Patent ID: 8732596

Claim:
A method of creating computer instructions for transforming inbound instances, being instances of a hierarchical inbound data format, into outbound instances, being instances of at least one hierarchical outbound data format, the inbound and outbound data formats each having a number of hierarchically arranged segments, being data segments arranged in a hierarchical manner, the method using a computing device having at least a processor, a memory, a display device and an input device, and the method comprising: retrieving from said memory and providing on said display device a number of operation icons each representing at least one operation to be performed on data; enabling a user of said computing device to select and arrange at least some of said operation icons on said display device, and to arrange graphical links between the selected operation icons, using said input device, so as to define a rule which takes data from one of said hierarchically arranged segments of said hierarchical inbound data format and delivers data to one of said hierarchically arranged segments of said hierarchical outbound data format; enabling said user to form a plurality of such rules in the same manner by arranging said operation icons and graphical links on said display; enabling said user to embed one such rule within another such rule; and compiling, at said processor, computer instructions, in accordance with said rules, which when executed on a computer cause the computer to transform said inbound instances of said hierarchical inbound data format into said outbound instances of said hierarchical outbound data format; wherein each inbound instance of said hierarchical inbound data format is transformed into zero, one or more outbound instances of said hierarchical outbound data format, and the number of outbound instances of said hierarchical outbound data format depends on the content of the data in the inbound instances of said hierarchical inbound data format.