US-20260126970-A1 - Defining And Using Reusable Modules To Generate Form Control Code

US20260126970A1US 20260126970 A1US20260126970 A1US 20260126970A1US-20260126970-A1

Abstract

Techniques for defining and using reusable modules to generate form control code are disclosed, including: displaying a form control implementation interface for applying form control functions to forms; receiving via the form control implementation interface: a first user input selecting a form control function of the form control functions; a second user input selecting one or more input parameters, for the form control function, that are to be extracted from the target form; a third user input selecting a target field of a target form, one or more attributes of the target field to be modified via execution of the form control function; generating form control code that extracts the one or more input parameters from form data received for the target form and applies the form control function to the one or more input parameters to modify the one or more attributes of the target field.

Inventors

Haiyan Wang
Qiu Zhong

Assignees

ORACLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20260106

Claims (20)

1 . A method comprising: displaying a form control function creation interface for defining a form control function; receiving, via the form control function creation interface: a first user input selecting a set of one or more form control operations from a candidate set of form control operations available to be executed by the form control function; a second user input that defines a set of one or more parameters to be evaluated to select form control operations; a third user input defining logic for selecting a form control operation from the set of one or more form control operations based on the set of one or more parameters; based at least on the first user input, the second user input, and the third user input: generating a definition of the form control function comprising the set of one or more form control operations, the set of one or more parameters, and the logic for selecting the form control operation from the set of one or more form control operations based on the set of one or more parameters; wherein the method is performed by at least one device including a hardware processor.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving execution criteria identifying one or more conditions for execution of the form control function; wherein form control code generated based on the definition of the form control function applies the form control function to one or more input parameters in response to detecting the one or more conditions.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: based at least on the definition of the form control function: generating form control code that (a) determines one or more input parameters associated with a target form and (b) applies the form control function to the one or more input parameters to cause execution of at least one form control operation of the set of one or more form control operations, to modify one or more attributes of a target field of the target form.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the logic for selecting the form control operation selects a first form control operation when one or more input parameters satisfy one or more criteria and selects a second form control operation when the one or more input parameters do not satisfy the one or more criteria.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating form control code based on the definition of the form control function; displaying an instance of a target form associated with the form control code; receiving form data in relation to one or more fields of the target form; detecting one or more execution criteria for executing the form control function; responsive to detecting the one or more execution criteria: invoking the form control function using at least a portion of the form data; wherein invoking the form control function results in execution of a particular form control operation of the set of one or more form control operations.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein invoking the form control function modifies attributes of two or more target fields in a target form.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving output metadata identifying data to be output upon execution of the form control function; wherein form control code generated based on the definition of the form control function is configured to identify and output data based on the output metadata.
8 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause performance of operations comprising: displaying a form control function creation interface for defining a form control function; receiving, via the form control function creation interface: a first user input selecting a set of one or more form control operations from a candidate set of form control operations available to be executed by the form control function; a second user input that defines a set of one or more parameters to be evaluated to select form control operations; a third user input defining logic for selecting a form control operation from the set of one or more form control operations based on the set of one or more parameters; based at least on the first user input, the second user input, and the third user input: generating a definition of the form control function comprising the set of one or more form control operations, the set of one or more parameters, and the logic for selecting the form control operation from the set of one or more form control operations based on the set of one or more parameters.
9 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise: receiving execution criteria identifying one or more conditions for execution of the form control function; wherein form control code generated based on the definition of the form control function applies the form control function to one or more input parameters in response to detecting the one or more conditions.
10 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise: based at least on the definition of the form control function: generating form control code that (a) determines one or more input parameters associated with a target form and (b) applies the form control function to the one or more input parameters to cause execution of at least one form control operation of the set of one or more form control operations, to modify one or more attributes of a target field of the target form.
11 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the logic for selecting the form control operation selects a first form control operation when one or more input parameters satisfy one or more criteria and selects a second form control operation when the one or more input parameters do not satisfy the one or more criteria.
12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise: generating form control code based on the definition of the form control function; displaying an instance of a target form associated with the form control code; receiving form data in relation to one or more fields of the target form; detecting one or more execution criteria for executing the form control function; responsive to detecting the one or more execution criteria: invoking the form control function using at least a portion of the form data; wherein invoking the form control function results in execution of a particular form control operation of the set of one or more form control operations.
13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein invoking the form control function modifies attributes of two or more target fields in a target form.
14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise: receiving output metadata identifying data to be output upon execution of the form control function; wherein form control code generated based on the definition of the form control function is configured to identify and output data based on the output metadata.
15 . A system comprising: one or more hardware processors; one or more non-transitory computer-readable media; and program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising: displaying a form control function creation interface for defining a form control function; receiving, via the form control function creation interface: a first user input selecting a set of one or more form control operations from a candidate set of form control operations available to be executed by the form control function; a second user input that defines a set of one or more parameters to be evaluated to select form control operations; a third user input defining logic for selecting a form control operation from the set of one or more form control operations based on the set of one or more parameters; based at least on the first user input, the second user input, and the third user input: generating a definition of the form control function comprising the set of one or more form control operations, the set of one or more parameters, and the logic for selecting the form control operation from the set of one or more form control operations based on the set of one or more parameters.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise: receiving execution criteria identifying one or more conditions for execution of the form control function; wherein form control code generated based on the definition of the form control function applies the form control function to one or more input parameters in response to detecting the one or more conditions.
17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise: based at least on the definition of the form control function: generating form control code that (a) determines one or more input parameters associated with a target form and (b) applies the form control function to the one or more input parameters to cause execution of at least one form control operation of the set of one or more form control operations, to modify one or more attributes of a target field of the target form.
18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the logic for selecting the form control operation selects a first form control operation when one or more input parameters satisfy one or more criteria and selects a second form control operation when the one or more input parameters do not satisfy the one or more criteria.
19 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise: generating form control code based on the definition of the form control function; displaying an instance of a target form associated with the form control code; receiving form data in relation to one or more fields of the target form; detecting one or more execution criteria for executing the form control function; responsive to detecting the one or more execution criteria: invoking the form control function using at least a portion of the form data; wherein invoking the form control function results in execution of a particular form control operation of the set of one or more form control operations.
20 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise: receiving output metadata identifying data to be output upon execution of the form control function; wherein form control code generated based on the definition of the form control function is configured to identify and output data based on the output metadata.

