CN110738037A

CN110738037A - Method, apparatus, device and storage medium for automatically generating electronic form

Info

Publication number: CN110738037A
Application number: CN201910978565.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丛明舒; 瞿中明; 曲嘉宝; 曾凯
Original assignee: Shenzhen Logitech Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Logitech Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-10-15
Filing date: 2019-10-15
Publication date: 2020-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 2039-10-15
Also published as: WO2021073077A1; CN110738037B

Abstract

embodiments relate to a computer-implemented method for automatically generating a spreadsheet, the method including obtaining a hierarchy for the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy includes or more levels, the or more levels having a plurality of nodes, wherein each level has at least nodes and has a corresponding level type, each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy further includes membership between the plurality of nodes, obtaining metadata for each node of the plurality of nodes, obtaining raw data for the spreadsheet, and generating the spreadsheet based at least on the hierarchy for the spreadsheet, the metadata, and the raw data.

Description

Method, apparatus, device and storage medium for automatically generating electronic form

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a method, apparatus, device, and storage medium for automatically generating a spreadsheet.

Background

For example, during a financial analysis process, a financial analyst typically needs to build a spreadsheet model for financial analysis to calculate the intrinsic value of a financial asset.A spreadsheet model is a spreadsheet that may include values, text, formulas, etc. to calculate the values of some variable or variables.

Disclosure of Invention

embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a computer-implemented method for automatically generating a spreadsheet, the method including obtaining a hierarchy for the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy includes or more levels, the or more levels having a plurality of nodes, wherein each level has at least nodes and has a corresponding level type, each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy further includes membership between the plurality of nodes, obtaining metadata for each node in the plurality of nodes, obtaining raw data for the spreadsheet, and generating the spreadsheet based at least on the hierarchy for the spreadsheet, the metadata, and the raw data.

Another embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus for automatically generating a spreadsheet, the apparatus comprising an editor configured to obtain a hierarchical structure for a spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchical structure comprises or more levels, the or more levels having a plurality of nodes, wherein each level has at least nodes and has a corresponding hierarchical type, each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchical structure further comprises membership between the plurality of nodes, and the editor is further configured to obtain metadata for each node in the plurality of nodes, a data panel configured to obtain raw data for the spreadsheet, and a spreadsheet generation module configured to generate the spreadsheet based at least on the hierarchical structure, the metadata, and the raw data for the spreadsheet.

Another embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus for automatically generating spreadsheets, the apparatus comprising at least processors and at least storage devices, the at least storage devices storing instructions that when executed by at least processors cause at least processors to perform the above method.

Yet another embodiments of the present disclosure relate to non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the above-described methods to be performed.

Yet another embodiments of the present disclosure relate to apparatus for automatically generating spreadsheets, the apparatus including means for performing the steps of the above method.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification , illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description , serve to explain the principles of the disclosure without limitation.

Fig. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus for automatically generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 1B is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for automatically generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2A is a block diagram of an exemplary graphical user editor for obtaining a hierarchical structure of a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2B is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for obtaining a hierarchy of a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3A is an exemplary hierarchy corresponding to pages of a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3B is a structure of tables in an exemplary spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3C is an exemplary component for specifying a table according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4A-4C illustrate exemplary graphical user editors according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4D-4F illustrate exemplary graphical user interfaces displayed on a device for automatically generating spreadsheets, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5A, 5B, and 5D are diagrams illustrating an exemplary spreadsheet hierarchy and dependencies between nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5C is a schematic diagram illustrating a method of translating a computational relationship between high-level nodes into a computational relationship between low-level nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5E is a visual representation of dependencies between nodes in an exemplary spreadsheet hierarchy according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for establishing dependencies between nodes, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating nodes in an exemplary spreadsheet hierarchy according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8A is a block diagram of an exemplary data panel in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8B is a graphical user interface of an exemplary data panel according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9A and 9B are flowcharts illustrating exemplary methods for generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary spreadsheet generation module according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

11A-11D illustrate exemplary displayed spreadsheets according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

11E and 11F illustrate exemplary adjustments to the position of a table in a displayed spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for updating a generated spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for modifying a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 illustrates an exemplary graphical user editor in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15 illustrates an exemplary displayed spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method of obtaining a hierarchical structure for a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17 illustrates an exemplary format setting component in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 illustrates a -like hardware environment in which the present disclosure may be applied, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described exemplary embodiments however, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the described embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details .

The blocks within each block diagram shown below may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof to implement the principles of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the blocks described in each block diagram can be combined or divided into sub-blocks to implement the principles of the disclosure.

In the embodiments, the method may be accomplished with additional steps not described and/or without the or steps discussed.

In particular, existing general spreadsheet editing software (such as Microsoft Excel, Google sheets, etc.) allow users to edit spreadsheets in what-you-see-is-what-you-get form, and users can write various types of content directly into spreadsheets, including text, values, formulas, etc. however, generating spreadsheet models using general spreadsheet software is very error prone, and the generated spreadsheet models are difficult to debug, reuse, and understand or modify by others other than the model builder.

Another set of industry software (e.g., FactSet and Bloomberg) may provide common spreadsheet model templates that users may edit to build a spreadsheet model.

Embodiments of the present application may allow a user and/or application, etc. to generate a spreadsheet by providing the hierarchical structure, metadata, and raw data of the spreadsheet, respectively. By separating the hierarchical structure of the electronic form from the original data, the electronic form is generated by the embodiment of the application in a more intuitive, convenient and fast way, is easy to understand and debug, is easy to reuse, and has the characteristics of flexibility and automation.

An apparatus and method for automatically generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure is described below in conjunction with fig. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus 100A for automatically generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure As shown in FIG. 1A, the apparatus 100A may include an editor 110, a data panel 120, a spreadsheet generation module 130. the apparatus 100A may also include a spreadsheet preview module 140, a hierarchy builder 150, and a hierarchy memory 160, these three components being shown with dashed boxes to indicate that they are optional. furthermore, while FIG. 1A illustrates the six cells described above, this is merely an exemplary structure of an apparatus for automatically generating a spreadsheet, and the apparatus 100A for automatically generating a spreadsheet may also include more or fewer or different cells than shown, or may include a combination of any of the six cells described above.

According to embodiments, a hierarchy for a spreadsheet can include or more levels having or more levels with nodes each having at least nodes and having a corresponding hierarchy type (e.g., workbook, page, section, table, block, row, column, section, cell, etc.), each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy also includes membership between the plurality of nodes (e.g., table nodes can have several hierarchy type row child nodes, that is, the hierarchy type row child nodes are affiliated with the hierarchy type table nodes.) according to embodiments, node a is a child node of node B, or node a is a node B, or node B is a node B, when and only when the or more cells corresponding to node a are contained within or more cells corresponding to node B.

According to embodiments, the editor 110 may include a graphical user interface editor, wherein the graphical user interface editor includes components for specifying different levels of nodes (e.g., components for adding and/or modifying line nodes, components for adding and/or modifying table nodes, etc.), and wherein the graphical user interface editor may be further configured to receive input to the components for specifying different levels of nodes and generate a hierarchical structure based on the input, e.g., in response to receiving input to the components for adding line nodes, the graphical user interface editor may add corresponding line nodes in the hierarchical structure, etc. according to embodiments, different types of syntax elements in the components for specifying different levels of nodes may be represented in different display formats (e.g., colors, fonts, word numbers, etc.) in the graphical user interface editor, thereby facilitating understanding and debugging of a user, according to embodiments, the editor 110 includes a text editor, which may be configured to receive text code entered by a user and parse the text to generate a text structure to enable the text editor to be written in a specific language such as a Java script, a tree, or other suitable programming language for future editing, such as a Java script, or the like.

According to embodiments, or more levels of hierarchy for a spreadsheet include or more of workbook, page, section, table, block, row, column, section, and cell in embodiments components for specifying nodes at different levels include or more of a component for specifying page, a component for specifying title, a component for specifying section, a component for specifying table, a component for specifying header, a component for specifying body, a component for specifying row, a component for specifying column, a component for specifying block, a component for specifying section, and a component for specifying cell in embodiments, wherein the header corresponds to or more cells describing the name of each column in the table above the spreadsheet table, and descriptive information at the top left corner intersection of the table (called stub), the body being the portion of the table other than the header.

According to embodiments, obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes includes obtaining semantic information describing a specific meaning of the node, according to embodiments, the semantic information may include or more of a name, a title, a label, and an annotation, wherein the label may be a short term similar to the name describing 1 nodes (called an alias (alias) label), or may specify an additional characteristic of the node (called an attribute label). the annotation is declarative text for nodes, is generally 8655 long, may be displayed at a particular location of the spreadsheet (such as the end of each page) or in the form of "annotation" in the general spreadsheet editing software, is displayed in the generated spreadsheet.for example, the semantic information of workbooks may be the name of the workbook and/or the content describing the entire workbook (such as the end of each page), the semantic information may be the name of the workbook and/or the content describing the entire workbook (such as pages), the semantic information may be the name of the title of the workbook and/or the annotation, may be a unit title of the workbook, may be a column, a column of the title, or a column of the title of the workbook, and/or the annotation, may be a column of the title of the header of the spreadsheet (3625) or a column of the page).

According to embodiments, the editor 110 may further include a modifier component that may be configured to obtain information specifying a format of or more th cells corresponding to each node of the plurality of nodes according to embodiments, the information specifying the format of the or more th cells includes a format type (e.g., th format type, second format type, etc.), and wherein the format of the or more th cells is set in a format corresponding to the format type (e.g., font size, background color, font color, bolding, underlining, indenting, etc.) according to embodiments, the format corresponding to the format type may be set by displaying predefined text, receiving a user setting of the format of the predefined text, and setting the format corresponding to the format type based on the user setting of the format of the predefined text.

According to embodiments, the editor 110 may further include a tagging component that may be configured to obtain an alias tag or attribute tag for each node, where the alias tag may specify aliases (e.g., numbers, symbols, or text, etc.) of the one or more cells corresponding to the node, the attribute tag may specify additional characteristics (e.g., compute priorities, numerical units, etc.) of the one or more cells corresponding to the node.

According to embodiments of the invention, in the case where the spreadsheet to be generated contains a calculation formula, it may further be necessary to obtain dependencies and/or calculation relationships between nodes in the hierarchy according to embodiments, the editor 110 may further comprise a dependency definition component configured to obtain dependencies between the th node and further or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, according to embodiments, it is noted that each node in the hierarchy may have dependencies with other nodes, for any two cells a and B in the spreadsheet, defining a dependency of a cell a on a cell B and only if a cell a is calculated at least by a cell B (or by a cell B with other cells ), for nodes (e.g., row nodes) C and D in the hierarchy, defining a dependency of a node C on a node D and only if at least cells C contain nodes D that are directly or indirectly dependent on a node D, for at least th cell D, for example row nodes C and D, the combination of these cells C and B, the dependency definition component may be configured to obtain a dependency of a dependency definition of a dependency between these nodes C and a further calculation formula B, according to an embodiment, a dependency definition component, which may be configured to obtain a dependency of a calculation formula, a dependency definition of a dependency of the calculation formula found between these nodes B, a calculation formula found in a calculation component, a calculation formula found by the calculation formula found in the combination of the formula found by the formula found in the formula found by the formula found in the embodiments, the formula found by the formula found in the formula found by the example, the formula found by the example, the formula found by the formula found in the formula found by the example, the formula found in No. .

