Customizing forms in an electronic mail system utilizing custom field behaviors and user defined operations

A method for presenting data collected from custom forms in a data processing system, the data processing system including a display device for displaying the forms and an input device for receiving input data, each form having a plurality of fields, each field representing a form component and having an associated description indicating characteristics of the field for use in displaying the field and utilizing the field to obtain and present data and a standard behavior indicating standard operations associated with the field, the method comprising the steps of:

• retrieving a form data structure for a form, to be displayed, the form data structure having a field object with one or more attributes for each field of the form, the one or more attributes comprising at least one of (i) a group attribute to indicate that the field is in a particular attribute group for enabling or disabling the field based on any other fields within the particular attribute group, or (ii) an idle attribute to indicate that a form control procedure for the form is called periodically;
• retrieving a form control procedure, the form control procedure for providing custom behavior for the fields of the form, the custom behavior indicating user-defined operations associated with the fields of the form;
• for each field of the form, invoking the form control procedure and specifying the field wherein the form control procedure controls the displaying of the specified field;
• for each of a plurality of fields of the form, receiving input data through the input device, the input data being data directed to the field;
• for each received input data, invoking the form control procedure specifying the input data and an indication of field to which the input data is directed, so that the form control procedure can override the standard behavior of the field;
• for each field of the form, invoking the form control procedure specifying the field wherein the data directed to the field is prepared for presentation;
• and
• presenting the prepared data according to the form control procedure.

A method of collecting data in a data processing system of a computer system, the computer system having a display device for displaying a plurality of forms developed by a user of the data processing system and an input device for inputting data, each form having a plurality of fields, each field representing a form component and having an associated description indicating characteristics of the field for use in displaying the field and utilizing the field to obtain the data and a standard behavior indicating standard operations associated with the field, the method comprising the steps of:

• for each of the forms, storing a form control procedure and a data description, as opposed to a program instruction description, of the fields of the form, including field placement, in a form data structure, the form control procedure for overriding the standard behavior associated with each of the fields, the form data structure including a field object with one or more attributes for each field of the form, the one or more attributes comprising at least one of (i) a group attribute to indicate that the field is in a particular attribute group for enabling or disabling the field based on any other fields within the particular attribute group, or (ii) an idle attribute to indicate that a form control procedure for the form is called periodically;
• selecting one of the plurality of forms;
• retrieving the form data structure for the selected form;
• for each of the fields of the selected form, invoking the form control procedure of the retrieved form data structure to control the displaying of the field on the display device;
• for each of a plurality of fields of the selected form;
• receiving user input from the input device, the user input being directed to the field;
• prior to performing the standard behavior of the field to which the user input is directed, invoking the form control procedure of the retrieved form data structure and passing to the form control procedure the received user input and an indication of the field to which the user input is directed wherein the form control procedure determines whether to override the standard behavior of the field to which the user input is directed;
• when the form control procedure determines to override the standard behavior, performing a custom behavior for the field to which the user input is directed, the custom behavior indicating user-defined operations associated with the fields of the form;
• and
• returning an indication as to whether the standard behavior has been overridden;
• and
• performing the standard behavior for the field only if the standard behavior has not been overridden.

A method in a data processing system of a computer system for storing a custom form, the custom form having a plurality of fields, each field representing a form component and having a description indicating characteristics of the field for use in displaying the field and in utilizing the field to obtain and present the data and a standard behavior indicating standard operations associated with each field, the method comprising the steps of:

• storing a form header containing data describing a window into which fields are to be displayed on a display device;
• for each field, storing a field object having a data description, as opposed to a program instruction description, of the field, including field placement, wherein the field object includes one or more attributes for each field of the form, the one or more attributes comprising at least one of (i) a group attribute to indicate that the field is in a particular attribute group for enabling or disabling the field based on any other fields within the particular attribute group, or (ii) an idle attribute to indicate that a form control procedure for the form is called periodically;
• and
• storing a form control procedure, the form control procedure for receiving data that is input into a field and an indication of the field, for determining whether to perform a custom behavior for the field, and prior to the standard behavior for the field being performed, for performing the custom behavior for the field and returning an indication as to whether the standard behavior for the field is to be performed, the custom behavior indicating user-defined operations associated with the fields of the form.

A method in a data processing system for inputting user input into a custom form, the user input for being displayed by a recipient of the user input, the data processing system having a plurality of field types, each field type having a standard behavior, the method comprising the steps of:

• retrieving a data description, as opposed to a program instruction description, of each field to be displayed on the custom form, the description indicating characteristics of the field for use in displaying the field, including field placement, and in utilizing the field to obtain and present the user input at the data processing system;
• retrieving a form control procedure for the custom form, the form control procedure for receiving data directed to a field of the form and an indication of the field to which the data is directed;
• displaying the custom form on a display device;
• receiving data directed to a field of the displayed custom form;
• prior to performing the standard behavior for the field to which the data is directed, invoking the retrieved form control procedure and passing to the form control procedure the received data and an indication of the field to which the data is directed;
• under control of the form control procedure,
• performing a custom behavior for the field to which the data is directed, the custom behavior including modifying the display of a field other than the field to which the data is directed;
• and
• returning an indication whether to perform the standard behavior for the field to which the data is directed;
• performing the standard behavior for the field to which the data is directed only if the returned indication indicates to perform the standard behavior for the field;
• and
• packaging the data for the fields of the form into a data structure, wherein the data structure includes a field object with one or more attributes for each field of the form, the one or more attributes comprising at least one of (i) a group attribute to indicate that the field is in a particular attribute group for enabling or disabling the field based on any other fields within the particular attribute group, or (ii) an idle attribute to indicate that the form control procedure for the form is called periodically.