first group of products;
• embedding said query result data in a web page, the query result data including at least one name and template file;
• processing said web page with said first computer to extract said query result data;
• and
• displaying a second group icon on said user interface at a location indicating that said second group icon is subordinate to said first group icon, said second group icon representing said second group products.