Description

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE; DISCLAIMER Each of the following applications are hereby incorporated by reference: application Ser. No. 18/477,330 filed on Sep. 28, 2023. The Applicant hereby rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope in the parent application(s) or the prosecution history thereof and advises the USPTO that the claims in this application may be broader than any claim in the parent application(s). TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the generation of form control code using reusable modules. BACKGROUND Software applications commonly manage a user interface by executing various control functions. The form control functions execute operations on fields within a form. The operations may include, for example: show field; hide field; enable field; disable a push button; highlight the input field with a specific color; change a label; etc. Typically, the form control functions are statically defined in source code, which must be written by a programmer on a case-by-case basis. Accordingly, modifying form control functions involves rewriting the source code and recompiling the source code to generate an updated version of a software application that performs form control functions. The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and they mean at least one. In the drawings: FIG. 1 illustrates a form control system in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIG. 2A illustrates operations for generating a form control function in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIG. 2B illustrates operations for implementing previously defined form control operations for a specific form in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIG. 2C illustrates operations for executing a form control function in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIG. 3 illustrates a control function creation interface in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate a control function implementation interface in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate a control function execution interface in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system in accordance with one or more embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding. One or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Features described in one embodiment may be combined with features described in a different embodiment. In some examples, well-known structures and devices are described with reference to a block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. 1. GENERAL OVERVIEW2. FORM CONTROL SYSTEM3. GENERATING A FORM CONTROL FUNCTION4. IMPLEMENTING A PREVIOUSLY CREATED FORM CONTROL FUNCTION FOR A PARTICULAR FORM5. EXECUTING THE FORM CONTROL FUNCTION FOR THE PARTICULAR FORM6. CONTROL FUNCTION CREATION INTERFACE7. CONTROL FUNCTION IMPLEMENTATION INTERFACE8. FORM CONTROL EXECUTION INTERFACE9. HARDWARE OVERVIEW 1. General Overview One or more embodiments use predefined form control functions to generate form control code that modifies attributes of form fields. The use of predefined form control functions by a system to generate form control code improves the speed and accuracy with which form control code may be generated. Predefined form control functions may also improve system performance by reducing the incidence of programming errors, because form control functions do not need to be written from scratch for each individual form. The system includes a form control function generator to generate form control functions, a form control function implementation engine to implement the form control functions for specific forms, and a form control function execution engine for the form control operations defined by a form control function. One or more embodiments present a control function creation interface. The control function creation interface allows for the creation of a form control function independent of any specific form. The control function creation interface generates a reusable form control function based on user input that defines form control operations of the form control function and operation selection logic that determines which of the form control operations to execute. The system stores the reusable form contro