Patent ID: 7191186

Claim:
A method of exporting and selectively importing content to and from an electronic document, comprising: receiving from a data source content comprising data; specifying via an export application program interface (API) the data to be exported to create an electronic document; exporting the data via a writer in communication with the export API to create the electronic document; receiving the electronic document having the data and items of the content associated with the data, wherein the data defines a hierarchical file structure; specifying via an import API at least one piece of the data within the electronic document to be imported from the electronic document, wherein the at least one piece of the data is associated with at least one item of the content in the electronic document; selectively parsing the electronic document for the at least one piece of the data via a parser in communication with the import API; extracting a first item from the content associated with the at least one piece of the data from the electronic document therein allowing specification of specific data to import from the electronic document for display via a display device; after extracting the first item of the content associated with the at least one piece of the data from the electronic document, determining via a callback component in communication with the import API when there are any additional items of the content associated with the at least one piece of the data; when there are additional items of the content associated with the at least one piece of the data, extracting a next item of the content associated with the at least one piece of the data from the electronic document; and displaying each item of the content extracted via the display device for viewing by a user.