Client-side modification of electronic documents in a client-server environment

摘要

Client-side modification of electronic documents by server-generated instructions in a client-server environment enables dynamic modification of formatting information in an electronic document to accommodate new data received from the server. A server generates machine instructions to send to a client along with new data for an electronic document. The generated instructions modify the electronic document at the client to accommodate the new data. The generated instructions may include at least one tag indicating a relative order in which the new data is to be imported into the electronic document and the instructions are to be performed.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a computer system, a request from a client to obtain data that is to be imported into an electronic document at the client, the electronic document having a predetermined format that defines an appearance of the electronic document that is independent of a device used to present the electronic document; producing, at the computer system, data corresponding to the client request; generating, by the computer system, instructions to modify the electronic document, wherein the generated instructions (a) specify one or more operations to modify the electronic document's predetermined format at the client so as to accommodate importation of the produced data into the electronic document, (b) are performed at the client to effect the one or more operations, and (c) include a tag that indicates a temporal order in which (i) the produced data is to be imported into the electronic document and (ii) the operations to modify the electronic document's predetermined format are to be performed; and transmitting the produced data and the generated instructions to the client, wherein the tag is a before tag or an after tag, wherein the before tag indicates that the produced data is to be imported into the electronic document before the operations to modify the electronic document's predetermined format are performed, and wherein the after tag indicates that the produced data is to be imported into the electronic document after the operations to modify the electronic document's predetermined format are performed.