Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Theodore J Stefanik

David G Garber

Michael A Angiulo

Michael C Mathieu

Thomas P Blumer

Terrence R Crowley

Peter R Amstein

Andrew J Schulert

A method and system for preserving attributes of objects within a file that was created in a different environment from that in which the file is opened, enabling the attributes to be maintained after the file is saved. For example, an HTML document created with a text editor includes elements such as plain text and HTML tags, with which attributes such as whitespace, line breaks, and indent level are associated. When such a document is opened in an HTML editor implementing the present invention, the attributes of these elements are preserved. Even when changes to these elements occur, to the extent possible, the method provides for determining attributes of related elements that were in the document as originally opened in the HTML editor, so that these attributes can be applied to corresponding objects that are added to the document or in regard to changes that are made by the user. The preservation of persistent object attributes is also applicable to other types of software applications such as language development systems and word processing programs. This invention thus insures, for example, that functions developed in newer versions of a program, although not recognized in an earlier version, persist when a file is opened in the earlier version and then saved.

Robust modification of persistent objects while preserving formatting and other attributes

A token identifies a special comment that includes information usable by a specific Web page editor. Tile information included within a special comment may include authoring state information, such as parameters used by 'WEBBOT' components to provide extensions to hypertext markup language (HTML) features. When a Web page is opened, the editor parses each element on the page and determines if a comment is special by detecting the presence of a predefined token. In the preferred embodiment, the token is the word 'WEBBOT.' The information included within this special comment can include references to extensions to HTML tags, including those that are not known by the editor, and parameters required by HTML extensions. Since the special comment is in a format ignored by Web browsers, it does not impact upon the ability of a browser to render the page.

Selective response to a comment line in a computer file

A method for rewriting document references such as URLs located in an included document, when an include operation is performed. The include operation may be performed by the server at any time, for example, when the including and included documents are stored on the server. One aspect of the invention is a process for inserting a second document into a first document, where the second document has a reference to a third document. The reference may be a link to the third document or may be an instruction to insert the third document. In this process, the second document is parsed to identify a relative reference to the third document with respect to the second document. An effective base reference for the second document is determined. In an HTML document, the effective base reference is the effective base URL. The relative reference to the third document is converted to an absolute reference using the determined effective base reference of the second document. An effective base reference for the first document is determined. The absolute reference to the third document is then converted to a new relative reference with respect to the first document, using the effective base reference of the first document. The second document is then inserted within the first document while replacing the relative reference to the third document with respect to the second document with the new relative reference to the third document with respect to the first document.

Computer system and computer-implemented method for interpreting

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Theodore J Stefanik