JP2015005146A - Document generation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a frequency of cloud service calls is consumed more than expected and that response of data acquisition is degraded, when acquiring data from a cloud platform service.SOLUTION: A document generation system includes: means for determining, when acquiring data from a cloud platform service, whether a field being a target to which the data is allocated is a field that stores fixed data; means for determining whether a query command for acquiring the data to be allocated to the field that stores fixed data, is to be issued as the same query command as a query command for acquiring data to be allocated to another field; and means for limiting a number of acquisitions for the query command to be issued when acquiring data from the cloud platform service in accordance with the determinations.

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for creating a document by form overlaying data stored on a cloud, and more particularly to a document generation method on a cloud server.

  In recent years, cloud computing systems have begun to spread as a form of managing business data and various processes on the server computer side. The user accesses the Web page of the cloud server computer via the Internet from the browser of the client computer, and displays business data desired to be browsed on the Web page. When a document creation instruction is issued from the screen, the user is redirected to the document generation server, and the user selects a form to be used for the form overlay on the screen returned from the document generation server.

  Then, the document generation server acquires data on the cloud server, generates a document, and downloads the document to the browser. As a typical example of a cloud server, for example, Salesforce. com Salesforce CRM (registered trademark).

  When acquiring data from the cloud server, a dedicated query language is used. For example, in the case of Sales CRM, data is acquired using a query language having a syntax similar to SQL, called SOQL. In SOQL, the concept of multi-tenant, which will be described later, is considered. For example, there are some restrictions such as an upper limit on the number of SOQL calls.

  The document generation server processes data acquired from the cloud server in various ways and expresses it on the document. For example, data of a single table defined in the database of the cloud server is poured into a plurality of data fields to generate a document.

  Thus, when data acquired from a cloud server is expressed on a document, it is necessary to acquire the data according to an acquisition query language defined by each cloud server. Conventionally, there is a technique in which the query language is set by a user using a dedicated editor and stored as query command information (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2011-215827 A

  The cloud server and the document generation server are assumed to be used by a plurality of companies / organizations (generally called multi-tenant). For this reason, the situation where the resources of each server are occupied by some companies and organizations is not preferable. In order to prevent the occupation of resources, the conventional technology has a limitation in obtaining data from the cloud server. In the case of Sales CRM, the load at the time of data acquisition is reduced by giving a restriction to the syntax of the SOQL. For example, the number of SOQL calls and the number of records that can be acquired by one SOQL call are limited. When issuing an SOQL that exceeds the upper limit of the number of records that can be acquired by a single SOQL call, the SOQL call is divided into a plurality of SOQL calls to acquire data as internal processing of the cloud server of the Sales CRM. Therefore, when the SOQL extraction conditions are not appropriate, the number of SOQL calls may be consumed more than expected. Further, as the number of records to be acquired increases, the response when acquiring data also decreases. An example of the above problem is given below.

  Form documents may want to display the same data on multiple pages, such as header and footer information. It is desirable that the SOQL query for acquiring such fixed data is an SOQL query that can acquire only one piece of data. However, it may not be possible to narrow down to one piece of data depending on the extraction conditions of the designed SOQL query.

  On the other hand, it is common for a form document to have a plurality of fields for storing data. When the data assigned to these fields can be acquired by one SOQL call, a problem arises in that an extra number of SOQL calls is consumed by performing the SOQL call for each field.

A document generation system in which a client terminal, a cloud platform service, and a document generation server are connected via a network,
When the document generation server acquires data from the cloud platform service, means for determining whether the field to which the data is assigned is a field that stores fixed data;
Whether the document generation server issues a query command for obtaining data to be assigned to the field storing the fixed data as the same query command as a query command for obtaining data to be assigned to another field Means for determining
Means for determining whether or not the acquisition number limit can be set for a query command issued when the document generation server acquires data from the cloud platform service;
Means for limiting the number of acquisitions for the query command issued when the document generation server acquires data from the cloud platform service according to each of the above determinations;
A document generation system comprising:

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of queries called and the response issued when acquiring data to be assigned to a form document from a cloud server.