According to embodiments, the apparatus 100A may further comprise a hierarchy map builder 150 and a hierarchy map memory 160, wherein the hierarchy map builder 150 may be configured to build a hierarchy map for the spreadsheet based on the hierarchy type of the hierarchy at which each of the plurality of nodes in the hierarchy is located, the child nodes of the node, and the metadata of the node, acquired by the editor 110, and the hierarchy map memory 160 may be configured to store the hierarchy map according to embodiments, the hierarchy map builder 150 may be configured to acquire a dependency relationship between the node corresponding to each of the or th cells corresponding to the th node and the node corresponding to each of the or th cells 825 of the or th cells, and the node corresponding to each of the or second cells corresponding to the or plurality of nodes, based on the dependency relationship between the th or 633 th cells and the additional or more nodes, acquired by the dependency relationship definition component.

In embodiments, the hierarchy map builder 150 can build the hierarchy map further based on the nodes on which each node in the hierarchy depends in embodiments, the hierarchy map builder 150 can build the hierarchy map further based on the calculated relationships between each node and other nodes in the plurality of nodes in the hierarchy.

According to embodiments, the data panel 120 may include or more of an intelligent data extraction component configured to automatically identify raw data from a data file (e.g., an Excel file, a txt file, etc.), a database interface component configured to import raw data from a database, a retrieval interface component configured to retrieve raw data from an external data source (e.g., a search engine, an electronic publication, a blog, etc.), and a manual input receiving component configured to receive user-entered raw data, according to embodiments, the data panel 120 may further include a to-be-populated data detection component configured to detect ( or more) of a plurality of nodes of a hierarchy that require raw data to be entered and requirements for raw data in the node (e.g., three rows, each row requires 5 raw data, etc.), and a data matching component configured to match raw data acquired by the raw data acquisition component with raw data acquired by the raw data acquisition component, wherein the raw data acquisition component may be generated by a human-machine interaction with the to-filled data detection system, wherein the to-generated raw data matching component may be used to generate the raw data by human-machine interaction with the user-populated data detection component.

Spreadsheet generation module 130 may be configured to generate a spreadsheet based on at least the hierarchy and metadata for the spreadsheet obtained by editor 110 and the raw data obtained by data panel 120.

According to embodiments, the spreadsheet generation module 130 may include a renderer that may be configured to format or more th cells (e.g., font size, background color, font color, bolding, underlining, indenting, etc.) in the spreadsheet according to the information specifying the format of or more th cells, according to embodiments, the renderer may be configured to automatically format or more cells corresponding to each node of the plurality of nodes obtained by the editor 110 according to or more of the hierarchy type of the hierarchy at which the node is located, the format information of the node, and the content of or more cells corresponding to the node.

According to embodiments, the spreadsheet generation module 130 may further comprise a translator according to embodiments, the translator may be configured to, for each of a plurality of nodes in the hierarchy, determine or more cells in the spreadsheet corresponding to the node based on the hierarchy, and populate or more of the computational relationships of the node based on the raw data, the hierarchical type of the node, the metadata of the node, the node on which the node depends, and , the contents (e.g., numbers, characters, text, etc.) of or more cells corresponding to the node based on the raw data, the hierarchical type of the node, the metadata of the node, the node on which the node depends, generate Excel files or other spreadsheet files based on the results of the translator, may also generate txt files or 5393 portions of web pages or files of any other suitable format, the translator may be configured to generate an Excel file based on at least the data of a plurality of cells 733 or cells determined based on the computational relationships between node and 6855 or more nodes, or on the data obtained by the hierarchical graph builder 150, and obtain the data obtained from the raw data obtained by the raw data input in the hierarchical data input in the schema, the hierarchical schema of the schema, the schema of the schema, the schema data obtained by the electronic panel, the data obtained by the electronic panel, and the electronic panel.

For example, referring to FIG. 11E, which may specify a distance of 3 rows between Table B and Table A (e.g., via a graphical user interface editor or a text editor), then spreadsheet generation module 130 may adjust Table B to a position 3 rows away from Table A. for another example, referring to FIG. 11F, which may specify that Table B is located at the bottom right of Table A (e.g., via a graphical user interface editor or a text editor), then spreadsheet generation module 130 may adjust Table B to a position at the bottom right of Table A.

According to embodiments, apparatus 100A may further include a spreadsheet preview module 140 according to embodiments, the spreadsheet preview module 140 may be configured to cause the generated spreadsheet to be displayed (e.g., on a display), receive a modification to the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or calculated relationships, and update the displayed spreadsheet based on the modification to the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or calculated relationships.

According to embodiments, the spreadsheet preview module 140 may be configured to cause the generated spreadsheet to be displayed, receive modifications to the displayed spreadsheet, and translate the modifications to the spreadsheet into modifications to at least of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, and computational relationships, and modify at least of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependent nodes, or computational relationships based on the modifications with at least of the editors and data panels, respectively.

According to embodiments, the apparatus 100A may further include an error detection module configured to automatically detect errors in or more of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or computational relationships, and issue (e.g., visual, auditory, or tactile, etc.) alerts to prompt the errors, by performing error detection and prompting, may facilitate reducing errors that may be present in the spreadsheet, facilitating debugging by the user, according to embodiments, the apparatus 100A may further include an intelligent suggestion module, wherein the intelligent suggestion module may be configured to predict or more of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, computational relationships, and operations that the user is going to perform based on or more of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, computational relationships, and operations that the user is already performing, and provide intelligent suggestions of multiple of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, computational relationships, and operations that the user is going to perform , and by providing intelligent suggestions of the results of the operations that the user is going to perform, may facilitate work reduction by providing intelligent suggestions of the user interaction.

According to embodiments, the apparatus 100A may interact with the client 170. the apparatus 100A may be located in the same device as the client 170, or in a different device and communicatively coupled via a wired or wireless connection. the client 170 may be, for example, an electronic device used by a user, such as a laptop, cell phone, tablet, wearable device, etc., or may be an application running on a computing device, etc. the client 170 may provide input to or more of the editor 110, the data panel 120, the spreadsheet generation module 130, and the spreadsheet preview module 140.

FIG. 1B is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 100B for automatically generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure although FIG. 1B illustrates 4 steps of the method 100B, this is merely an exemplary flow of a method for automatically generating a spreadsheet, and the method 100B for automatically generating a spreadsheet may also include more or less steps than shown, or may include a combination of any of the four steps described above.

The method 100B begins at step S110, step S110 may be performed by the editor 110 of FIG. 1A at step S110, a hierarchy for a spreadsheet is obtained, wherein the hierarchy comprises levels or multiple levels, the levels or multiple levels having a plurality of nodes, wherein each level has at least nodes and has a corresponding level type, each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy further comprises membership between the plurality of nodes.

The method 100B proceeds to step S120, and step S120 may be performed by the editor 110 of fig. 1. At step S120, metadata for each of a plurality of nodes in the hierarchy is obtained.

The method 100B proceeds to step S130, and step S130 may be performed by the data panel 120 of FIG. 1. At step S130, raw data for a spreadsheet is obtained.

Method 100B proceeds to step S140, and step S140 may be performed by spreadsheet generation module 130 of FIG. 1. At step S140, a spreadsheet is generated based at least on the hierarchical structure, metadata, and raw data for the spreadsheet.

An exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described below in conjunction with fig. 2A-18.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an exemplary graphical user interface editor 200A for obtaining a hierarchical structure of a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure the graphical user interface editor 200A may be the example of editor 110 shown in FIG. 1A As shown in FIG. 2A, the graphical user interface editor 200A may include a component 210 for specifying nodes of different hierarchies, a dependency definition component 220, a computational relationship definition component 230, a modifier component 240, and a label component 250. although FIG. 2A illustrates the above five elements, this is merely an exemplary structure of the graphical user interface editor 200A, the graphical user interface editor 200A may include more or fewer elements than shown, or may include a combined element of any of the above five elements.

The graphical user interface editor 200A may be configured to receive input for the components 210 specifying different levels of nodes, and to generate a hierarchical structure for the spreadsheet based on the input the components 210 specifying different levels of nodes may be used to add, modify, and/or delete different levels of nodes, which may correspond to or more cells in the spreadsheet according to embodiments the hierarchical types of or more levels of the spreadsheet may include or more of workbook, page, section, table, block, row, column, section, and cell it is understood that the above hierarchical types are merely examples and any other suitable hierarchical types may be defined for the hierarchical structure according to embodiments of the present disclosure a page may be made up of sections or tables, each section may also include a section or table, in embodiments the components specifying different levels of nodes include or more of the components for specifying a page, the components for specifying a section, the head of a section of a table, the components for specifying a section, the data for specifying a section, the components for specifying a section, the head of a table, and cell for specifying components for specifying a section, a data for specifying a column, and a cell for specifying components for specifying a data for specifying a component.

The components 210 for specifying nodes at different levels may also include components for adding headings at different levels (e.g., the components for specifying sections may be components for adding headings), where the headings at different levels may divide the page into different sections or tables. is described further below with reference to FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A is an exemplary hierarchy 300A corresponding to pages of a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure. in hierarchy 300A, headings 1301 and headings 2304 are -level headings that divide this page into two sections, section 1 and section 2. section 1 further step contains a secondary heading 1.1302 and a secondary heading 1.2303 that divide section 1 into section 1.1 and section 1.2 (in this example, section 1.2 is empty since there is no table under secondary heading 1.2), section 1.1 and section 1.2 may also be referred to as section 1. section 1.1 includes two tables, section 1.1 is table 1.1.1 and table 1.2 is empty, and section 1.2 may also include a component for adding headings at different levels to the hierarchy 300A. section 2. the hierarchy 300A may include two tables or table 2. section 2. table 2. section 2. thus, section 2. the hierarchical structure may include a and table 2. section 2. further include a title 2. table 2. and table 2. the hierarchical header 3.13. further components for obtaining a and table 2.

According to embodiments, a structure of steps of a table node in the hierarchical structure 300A may be obtained by specifying a component of a data header, a component of a table body, a component of a column, and or more of the components of a section, wherein the data header corresponds to or more cells describing the names of the columns in the upper description table of the table, and descriptive information (referred to as a stub) at the upper left-hand intersection position of the table, the table body is a part of the table other than the data header, in a longitudinally arranged table (i.e., where the difference between rows and columns in the table is large, the calculation relationships in the table are mainly calculation relationships between different rows, see e.g., electronic table 300B in fig. 3B), the data header 331 describes the names 333 and the stub 334 of all columns (or column blocks) included in the table, the column 332 describes the names and contents of the rows and the column, the column bodies may constitute a column 35-column-.

