System and method for schemaless data mapping with nested tables

Abstract

A system and method for mapping payload data to a spreadsheet list. The present invention comprises a system for mapping payload data to a spreadsheet list while supporting the implementation of nested tables, without the use of a schema. After receiving a spreadsheet list, the present invention generates the parent path of each field path defined in the spreadsheet list. The longest parent path may be used to generate a set of nodes from the payload data. If more than one unique parent path qualifies as the longest parent path, then such parent patents may be designated as branch bottom paths. All other parent paths may then be associated with an appropriate branch bottom path. During the binding process, each branch bottom path may be evaluated to generate result nodes, which may be used to obtain the values of the fields of the spreadsheet list.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION [0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 772,001, filed on Feb. 4, 2004 and entitled “System and Method for Schemaless Data Mapping.”TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] The present invention relates, generally, to data mapping systems and methods, and, more particularly, to data mapping systems and methods without the use of a schema. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] As extensible markup language (XML) becomes more prevalent for moving data between applications, particularly over the Internet, popular applications have implemented web-related capabilities (e.g., document publishing to the web) through the use of XML. One such application is MICROSOFT EXCEL offered by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. XML lists were introduced to display XML payload data conforming to a predetermined schema. Typically, the relationship between the XML payload data and the makeup of an XML list is defined by...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] Advantageously, the present invention maps payload data to a spreadsheet list without the use of a schema. The present invention provides a result substantially similar to one generated by using a schema. Additionally, the present invention supports the implementation of nested tables within a spreadsheet list. Accordingly, the present invention eliminates a dependency on the schema to map payload data to a spreadsheet list and, therefore, reduces the potential of data mapping failure. Additionally, the elimination of such a dependency (e.g., processor-intensive data mapping) frees the valuable resources of the computer processing unit for more important tasks.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, the reliance of a predetermined schema to map XML payload data to an XML list may be problematic.

For example, if the schema is unavailable or corrupt the data may not be properly mapped.

Additionally, applying a schema to payload data and XML lists may require intensive processing by a computer processing unit (CPU).

Such a burden to the processor may be impractical or disadvantageous for computing systems such as servers or hand-held devices.

Mapping payload data to a spreadsheet list without the use of a schema may be difficult because of the complexity of mapping nested tables.

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