Method and apparatus for generating object-oriented world wide web pages
AssigneeNeXT Software, Inc.
InventorsNicolas Popp, Bruce Ong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In the present invention, HTML elements are mapped to objects in an object-oriented environment. Classes of objects are defined for each HTML element as well as the HTML document (or page). By providing a one-to-one mapping between each HTML element and object classes, HTML documents can be manipulated programmatically. The properties of each element are stored in instance variables of the associated object. Each object class can include methods to manipulate the HTML element within an HTML document.
Claims29
A method of dynamically generating Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) elements using objects in a computer system, comprising the steps of:
- defining object classes for each of said elements of said HTML;
- creating an HTML template, said HTML template having a statement that defines one of said HTML elements;
- identifying the object class associated with said one of said HTML elements;
- creating an instance of said object class, said instance containing data and methods for processing said one of said HTML elements;
- and
- transmitting a “create” message to said instance to dynamically generate a plurality of HTML statements using the data and methods of said instance.
A method of dynamically generating a Web page in a computer system comprising the steps of:
- identifying a plurality of object instances corresponding to a plurality of Web Page definitional statements;
- generating said plurality of Web page definitional statements using said instances where such generation may be based on structure determined at runtime.
An article of manufacturing comprising:
- a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for generating a Web page comprising:
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to instantiate a page object;
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to identify a component of an HTML definitional statement;
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to instantiate a component object to process said component of said HTML definitional statement;
- and
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to generate said Web page using said page object and said component object.
A method of processing a client request to generate a Web page in a computer system comprising the steps of:
- receiving said client request to generate said Web page;
- instantiating said objects to satisfy said request, whereas said objects comprise HTML definitional statements;
- processing said request for said Web page using said objects.
A method for programmatically manipulating HTML definitional statements in a computer system comprising:
- utilizing a one-to-one mapping between elements of HTML and object classes to generate an object tree wherein a node object of said object tree represents at least one HTML definitional statement;
- generating a Web page dynamically utilizing said object tree by instantiating each object in said object tree in hierarchical order, wherein said instantiation generates said at least one HTML definitional statement.
A method for dynamically displaying an electronic mail message on a Web page in a computer system comprising:
- fetching said electronic mail messages to display;
- creating a first object that corresponds to at least one HTML element;
- creating a second object representing said electronic mail message comprising a sender name, subject, and message content;
- creating an object tree wherein said first object is a parent to said second object;
- dynamically generating said Web page from said object tree displaying said electronic mail message.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.