Lossless Web-Based Editor For Complex Documents

Abstract

Lossless web-based editing for XML documents is provided. A method for editing a document over the Internet includes receiving a request on a server over the Internet to edit a document. The server extracts content from the document to form a modified version of the document in XML format and transmits the modified version of the document to the client over the Internet. The client edits the modified version of the document using a web browser editor and transmits changes to the modified version of the document to the server. The server merges the original document and the changes made by the client to form an edited version of the document that updates the document with the client changes and that leaves the remainder of the document intact.

1 . A method for editing a document over the Internet, the method comprising:
 receiving a request on a server over the Internet to render a document;   transmitting the document to a client over the Internet;   receiving a request to edit the document;   extracting content from the document to form a modified version of the document;   transmitting the modified version of the document to the client over the Internet;   receiving changes to the modified version of the document from the client over the Internet, wherein the changes received are a subset of the modified version of the document sent to the client; and   merging the document and the changes to the modified version of the document to form an edited version of the document that updates the document with the changes to the modified version of the document and that leaves the remainder of the document intact.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the request on a server over the Internet to render a document includes receiving the request to render the document created in a format that is not compatible with an Internet-based document editor responsible for allowing Internet-based editing of the document. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modified version of the document is in a document format that is compatible with an Internet-based document editor responsible for allowing Internet-based editing of the document. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the extracted content being text. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising formatting the text into HTML strings in the modified version of the document. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising mapping the extracted content in the modified version of the document to corresponding locations in the document. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising identifying sections of the extracted content in the modified version of the document and in the document by paragraph identifiers. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising identifying sections of the extracted content in the modified version of the document and in the document by runs. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the runs in the extracted content in the modified version of the document are separated by custom separator tags. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising comparing paragraph identifiers and runs from the changes to the modified version of the document with paragraph identifiers and runs from the document when merging the document and the changes to the modified version of the document. 
   
   
       11 . A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed perform a method for editing a document over the Internet, the method comprising:
 displaying a document to be edited in a viewer of a web browser on a client;   initiating a request to a server to edit the document;   receiving from the server a modified version of the document that includes extracted content from the document and that includes paragraph identifiers, runs, and separator tags that identify the extracted content;   displaying the modified version of the document in an editor on the web browser;   editing the modified version of the document; and   uploading changes to the modified version of the document to the server.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein displaying a document to be edited in a viewer of a web browser on a client includes displaying a document created in a format that is not compatible with the editor on the web browser responsible for allowing Internet-based editing of the document. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the modified version of the document is in a document format that is compatible with the editor on the web browser responsible for allowing Internet-based editing of the document. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the extracted content being text. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the extracted content including pictures. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the extracted content including tables. 
   
   
       17 . A system for editing documents on the Internet, the system comprising:
 one or more clients; and   a server, the server comprising:
 a web front end module that processes requests from the one or more clients to display and edit documents; 
 an extraction module that extracts content from a document and inserts the extracted content into a modified version of the document that can be edited by a given client to be used for editing the document; and 
 a merge module that merges the document and changes made to the modified version of the document and that leaves the remainder of the document intact. 
   
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the document is created in a format that is not compatible with the given client to be used for editing the document. 
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the modified version of the document is in a format that is compatible with the given client to be used for editing the document. 
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the extraction module maps the extracted content from the document to corresponding locations in the modified version of the document.