Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Peter J Spada

Hessan Tchaitchian

A style sheet is incrementally parsed when a change is made. Instead of parsing the entire style sheet text each time a change is made, only a portion of the style sheet is parsed in response to the incremental change. As a result of the incremental parsing the number of data structures needed to be updated upon the incremental change to the style sheet text is minimized. Since only a portion of the data structures are updated, it is possible for other components in software to have smart behavior based on the changes. For example, instead of all the display elements updating their display based on a change to the style sheet, only those dialogs or other parts of the user interface that were showing information about the changed rules need to update their display.

Incrementally parsing style sheets

An aggregate property grid includes a rule list and a property list such that a web developer may easily determine which properties correspond to which rules. The rule list displays a list of rules that are applied to a selected document element. The property list includes the properties that are applied to the selected document element. Different rules associated with the selected document element may be aggregated such that only the properties that are applied to the document element are displayed in the property list. Conflicting properties may be merged according to a prioritized hierarchy such that each conflicting property may have a higher or lower precedence compared to the other conflicting properties.

Method and system for aggregating rules that define values for the same property associated with the same document element

Methods and computer products provide for an efficient XML namespace analysis and parsing. Extensible Markup Language (XML) structure of an XML document is passed through an XML parser as plain text, and the result is an internal data structure that represents the XML. The XML parser keeps track of all mappings of prefixes-to-namespaces as it is parsing the tree of XML tags in the text. A design tool application may be use to modify the parsed data structure by moving XML tags to different locations, by adding new XML tags, or by deleting XML tags. After modifications are complete, and the user wants to save a file, the XML may be re-written as text. The mappings of prefixes-to-namespaces are advantageous during output so that each XML tag is associated with the correct prefix.

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Peter J Spada