It is a block diagram which shows a system configuration. It is a figure which shows a hardware configuration It is a figure which shows the whole structure of a document production | generation system. It is a software module block diagram of a cloud platform service. It is a software module block diagram of a Web server. It is a software module block diagram of a document generation service. It is an example of a business screen of a cloud platform service. It is an example of the table structure of the business data of a cloud platform service. It is an example of the definition information of the custom button of a cloud platform service. It is a figure which shows the table structure of a form information table. It is the figure which showed the screen flow displayed with a web browser. It is a figure which shows the process sequence which the document generation system in an Example performs. It is the figure which showed the example of the document produced | generated by the document production | generation process in an Example. It is a flowchart which shows the process which produces | generates the query command for acquiring data from the cloud platform service in an Example.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

  Reference numeral 101 denotes a client device 101 that issues a request to a cloud platform service 102 described later and a document generation server 103 described later.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes a cloud platform service 102 that displays and updates data held in response to requests from the client apparatus 101 and the document generation server 103.

  A document generation server 103 receives a request from the client device 101 and generates a document.

In addition, each of the above-described components is connected to be communicable via a network 100. The network is, for example, a LAN such as the Internet, a WAN, a telephone line, a dedicated digital line, an ATM, a frame relay line, a cable TV line, a data broadcasting wireless line, or the like. Moreover, it is what is called a communication network implement | achieved by these combination.
The network only needs to be able to transmit and receive data.

  Communication means from the client device 101 to the cloud platform service 102 and the document generation service 103, communication means from the document generation server 103 to the cloud platform service 102, and communication means between the servers may be different.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating hardware configurations of the client apparatus 101, the cloud platform service 102, and the document generation server 103 in FIG.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a CPU that directly or indirectly controls each device (ROM, RAM, etc. described later) connected by an internal bus and executes a program for realizing the present invention.

  A ROM 202 stores the BIOS.

  A RAM (direct storage device) 203 is used as a work area of the CPU 201 or used as temporary storage for loading software modules for realizing the present invention.

  Reference numeral 204 denotes an indirect storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) or an SSD (solid state drive) in which an OS or software module as basic software is stored.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes an input device such as a keyboard or pointing device (not shown).

  Reference numeral 206 denotes an output device to which a display is connected.

  Reference numeral 207 denotes an I / F for connecting to the network 100.

  In these hardware, after starting, the BIOS is executed by the CPU 201 and the OS is loaded from the HDD 204 to the RAM 203 so as to be executable. The CPU 201 loads various software modules (to be described later) from the HDD 204 to the RAM 203 in an executable manner according to the operation of the OS. Various software modules are executed and operated by the CPU 201 in cooperation with the above devices. The I / F 207 is connected to the network 100 and is controlled by the CPU 201 in accordance with the operation of the OS to realize communication by the communication means described above.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of the document generation system according to the embodiment of the present invention. The client apparatus 101 includes a Web browser 301 as a user interface application.

  The cloud platform service 102 manages settings for performing management of users who use the cloud platform service, business data, and redirection to the document generation server 103 described later. The cloud platform service 102 is premised on multi-tenancy, and the above-described user management, business data management, and the like are performed for each company / organization used.

  The document generation server 103 includes a Web server 303 and a document generation service 304.

The Web server 303 is configured to have a so-called Web application function, and the client 101 can access via the Web browser 301.
The Web server 303 returns user interface information in response to a request from the Web browser 301. The web browser 301 renders and displays user interface information obtained from the web server 303. The displayed user interface information includes, for example, a list of forms managed by the document generation server 103 to be described later, an interface for requesting document generation, and the like.

  When the Web server 303 receives a document generation request from the Web browser 301, the Web server 303 acquires business data from the cloud platform service 102 and transmits a document generation request to the document generation service 304 together with the business data.

  The document generation service 304 performs overlay processing using the received data, the form and query command information managed by itself, and generates document data. In the query command information, a method for acquiring business data from the cloud platform service 102 is set.

  FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of software modules that operate on the cloud platform service 102. Each software module is stored in the HDD 204 shown in FIG. 2, and is loaded into the RAM 203 and executed by the CPU 201 as described above.

  The transmission / reception unit 401 is a module that processes communication with the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101 and the Web server 303 of the document generation server 103.

  The control unit 402 is a module that executes processing according to the request received by the transmission / reception unit 401.

  The page generation unit 403 is a module that generates a Web page for returning a response to the Web browser 301.

  The authentication unit 405 is a module that authenticates a user who has requested login.

  The session management unit 404 is a module that manages session information of a user who has been successfully authenticated by the authentication unit 405.

  The data management unit 406 retains business data in the DB 408 and acquires business data from the DB 408 or updates business data in response to a request.

  The setting management unit 407 is a module that holds settings for performing redirection to the document generation server 103.

  A database 408 stores management user data and business data, and is stored in the HDD 204 shown in FIG.

  Management user data and business data are managed for each company / organization (hereinafter referred to as an organization). An organization ID is automatically assigned to each organization, and each data is managed together with the organization ID. At the time of user authentication, the organization ID of the organization to which the user belongs is acquired and stored in the session management unit 404. Subsequent processing such as data acquisition is performed based on the organization ID, and it is possible to refer only to data that matches the organization ID.

  The DB 408 also stores settings for performing redirection to the document generation server 103. Settings for redirecting to the business data stored in the DB 408 and the document generation server 103 are updated by the user (administrator) at an arbitrary timing via the Web browser 301.

  The cloud platform service 102 executes processing to be described later in cooperation with these components.

  FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of software modules that operate on the Web server 303 of the document generation server 103. Each software module is stored in the HDD 204 shown in FIG. 2, and is loaded into the RAM 203 and executed by the CPU 201 as described above.

  The transmission / reception unit 501 is a module that processes communication with the Web browser 301, the cloud platform service 102, and the document generation service 304 of the client apparatus 101.

  The control unit 502 is a module that executes processing according to the received request.

  The page generation unit 503 is a module that generates a Web page for returning a response to the Web browser 301.

  The data access unit 504 is a module that accesses the cloud platform service 102 and acquires business data.

  The form information management unit 505 is a module that manages a form information table 1001 described later.

  The session management unit 506 is a module that manages session information of the Web browser 301. The Web server 303 executes processing to be described later in cooperation with these components.

  FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of software modules that operate on the document generation service 304 of the document generation server 103. Each software module is stored in the HDD 204 shown in FIG. 2, and is loaded into the RAM 203 and executed by the CPU 201 as described above.

  The request receiving unit 601 is a module that receives a document generation request from the Web server 303. The control unit 602 is a module that executes processing according to the received request. The form management unit 603 is a module that manages form data.

  The document generation unit 604 is a module that generates document data by performing overlay processing using the business data and the form transmitted from the Web server 303.

  The document transmission unit 605 is a module that transmits the document data generated by the document generation unit 604 to the Web server 303 or the client terminal 101. The document generation service 303 executes processing to be described later in cooperation with these components.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a business screen 701 when the business data is displayed by accessing the cloud platform service 102 from the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101. FIG. 7 shows a state where the user has logged in to the cloud platform service 102.

  The business screen 701 displays order detail information 702 and transfer information 703 relating to a certain order. Also, a custom button 704 that is set to redirect to the document generation server 103 is displayed.

  The custom button 704 can arbitrarily set an operation when the button is pressed, a screen to be displayed, and the like, and is arranged on the screen by a user (administrator).

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a table structure example of data related to order information and transfer information among business data held by the data management unit 406 of the cloud platform service 102. The business data is managed by a data table 800, and includes an order table 801 and a transfer table 811.

  The order table 801 includes a record ID 802 which is a record identifier, an order reception ID 803, an item 804, a price 805, an order destination 806, and the like.

