Automated procedure for database creation for a form
Contents
1. Did the command generate an error Yes Send copy of reply to Accounting for billing Yes a No Save the attached Visio document as a temporary file i Reply to user with modified No Visio document and status info Pass Visio document to Vi Joe for processing see FIG 3 Did VI Joe generate any errors Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 2 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 FIG 2 Start User creates form in Visio using approved stencil User emails the Visio document Agent running on server is activated upon receipt of new mail The next available listener is determined by a simple round robin approach Agent sets the listener property of the email to the name of the next available listener The listening agent for the folder will pick up the email and process it End Patent Application Publication FIG 3 Start m VI Joe is provided with a Visio document and any data provided by user commands Test for form validity see FIG 6 Oct 31 2002 Sheet 3 of 11 Was the test No successful Return with list of errors Was the Test Only flag set by a mmand user command message Return with success Yes No exist Is this a new formset Does old formset name Return with error Formset2. 0186 1 Choose File Save or File then Save As 0187 2 For File Name type a name for the drawing file 0188 3 Under Save In open the folder in which you want to save the file 0189 4 Click Save 0190 Notes To quickly save changes to a file you ve already saved click the Save button floppy disk icon on the Standard toolbar or press Ctrl S By default existing files are saved in the format in which they were opened To save in a different format including earlier versions of your Microsoft Visio product use File then Save As 0191 To publish a form to VI Joe 0192 The VI JOE system does not have a user interface The user can communicate with the system via email The user will email a Visio document of their form set to a specified email address All email at this address is pro cessed and the database on the server is modified directly to have the data necessary to use the forms 0193 When processing is completed a copy of the Visio document is returned to the user preferably with Form ID bubbles and Form Numbers added This is the version that the user should print for use The system will verify the incoming email address against a database of permissible users Invalid users are rejected and an error message is sent Oct 31 2002 to the user the appropriate personnel and to a Public Folder on the server for logging purposes Preferred Field Spacing Rules mm inches 32nds inches Comb
3. 1 Move your text by clicking F2 then dragging the text box to the desired position 0048 2 Expand or contract your text box verti cally or horizontally by dragging the square green handle 0049 3 Rotate your text box by dragging the round green handle 0050 To create a name for an item different from the database name 0051 Normally the database name for an element is the same as the field name There may be times however when you will want to name your element something on the paper form and something else in the database 0052 1 Select the element 0053 2 Delete the descriptive text i e Check box Radio button etc 0054 3 Choose Format then Special 0055 4 Change the text in the Name field then click OK 0056 5 Create the text you wish to appear on the paper form by clicking on the Text Tool letter A on the standard toolbar then typing the group name 0057 6 Modify or move your group name by clicking F2 then dragging the text box to the desired position 0058 To insert text inside checkboxes 0059 1 Create the text you wish to appear inside the checkbox by clicking on the Text Tool letter A on the standard toolbar then typing the text 0060 2 Choose Format then Text to customize the font size color or style of your text then click Apply then OK 0061 3 Modify or move your text by clicking F2 then dragging the text box to the desire
4. It uses the bounding rectangle to determine the order At each level of grouping the objects are sorted top down left right Objects are assumed to form lines of data entry As such the bounding rectangle is used to determine the objects position relative to other objects A shape that is entirely above another shape will come before it If when comparing two shapes one shape encompasses the other i e the top of one shape is above the top of the other and the bottom is below the other then the shapes are considered to be on the same line and are sorted left to right 0213 Sort ordering can be affected by careful use of Visio grouping commands Sorting is performed among objects at the same level in the Visio object tree All top level objects are processed first and sorted among themselves Objects that are within groups are sorted among the mem bers of the group 0214 Error Messages 0215 VI Joe preferably returns all error messages as text in the body of an email There are two main categories of messages Those that come from the listener and those that come from the VI Joe Object Listener error messages primarily concern the email itself VI JOE Object messages concern the actual form design Oct 31 2002 Messages returned by the listener object Message Meaning and Resolution The email address of the user who submitted the email is not listed in the Client List public folder Add the user s email address to
