Patent Application
20120278701
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for automatically generating and porting a cascading style sheets (‘CSS’) style sheet.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
Modern computing systems often exchange information through the use of structured documents that are written in a markup language. Such structured documents may be used, for example, to deliver information to a user via a web browser. Such web browsers frequently include predetermined rules for rendering such structured documents. As such, the same structured document may be rendered in an inconsistent manner across multiple web browsers.
Methods, apparatus, and products for method of automatically generating and porting a cascading style sheets (‘CSS’) style sheet, including: identifying each node in a structured document; identifying, for each node in the structured document, presentation elements; creating the CSS style sheet; defining, in the CSS style sheet, presentation attributes for each presentation element; and porting the CSS style sheet to a rendering application for rendering the structured document.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of example embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts of example embodiments of the invention.
Example methods, apparatus, and products for automatically generating and porting a cascading style sheets (‘CSS’) style sheet in accordance with the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, beginning with
Automatically generating and porting a CSS style sheet in accordance with the present invention is generally implemented with computers, that is, with automated computing machinery.
Stored in RAM (168) is a CSS Generation Module (126), a module of computer program instructions improved for automatically generating and porting a CSS according to embodiments of the present invention. The CSS Generation Module (126) includes computer program instructions for identifying each node in a structured document. In the example of
The CSS Generation Module (126) also includes computer program instructions for identifying, for each node in the structured document, presentation elements. In the example of
The CSS Generation Module (126) also includes computer program instructions for creating the CSS style sheet. In the example of
The CSS Generation Module (126) also includes computer program instructions for defining, in the CSS style sheet, presentation attributes for each presentation element. In the example of
The CSS Generation Module (126) also includes computer program instructions for porting the CSS style sheet to a rendering application for rendering the structured document. In the example of
Also stored in RAM (168) is an operating system (154). Operating systems useful automatically generating and porting a CSS according to embodiments of the present invention include UNIX™, Linux™, Microsoft XP™, AIX™, IBM's i5/OS™, and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. The operating system (154) and CSS Generation Module (126) in the example of
The computer (152) of
The example computer (152) of
The example computer (152) of
For further explanation,
In the example of
The example structured document illustrated above includes five nodes: the first node is defined by the <html> and </html> tags; the second node is defined by the <head> and </head> tags; the third node is defined by the <title> and </title> tags; the fourth node is defined by the <body> and </body> tags; and the fifth node is defined by the <p> and </p> tags. In the example of
The example of
In the example of
In an alternative embodiment, identifying (204) presentation elements for each node in the structured document (200) may be carried out, for example, through the use of a presentation element table. In the example of
In the example of
The example presentation element table describes four types of nodes: a ‘book’ node, an ‘author’ node, a ‘title’ node, and an ‘ISBN’ node. The ‘book’ node has three presentation elements associated with it: a ‘background-color’ presentation element, an ‘alignment’ presentation element, and a ‘font’ presentation element. The ‘author’ node has two presentation elements associated with it: a ‘font’ presentation element and a ‘bold’ presentation element. The ‘title’ node has two presentation elements associated with it: a ‘font’ presentation element and an ‘italics’ presentation element. The ‘ISBN’ node has one presentation element associated with it: a ‘font’ presentation element.
The example of
The example of
The example CSS style sheet defines presentation attributes for each of the node types contained in the example structured document illustrated above. The example CSS style sheet specifies that for each node that is defined by the <Book> and </Book> tags, the content contained therein rendered upon a white background, with centered alignment, and in Arial Narrow font. The example CSS style sheet also specifies that for each node that is defined by the <Author> and </Author> tags, the content contained therein will be rendered in Arial Narrow font and in bold text. The example CSS style sheet also specifies that for each node that is defined by the <Title> and </Title> tags, the content contained therein will be rendered in Arial Narrow font and in italicized text. The example CSS style sheet specifies that for each node that is defined by the <ISBN> and </ISBN> tags, the content contained therein will be rendered in Times New Roman text.
The example of
For further explanation,
In the example of
In the example of
In the example of
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Aspects of the present invention are described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
It will be understood from the foregoing description that modifications and changes may be made in various embodiments of the present invention without departing from its true spirit. The descriptions in this specification are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is limited only by the language of the following claims.