According to embodiments, obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes includes obtaining semantic information describing a particular meaning of the node, according to embodiments, the semantic information may include or more of a name, a title, a label, and an annotation, for example, the component 210 for specifying different levels of nodes may include a text box, an option box, a dialog box, etc., allowing a user to enter semantic information corresponding to the node, such that the graphical user interface editor 200A is user friendly.

The dependency definition component 220 may be configured to obtain dependencies between a th node and further or more nodes of the plurality of nodes in the hierarchy the computation relationship definition component 230 may be configured to obtain a computation relationship between the th node and the further or more nodes the computation relationship definition component may be configured to obtain a computation formula between the th node and further or more nodes, a combination of operators or operators of the computation formula (e.g., ". times/1", where ". times" represents a placeholder), etc. thus, dependencies and computation relationships between cell nodes and nodes higher than the cell (e.g., row nodes, column nodes, table nodes, etc.) may be defined directly, thereby facilitating user understanding of logical relationships in the spreadsheet and facilitating user debugging and multiplexing of the generated spreadsheet, etc. according to embodiments, 6855 may be obtained based on dependencies and corresponding relationships between th node 6855 and further nodes or corresponding nodes of the further nodes in the following paragraphs corresponding to the cells of the second drawing, or the corresponding nodes of the second drawing, and the second cell may be obtained based on the dependencies and corresponding relationships between th node, , third cell nodes, the corresponding relationships of the second cell, the third cell 84, the second cell, or third cell, the third cell, and the third cell, fourth cell, the third cell, fifth cell, the third cell, fifth cell.

According to 0 embodiments, specifying the format of the or th cells includes specifying a format type (e.g., format type, second format type, etc.), and setting the format of the or th cells in a format corresponding to the format type (e.g., font size, background color, font color, bold, underline indentation, etc.) the decorator component 240 may be configured to obtain information specifying a format of a plurality of cells in the same rows corresponding to the row nodes, the information specifying the format of the cells as format type, and then may set the format of the cells to a format corresponding to the th format type, e.g., four-size, bold, embodiments, according to the embodiment, the decorator component 240 may be configured to obtain information specifying a format of a text in the same format type, and may further set the format of the text in a format corresponding to the th format type, e.g., a number corresponding to the format type of the text in a predefined format type corresponding to the predefined text box, and/or the user may also include a number, and the user may set the format corresponding to the format type corresponding to obtain information.

The tag component 250 may be configured to obtain an alias tag or attribute tag for each node, where the alias tag may specify an alias of or more cells (e.g., numbers, symbols, or text, etc.) corresponding to the node, and the attribute tag may specify additional characteristics of or more cells corresponding to the node, where the alias tag and attribute tag may facilitate the user to debug the spreadsheet, for example, assuming that the row names of two rows are both "totaled" and that the two rows actually correspond to the total data of 2016 and 2017, respectively, where the alias of the th row node may be defined as "2016", and the alias of the second row node may be defined as "2017 total", thereby distinguishing the two rows more clearly, for example, the alias of the two columns having the column names "2016" and "2017" may also be defined as "hist", so that the alias of the two columns having the column names "376" may be referred to by the alias "376 when defining the calculation relationship between nodes may be directly using the alias" 376, so that the two columns having the column names of the column names "2016 and" 376 "and" 2017 "may be used to obtain a calculation relationship when the calculation relationship between the calculation of the node may be performed by using the overhead node, such as a calculation of the calculation under the calculation of the calculation under the calculation of the calculation under the calculation of the calculation under the calculation of.

It should be understood that a client (e.g., client 170 in fig. 1A) may interact with each component in graphical user interface editor 200A through any suitable input mechanism (e.g., keyboard, mouse, tablet, microphone, touch sensitive screen, etc.).

FIG. 2B is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 200B for obtaining a hierarchical structure of a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure although FIG. 2B illustrates three steps of the method 200B, this is merely an exemplary flow for obtaining a hierarchical structure of a spreadsheet, and the method 200B for obtaining a hierarchical structure of a spreadsheet may also include more or less steps than shown, or may include a combination of any of the three steps described above.

The method 200B begins at step S210 by providing a graphical user interface editor (e.g., the graphical user interface editor 200A shown in fig. 2A) at step S210, wherein the graphical user interface editor may include components for specifying nodes of different hierarchies.

The method 200B proceeds to step S220 where the graphical user interface editor may receive input for a component specifying a node of a different hierarchy at step S220.

The method 200B proceeds to step S230 where the graphical user interface editor may generate a hierarchy based on input for the component specifying the nodes of the different hierarchy at step S230. For example, respective row nodes can be added, modified, and/or deleted in the hierarchy based on input to the component for specifying the row node.

Fig. 4A-4C illustrate exemplary graphical

user interface editors

400A, 400B, and 400C, respectively, according to embodiments of the present disclosure graphical

user interface editors

400A, 400B, and 400C may be examples of the editor 110 shown in fig. 1A or the graphical user interface editor 200A shown in fig. 2A.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the graphical user interface editor 400A includes components for specifying nodes at different levels, such as a component 401 for specifying a table, a component 410 for specifying a header, a component 481 for specifying a header, a component 413 for specifying a stub, a component 414 for specifying a column or a block of columns 416, a component 420 and 471 for specifying a row or a block of rows 472, and a component (not shown) for specifying a cell, in response to an add operation (e.g., clicking on the component for specifying a page) to the component (not shown) for specifying a page, the graphical user interface editor 400A may display new pages and may add page names or other information describing pages, in response to an add operation to the component 482 for specifying a table, tables may be added to the graphical user interface editor 400A, and may display a component 402 indicating a hierarchical type "table" and a component 402 for specifying a table name "and a column component 402 for specifying a column of a column with a column type" table ", and a component 402 for specifying a column name of" table ", which may display a column of a column" -column 19 and a column of a column "-column 19, a column may be a column 19, a column.

The line definition component 420-460 can define a line contained in the table the modifier component 421 can be used to specify the format of or more cells that the line includes, for example, by clicking on the top triangle in the component 421 can increase the level of the format type of the line to make the line appear more conspicuous (e.g., larger font size, highlighted in bold and/or underline, etc., displayed in a darker font color, etc.), by clicking on the bottom triangle in the component 421 can decrease the level of the format type of the line to make the line appear less conspicuous, it should be understood that the modifier component 421 can also be implemented in any other suitable manner, e.g., the user can directly enter information specifying the format, such as text defining the format, the number of the format type.

According to embodiments, the graphical user interface editor 400A may include a format setting component for specifying a format corresponding to a format type, e.g., a new dialog box may be popped up or a predefined text may be displayed in other areas of the graphical user interface (e.g., "cell format 1"), a user setting for the format of the predefined text may be received, e.g., the displayed predefined text may be adjusted in real time according to the user's setting to facilitate the user to directly view the display effect of the format, then a specific format corresponding to the format type may be set based on the user's setting for the format of the predefined text, and a format having or more cells of the format type may be correspondingly specified according to the specific format. for example, referring to FIG. 17, FIG. 17 shows an exemplary format setting component 1700 according to two-disclosed embodiments, FIG. 17, a format setting component 1700 may set in the format setting component 1700, in FIG. 17, a default setting for tile 1711, a title, a different format of a predefined text, a column and line with a bold font, e.g., a bold font, 2, a bold font, a bold.

The component 422 may be used to obtain semantic information describing the specific meaning of a row, such as a row name, a row label, an annotation, etc. the graphical user interface editor 400A may also include other components for obtaining metadata for each node in the hierarchy, for example, in addition to the semantic information, or more of the following additional information, creation time of the node, number of child nodes of the node, units of data for or more cells corresponding to the node, time points or time periods corresponding to the data of the node, and paths from the root node to the node in the hierarchy, etc. the content entered in the component 423 is a predefined formula, such as "SOURCE ()", which may indicate that the content of the row is populated with the original data obtained by the data panel.component 453, the dependency definition component 453, and/or the computation relationship definition component 453, where the content in the component indicates that the result of the row "aggregate" equals the current row "cellphone", the sum of the row "notebook" and the row "component" is populated with the original data panel ". the result of the dependency definition component" and/or the computation relationship definition component 453, where the content in the component indicates that the row "aggregate" is equal to the row "cellphone" added "in a" cellphone "and" the next "notebook" add "notebook" row ". thus, the average of a" row "may be a" and "added by clicking" a "in a" and "of a" of a "and" of a "of a new notebook, thus, a" of a.

According to embodiments, the graphical user interface editor 400A may also include a label component, e.g., a label component may be located in the upper left corner (or upper right corner, lower left corner, lower right corner, etc.) of a component (e.g., component 422) for specifying a node name in the hierarchy, and a label component may also be located in other areas in the graphical user interface as shown in fig. 4C by clicking on the label component, a dialog box 473 may pop up (dialog box 473 may be the portion of the label component) allowing the user to edit or more labels corresponding to the node.

4D-4F illustrate exemplary graphical user interfaces displayed on an apparatus for automatically generating spreadsheets according to embodiments of the present disclosure graphical user interface 4000D includes a graphical user interface editor 4010 and a spreadsheet preview module 4020, can jump to a data-populated graphical user interface 840 as shown in FIG. 8B by clicking on button 4030, and can jump to an interface that presents a visual representation 500E as shown in FIG. 5E by clicking on button 4050.

According to embodiments, the editor 110 may also include a component to import templates that may be configured to import templates for or more nodes in the hierarchy as templates for nodes of any hierarchy type, which may be system preset or user customized as shown in FIGS. 4D-4F, templates for the global workbook (e.g., the global spreadsheet template for the DCF (cash flow discount) model) may be imported by clicking on button 4017, or templates for the tables (e.g., "profit sheet," "asset sheet," "cash flow sheet" template) may be imported by clicking on button 4012 or 4013, all available templates may be displayed in area 4011 of graphical user 4000E as shown in FIG. 4E by clicking on button 4018, which button may select and add to the table, row, data header, etc. all available templates may be saved as custom templates in the editor as shown in area 4011 of graphical user 4000E as shown in FIG. 4E, which module may select and add to the table, which template may be added to the spreadsheet as shown in graphical user interface 4016, which module may be displayed in the preview of the spreadsheet as shown in 4016, which may be displayed in the graphical user interface 4016, such as a preview module 4016.

The spreadsheet hierarchy and how to establish dependencies and computational relationships between nodes based on the obtained information according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is further described below in conjunction with fig. 5A-5D .

5A, 5B, and 5D are schematic diagrams illustrating

exemplary spreadsheet hierarchies

500A, 500B, and 500D and dependencies between nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure it should be understood that the

hierarchies

500A, 500B, and 500D are exemplary and that the hierarchies as illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5D are merely for ease of understanding and are not intended to limit the storage format of the hierarchies 5A the hierarchy in FIG. 5A may be obtained, for example, by the editor 110 of FIG. 1A, the editor 200A of FIG. 2A, or the graphical user interface editors 400A-400C of FIGS. 4A-4C.

