WO2000014624A1

WO2000014624A1 - Method for printing of web file

Info

Publication number: WO2000014624A1
Application number: PCT/KR1999/000355
Authority: WO
Inventors: So Young Kim
Original assignee: Webnara Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 1998-09-04
Filing date: 1999-07-03
Publication date: 2000-03-16
Also published as: KR19980087636A; AU4532499A

Abstract

A method of printing web files is disclosed. The method comprises: the user management step of checking a license of a user and registering a user; the design step of designing an output form for a web file and generating a script; and the printing step of analyzing print data designed at the design step and printing the web file. The method of printing web files of the present invention allows a user to design a graphic form for the web files at the graphic user interface environment. The present invention is also usable regardless of types of internet browsers. According to the present invention, web files can be printed out through a single processor, thereby saving times compared with the conventional technique that inquires and prints out various data in units of pages. Since the conventional technique inquires and prints out the various data in units of pages, hosts should be accessed every time when pages of data change. On the other hand, the present invention accesses a single host for the various data, thus decreasing load on a network. Additionally, only if the program for embodying the method of the present invention is installed in a server and a developer's or a user's computer has a browser without the program, the developer or user can develop or use the program according to the present invention.

Description

METHOD FOR PRINTING OF WEB FILE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method of printing web files.

Background Art

The internet has been rapidly developed these several years . It is predicted that the internet will be boundlessly applied to various fields in future. The internet is used not only for information search but also for other operations such as management information system (MIS) . The MIS is a comprehensive information processing system for storing and processing comprehensive management data to support the board of directors who take charge of the management in companies in decision-making related to the management .

In such service using the internet, a printing function is essential. However, the printing function of internet browsers prints out only image. The browser's printing function cannot print out the image in a particular form desired by a user. Consequently, a special web file printing function is required. "CHILLY REPORT", "CRYSTAL REPORT", and "SQR4" are conventional representative web file printing techniques. For the "CHILLY REPORT", IIS web server and ASP are essentially required and a user PC should has Excel Viewer. The access to databases in the "CHILLY REPORT" can be achieved only by the ASP. For the "CRYSTAL REPORT", ACTIVE X is essentially required. The "CRYSTAL REPORT" is embodied only m Explorer which is one of the internet browsers and has a large volume of about 16 Mbytes. The "SQR4" has an excellent printing function but has defects that learning a special language is required to realize various functions including separate database access .

Summary of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method of printing web files that substantially obviates one or more of the limitations and disadvantages of the related art

An objective of the present invention is to provide a method of printing web files, which can be utilized regardless of the operating system of a server.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method of printing wee files, which can be utilized regardless of types of internet browsers Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a method of printing web files, which can be utilized regardless of types of web servers

An objective of the present invention is to provide a method of printing web files, which allows a user to print out web files m a desired form that the user has graphically designed m a graphic user interface.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method of printing web files, which allows an operator or a user to develop or use a program for embodying the method of the present invention only if the program is installed -in a server and the operator's or user's computer has only a browser without the program.

To achieve the above objectives, a method of printing web files comprises : the user management step of checking a license of a user and registering a user; the design step of designing an output form for a web file and generating a script; and the printing step of analyzing print data designed at the design step and printing the web file.

Brief Description of Drawings

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herembelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a user management step in a method of printing web files according to the present invention ; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a design step m a method of printing web files according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a printing step m a method of printing web files according to the present invention; and FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the text printing m the printing step depicted in FIG. 3.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

With reference to the accompanying drawings, the preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described, m detail.

FIG. 1 is a detailed flow chart of the user management step m a method of printing web files according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown m FIG. 1, primarily, an environment file including the IP address, post and name of a user is read (100) and a server socket is generated (101) . Following the generation of the server socket, a standby state is implemented (102) , and thereafter, whether or not tnere is any user access is checked (103) . If there is any user access, individual user based check thread is carried out. If there is no user access, the procedure goes back to the standby state. Once the individual user based check thread is started (104) , a user IP is extracted (105) . Whether or not the number of registered users is smaller than the number of licenses is checked (106) . If the number of registered users is smaller than the number of licenses, an OK signal is provided (107) . Subsequently, whether or not tne user is registered is checked (108) . If the user is registered, the check thread is terminated (113) . If the user is not registered, the user IP is registered H12) before terminating the check thread (113) . Alternatively, if the number of registered users is not smaller than the licenses, whether or not the user is registered is chec ed (109^ If the user is registered, the OK signal is provided (110) and then the check thread is terminated (113) At the step 109, if the user is not registered, a NO signal is provided (111) before terminating the check thread (113) .