  The transfer table 811 includes a record ID 812 that is a record identifier, a transfer date 813, an amount 814, and the like.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of custom button definition information held by the setting management unit 407 of the cloud platform service 102. In FIG. 9, custom buttons are defined on the “order” screen and other screens, and the button display name 903 and the redirect to the document generation server 103 are included in the custom button setting information displayed on the “order” screen. The parameter information for performing is stored.

  The document generation server URI 904 is a parameter that specifies the URI of the document generation server 103 in the format of “http: //”. The session ID 905 is a setting for acquiring the session ID of the logged-in user and adding the character string “sid = <session ID>” to the URL parameter.

  The CPS URL 906 is a setting for adding a URL for the document generation server 103 to access the cloud platform service 102 as a character string “srv_url = <cloud platform service URL>” to the URL parameter. The URL for accessing the cloud platform service 102 is unique for each organization, and at the time of user authentication, the control unit 502 acquires a URL corresponding to the organization to which the user belongs and stores it in the session management unit 404.

  The organization ID 907 is a setting for acquiring the organization ID of the logged-in user and adding the character string “orgid = <organization ID>” to the URL parameter.

  The record ID 908 is a setting for acquiring the record ID 1202 of the order record displayed on the screen and adding the character string “recid = <record ID>” to the URL parameter.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a table structure of a form information table held by the form information management unit 505 of the Web server 303.

  The form information record of the form information table 1001 is configured as follows. An organization ID 1003 that identifies the organization that is the owner of the record. A display name 1004 that is a name to be displayed on the form selection screen. A form file name 1005 that is a file name of a form managed by the form management unit 603 of the document generation service 304. Query command information 1006 describing information for generating a query for acquiring data from the cloud platform service 102. Form information 107, which is information related to fixed data defined in the form file.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a flow of a screen displayed on the Web browser 303 of the client apparatus 101 in the document generation system of FIG. The business screen 1101 is a screen created by the cloud platform service 102 and returned to the client device 101. For example, the business screen 701 in FIG. 7 is displayed.

  The document generation button 1102 is a button for issuing a document generation request to the cloud platform service 102. When the document generation button 1102 is pressed, the cloud platform service 102 returns a URL that redirects to the document generation server 103.

  When receiving the URL to be redirected, the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101 redirects to the document generation server 103 according to this URL. The document generation server 103 that has received the request through redirection returns a form selection screen 1103 to the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101.

  The form selection screen 1103 includes a form selection 1104 for selecting a form used for document generation and a document creation button 1105. The Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101 that has received the selection of the document creation button 1105 from the user transmits the selection result of the form selection 1104 to the document generation server 103. Receiving these pieces of information, the document generation server 103 acquires the business data of the business screen 1101 from the cloud platform service 102.

  The data acquisition screen 1106 is displayed on the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101 while the document generation server 103 is acquiring business data from the cloud platform service 103. When the document generation server 103 completes the acquisition of the business data from the cloud platform service 103, the document generation server 103 returns a data confirmation screen 1107 for confirming the acquired data to the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101.

  The Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101 that has received the selection of the creation button 1108 from the user transmits a document generation request to the document generation server 103. Upon receiving the document generation request, the document generation server 103 performs document generation processing using the selected form and the business data acquired from the cloud platform service 103. During the document generation process, the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 102 displays a creating screen 1109. When the creation of the document is completed, the Web browser 301 of the client terminal 101 displays a completion screen 1110.

  FIG. 12 shows the flow of processing performed by the document generation system in the embodiment of the present invention. Note that the user has already logged in to the cloud platform service 102 on a login screen (not shown), the business screen 701 in FIG. 7 is displayed on the Web browser 301, and the custom button 704 is set in advance in FIG. It shall be.

First, when the user presses the custom button 704 on the business screen 701 displayed on the Web browser 301 of the client apparatus 101 (S1201), the cloud platform service 102 performs redirect URL creation processing in S1202.
In step S1202, the control unit 402 acquires the document generation server URI 904, the session ID 905, the CPS URL 906, the organization ID 907, and the record ID 908 set as the custom button, and generates a redirect URL from these acquired parameters. Then, a response for redirecting is returned to the Web browser 301.