In FIG. 5A, nodes of different hierarchy types in the hierarchy are shown with different node shapes, membership between nodes is shown with solid arrows, and dependencies between nodes are shown with dashed arrows, assuming node A is subordinate to node B, then solid arrows point from B to A, and node B is called the parent node of node A, node A is the child node of node B, defining that the node without parent node is called the root node, all nodes on the branch from root node to nodes are called the ancestor node of the node, any node in the child directed graph rooted at nodes is called the descendant node of the node, node 501 shown with an oval shape is the root node, its hierarchy type is page, node 501 corresponds to pages of the spreadsheet, it should be understood that in other embodiments, the hierarchy type of root node may also be a workbook or the like, the hierarchy type of node 503 is a table, it has two hierarchical types 504 and 505 rows, these are shown with a diamond-shaped hierarchical table, 505, and the hierarchy of nodes may include more hierarchical rows 504 and 505, it may be understood that the hierarchy lines include more nodes 504 and fewer hierarchical lines than the nodes 502, it may include a hierarchical table 510, and a hierarchical table of nodes 502, or a hierarchical table of nodes 502, where the hierarchy is a hierarchy type of a hierarchy includes a subordinate nodes, and a node 510, and a suitable number of nodes, where it may include a nodes, a subordinate to include a nodes, a node type of a node 510, a table, and a table of nodes, and a table, a table of nodes, and a table, a table of nodes, a table, and a table of a table, a table of a table.

Assuming that row node 502 is included in the computational formula corresponding to row node 504 (e.g., row corresponding to node 504 is row x2 corresponding to node 502), a dependency definition component (e.g., dependency definition component 220 in fig. 2A) may obtain a dependency that node 504 is dependent on node 502, which may be represented by dashed arrow 534 between node 502 and node 504, assuming that cell node 511 is included in the computational formula corresponding to cell node 507 (e.g., "cell corresponding to node 507 is + 1" of cell corresponding to node 511 or "cell corresponding to node 507 is cell corresponding to node 511 + cell corresponding to node 510", etc.), a dependency definition component (e.g., dependency definition component 220 in fig. 2A) may obtain a dependency that node 507 depends on node 511, which is represented by dashed arrow 542 between node 511 and node 507 (for cell corresponding to node 507 is cell corresponding to node + cell corresponding to node 510 ", the dependency definition component 510 in fig. 2A further example is shown in conjunction with the node dependency graph 5).

Although FIG. 6 illustrates four steps of the method 600, this is merely an exemplary flow of the method for establishing dependencies between nodes, and the method 600 may include other possible steps, or may include a combination of any of the four steps described above.

Method 600 begins at step S610, where step S610 may be performed, for example, by editor 110 of FIG. 1A or dependency definition component 220 of FIG. 2A. at step S610, a dependency between th node and another or more nodes of the plurality of nodes in the hierarchy is obtained according to embodiments, it may be determined that the th node is dependent on another or more nodes by identifying another or more nodes included in the calculation formula for th node.

The method 600 proceeds to step S620, which step S620 may be performed, for example, by the hierarchical graph builder 150 of fig. 1A at step S620, based on at least the dependency between the th node and the further or more nodes, for each of the or nd cells corresponding to the th node, it is determined that the node depends on the th group of second nodes corresponding to the th group of second cells of the or more second cells corresponding to the further or more nodes, referring back to fig. 5A, for the row corresponding to node 504, for example, according to the calculation formula corresponding to node 504, the row corresponding to node 504 is the row x2 corresponding to node 502, it may be determined that the cell node 508 has a dependency with the cell node, and the cell node 506 has a dependency with the cell node 509, specifically with the cell node 509, and particularly with the node B row corresponding to node 502, and if the node B has a dependency relationship with the node B, it may be determined that the node B has a dependency relationship with the node B of the node B row and the node B of the node B corresponding to the node B, and the node B is the node B, and if the node B has a dependency relationship between the node B and the node B of the node B2, it may be determined that the node B2 has a dependency of the node B and the node B2, it may be the node B, and the node B has a dependency of the node B, and the node B may be the same node B, and the node B may be the node B has a dependency relationship with the node B, and the node B may be interpreted as the node B may be the same, and the node B may be the node B has a dependency of the node B, and the node B may be the same, and the node B may be.

In fig. 5B, if the calculation formula in the node 504 is "row corresponding to the node 504 is — row corresponding to the node 502 × 2", the dependency edges of the nodes 502 to 504 have been established in step S610. In step S620, the dependency edges of the nodes 502 to 504 are converted into the dependency edges 531 of the nodes 506 to 508 and the dependency edges 539 of the nodes 507 to 509.

Depending on the specific calculation formula, the dependency relationship between the th node and the or more additional nodes can be translated into a dependency relationship between each cell corresponding to the th node and some or all of the cells corresponding to the or more additional nodes in different ways.

Through step S620, the dependency relationship between the nodes having the hierarchical type higher than the cell may be decomposed into the dependency relationship of the node having the hierarchical type as the cell in the descendant node of the node. Whereas, for the dependency relationship between the node 507 and the node 511 determined in step S610, this step S620 may actually be omitted since the hierarchy type of the hierarchy in which the

nodes

507 and 511 are located is already a cell.

The method 600 proceeds to step S630, which step S630 may be performed, for example, by the hierarchical graph builder 150 of fig. 1A at step S630, a calculation relationship between a node corresponding to each 3 th cell of the th node or th cells and a node corresponding to each or second cells of the 825 or second cells corresponding to the additional or nodes is obtained based on at least the calculation relationship between the th node and the additional or more nodes, referring back to fig. 5A, the calculation formula corresponding to, for example, node 504 is "row × 2 corresponding to node 504", and "cell 508 × 2" may be determined, and "cell 507 × 2" may be understood, depending on a specific calculation formula, the 856 th node and the additional node or the additional node may be converted into a calculation formula corresponding to, if the calculation formula corresponding to the node is specified by a, the specific calculation formula, the node corresponds to, the node corresponding row × 2 "may be determined, and the node may be converted into a calculation formula corresponding to the specific calculation formula". a "node". 2 ", and the corresponding node × 2", and the corresponding node may be a "may be determined, if the specific calculation formula is corresponding to the node × 2", the corresponding row × 2 "may be a" and the corresponding node × 2 ", and the corresponding calculation formula". the corresponding node × 2 "may be determined, the corresponding calculation formula". the corresponding row × 2 "may be determined, the specific calculation formula". the corresponding node × 2 "may be converted into a" may be a "and the corresponding to be a" may be determined, if the corresponding to be a "may be determined, if the corresponding node × 2", and the corresponding to be a calculation formula ". the corresponding to be a" may be a calculation formula ". the corresponding to the corresponding panel may be a, the corresponding to be determined, if the corresponding to the corresponding panel may be a, the corresponding panel may be a" may be a, the corresponding to be a "may be a panel may be a, the panel may be a" may be a, if the panel may be a, the panel may be a "may be a, the panel may be a, may be a may.

For example, a user may enter a calculation formula in an editor

"{ revenue } [ prediction period ] = { revenue: ../profit sheet, lag (1) × (1+ { average revenue growth rate }) -.

Referring to the table below, suppose that line , which is the "revenue" of node (or the left value node) in the calculation formula, is at line 10 in the summary table in the spreadsheet, and the columns of "2019", "2020", "2021" in the summary table are "F", "G", "H", respectively, if the three columns of "2019", "2020", "2021" all carry the label "term of prediction", then the spreadsheet formula needs to be generated in the cell (i.e., cells F10, G10 and H10) where the "revenue" line (i.e., line 10) intersects "2019" (i.e., column F), "2020" (i.e., column G) and "2021" (i.e., column H) in the summary table in the target spreadsheet.

Table: total meter

In addition, for example, referring to the "table profit Table" below, assume that the "revenue:./profit Table" for the second node (dependent node) in the formula is calculated as line in line 30 of the profit Table in the spreadsheet.

Table: profit table

Further, for example, referring to the "table of totals", suppose that the cell corresponding to the "10% value of the average revenue growth rate" of another second nodes (dependent nodes) in the calculation formula is in the C column of row 12 in the totals in the spreadsheet.

Table: total meter

Thus, the following three spreadsheet formulas may be generated for cells F10, G10, and H10 in the summary table in the spreadsheet, respectively, according to the hierarchy of the spreadsheet (such as the summary table, profit table, etc., as described above), and the atomic operator ". lag (1)", "×", "+" or the composite operator "{ y } - { x1}. lag (1) × (1+ { x2 })" consisting of the above atomic operators:

for cell F10 in the summary table, generate the spreadsheet formula E30 × (1+ C12); for cell G10 in the summary table, generate spreadsheet formula F30 × (1+ C12); for cell H10 in the summary table, the spreadsheet formula G30 × (1+ C12) is generated.

For the implementation of , it is required to visualize the dependency between the nodes in the hierarchy, at which point the dependency may be established , by the following operation, the method 600 proceeds to step S640, step S640 may be performed, for example, by the hierarchy graph builder 150 of FIG. 1A, at step S640, for the node corresponding to each of the or cells corresponding to the node, the dependency is established, the node and all or part of the ancestor node of the node depend on the group second node and the group second node, all or part of the ancestor node of the dependency node is established, for example, at step S620, the dependency of the cell node 508 on the cell node 506 and the cell node 509 on the cell node 507, the dependency of the node 508 and the node 506 on the ancestor node 506, the dependency of the node is indicated in the hierarchy node, the dependency of the node is indicated, the node is indicated by the dependency of the node, the node 506, the ancestor the dependency of the node is indicated by the ancestor the node, the dependency of the node, the dependency of the node, the.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a node 700 in an exemplary spreadsheet hierarchy according to embodiments of the present disclosure it should be understood that a node 700 may be any nodes in the hierarchies of FIGS. 5A-5B and 5D the data structures storing nodes in hierarchies as illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5B and 5D may be referred to as a hierarchy map according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure it should be understood that the tree hierarchies illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5D are merely for ease of understanding and are not intended to limit the manner in which the hierarchy is stored, it may be stored with any suitable data structure, e.g., linked lists, trees, directed graphs, etc. according to embodiments, a hierarchy map builder (e.g., hierarchy map builder 150 as illustrated in FIG. 1A) may be configured to build a hierarchy map, a hierarchy map memory (e.g., as optical disk memory 160 as illustrated in FIG. 1A) may be configured to store a hierarchy map in any suitable device including, ROM, RAM, and to allow for dynamic queries to be made to the hierarchy map.