FIG. • 2 is a detailed flow chart of the design step m a method of printing web files according to the embodiment of the present invention. During the design step, an output form of a web file is designed and a corresponding script is generated to print the web file m the form desired by a user.

Primarily, a variety of variables are initialized (201; Following the initialization of the variables, a graphic event is cnecked (202) Whether or not the graphic event concerns a "line" is determined (203) If the graphic event concerns the line, a line drawing is called (204) If the graphic event concerns a "quadrangle" (205) , a quadrangle drawing is called (206) If the graphic event concerns a "character string" (207) , a character string drawing is called (208) . If the graphic event concerns a "table" (209) , a table drawing is called (210) If the graphic event concerns an "image" (211) , an image drawing is called ,212) Through such operations, the graphic event is identified and a corresponding drawing is called Thereafter, whether or not obj ect-of -drawing editing is requested is determined (213) If it is determined that the object-of -drawing editing is requested, the object-of- drawing editing is carried out (214) If it is determined that the object-of -drawing editing is not requested, whether or not modification of computer graphic interface (CGI) type is requested is determined (215) If it is determined that the modification of CGI type is requested, a process for modification of CGI type is carried out (216) .

At the above steps, if the ob ect-of-drawing editing is carried out (214) , if the modification of CGI type is carried out (216) , or if it is determined that the object- of-drawing editing is not requested and the modification of CGI type is not requested, it is determined whether or not generation of script is requested at the step following a (217) .

If it is determined that the script generation is not requested, the procedure goes to the step following b. On the other hand, if it is determined that the script generation is requested, it is determined whether or not the OD ec -of -drawing is an end of file (EOF) (218) . If it s determined tnat the obj ect-of-drawing is the EOF, the procedure goes to the step following b.

If it is determined that the object-of -drawing is not tne EOF at the step 218, it is sequentially determined that the obj ect -of -drawing is a line, quadrangle, character string table, or image (219,221, 223, 225, 22^ > According to the result of determination, a line script, quadrangle script, character string script, table script, or image script is generated (220, 222, 224, 226, 228)

If it is determined the script generation is not requested at the step 217 or if it is determined that the ODJ ect-of -drawing is not the EOF at the step 218, it is determined whether or not print is requested (229) If it is determined that tne print is requested, a print output is called (230) and the procedure goes back to the step 202 of checking the graphic event . If it is determined that the print is not requested at the step 229, it is determined whether or not termination of the program is requested (231) . If it is determined that the termination of the program is not requested, the procedure goes back to the graphic event checking step 202.

If it is determined that the program termination is requested at the step 231, it is determined w.tether or not a project is stored (232) . If it is determined that the project is stored, the design step is terminated If it is determined that the project is not stored, it _s determined whether or not storage of the project is requested (233) If it is determined that the storage of the project is not requested, the design step is terminated Alternatively, if it is determined that the storage of the project s requested, the project is stored (234) Thereafter, a source is stored (235) before terminating the design step

FIG 3 is a detailed flow chart of tne pri"tmg step m a method of printing web files according to fe emdodiment of the present invention Primarily, as shown m FIG. 3, it is cnec<ea wnether or not a license check server provides tne OK signal during tne user management step (301) If the license check server is not in the OK state, a print button is inactivated (302) and the printing step is terminated. On the other hand, if the license check server is in tne OK state, a variety of variables are imtia.ized (303) Subsequently, it is determined whether or not CGI program data reception is the EOF (304) . If it is determined that the program data reception is the EOF, the procedure goes to the step following a. Alternatively, it is determined that the program data reception is not tne EOF, it is determined whether or not the data corresponds to a layout (305) . If it is determined that the data corresponds to the layout, a basic print mode is set (306) . During the setting of the basic print mode, a direction of printing, a paper size, and a basic font are individually defined.

If it is determined tnat the data does not correspond to the layout at the step 305, it is checked whether or not the data corresponds to a fixed form (307) If it is determined that the data corresponds to the fixed form, the fixed form is stored (308) . At this time, the fixed form is necessary for skip of page.

Alternatively, it is determined that the data does not corresponds to the fixed form, it is checked whether or not the data corresponds to an image (309) If it is determined that the data corresponds to the image, image loading is carried out (310) During the image loading, the image of a corresponding URL is stored If it is determined that the data does not corresponds to the image at the step 309, a script is stored (311) and the procedure goes back to the step 304. At this time, a general script is stored.

