Patent ID: 7017112

Claim:
A method of utilizing markup language data in a spreadsheet document, comprising: selecting a data file containing markup language data for importing into a spreadsheet document whereby the data file has applied markup language data mapped to the spreadsheet document; identifying a markup language data mapping whereby each element or attribute of the markup language data applied to the data file is mapped to an associated schema file for defining data definitions for the elements or attributes applied to the spreadsheet document; parsing the markup language data mapping to obtain pointers associated with markup language elements and attributes applied to the data file pointing to the applied elements and attributes of the associated schema file, whereby parsing the markup language data mapping to obtain pointers associated with markup language elements and attributes applied to the data file pointing to the applied elements and attributes of the associated schema file includes parsing the markup language data mapping to obtain pointers saved to positions in the data file associated with each element or attribute applied to the data file for pointing each element or attribute applied to the data file to a corresponding data definition in the schema file, whereby the step of parsing the markup language data mapping to obtain pointers associated with markup language elements and attributes applied to the data file pointing to the applied elements and attributes of the associated schema file includes parsing the markup language data mapping with a document object model parser and obtaining XPATHs written to the data file pointing elements applied to the data file to data definitions for each element or attribute applied to the data file from the associated schema file; executing each pointer to find locations of elements or attributes applied to the data file; executing each pointer to the schema file to obtain markup language data definitions applicable to the elements or attributes according to the schema file; determining a layout for rendering the data file to the spreadsheet document based on the locations of each of the elements or attributes applied to the data file; and rendering the data file in the spreadsheet document whereby the elements or attributes in any user data associated with the elements or attributes are positioned in the spreadsheet document according to the layout.