According to embodiments, the hierarchy graph builder may be configured to build a hierarchy graph for a spreadsheet based on the hierarchy type 702 of the hierarchy in which each of a plurality of nodes in the hierarchy is located, the child nodes 704 of the node, and the metadata 706 of the node according to embodiments, the hierarchy graph builder may be configured to build a hierarchy graph for a spreadsheet based on the hierarchy type 702 of the hierarchy in which each of the nodes is located, the child nodes 704 of the node, and the metadata 706 of the node, the metadata 706 may include semantic information describing the specific meaning of the node (e.g., or more of the title, name, label, and annotations associated with the node), the metadata 706 may further include or more of the additional information of the creation time of the node, the number of child nodes of the node, units of data for or more cells corresponding to the node, the time point or time period corresponding to the data of the node, and the path from the root node to the node in the hierarchy structure, etc. with reference to fig. 5D, for example, the hierarchy graph 504 may store the node names and the row pointers of the child nodes may be the row names of the hierarchy type and the row pointers of the node (e.g., row pointers 508, row pointers of the row of the node, and the like).

According to embodiments, the node 708 on which the node depends may also optionally be stored for each node (e.g., the number of the node on which it depends or a pointer to the node on which it depends, etc.) in embodiments, the hierarchy graph builder builds the hierarchy graph further based on the node 708 on which each node in the hierarchy depends, referring to fig. 5D, for example, for node 504, the node on which node 504 depends may be stored including node 502 and node 506 it is noted that it is not necessary to store the node on which each node depends, according to embodiments, the node that depends on the node may also be stored additionally or alternatively for each node, that is, for each node in the hierarchy graph, the node on which the node depends may be stored, or the node that depends on the node may be stored, or both the node on which the node and the node that depends on the node may be stored, further, for a portion of the nodes in the hierarchy graph, the dependency of the node and other nodes may not be stored (e.g., the content of the cell lattice with the node may be populated directly, but may be "in the tablet" a "with the node, such as a tablet).

According to embodiments, the computational relationship 710 between the node and other nodes may also optionally be stored for each node (e.g., the computational formula of the node may be stored, combinations of operators or operators included in the computational formula of the node, constants that may be included in the computational formula, and nodes on which the node depends corresponding to each parameter placeholder in the computational formula, etc.) according to embodiments, the hierarchical graph builder' S construction of the hierarchical graph is further based on the computational relationship 710 between each node in the hierarchical structure and other nodes, referring to fig. 5D, for example for node 504, the computational relationship between node 504 and other nodes may be stored as "row x2 corresponding to node 504" or "x 2" for node 508, the computational relationship between node 508 and other nodes may be stored as "cell x2 corresponding to node 508" or "cell 2" corresponding to node 506 "or" x for node 508, the computational relationship between the cell corresponding to node 508 and other nodes may be stored as "cell x 2" for node 506, or "the computational relationship between the node and other nodes may be derived by the use of the dependency of the computational formula 640, the computational relationship may be derived by the dependency of the node when the dependency of the node is derived by the dependency of the node, the dependency of the computational formula, the node 640, the dependency of the node is derived by the procedure of the node, such as the node, the dependency of the node is derived by the dependency of the node 640, the node, the dependency of the node, the dependency of the node is derived by the node, the dependency of the node, the dependency of the node, the dependency of the node, the dependency of the node.

FIG. 8A is a block diagram of an exemplary data panel 800A in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the data panel 800A may be a component separate from the editor the data panel 800A may be examples of the data panel 120 as shown in FIG. 1A the data panel 800A may include an original data acquisition component 810, a to-be-populated data detection component 820, and a data matching component 830 as shown in FIG. 8A although FIG. 8A illustrates the three elements described above, this is merely an exemplary structure of the data panel 800A, the data panel 800A may also include more or fewer elements than shown, or may include a combination of the three elements described above.

According to embodiments, raw data acquisition component 810 may include or more of intelligent data extraction component configured to automatically identify raw data from a data file (e.g., Excel file, txt file, etc.), database interface component configured to import raw data from a database (e.g., professional financial database such as Bloomberg), retrieval interface component configured to retrieve raw data from an external data source (e.g., search engine, electronic publication, blog, etc.), manual entry receiving component configured to receive user-entered raw data, according to embodiments, manual entry receiving component may allow a user to directly enter data in a spreadsheet preview module (e.g., spreadsheet preview module 140) in a graphical user interface editor, according to 1 embodiments, a user may identify that the user may store multiple items of raw data in a semantic data storage panel file, such as a semantic log file, a semantic data entry.

The data to fill detection component 820 can be configured to detect a node of a plurality of nodes of a hierarchy that requires INPUT of raw data and a requirement for the raw data in the node (e.g., whether the node requires INPUT of raw data, and a type of raw data that requires INPUT). according to embodiments, the data to fill detection component 820 can determine that or more cells corresponding to the node require INPUT of raw data based on detecting that a particular predefined formula (e.g., ═ SOURCE () or ═ INPUT ()) is included in components of an editor that specify nodes of different hierarchies, and determine a requirement for the raw data according to metadata and/or the hierarchy with the node (e.g., the number of row nodes, the number of column nodes, the number of cell nodes, etc.).

The data matching component 830 can be configured to match the nodes requiring input of raw data with the acquired raw data based on the raw data acquired by the raw data acquisition component 810 and the nodes requiring input of raw data detected by the to-be-populated data detection component 820 and the requirements for raw data in the nodes.

The data pane 800A may optionally include a data population graphical user interface 840. in implementations, a data form to be populated may be generated by a spreadsheet generation module and displayed on the graphical user interface, such that data matches and population results may be displayed in real time, as well as allowing a user to more intuitively populate nodes that require entry of raw data.

FIG. 8B is a graphical user interface 840 of an exemplary data panel according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the graphical user interface 840 may include a table of data 831 to be filled (e.g., in the form of a web page) generated by a translator and renderer, the graphical user interface 840 may further include a view 811 of an original data file (e.g., in pdf format) imported by an original data acquisition component and a view 812 of the parsing result of the original data file by an intelligent data extraction component according to embodiments, the intelligent data extraction component is configured to parse semantic information of each of the original data items identified from the data file to generate parsed data, and upon selection of a data item of one of the data in the data file, parsed by the intelligent data extraction component and filled in the data table 812 to be filled, the data file, parsed by the intelligent data extraction component 831, and the other two of the parsed data items of the data table are displayed with a highlighted data item matching table or highlighted data item matching data item of a predefined character string of a hidden character string of data matching data item of a hidden character string of data string of a hidden character string of a.

Although FIG. 9A illustrates three steps of a method 900A, this is merely an exemplary flow of a method for generating a spreadsheet, the method 900A for generating a spreadsheet may also include more or less steps than shown, or may include a combination of any of the three steps described above.

The method 900A begins at step S910, which step S910 may be performed by the to-fill data detection component 820 of fig. 8A. At step S910, a node of the plurality of nodes in the hierarchy that needs to input the original data and a requirement for the original data in the node are detected.

The method 900A proceeds to step S920, and step S920 may be performed by the translator. At step S920, the translator generates a spreadsheet to be populated based on the hierarchy of the spreadsheet, the metadata, the detected nodes that need to input the raw data, and the requirements for the raw data in the nodes.

The method 900A proceeds to step S930 where the spreadsheet to be populated is populated based on the raw data to generate the spreadsheet at step S930.

FIG. 9B is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 900B for generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure FIG. 9B is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 900B for generating a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure, although FIG. 9B illustrates two steps of the method 900B, this is merely an exemplary flow of the method for generating a spreadsheet, and the method 900B for generating a spreadsheet may also include more or less steps than shown, or may include a combined step of any of the two steps described above.

The method 900B begins at step S901, where for each of a plurality of nodes in a hierarchy, or more cells corresponding to the node are located in a spreadsheet based on the hierarchy.

The method 900B proceeds to step S902, at step S902, contents of or more cells corresponding to the node are populated based on one or more of the raw data, the hierarchical type of the node, the metadata of the node, the node on which the node depends, and the computational relationship of the node.

According to embodiments, for all nodes whose hierarchical type in the hierarchical structure is "page", the corresponding page may be added in the spreadsheet, according to embodiments, the location (e.g., row and column coordinates) where the title of a different hierarchy is located in each page may be determined for the node whose hierarchical type in the hierarchical structure is "section", and the content of the title may be written into the cell of the corresponding location in the spreadsheet according to embodiments, the location (e.g., row and column coordinates) of the cell in the upper left-most corner of each table in the spreadsheet may be determined for the node whose hierarchical type in the hierarchical structure is "table", the location of the table name and the table stub in the spreadsheet may be determined, and the content of the table name and the stub may be written into the cell of the corresponding location in the spreadsheet according to 4625 embodiments, for each "table" nodes, the location of the table name and the table stub in the spreadsheet may be determined according to the "row" node column "node" block "node in its child node, and the content of the table root may be determined according to each " table "node, and the corresponding data may be obtained by writing the corresponding data in the corresponding table" and by the corresponding location, and by the method, as long as appropriate, as long as the data, as well as the data, as well as the data is obtained, as well as the data, as the data is obtained, as well as the data, as the data is obtained, as appropriate, as the data is obtained in the data of the spreadsheet, as appropriate, as well as the data, as well as.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary spreadsheet generation module 1000 according to embodiments of the present disclosure the spreadsheet generation module 1000 may be examples of the spreadsheet generation module 130 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 10, the spreadsheet generation module 1000 may include a translator 1010 and a renderer 1020. although FIG. 10 illustrates the two elements described above, this is merely an exemplary structure of the spreadsheet generation module 1000, and the spreadsheet generation module 1000 may also include more or fewer elements than shown, or may include a combination of the two elements described above.

According to embodiments, the translator 1010 may be configured to generate data or formulas in each th cell of the or more th cell based on raw data obtained by the data panel or at least based on a calculated relationship between each cell of the or more th cells and each second cell of the or more second cells obtained by the hierarchical graph builder.

After step S630 shown in fig. 6, if the calculation relationship of the node corresponding to cells is a system preset formula "═ SOURCE ()" or "═ INPUT ()", it indicates that the content of this cell is the original data item matching this cell obtained via the data panel, after step S630 shown in fig. 6, if the calculation relationship of cell nodes to other or more cell nodes is obtained, then the formula of the cell corresponding to this cell node in the spreadsheet may be generated according to the calculation relationship of this cell node to other or more cell nodes and the positions of the cell corresponding to this cell node in the spreadsheet and the positions of the cell corresponding to other more cell nodes in the spreadsheet, for example, the calculation relationship of cell node a to row node B may be "cell a ═ row B ═ SUM ()" converted to the row a ═ cell a ═ SUM ═ cell B: "the calculation relationship of this cell a to row B, if the calculation relationship of the node corresponding to this cell is a system preset formula" ═ SOURCE () "or" ("INPUT ()", then the calculation relationship of this cell is determined via the step S5, then the calculation relationship of this cell node B — S5, if this cell node B is the calculation relationship of this cell node B "(" cell node B ": the calculation relationship of this cell node B": and the calculation relationship of this cell node is determined as the unit B ": and the calculation relationship of this cell is determined via the calculation relationship of this cell is the unit B" ("cell 5, then the calculation relationship of this cell 1, the calculation relationship of this cell, the calculation of this cell, then the calculation relationship of.