  In step S <b> 1203, when the web browser 301 receives the response returned from the cloud platform service 102, the web browser 301 transmits a session ID 905, a CPS URL 906, an organization ID 907, and a record ID 908 to the web server 303.

  In step S1204, when the Web server 303 receives a redirect from the Web browser 301, the control unit 502 first stores the session ID 905, the CPS URL 906, the organization ID 907, and the record ID 908 in the session management unit 506.

  Next, the control unit 502 acquires a list of form display names 1004 included in the form information record 1002 from the form information management unit 505, creates a form selection screen 1103 from the list of form display names 1004, and sends it to the client terminal 101. send.

  In step S <b> 1205, when the user selects the form 1104 on the form selection screen 1103 and presses the document creation button 1105, a document generation request is transmitted to the Web server 303 together with the selection form 1104.

  In step S <b> 1206, when the web server 303 receives the document generation request, the web server 303 creates a data acquisition screen 1106 and sends it to the web browser 301. At the same time, the Web server 303 generates a query command for acquiring data to the cloud platform service 102 from the query command information 1106 that matches the form specified in the selection form 1104 on the form selection screen 1103 in S1207. Details of the query command generation processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S1208, the Web server 303 transmits a data acquisition request including the query command generated in step S1207 to the cloud platform service 102. At this time, the URL of the cloud platform service 102 and the contents of the acquired data use the CPS URL 905, organization ID 907, and record ID 908 stored in the session management unit 506, respectively.

  The Web browser 301 periodically transmits a data acquisition completion confirmation request to the document generation server 103 in S1209. The Web server 303 of the document generation server 103 sends a data acquisition screen 1106 similar to S1206 to the Web browser 301 until a data acquisition response is returned from the cloud platform service 102.

  Next, a data acquisition response is returned from the cloud platform service 102 to the Web server 303 of the document generation server 103. The control unit 502 of the Web server 303 stores the acquired data in the session management unit 506.

  Thereafter, when a data acquisition completion confirmation request is sent from the web browser 301, the web server 303 generates a data confirmation screen 1107 with the data obtained from the cloud platform service 102 and returns it to the web browser 301 (S1210).

  When the user presses the creation button 1108 on the acquired data confirmation screen 1107 returned to the Web browser 301 in S1210, a document generation request is transmitted from the Web browser 301 to the Web server 303 (S1211). .

  In step S <b> 1212, when the Web server 303 receives the document generation request, the Web server 303 transmits a document generation request including the form designated by the selection form 1104 and the data acquired from the cloud platform service 102 to the document generation service 304. When the document generation service 304 receives the document generation request, the document generation process is performed using the form specified in the received selection form 1104 and the data acquired from the cloud platform service 102 (S1213).

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a document generated by the document generation process (S1213) in the embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1301 denotes a form designated on the selection form 1104 on the form selection screen 1103. Reference numeral 1310 denotes a document generated by the document generation process (S1213) using the data acquired from the form 1301 and the cloud platform service 102. Reference numerals 1302, 1303, and 1304 denote fields for assigning data defined in the form 1301.

  Among them, reference numerals 1302 and 1304 denote fields for storing fixed data (hereinafter abbreviated as fixed fields). Fixed fields are characterized by the fact that the data to be assigned to the field is a single data and that the data does not change even if there are multiple form pages. Reference numeral 1302 denotes a fixed field for storing the ordering company name, and reference numeral 1304 denotes a fixed field for storing the order transfer date. Note that a query command for acquiring data to be assigned to a fixed field from the cloud platform service 102 is abbreviated as a fixed query command.