If it is determined that the CGI program data reception is the EOF at the step 304, it is checked whether or not the print button is pushed down (312) . If it is determined that the print button is not pushed down, the step of checking the print button is repeated. If it is determined that the print button is pushed down, it is determined whether read of stored script is the EOF (313) . If it is determined that the read, of stored script is the EOF, the print is terminated (314) and the procedure goes back to the step 312. If it is determined that read of stored script does not correspond to the EOF at the step 313, it is checked whether or not the read script falls under a range set as a print output option (315) . If it is determined that the read script does not fall under the set print range, the procedure goes back to the step 313. It is determined that the read script falls under the set print range as the option, a token is separated (316) .

After separating the token, if it is determined that the token is a line (317), a line analysis function is called (318) . At this time, a coordinate value of the line is extracted and the line is constructed.

If it is determined that the token is a box '319) , a DOX analysis function is called (320) At this time, the coordinate value and a shade type are extracted to construct the box

If the token is "HLINE" or "VLINE" (321) , a line 2 analysis function is called (322) At this time, a coordinate value and an attribute value of a table line are extracted to construct the line. If the token is a print (323) , a text analysis function is called (324) At this time, a coordinate value, attribute, and font of the text are extracted to construct the text. This step will be more described m detail later, referring to FIG. 4. If the token is an image (325) , an image analysis function is called (326) . At this time, the image stored in an image storage record is constructed.

If the token is a color setting (327) , a color analysis function is called (328) . At this time, RGB color values of a hexadecimal number are converted into values of a decimal number to set up colors .

If the token is a format (329) , a format mask function is called (330) . At this time, values of general numbers or characters are transformed into a particular format.

If the token is a page skip (331) , a print output is called (332) . At this time, a report constructed in a canvas is output as a print .

FIG. 4 is a detailed flow chart of the text output operation m the printing step of FIG. 3.

If the text analysis function is called at the step 324 in FIG. 3, it is determined whether a format mask or page is printed (401) . If it is determined that the format mask and page s printed, the text to be output is stored (402) . Subsequently, a width of the text to be output is obtained

(403) . It is then determined whether or not the text to be output is a long sentence (404) . If it is determined that the text to be output is the long sentence, characters are printed out as long as a length previously set (405) . On the other hand, if the text to be output is not the long sentence, it is determined whether or not the text is aligned on the left (406) . If it is determined that the text is aligned on the left, the text is printed out at corresponding coordinates (407) . If it is determined that 11 the text is not aligned on the left, it is determined whether or not the text is aligned on the right (408) . If it is determined that the text is aligned on the right, the text is moved to the right as much as a length obtained by subtracting a length of the corresponding text from the predetermined length m the printing (409) .

Through such operations, the text is printed out Thereafter, it is determined whether or not there is an under line (411) , If it is determined that there is the under line, a line is printed out at the bottom of a character of the text (412) before terminating the text printing

As illustrated above, the method of printing wed files of the present invention allows a user to desigr a graphic form for the web files at the graphic user interface environment The present invention is also usable regardless of types of internet browsers According to the present invention, web files can be printed out through a sιng_e processor, thereby saving times compared with tne conventional technique that inquires and prints out various data in units of pages. Since the conventional technique inquires and prints out the various data m units of pages, hosts snould be accessed every time when pages of data change On the other hand, the present invention accesses a single host for the various data, thus decreasing load on a network Additionally, only if the program for embodying the method of tne present invention is installed m a server and a developer's or a user's computer has a browser without the program, the developer or user can develop or use the program according to the present invention.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as recited in the accompanying claims .

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1 'A method of printing web files, comprising: the user management step of checking a license of a user and registering a user; the design step of designing an output form for a web file and generating a script; and the printing step of analyzing print data designed at the design step and printing the web file.

2 The method as claimed m claim 1, wherein said user management step is characterized by performing check thread with respect to individual users if there is user access, registering a new user IP if the number of registered users is smaller than the number of licenses during the check tread, and not registering the new user IP if the number of registered users is not smaller than the number of licenses

3 The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said design step comprises the steps of cnecαng a graphic event and calling a l ne drawing, quadrangle drawing, character string drawing, table drawing, or image drawing according to a result of the checking the graphic event, and generating a line script, quadrangle script, character string script, table script, or image script if generation of corresponding script is requested.

4 The method as claimed m claim 1, wherein said printing step comprises the steps of: separating a token if a script to be printed falls under a print selection set as a printing option; and checking whether the token concerns a line, box, vertical or horizontal line, print, image, color setting, format, or page skip and calling a corresponding function according to a result of the checking operation.