The renderer 1020 may be configured to set a format of the 630 or th cells in the spreadsheet according to information specifying a format of the or th cells according to the information specifying a format of the or th cells according to embodiments, the renderer 1020 may be configured to automatically set a format of or more cells corresponding to the node according to a hierarchical type of each of the nodes in the hierarchy, information of the format of the node, and or more of or more cells corresponding to the node, (e.g., a column according to a hierarchical type of nodes including "column format 1" set for the node by a modifier component, the renderer 1020 may set a format of a cell in which a column name of the column corresponding to the node is set to a format corresponding to "column format 1" (e.g., black background, white bolded font, four-number, etc.) according to a font style of a column, a column format of a column name of a column corresponding to a column format of a column, a column name of a column, a column name, a column.

As described above, according to embodiments, a spreadsheet preview module (e.g., spreadsheet preview module 140 of FIG. 1A and 4020 in FIG. 4D) may be configured to cause the generated spreadsheet to be displayed.

11A-11D illustrate exemplary displayed spreadsheets 1100A-1100D according to embodiments of the present disclosure spreadsheets 1100A-1100D may be generated, for example, from input in the graphical user interface editor shown in FIG. 4A and raw data (not shown). it should be understood that spreadsheets 1100A-1100D may also be generated based on input in any other type of editor. the generation process of spreadsheets 1100A-1100D is now described with reference to FIG. 4A.

A data to fill detection component of the data panel (e.g., data to fill detection component 820 of fig. 8A) may detect that cells corresponding to row node "cell phone", row node "notebook", row node "tablet" in fig. 4A require input of raw data, and then may determine that rows of ten columns of raw data (i.e., 10 data per row, total 30 data) need to be filled, respectively, in cells corresponding to row node "cell phone", row node "notebook", row node "tablet" based on the parent nodes (i.e., table node "sales") of these row nodes including ten columns.

The translator (e.g., the translator 1010 shown in fig. 10) may be configured to generate a spreadsheet 1100A to be filled as shown in fig. 11A based on the hierarchical structure and metadata acquired by the graphical user interface editor 400A. although it is shown in fig. 11A that the spreadsheet to be filled is an Excel file, the spreadsheet 1100A to be filled may also be any other suitable spreadsheet file, portion of txt file or web page or any other suitable file format according to embodiments, the "sales" 1110 "may be filled in the cell at the leftmost upper corner of the spreadsheet based on the table" sales "being" 8672 ", and the" sales "1110" may be filled in the cell at the leftmost upper corner of the spreadsheet based on the table "sales" — since the data head of the table contains a secondary column, two rows are required to fill column names, so that the "million-element" 1120 "may be filled in the first row of the spreadsheet to the third row of the spreadsheet (a a- a)" and the "2015- " may be filled in the first row of the " Q- a" - "and" Q- B "-" the " B" - "may be filled in the" B "-" and " B" - "the" B "-" may be used to fill the " B" - "fill the filled in the" B "-" and " B" - "" n B "-" and "n" B "-" n-h "n- B" - "n-h" n-.

The translator (e.g., translator 1010 shown in fig. 10) may be configured to populate the data table 1100A to be populated based on the raw data obtained through the data panel and based on the nodes on which the respective nodes depend and the calculation relationships of the respective nodes to generate the spreadsheet 1100B according to embodiments, the populated contents of the cells of the spreadsheet 1100B with the column names "Q1", "Q2", "Q3" and "Q4" are the raw data matching the cells obtained through the data panel, while the populated contents of the cells of the row "total" and the row "AVERAGE" may be the spreadsheet formula generated based on the calculation relationships of each cell of the row node "cell phone", the row node "notebook", the row node "tablet", for example, the content of the cell "B7" is SUM (B4: B6), "the content of the cell B8 is ere (B58age.g., the content of the cell" B3626: B4 "and the column of the raw data obtained according to the column names of the raw data input data of the data panel 1145, such as the column of the column 1152, the column of the spreadsheet 1100B 1153, the column of the spreadsheet 1100B 1156, and the column of the cell of the column of the data of the column of the data panel 11512B 1152, such as the column of the column 1152 of the column of the.

According to embodiments, the renderer may set the format of or more cells in the spreadsheet 1100C based on information obtained in the gui editor 400A for specifying or more cell formats, according to embodiments, in response to the format level obtained in the finisher component 421 for the row "total" and row "average" being "row format 3", the cells a7 and a8 in which the

row names

1134 and 1135 are located may be set to bold, and indented 2 characters according to "row format 3", and the numerical formats of the cells (B7 to K7, B8 to K8) included in the two rows may be set to bold, two-bit decimal, and an indicator character, in addition, the cells a4 to A6 in which the row name 1131-.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 1200 for updating a generated spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure although FIG. 12 illustrates three steps of the method 1200, this is merely an exemplary flow of a method for updating a generated spreadsheet, and the method 1200 for updating a generated spreadsheet may include other possible steps as well, or may include a combination of any of the three steps described above.

The method 1200 begins at step S1210, where the generated spreadsheet is displayed at step S1210. For example, the generated spreadsheet may be displayed on a display coupled with the means for generating a spreadsheet.

The method 1200 proceeds to step S1220 where a modification to the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or computational relationships is received at step S1220 according to embodiments, the hierarchy, metadata, dependencies, or computational relationships may be modified using an editor, such as modifying membership or dependencies of nodes in the hierarchy, adding or deleting nodes, modifying semantic information of nodes, modifying format information of nodes, changing formulas of nodes, etc. according to embodiments, raw data stored in a data store may be modified.

The method 1200 proceeds to step S1230, at step S1230, the displayed spreadsheet is updated based on a modification to the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or calculated relationships according to embodiments, the updated spreadsheet corresponds to the modified hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or calculated relationships.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 1300 for modifying a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure although FIG. 13 illustrates three steps of the method 1300, this is merely an exemplary flow of the method for modifying a spreadsheet, and the method 1300 for modifying a spreadsheet may include other possible steps, or may include a combination of any of the three steps described above.

The method 1300 begins at step S1310, and at step S1310, the generated spreadsheet is displayed. For example, the generated spreadsheet may be displayed on a display coupled with the means for generating a spreadsheet.

According to embodiments, a user may add or delete or more cells in the spreadsheet, change or more cell locations, modify or more of or more cell names, titles, labels, and headings, modify or more cell format information, etc. for example, a user may modify the row name 1134 in the spreadsheet shown in FIG. 11B to "sales amount" in addition to, for example, a user may add a new row with a row name "same rate of growth" under the row corresponding to the row name "average" in the spreadsheet 1100B shown in FIG. 11B.

The method 1300 proceeds to step S1330, at step S1330, translating the modification to the spreadsheet into a modification to at least of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or calculated relationships, and modifying at least of the hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or calculated relationships based on the modification with at least of the editor and the data panel, respectively, according to embodiments, the modified hierarchy, metadata, raw data, dependencies, and calculated relationships correspond to the modified spreadsheet, according to embodiments, the modified hierarchy, metadata, dependencies, or calculated relationships may be stored with a hierarchy map memory, and the modified raw data may also be stored in a data storage, according to embodiments, for example, in response to modifying the row name 1134 in the spreadsheet shown in FIG. 11B to "sales sum", the "name" sum "of the corresponding row 450 in the hierarchy corresponding to FIG. 4A may be set to" sales sum "name" of the row "added" in the hierarchy, and the "add" ratio "of the corresponding row name" to "1100" of the parent "added" row "in the hierarchy, and the corresponding node" may be set to the corresponding node "added" node "of the same row name" added "node" of the same row "added" in the same hierarchy, for example, and the same node "added" may be an "added" node "of the same node" added to the same node "of the same node" in the same hierarchy, such as the same node "added node" added as the same node "added" of the same node "added as the same node" added node "in the same node.

According to embodiments, the modification to the hierarchy includes a drag on a component that specifies a node of a different level in the hierarchy, and updating the displayed spreadsheet includes adjusting the relative position of or more cells corresponding to the node in the spreadsheet to result in a relative position of the dragged component that specifies the node in the graphical user interface editor .

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary graphical user editor 1400 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure in comparison to the graphical user interface editor 400A of FIG. 4A, the component 440 for the designated row node "tablet" is dragged over the component 430 for the designated row node "notebook".

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary displayed spreadsheet 1500 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure the spreadsheet 1500 is updated compared to the spreadsheet 1100D shown in FIG. 11D. specifically, the relative position of the cells in the row with the row name "tablet" in the spreadsheet is adjusted to be above the cells in the row with the row name "notebook" resulting from the relative position of the dragged component 440 for specifying the row node "tablet" in the graphical user interface editor 1400.

According to embodiments, the error detection module may be configured to automatically detect an error in or more of the hierarchical structure, metadata, raw data, dependencies, or computational relationships, and issue a warning to prompt for the error.for example, the error detection module may detect that the raw data in the cell is 0, while the formula of the second cell may be equal to the reciprocal of the value of the th cell, so that the error detection module may determine that the formula of the raw data or the second cell may have an error, thereby issuing a warning.for example, the error detection module may detect that the formula of the row "totals" is "AVEARGE (cell phone, notebook, tablet)", so that it detects that the semantic information of the row "totals" and the operator "AVERAGE" of the row do not conform, thereby issuing a warning.for example, according to embodiments, the apparatus for generating an electronic table may include an intelligent information that an intelligent table may include a list of intelligent information that is to be obtained from multiple types of intelligent information, a user, may be configured to predict that the relationship between multiple types of the user may be obtained by a user, and a user may be given by a user's intelligent information recommendation, and a user may be given by a user's, a user's intelligent information, a recommendation that the user may have a different user's dependency relationship, a different intelligent information may be obtained by a different user may be obtained by a user's intelligent information, a user's intelligent recommendation, a user may be displayed in a recommendation, a user may be obtained by a user may be displayed in a recommendation, a user may be obtained by a user may be displayed, a user may be displayed in a recommendation, a user may be obtained by a user may be displayed in a user, a user may be displayed, a recommendation, a user may be displayed, a user may be obtained by a user, a user may be displayed.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 1600 of obtaining a hierarchical structure for a spreadsheet according to embodiments of the present disclosure although FIG. 16 illustrates two steps of method 1600, this is merely an exemplary flow of a method of obtaining a hierarchical structure for a spreadsheet, and method 1600 of obtaining a hierarchical structure for a spreadsheet may include other possible steps, or may include a combination of any of the two steps.

The method 1600 begins at step S1610, text code input by a user may be received, which may be written for a domain-specific language of the present application scenario, or written using any suitable programming language now known (e.g., C, C + +, C #, Java, python, etc.), or any suitable programming language that may be developed in the future. according to embodiments, in domain-specific languages for the present application scenario, a user may specify different levels using keywords BOOK, SHEET, TABLE, HEADER, STUB, ROW, and code indentation, etc., separate different columns or blocks in a data HEADER using a keyword "|", specify intervals using a keyword "[ ]," define tags using the keyword "[ ]" ], "define formats of nodes, and so on.

The user may also write text code based on any predefined grammar rules.

The method 1600 proceeds to step S1620, where at step S1620, the text code is parsed to generate a hierarchy according to embodiments, the text code may be parsed based on predefined grammar rules, for example, a text editor may obtain the same hierarchy as that obtained by the graphical user interface editor 400A shown in FIG. 4A by parsing the text code as shown above, and will not be described in detail herein.

As described above, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the separation of the hierarchical structure, the calculation relationship, and the original data in the electronic form can be achieved, the manner of generating the electronic form can be more intuitive, convenient, easy to understand and debug, and the electronic form has the characteristics of flexibility and automation. Furthermore, embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure can facilitate intuitive and convenient modification of spreadsheets, making it easy to reuse existing spreadsheet models.

Hardware implementation

Referring to fig. 18, a computing device 1800, which is an example of a hardware device applicable to aspects of the present disclosure, will now be described. Computing device 1800 may be any machine configured to perform processing and/or computing, and may be, but is not limited to, a workstation, a server, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a smart phone, a portable camera, or any combination thereof. The apparatus 100A described above may be implemented in whole or at least in part by a computing device 1800 or similar device or system.

Computing device 1800 may include bus 1802, or processors 1804, or input devices 1806 and or output devices 1808. or processors 1804 may be any type of processor and may include, but are not limited to or general-purpose processors and/or or special-purpose processors (such as special-purpose processing chips). input device 1806 may be any type of device capable of inputting information to the computing device and may include, but is not limited to, a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, microphone, and/or remote control. output device 1808 may be any type of device capable of presenting information and may include, but is not limited to, a display, speaker, video/audio output terminal, and/or printerDevice, network card, infrared communication device, wireless communication equipment and/or device such as Bluetooth^TMDevices, 802.11 devices, WiFi devices, WiMax devices, cellular communications facilities, and the like.

The bus 1802 can include, but is not limited to, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, an enhanced ISA (eisa) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.

The computing device 1800 may also include a working memory 1814, which may be any type of working memory that can store instructions and/or data useful to the operation of the processor 1804, and may include, but is not limited to, random access memory and/or read only memory devices.

Software elements may be located in working memory 1814, including but not limited to operating system 1816, or more application programs 1818, drivers, and/or other data and code the instructions for performing the above methods and steps may be included in or more application programs 1818, and the above components of apparatus 100A may be implemented by processor 1804 reading and executing instructions of the application programs 1818 more specifically editor 110 may be implemented, for example, by processor 1804 when executing application program 1818 with instructions to perform steps S110 and S120, data panel 120 may be implemented, for example, by processor 1804 when executing application program 1818 with instructions to perform step S130, spreadsheet generation module 130 may be implemented, for example, by processor 1804 when executing application program 1818 with instructions to perform step S140, the executable or source code of the instructions of the software elements may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (such as described above ( or more) storage devices, and may be read into executable code or otherwise loaded from remote memory 1814, possibly compiled or installed into executable code.

The present disclosure also relates to the following embodiments.

Embodiment 1, a computer-implemented method for automatically generating a spreadsheet, the method comprising:

obtaining a hierarchy for the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy comprises levels or multiple levels, the levels or multiple levels having a plurality of nodes, wherein each level has at least nodes and has a corresponding level type, each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy further comprises membership between the plurality of nodes;

obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes;

obtaining raw data for the spreadsheet; and

generating the spreadsheet based at least on the hierarchy for the spreadsheet, the metadata, and the raw data.

Embodiment 2, the method of embodiment 1, further comprising:

for each node, the hierarchy type of the hierarchy in which the node is located, the child nodes of the node, and metadata of the node are stored.

Embodiment 3 the method of embodiment 1, wherein obtaining a hierarchical structure for the spreadsheet comprises:

providing a graphical user interface editor, wherein the graphical user interface editor comprises a component for specifying nodes of different hierarchies;

receiving input for a component specifying nodes of different hierarchies; and

generating the hierarchy based on the input.

Embodiment 4 the method of embodiment 3, wherein the or more levels of the spreadsheet comprise or more of a workbook, a page, a section, a table, a block, a row, a column, a section, and a cell, wherein the components for specifying nodes at different levels comprise or more of a component for specifying a page, a component for specifying a title, a component for specifying a section, a component for specifying a table, a component for specifying a data header, a component for specifying a table body, a component for specifying a row, a component for specifying a column, a component for specifying a block, a component for specifying a section, and a component for specifying a cell.

Embodiment 5 the method of embodiment 1, wherein obtaining a hierarchical structure for the spreadsheet comprises:

receiving a text code input by a user; and

parsing the text code to generate the hierarchical structure.

Embodiment 6 the method of embodiment 1, wherein obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes comprises obtaining semantic information describing a particular meaning of the node.

Embodiment 7 the method of embodiment 6, wherein the semantic information comprises or more of a title, a name, a label, and an annotation.

Embodiment 8, the method of embodiment 1, wherein:

obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes further includes obtaining information specifying a format of th or th cells corresponding to the node, and

generating the spreadsheet further comprises formatting the or more cells in the spreadsheet according to the information for specifying the format of the or more cells.

Example 9 the process according to example 8,

wherein the information for specifying the format of the th or more th cells corresponding to the node includes a format type, and

wherein the or more th cells are formatted with a format corresponding to the format type.

Embodiment 10 the method of embodiment 3, wherein the graphical user interface editor further comprises a modifier component for specifying a format type of the or more cells corresponding to a node in the hierarchy.

Embodiment 11, the method of embodiment 9, wherein the format corresponding to the format type is set by:

displaying predefined text;

receiving the setting of a user on the format of a predefined text; and

setting a format corresponding to the format type based on a user setting of a format of the predefined text.

Embodiment 12, the method of embodiment 1, wherein:

obtaining metadata for each node of the plurality of nodes further comprises obtaining an alias tag or attribute tag for the node, wherein the alias tag specifies an alias for the or more cells corresponding to the node, and wherein the attribute tag specifies additional characteristics for the or more cells corresponding to the node.

Embodiment 13, the method of embodiment 1, further comprising:

obtaining a dependency relationship between an th node of the plurality of nodes and another or more nodes.

Embodiment 14, the method of embodiment 13, further comprising:

obtaining a dependency between a node corresponding to each th cell of the or more th cells corresponding to the th node and a node corresponding to each second cell of the or more second cells corresponding to the additional or more nodes based at least on the dependency between the th node and the additional or more nodes.

Embodiment 15, the method of embodiment 14, further comprising:

obtaining a computational relationship between the th node and another or more nodes;

determining a calculated relationship between each th cell of the or more th cells corresponding to the th node and each second cell of the or more second cells corresponding to the additional or more nodes based at least on the calculated relationship between the th node and the additional or more nodes.

Embodiment 16 the method of embodiment 15, wherein generating the spreadsheet further comprises:

generating a spreadsheet formula for each cell of the or th cell based at least on the calculated relationship between each th cell of the or more th cells and each second cell of the or more second cells.

Embodiment 17, the method of embodiment 14, further comprising:

for the node corresponding to each of the or th cell corresponding to the th node, determining that the node depends on th group of second nodes corresponding to each of the th group of second cells of the or second cells based on a dependency between the node and the node corresponding to each of the or second cells corresponding to the other or more nodes, and

establishing a dependency relationship that the node and all or a portion of ancestor nodes of the node depend on all or a portion of ancestor nodes of the th group second node and the th group second node.

Embodiment 18, the method of embodiment 17, further comprising storing, for each node, at least of the node on which the node depends and the nodes that depend on the node.

Embodiment 19 the method of embodiment 15, further comprising storing, for each node, the computed relationship between the node and other nodes.

Embodiment 20, the method of embodiment 1, wherein the raw data for the spreadsheet is obtained by or more of the following ways:

is automatically identified from the data file or files,

the information is imported from a database and is transmitted to the user,

retrieved from an external data source, an

Input by a user.

Embodiment 21, the method of embodiment 1, further comprising:

detecting a node of said plurality of nodes requiring input of raw data and a requirement for raw data in said node, and

and matching the acquired raw data with the detected nodes needing to input the raw data.

Embodiment 22 the method of embodiment 21, wherein generating the spreadsheet further comprises:

generating a spreadsheet to be populated based on the spreadsheet's hierarchy, the metadata, the detected nodes that need to input raw data, and the requirements for raw data in the nodes; and

populating the spreadsheet to be populated based on the raw data to generate the spreadsheet.

Embodiment 23, the method of embodiment 22, wherein:

the raw data for the spreadsheet is automatically identified from the data file, and the method further comprises parsing semantic information for each raw data item in the raw data identified from the data file to generate parsed data; and

when data items of the data file, the data parsed by the intelligent data extraction component, and the data populated in the data table to be populated are selected, respective data items of the other two of the data file, the parsed data, and the data populated in the data table to be populated are highlighted.

Embodiment 24, the method of embodiment 15, wherein generating the spreadsheet comprises:

for each node of the plurality of nodes:

determining the location of or more cells corresponding to the node in the spreadsheet based on the hierarchy, and

populating the contents of or more cells corresponding to the node based on one or more of the raw data, the hierarchical type of the node, the metadata of the node, the node on which the node depends, and the computational relationship of the node.

Embodiment 25, the method of embodiment 1, further comprising:

receiving an operation specifying a location of a table in the spreadsheet;

wherein generating the spreadsheet comprises adjusting a position of the table in the spreadsheet based on the operation.

Embodiment 26 the method of embodiment 1, wherein generating the spreadsheet further comprises automatically formatting or more cells corresponding to the node according to one or more of a hierarchy type of a hierarchy in which each node of the plurality of nodes is located, format information of the node, and of the contents of the or more cells corresponding to the node.

Embodiment 27, the method of embodiment 15, further comprising:

displaying the generated electronic form;

receiving a modification to the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, or the computational relationships; and

updating the displayed spreadsheet based on the modification to the hierarchical structure, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, or the calculated relationships.

Embodiment 28 the method of embodiment 15, further comprising:

displaying the generated electronic form;

receiving a modification to the displayed spreadsheet; and

converting the modification to the spreadsheet to a modification to at least of the hierarchy, the metadata, the original data, the dependencies, or the calculated relationships and modifying at least of the hierarchy, the metadata, the original data, the dependencies, or the calculated relationships accordingly based on the modification.

Example 29 the method of example 27,

wherein a hierarchy for the spreadsheet is obtained through a graphical user interface editor, and the graphical user interface editor comprises a component for specifying nodes of different hierarchies;

wherein the modification to the hierarchy comprises a drag on a component used to specify a third node in the hierarchy; and

wherein updating the displayed spreadsheet comprises adjusting the relative position of the or more cells corresponding to the third node in the spreadsheet to result from the dragged component for specifying the third node in the graphical user interface editor's relative position .