  Reference numeral 1303 denotes a field (hereinafter abbreviated as a record field) for storing record data as a base of the table. The record field is characterized in that the data assigned to the field is record data and the number of record data is variable. Record data is one line of data that is separated by a data item delimiter. Reference numeral 1303 denotes a record field for storing the item and price of the order. In this embodiment, since the record data to be allocated to the record field 1303 is three records, the record field 1303 portion of the generated document 1310 has three lines. Note that a query command for acquiring data to be assigned to a record field from the cloud platform service 102 is abbreviated as a record query command.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating processing for generating a query command 1410 for acquiring data from the cloud platform service 102 according to the embodiment of this invention. In step S1401, the data access unit 504 of the Web server 303 acquires the corresponding query command information 1006 from the form information management unit 505 based on the designation from the user.

  In step S1402, the data access unit 504 analyzes the query command information 1006 acquired in step S1401, and determines whether the query command information 1006 is information on a fixed query command. If the query command information 1006 is fixed query command information, the process proceeds to S1403. The fixed fields 1302 and 1304 correspond to the above conditions. If the query command information 1006 is not fixed query command information, the process proceeds to S1406.

  If the query command information 1006 is determined to be fixed query command information in S1403, the data access unit 504 determines whether the query command 1410 generated from the query command information is issued as an independent query command. When the generated query command 1410 is issued as an independent query command, the process proceeds to S1404. When the generated query command 1410 is issued together with another record query command, the process proceeds to S1406. Issuing means sending the content including the query command 1410 to the cloud platform service 102 as a request.

  The fixed field 1304 corresponds to the above condition. Since the data to be assigned to the fixed field 1302 is stored in the same order table 801 as the data to be assigned to the record field 1303, it is more efficient to issue it together with the record query corresponding to the record field 1303. It is. “Efficient” means that the number of requests to the cloud platform service 102 can be saved and the response at the time of data acquisition can be reduced. Whether or not to issue a fixed query command independently can be set when creating the query command information 1006.

  In step S <b> 1404, if it is determined that the query command information 1006 is the fixed query command information and is issued independently, the data access unit 504 can limit the number of cases to the query command 1410 generated from the query command information. Determine whether or not. When the cloud platform service 102 is the Sales CRM, the query command to be issued must follow the syntax of SOQL, and thus there may be a case where the number limit cannot be given. For example, when the number of cases already exists in the query command information 1006, it may not be possible to give the number of cases. If it is determined that it is possible to limit the number of cases to the query command 1410 generated in the determination of S1404, the process proceeds to S1405. If it is determined that it is impossible to limit the number of cases, the process proceeds to S1406. To do.

  In step S <b> 1405, the data access unit 504 gives a limit on the number of cases to the query command 1410 generated from the query command information 1006. When the cloud platform service 102 is Sales CRM, the syntax “LIMIT 1” is added to the end of the generated query command 1410. For example, in the case of the fixed field 1304, the generated query command 1410 is as follows. “SELECT transfer date FROM transfer table WHERE transfer date = 2013050 LIMIT 1”.

  In step S1406, the data access unit 504 generates a query command 1410 to be issued to the cloud platform service 102 from the query command information 1006. For example, in the case of the fixed field 1302 and the record field 1303, the generated query command 1410 is as follows. “SELECT item, price, order from FROM order table WHERE reception ID = 12345”.

  This completes the flowchart showing the query command 1410 generation process of the Web server 303.

101 Client Device 102 Cloud Platform Service 103 Document Generation Server 301 Web Browser 303 Web Server 304 Document Generation Service 502 Control Unit 503 Page Generation Unit

Claims (1)

A document generation system in which a client terminal 101, a cloud platform service 102, and a document generation server 103 are connected via a network 100,
When the document generation server 103 acquires data from the cloud platform service 102, means S1402 for determining whether the field to which the data is assigned is a field for storing fixed data;
The document generation server 103 issues a query command 1410 for acquiring data to be assigned to a field for storing the fixed data as the same query command as a query command for acquiring data to be assigned to another field. Means S1403 for determining whether or not
Means S1404 for determining whether or not the acquisition number limit can be set for the query command 1410 issued when the document generation server 103 acquires data from the cloud platform service 102;
Means S1405 for limiting the number of acquisitions for a query command 1410 issued when the document generation server 103 acquires data from the cloud platform service 102 in accordance with the above determinations;
A document generation system comprising: