In-line dynamic text with variable formatting

Abstract

Techniques for configuring a dynamic document template and for generating formatted documents based thereon are provided. A data source is associated with a dynamic document template. Static text is inserted into the template. One or more placeholders are inserted in the template. Expressions may be associated with static text and placeholders in the template. Each expression may reference one or more data elements of the data source. One or more formatted documents may be generated based on the dynamic document template. In the case of placeholders, a data element referenced by an expression associated with a placeholder may be displayed in a formatted document in place of the placeholder in a display format (e.g., a color, a font type, etc.) selected according to the expression. Likewise, a display format of static text may be selected based on an expression associated with the static text.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for configuring a dynamic document, comprising:
 enabling a data source to be associated with a dynamic document template;   enabling static text to be inserted into the dynamic document template;   enabling at least one placeholder to be inserted in the dynamic document template; and   enabling an expression to be associated with a placeholder inserted in the dynamic document template, the expression referencing a data element of the data source, and being configured to determine a data value to be displayed in place of the placeholder based at least on the data element.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling a second expression to be associated with the placeholder, the second expression referencing a second data element of the data source, and being configured to select a display attribute for the data value.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling a second expression to be associated with a portion of the static text, the second expression referencing a second data element of the data source, and being configured to select a display attribute for the portion of static text based at least on the second data element.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the display attribute includes at least one of a font, a color, a bold setting, an italics setting, a font size, a line spacing, or an effects setting. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said enabling an expression to be associated with a placeholder inserted in the dynamic document template comprises:
 enabling a user to interact with the placeholder to invoke a graphical user interface;   displaying at least one static display attribute option in the graphical user interface that is selectable for association with the first placeholder; and   enabling the user to interact with the graphical user interface to invoke an expression entry box in which the expression may be entered.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating the dynamic document template in extensible markup language (XML) form.   
     
     
         7 . A method for generating a formatted document, comprising:
 receiving a dynamic document template; and   generating a formatted document based on the dynamic document template, said generating comprising:
 detecting static text in the dynamic document template, 
 detecting one or more placeholders in the dynamic document template, 
 including the detected static text in the formatted document, 
 retrieving from a data source associated with the dynamic document template at least one data element referenced by an expression associated with a portion of the detected static text in the dynamic document template, 
 evaluating the expression to select a display attribute, and 
 configuring the portion of the detected static text for display according to the selected display attribute. 
   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said generating further comprises:
 retrieving a second data element referenced by a second expression associated with a detected placeholder in the dynamic document template;   evaluating the second expression to determine a data value; and   including the data value in the formatted document in place of the detected placeholder.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said generating further comprises:
 retrieving a second data element referenced by a second expression associated with a detected placeholder in the dynamic document template;   evaluating the second expression to select a second display attribute; and   configuring a data value to be displayed in place of the detected placeholder to be displayed according to the selected second display attribute.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the display attribute includes at least one of a font, a color, a bold setting, an italics setting, a font size, a line spacing, or an effects setting. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said receiving a dynamic document template comprises:
 receiving the dynamic document template in extensible markup language (XML) form.   
     
     
         12 . A document generator, comprising:
 a document formatter configured to receive a dynamic document template and to generate a formatted document, the document formatter including
 a static text recognizer configured to detect static text in the dynamic document template, 
 a placeholder recognizer configured to detect one or more placeholders in the dynamic document template, 
 an expression evaluator, and 
 a text formatter; 
   the document formatter being configured to include the static text in the formatted document, to retrieve from a data source associated with the dynamic document template at least one data element referenced by an expression associated with a detected placeholder in the dynamic document template;   wherein the expression evaluator is configured to evaluate the expression to select a display attribute; and   wherein the text formatter is configured to include a data value in the formatted document in place of the placeholder configured for display according to the selected display attribute.   
     
     
         13 . The document generator of  claim 12 , wherein the document formatter is configured to retrieve a second data element referenced by a second expression associated with a detected second placeholder in the dynamic document template;
 the expression evaluator being configured to evaluate the second expression to determine a data value; and   the text formatter being configured to include the data value in the formatted document in place of the detected second placeholder.   
     
     
         14 . The document generator of  claim 12 , wherein the document formatter is configured to retrieve a second data element referenced by a second expression associated with a portion of the detected static text in the dynamic document template;
 the expression evaluator being configured to evaluate the second expression to select a second display attribute; and   the text formatter being configured to configure the portion of static text to be displayed according to the selected second display attribute.   
     
     
         15 . The document generator of  claim 12 , wherein the display attribute includes at least one of a font, a color, a bold setting, an italics setting, a font size, a line spacing, or an effects setting. 
     
     
         16 . The document generator of  claim 12 , the dynamic document template is received in extensible markup language (XML) form.