JP4090193B2 - CSV data converter for form data - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention displays or prints database data in a form style, converts the data for display or printing into CSV (Comma Separated Value) format data, and uses it for other purposes. The present invention relates to a CSV data conversion apparatus that can be used.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a device that displays or prints data stored in the database in a specified form format, the format of the form must be defined in the format file in advance, and the appropriate format can be specified for display or printing. Is called. In the format file, an identifier for specifying which data is to be placed in which position is described. The form output program reads data corresponding to each identifier from the database, embeds it in the identifier position, and outputs it as an intermediate file. After that, the display control program or the print control program controls the output of the contents of the intermediate file in accordance with each display device or printing device, so that the form is displayed or printed. Some of these format files can be edited by the user.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By editing the format file, the user can output database data to various form styles. However, the data cannot be processed or used for another purpose. Just display or print. It has been difficult in the past to retrieve data for use in another application.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to a database for recording data to be output to a form, a format file describing the format of the form, and an intermediate file of the form style by referring to the format file and embedding the data read from the database in its identifier A form output means for generating a screen, a display control means for outputting the contents of the intermediate file to a screen, and a print control means for outputting the contents of the intermediate file to a printer, and a plurality of identifiers for embedding data in the format file. A group identifier to be grouped together is further described, the format file is referred to, the form data of the intermediate file is divided into groups according to the group identifier, and the group is used as a data string for one line. Intermediate file data Was converted into the data string of the CSV format, by providing a conversion means for outputting the contents of the intermediate file to a CSV file, it is to solve the above problems.
[0005]
【Example】
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a form system according to an embodiment. Reference numeral 10 denotes a computer main body, in which a database 11 in which various data are recorded, a format file 12 in which a plurality of forms are recorded, and intermediate data obtained by processing the data in the database 11 into a form style according to the format are temporarily stored. The intermediate file 13 to be recorded is connected to the CSV file 14 to record the CSV data obtained by converting the form data. The computer 10 is also connected with a display device 7 for displaying a form and a printer 8 for printing the form. A keyboard and mouse for inputting data by the user are also connected, but are not shown here.
[0006]
The computer 10 internally reads the control unit 1 that performs overall control including file input / output and the data in the database 11, and processes the data into a form style intermediate data according to the format of the format file 12. A form output means 2 for outputting to the file 13, a display control means 3 for displaying and outputting the contents of the intermediate file 13 on the display device 7, and a print control means 4 for printing and outputting the contents of the intermediate file 13 to the printer 8. ing. That is, the data of the intermediate file 13 generated by the form output unit 2 is used for both display and printing. Furthermore, in this embodiment, a CSV conversion means 5 for converting the data of the intermediate file 13 into CSV format data is provided. The CSV data processed by the conversion means 5 from the intermediate file 13 is recorded in the CSV file 14.
[0007]
In the embodiment, a plurality of types of format files 12 can be recorded, and the formats can be edited by the user. A display screen 20 of the format editor for editing the format is shown in FIG. The function of the format editor is realized by the control means 1 and the display control means 3. In the editor screen 20 shown in the figure, reference numerals 22 to 25 denote identifiers indicating the type of data and the place where it is placed. Specifically, 22 is a name, 23 is age, 24 is gender, and 25 is an instruction to read out data corresponding to an address from the database 11 and output it there. The identifier can be added by indicating the button 27.
[0008]
Reference numeral 21 denotes a block identifier. This indicates that the identifiers enclosed in the frame, that is, four identifiers 22 to 25 in this example, are handled as one group. The block identifier 21 is set by surrounding the displayed identifier 22 and the like with a frame line after instructing the button 28. However, even if the form is displayed or printed according to this format, the block identifier 21 has no effect. The border is not displayed either. The block identifier is for instructing that data in the group is handled as a data string for one row when converted into the CSV format. In this example, it is instructed to output the four data 22 to 25 described above as CSV data for one row in this order. In the figure, reference numeral 26 denotes not an identifier but an instruction to directly output characters on a form. Even if it is surrounded by block identifiers, it is not a member of the group and is therefore not output to the CSV file 14.
[0009]
In accordance with the format set and saved in this way, the form output means 2 edits the data read from the database 11 into a form style. The form output means 2 reads the data designated by the user from the database 11, reads the format designated by the user from the format file 12, and embeds the corresponding data in the identifier. Then, the intermediate data of the completed form style is recorded in the intermediate file 13. At this time, format information indicating which format is used is also recorded in the intermediate file 13.
[0010]
The contents of the intermediate file 13 can be used for both display and printing as described above. That is, the display control means 3 can read the contents of the intermediate file 13 and output it to the display device 7 to display the form on the screen. Similarly, the print control means 4 reads the contents of the intermediate file 13 and By outputting to 8, the form can be printed. An example of printing a form according to the format of FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. The name, age, gender, and address are printed corresponding to the identifiers 22 to 25. In addition, the age letter is also added according to the format. These are grouped by the block identifier 21, but as you can see, there is no grouping effect when printing a form. The output data type and print position are governed by identifiers 22 to 25. The screen display is displayed in the same manner.
[0011]
In this embodiment, the CSV conversion means 5 extracts only the data from the contents of the intermediate file 13 used for display and printing, converts it into a CSV format data string, and outputs it to the file. That is, since the control unit 1 activates the CSV conversion unit 5 in response to an instruction from the user, the CSV conversion unit 5 reads the form style data from the intermediate file 13 and reads the corresponding format information from the format file 12. First, identifiers grouped by block identifiers are recognized. In the example of FIG. 2, identifiers 22 to 25 are grouped into block identifiers 21. Therefore, data corresponding to these identifiers is extracted, converted into CSV format, and output to the CSV file 14. At that time, the data in one group is output to the CSV file 14 as a data column for one row. An example is shown in FIG. Each data is enclosed in double quotes, separated by commas, and output on one line. Thus, identifiers placed over a plurality of lines on the screen 20 of the format editor are treated as CSV for one line if they are grouped by block identifiers. The grouped identifiers are converted into CSV data strings in the order in which they are placed. However, the identifier 26 is not output to the CSV file 14. The CSV file 14 created in this way can be used by other application programs 6.
[0012]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, only significant data can be extracted from intermediate data created for displaying and printing a form, and easily extracted into a CSV file. Then, the data can be edited and processed to be used for various purposes.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display screen example of a format editor in the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a print example of a form in the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of a CSV file in the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control means 2 Form output means 3 Display control means 4 Print control means 5 CSV conversion means 7 Display apparatus 8 Printer 10 Computer 11 Database 12 Format file 13 Intermediate file 14 CSV file

Claims (1)

  A database that records data to be output to a form, a format file that describes the format of the form, and a form that refers to the format file and embeds the data read from the database into its identifier to generate a form-style intermediate file An output unit; a display control unit that outputs the contents of the intermediate file to a screen; and a print control unit that outputs the contents of the intermediate file to a printer. The group identifier to be converted is further described, the form file of the intermediate file is divided into each group according to the group identifier with reference to the format file, and the data of the intermediate file is set as a data column for one line. CSV Into a data sequence of the formula, CSV data conversion apparatus of the form data with the conversion means for outputting the contents of the intermediate file to a CSV file.

Images