Embodiment 30 the method of embodiment 15, further comprising:

automatically detecting errors that exist in one or more of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, and the computational relationships, and

a warning is issued to alert of the error.

Embodiment 31, the method of embodiment 15, further comprising:

predicting one or more of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, the computational relationships, and operations to be performed by a user to be obtained based on one or more of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, the computational relationships, and operations to be performed by a user that have been obtained, and

Providing intelligent suggestion results for one or more of the hierarchy to be obtained, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, the computational relationships, and operations to be performed by a user.

Embodiment 32 the method of embodiment 3, wherein different types of syntax elements in a component for specifying nodes at different levels are represented in different display formats.

Embodiment 33, the method of embodiment 17, further comprising:

visualizing at least a portion of the plurality of nodes in the hierarchy and dependencies between the portion of nodes and other nodes of the plurality of nodes.

Embodiment 34 the method of embodiment 1, wherein obtaining a hierarchy for the spreadsheet further comprises:

importing templates for or more nodes in the hierarchy.

Embodiment 35, an apparatus for automatically generating a spreadsheet, the apparatus comprising:

an editor configured to obtain a hierarchy for the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy comprises levels or multiple levels, the levels or multiple levels having a plurality of nodes, wherein each level has at least nodes and has a corresponding level type, each node corresponding to or more cells in the spreadsheet, wherein the hierarchy further comprises membership between the plurality of nodes, and the editor is further configured to obtain metadata for each node of the plurality of nodes;

a data panel configured to obtain raw data for the spreadsheet;

a spreadsheet generation module configured to generate the spreadsheet based at least on a hierarchy for the spreadsheet, the metadata, and the raw data.

Embodiment 36 the apparatus of embodiment 35, further comprising a hierarchy map builder and a hierarchy map memory, wherein the hierarchy map builder is configured to build a hierarchy map for the spreadsheet based on a hierarchy type of a hierarchy in which each of the plurality of nodes is located, child nodes of the node, and metadata of the node, and the hierarchy map memory is configured to store the hierarchy map.

Embodiment 37 the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein the editor comprises a graphical user interface editor, wherein the graphical user interface editor comprises a component to specify different levels of nodes, and wherein the graphical user interface editor is further configured to:

receiving input for a component specifying nodes of different hierarchies; and

generating the hierarchy based on the input.

Embodiment 38 the apparatus of embodiment 37, wherein the hierarchy types of the or more levels of the spreadsheet comprise or more of a workbook, a page, a section, a table, a block, a row, a column, a section, and a cell, wherein the components for specifying nodes of different levels comprise or more of a component for specifying a page, a component for specifying a title, a component for specifying a section, a component for specifying a table, a component for specifying a data header, a component for specifying a table body, a component for specifying a row, a component for specifying a column, a component for specifying a block, a component for specifying a section, and a component for specifying a cell.

Embodiment 39 the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein the editor comprises a text editor configured to:

receiving a text code input by a user; and

parsing the text code to generate the hierarchical structure.

Embodiment 40 the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein obtaining metadata for each node of the plurality of nodes comprises obtaining semantic information describing a particular meaning of the node.

Embodiment 41 the apparatus of embodiment 40, wherein the semantic information comprises or more of a title, a name, a label, and an annotation.

Embodiment 42, the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein:

the editor further includes a modifier component configured to obtain information specifying a format of or th cells corresponding to each node of the plurality of nodes, and

wherein the spreadsheet generation module comprises a renderer configured to format the or more th cells in the spreadsheet according to the information for specifying the format of the or more th cells.

Example 43 the apparatus of example 42,

wherein the information for specifying the format of the or more th cells includes a format type, and

wherein the renderer is configured to format the or more th cells with a format corresponding to the format type.

Embodiment 44 the apparatus of embodiment 37, wherein the graphical user interface editor further comprises a modifier component to specify a format type of the or more cells corresponding to a node in the hierarchy.

Embodiment 45, the apparatus of embodiment 43, further comprising a format setting component configured to set a format corresponding to the format type by:

displaying predefined text;

receiving the setting of a user on the format of a predefined text; and

and setting a format corresponding to the format type based on the setting of the format of the predefined text by the user.

Embodiment 46, the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein:

the editor also includes a label component configured to obtain an alias label or attribute label for each node, wherein the alias label specifies an alias for the or more cells corresponding to the node, and the attribute label specifies additional characteristics for the or more cells corresponding to the node.

Embodiment 47, the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein:

the editor further includes a dependency definition component configured to obtain a dependency between an th node of the plurality of nodes and another or more nodes.

Embodiment 48, the apparatus of embodiment 47, wherein the hierarchical graph builder is configured to:

Embodiment 49 the apparatus of embodiment 48, further comprising a calculate relationship definition component,

wherein the computational relationship definition component is configured to obtain a computational relationship between the th node and another or more nodes, and

wherein the hierarchical graph builder is further configured to determine a calculated relationship between each th cell of the or more th cells corresponding to the th node and each second cell of the or more second cells corresponding to the additional or more nodes based at least on the calculated relationship between the th node and the additional or more nodes.

Embodiment 50 the apparatus of embodiment 49, wherein the spreadsheet generation module further comprises a translator configured to:

Embodiment 51 the apparatus of embodiment 48, wherein the hierarchical graph builder is further configured to:

Embodiment 52 the apparatus of embodiment 51, wherein constructing the hierarchical graph is further based on nodes on which each of the plurality of nodes depends.

Embodiment 53 the apparatus of embodiment 49, wherein constructing the hierarchical graph is further based on computational relationships between each node of the plurality of nodes and other nodes.

Embodiment 54 the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein the data panel comprises a raw data acquisition component comprising or more of:

the system includes an intelligent data extraction component configured to automatically identify raw data from a data file, a database interface component configured to import raw data from a database, a retrieval interface component configured to retrieve raw data from an external data source, and a manual input reception component configured to receive user-entered raw data. Example 55 the apparatus of example 54,

wherein the data panel further comprises:

a data to be filled detection component configured to detect a node of the plurality of nodes that requires input of raw data and a requirement for the raw data in the node; and

a data matching component configured to match the raw data acquired by the raw data acquisition component with the node requiring input of raw data detected by the to-be-populated data detection component.

Example 56 the apparatus of example 55,

wherein the spreadsheet generation module comprises:

a translator configured to generate a spreadsheet to be populated based on a hierarchy of the spreadsheet, the metadata, the detected nodes requiring input of raw data, and requirements for raw data in the nodes, and populate the spreadsheet to be populated based on the raw data to generate the spreadsheet.

Embodiment 57, the apparatus of embodiment 56, wherein:

the raw data acquisition component comprises the intelligent data extraction component and the intelligent data extraction component is configured to parse semantic information for each raw data item in raw data identified from a data file to generate parsed data; and

when data items of the data file, the data parsed by the intelligent data extraction component, and the data populated in the data table to be populated are selected, corresponding data items of the other two of the data file, the data parsed by the intelligent data extraction component, and the data populated in the data table to be populated are highlighted.

Embodiment 58 the apparatus of embodiment 49, wherein the spreadsheet generation module comprises a translator configured to:

for each node of the plurality of nodes:

Example 59 the apparatus of example 35,

wherein the editor is further configured to receive an operation specifying a location of a table in the spreadsheet; and is

Wherein the spreadsheet generation module is further configured to adjust the table's position in the spreadsheet based on the operation.

Embodiment 60 the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein the spreadsheet generation module comprises a renderer configured to automatically set the format of the or more cells corresponding to each node of the plurality of nodes according to one or more of a hierarchy type of a hierarchy in which the node is located, format information of the node, and of the content of the or more cells corresponding to the node.

Embodiment 61 the apparatus of embodiment 49, further comprising a spreadsheet preview module configured to:

causing the generated spreadsheet to be displayed;

Embodiment 62 the apparatus of embodiment 49, further comprising a spreadsheet preview module configured to:

causing the generated spreadsheet to be displayed;

receiving a modification to the displayed spreadsheet; and

converting modifications to a spreadsheet to modifications to at least of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, and the calculated relationships, and modifying at least of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, and the calculated relationships accordingly based on the modifications with at least of the editor and the data panel.

Embodiment 63 the apparatus of embodiment 61, further comprising a graphical user interface editor configured to obtain a hierarchy for the spreadsheet and comprising a component to specify nodes of different hierarchies;

Embodiment 64 the apparatus of embodiment 49, further comprising an error detection module configured to:

a warning is issued to alert of the error.

Embodiment 65, the apparatus of embodiment 49, further comprising a smart suggestion module, wherein the smart suggestion module is configured to:

predicting one or more of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, the computational relationships, and operations to be performed by a user to be acquired based on one or more of the hierarchy, the metadata, the raw data, the dependencies, the computational relationships, and operations to be performed by a user that have been acquired, and

Embodiment 66, the apparatus of embodiment 37, wherein different types of syntax elements in the component for specifying different levels of nodes are represented in different display formats.

Embodiment 67 the apparatus of embodiment 51, further comprising a visualization module, wherein the visualization module is configured to:

Embodiment 68 the apparatus of embodiment 35, wherein the editor further comprises a component to import a template configured to:

importing templates for or more nodes in the hierarchy.

Embodiments 69, an apparatus for automatically generating a spreadsheet comprising means for performing the steps of the method as recited in any of embodiments 1-34.

Embodiments 70, an apparatus for automatically generating a spreadsheet, comprising:

at least processors, and

at least storage devices, the at least storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the at least processors, cause the at least processors to perform the method of any of embodiments 1-34.

Embodiments 71, are non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause performance of the method as recited in any of embodiments 1-34, .

From the above embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be implemented by software and necessary hardware, or may be implemented by hardware, firmware, etc. based on this understanding, embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented partially in the form of software.

Having thus described the disclosure, it will be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1, a computer-implemented method for automatically generating a spreadsheet, the method comprising:

obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes;

obtaining raw data for the spreadsheet; and

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a hierarchy for the spreadsheet comprises:

receiving input for a component specifying nodes of different hierarchies; and

generating the hierarchy based on the input.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the or more levels of the spreadsheet comprise or more of a workbook, a page, a section, a table, a block, a row, a column, a section, and a cell, wherein the components for specifying nodes at different levels comprise or more of a component for specifying a page, a component for specifying a title, a component for specifying a section, a component for specifying a table, a component for specifying a header, a component for specifying a body of a table, a component for specifying a row, a component for specifying a column, a component for specifying a block, a component for specifying a section, and a component for specifying a cell.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a hierarchy for the spreadsheet comprises:

receiving a text code input by a user; and

parsing the text code to generate the hierarchical structure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining metadata for each of the plurality of nodes comprises obtaining semantic information describing a particular meaning of the node.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the semantic information includes or more of a title, a name, a label, and an annotation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of,

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the graphical user interface editor further comprises a modifier component for specifying a format type of or more cells corresponding to a node in the hierarchy.