High-performance editing of large remote files in client-server architecture

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computing device to:

• output, for communication to a system hosting a remote file, in response to an initial user input to edit the remote file, a request for a portion of the remote file, wherein the portion of the remote file is specified to comprise a selected opening position in the remote file;
• receive a client copy of the portion of the remote file, wherein the client copy of the portion of the remote file comprises a range of pages from the remote file, wherein the range of pages comprises a client copy opening position corresponding to the selected opening position in the remote file, and wherein the client copy of the portion of the remote file is loaded in a memory of the client device;
• and
• perform a user edit incorporation process iteratively for one or more respective pages in the client copy of the portion of the remote file, wherein the program code executable to perform the user edit incorporation process for a respective page among the one or more respective pages in the client copy of the portion of the remote file comprises program code executable to:
• receive a user input to edit the respective page;
• generate a respective page modification that corresponds to the respective page and that incorporates the user input to edit the respective page;
• replace the respective page in the client copy of the portion of the remote file in the memory of the client device with the respective page modification;
• and
• output, for communication to the system hosting the remote file, the respective page modification and an indication of a respective portion of the remote file corresponding to the respective page to replace with the respective page modification,
• wherein performing the user edit incorporation process generates one or more respective page modifications comprising the respective page modification for each of the respective pages, the program code executable by a computing device to:
• maintain a most recent update buffer, in the memory of the client device, of the one or more respective page modifications;
• detect that a prior page modification is superseded by one or more subsequent page modifications among the one or more respective page modifications in the most recent update buffer, and that the prior page modification has not yet been outputted for communication to the system hosting the remote file, wherein the one or more subsequent page modifications replaces at least a portion of content previously amended by the prior page modification;
• and
• cancel the prior page modification from outputting for communication to the system hosting the remote file based on the detecting that the prior page modification is superseded by the one or more subsequent page modifications.

A computing system comprising:

• one or more processing devices;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processing devices, to:
• output, for communication to a system hosting a remote file, in response to an initial user input to edit the remote file, a request for a portion of the remote file, wherein the portion of the remote file is specified to comprise a selected opening position in the remote file;
• receive a client copy of the portion of the remote file, wherein the client copy of the portion of the remote file comprises a range of pages from the remote file, wherein the range of pages comprises a client copy opening position corresponding to the selected opening position in the remote file, and wherein the client copy of the portion of the remote file is loaded in a memory of the client device;
• and
• perform a user edit incorporation process iteratively for one or more respective pages in the client copy of the portion of the remote file,
• wherein performing the user edit incorporation process for a respective page among the one or more respective pages in the client copy of the portion of the remote file comprises:
• receiving a user input to edit the respective page;
• generating a respective page modification that corresponds to the respective page and that incorporates the user input to edit the respective page;
• replacing the respective page in the client copy of the portion of the remote file in the memory of the client device with the respective page modification;
• and
• outputting, for communication to the system hosting the remote file, the respective page modification and an indication of a respective portion of the remote file corresponding to the respective page to replace with the respective page modification,
• wherein performing the user edit incorporation process generates one or more respective page modifications comprising the respective page modification for each of the respective pages, and causes the one or more processing devices to:
• maintain a most recent update buffer, in the memory of the client device, of the one or more respective page modifications, detect that a prior page modification is superseded by one or more subsequent page modifications among the one or more respective page modifications in the most recent update buffer, and that the prior page modification has not yet been outputted for communication to the system hosting the remote file, wherein the one or more subsequent page modifications replaces at least a portion of content previously amended by the prior page modification;
• and
• cancel the prior page modification from outputting for communication to the system hosting the remote file based on the detecting that the prior page modification is superseded by the one or more subsequent page modifications.