5. This should never occur unless Caere has not been installed properly Error Radio button group The radio button grouping is not correct s contains another group The only things that can be in a radio with text s on page s button group are radio buttons This Radio button groups can only problably occurred when attempting to contain radio buttons add additional options to an existing Subgroups are not radio button group Ungroup all the permitted options and regroup them correctly 0220 While the invention has been described with respect to the preferred embodiments those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention Accordingly it should be clearly understood that the embodiments described above are not intended as restrictions on the scope of the invention which is limited only by the following claims What is claimed is 1 Amethod for creating a database for a form based data collection system comprising the steps of receiving from a user a document wherein said document comprises data regarding shapes or graphical objects Oct 31 2002 associated with information comprising one or more of the following data type data field size and field location and populating a database from said information using said data 2 A method as in claim 1 wherein said shapes or graphical objects are dragged and drop
6. each form includes a form number Typically the form also includes a form identification bubble Preferably after the forms are created they are emailed to the user Software for perform ing the above steps in an automated manner is also dis closed Yes Loop from 1 to the number of users defined in the email Does user exist in database No Create user as specified ESS Yes Y Have all users been processed A d No Set formsetiD for the user Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 1 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 FIG 1 Start M v Load balancer places email in listening folder see FIG 2 Vie oo a Listener polls listening folder for new emails New email found Yes y Check the validity of the sender s email address Is sender in contact list Reply with an error message telling the user to create an account No Place copy of reply and original email in public folder Send copy of error message to Sales for follow up Yes Does email contain a Visio document as an attachment Reply with an error message telling the user that the attachment is missing Send copy of error message a to Client Services for follow up No Yes Y Process any command in the body of the email
7. 2 fields with the same name etc Any errors that are discovered in this processing phase are recorded for subsequent report to the user 0020 If no errors are found in this stage of the process ing the database is created or modified if this is a form revision for all of the forms and fields on those form pages using the information extracted from the custom properties 0021 At the completion of processing VI Joe emails the user with the results of the processing delivering either a list of errors describing the nature of the offending properties if any or delivering the form ID allocated by VI Joe for the newly created or modified formset 0022 If no errors are detected then the Visio document is modified to create the appropriate forms In one embodi ment the document is modified so that each page includes a form number and a Form Identification Bubble an enclosed area intended to be filled in by a manually made mark whose location can be used to identify the form Preferably the modified document is attached to the reply email so that the user can print it out for use with the paper form based data collection system 0023 Detailed description of stencil creation and usage 0024 VI Joe is an application designed to create in a quick and simple manner forms and databases This pro gram allows users to create forms using Microsoft Visio and transfer those forms to VI Joe in a completely automated fashion
8. Letters FIG 11 Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 10 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 FIG 12 EN pa out T ot om T emi El n o H n Hn x Question a a B Et ink o p an B d o L n d a FIG 13 EEE NS PN Bor B ps Question na fx VER LUN jur Question Ts l SLE Question ie 3 d coe a c FIG 14 Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 11 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 B A D E FIG 15 E a ij ap ai alls Align Left Align Center Align Right Align Top Align Align Middle Bottom FIG 16 a i cu zer hes FIG 17 US 2002 0161772 Al AUTOMATED PROCEDURE FOR DATABASE CREATION FOR A FORM BASED DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM CROSS REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION 0001 This application claims the benefit of U S Provi sional Application No 60 269 807 filed Feb 20 2001 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0002 The present invention relates to an automated pro cess for the creation of a database for a paper form based data collection system 0003 In order for a form based data collection system to capture data from users a database must be created with information that describes the data being collected from the user and the physical layout of the form the user is filling out For the system to be successful this process must be fast and easy to use 0004 In client server versions of some form based data collection systems the pro
9. Width 5 0 19685 6 0 1875 Char Spacing 0 7 0 02756 1 0 03125 Separator Height 3 0 11811 4 0 125 Comb Height T5 0 29528 9 0 28125 Field Spacing 4 0 15748 4 0 125 Field Text Spacing 2 0 07874 2 0 0625 0194 Form Numbers and Page ID Bubbles 0195 The Form Number is generated automatically by VI JOE The number is preferably a twelve character num ber composed of two parts separated by a hyphen The first part is formatted as YYMMDDXXX where YY is the year MM is the month DD is the day and XXX is an increment ing number for that day The second part is the page number ranging from 01 to 52 The form number is placed vertically down the right hand side of the form centered vertically 1 4 off the right edge of the paper and printed in 10 pt font 0196 The Page ID bubbles are added automatically by VI JOE These bubbles are preferably placed down the left hand side of the page The first column of 26 bubbles is placed 1 4 from the left edge of the paper The second column of 26 bubbles is placed 46 from the left edge of the paper The first row of bubbles is placed 2 from the top edge of the paper Each successive row is placed 16 below the previous row Measurements are to the top or left edge of the bubbles Row spacing is measured from the top of one bubble to the top of the next bubble 0197 The Form Number and the Page ID bubbles create required margins of 7 on the left and 746 on the right side Top and bottom margin
10. to it 0150 3 Choose Tools then Align Shapes 0151 4 Select the alignment options you want Each alignment option is represented by an illus tration Choose an Up Down Alignment a Left Right Alignment option or one of each To cancel the selection of either Alignment option click the red X in that section 0152 5 To create a guide and glue the shapes to it check Create Guide And Glue Shapes To It If you choose this option you can move all the shapes and maintain their alignment by selecting and moving the guide 0153 6 Click OK 0154 Notes When you move the shapes faint lines on the vertical and horizontal rulers indicate where on the Oct 31 2002 drawing page you re moving the shapes You can also click the arrow next to the Align Shapes button on the Action toolbar Then click one of the buttons depicted in FIG 16 0155 To align shapes to a guide point 0156 1 If you don t see the rulers make sure View gt Rulers is selected 0157 2 Point to the crossbar at the intersection of the two rulers and then drag to where you want the guide point The guide point appears as two blue crossed lines 0158 3 Position shapes you want to align with their centers selection handles for 2 D shapes or endpoints for 1 D shapes on the guide point 0159 Notes When you move the shapes faint lines on the vertical and horizontal rulers indicate where on the drawing page you re moving t
11. use only They are not designed for data capture 0108 To add text boxes to a form 0109 1 Drag an Info Box Shaded Box or Reversed Text shape onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0110 2 Drag a side selection handle to resize the shape NOTE The height of the Info Box shape is fixed 0111 3 To modify the text select the shape and then type the new text Oct 31 2002 0112 To add information lines to a form 0113 1 Drag an Info Line shape onto the drawin g P g page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0114 2 Drag a selection handle on the right or left side of the shape to change the length of the line 0115 3 To modify the label text select the shape and then type the new text 0116 To create columns in a form 0117 1 Drag a column shape or line shape onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0118 2 To increase the height or width spacing of the columns drag a selection handle Preset columns and multiple lines remain equally spaced when you resize the width 0119 Tip You can t change the number of columns for an individual 5 or 10 column shape nor the number of lines for a Double or Triple Line shape but you can overlap several column or line shapes to show different numbers of columns 0120 To create rows in a form 0121 1 Drag a column shape or line shape onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0122 2 Rotate the shape to
12. 0137 To quickly duplicate align and offset repeat ing elements in a form 0138 1 Drag a shape such as a line onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0139 2 Format and size the element the way you want to and then select it 0140 3 Hold down the Ctrl key and then drag to where you want the copy Release the mouse button and Ctrl key 0141 4 Press F4 for each additional copy you want 0142 Tip You can t change the number of columns for an individual 5 or 10 column shape nor the number of lines for a Double or Triple Line shape but you can overlap several column or line shapes to show different numbers of columns 0143 Adding text block and border shapes to a form 0144 1 Drag text block shapes 8 pt 10 pt or 18 pt onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil to add text to various parts of the form 0145 2 Drag border shapes onto the drawing page to create borders for various parts of the form including a border for the form itself 0146 3 Press Shift Ctrl and then click to zoom in so that you can align parts of the form frame work with one another and with the border 0147 To align shapes to a primary shape 0148 1 If you don t see the rulers make sure View gt Rulers is selected 0149 2 Select the shape you want to use as the primary shape and to which you want to align other shapes and then Shift click to select the shapes you want to align
13. The following description is written in the format of Oct 31 2002 a user manual in order to fully illustrate the details of the preferred stencil creation and usage Those skilled in the art will recognize how software code should be written to embody the described functionality 0025 Visio was chosen as the preferred software solution for a few reasons First it gives the user the ability to create the data collection objects that he she will use in creating forms The stencil capability of Visio was designed specifi cally for this purpose Second users can modify the appear ance of certain aspects of their data elements such as font size style and position while preserving the database definition information underneath Lastly when clients sup ply an existing form that must be used users can scan the paper into Visio and create an exact Visio representation of the document using the scanned image as a background for guidance After the form is created the background image can be removed and the Visio file can then be submitted to VI JOE for processing See FIG 7 0026 Designing forms using a blank form stencil 0027 To open a VI JOE blank form 0028 1 Choose File New then VI JOE Blank Form This drawing page contains margins and a Dead Zone 0029 2 Do not place data objects or fields out side the margins or inside the yellow Dead Zone 0030 To create a Checkbox 0031 1 Drag a Checkbox from th
14. US 20020161772A1 av United States a Patent Application Publication ao Pub No US 2002 0161772 A1 Bergelson et al 43 Pub Date Oct 31 2002 54 76 21 22 60 51 AUTOMATED PROCEDURE FOR DATABASE CREATION FOR A FORM BASED DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM Inventors Alan P Bergelson Ridgewood NJ US Alexander D Boyce Oakland NJ US Correspondence Address PENNIE AND EDMONDS 1155 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS NEW YORK NY 100362711 Appl No 10 081 006 Filed Feb 20 2002 Related U S Application Data Provisional application No 60 269 807 filed on Feb 20 2001 Publication Classification GO6F 7 00 Were any users specifed in email No d Create new user called formsetxxx 52 US Cl t 707 100 57 ABSTRACT A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a method for creating a database for a form based data collection system comprising the steps of receiving from a user a document comprising data regarding shapes or graphical objects associated with information comprising one or more of the following data type data field size and field location and populating a database from the informa tion using the data Preferably the shapes or graphical objects are dragged and dropped into the document Typi cally the document comprises a plurality of pages and the method comprises creating a form using information asso ciated with each page In one embodiment
15. a horizontal orienta tion by choosing Shape gt Rotate Right 0123 3 To increase the height or width spacing of the columns drag a selection handle Preset columns or multiple lines remain equally spaced when you resize the width 0124 Tip You can t change the number of rows for an individual 5 or 10 column shape nor the number of lines for a Double or Triple Line shape but you can overlap several column or line shapes to show different numbers of IOWS 0125 To add a grid to a form see FIG 15 0126 1 Drag the Grid shape onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0127 2 Drag a selection handle on the right or left side of the grid to change the numbers of columns in the grid Drag a selection handle on the top or bottom of the grid to change the numbers of rows in the grid 0128 3 Drag control handles green boxes to adjust the first column width this is the header column the row height and the other column widths 0129 The following refer to FIG 15 0130 A Drag to change the row height 0131 B Drag to change the width of the first column 0132 C Drag to change the column width 0133 D Drag to increase or decrease the num ber of columns US 2002 0161772 Al 0134 E Drag to increase or decrease the num ber of rows in the grid 0135 4 To add text click the first column and then type Press Enter to move to the next row 0136 Duplicating lines and boxes
16. at other software could be used to create the document a preferred embodiment uses Visio Software for performing the above steps in an automated manner is also disclosed BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0006 FIG 1 is a workflow diagram providing an over view of steps of the present invention 0007 FIG 2 illustrates load balancing 0008 FIGS 3 5 provide a detailed workflow of steps of the invention 0009 FIG 6 is a workflow diagram illustrating steps of a preferred form validity test procedure Oct 31 2002 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 0010 A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an automated process for the creation of a data base for a paper form based data collection system The automated process is referenced herein as VI Joe In this process a user creates a form or forms preferably using Microsoft Visio 2000 or equivalent software and a stencil 0011 Visio or other analogous tools allows for the creation and use of custom stencils which contain normal properties that pertain to and control Visio s visual printed presentation of the object as seen by the user It also allows these stencils to contain other custom properties which Visio itself ignores though preserving these properties within the document file These other properties within objects built using the custom stencils may be specified by a form designer in the process of building tailored obj
17. cess of getting a form defined to the system is very manual For example forms might be created manually using CorelDraw and manually scanned into a computer database All the information that describes the form and the information being collected might be manually keyed into various database tables Because of database designs some of the information might need to be entered multiple times The total time for a form to be designed and for the database to be completed can be on the order of weeks or months SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0005 A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an automated method for creating a database for a form based data collection system comprising the steps of receiving from a user a document comprising data regarding shapes or graphical objects associated with information comprising one or more of the following data type data field size and field location and populating a database from the information using the data Preferably the shapes or graphical objects are dragged and dropped into the docu ment Typically the document comprises a plurality of pages and the method comprises creating a form using information associated with each page In one embodiment each form includes a form number Typically the form also includes a form identification bubble defined below Pref erably after the forms are created they are emailed to the user Although those skilled in the art will recognize th
18. custom properties the custom form document file is saved and is then used in 2 ways a it forms the visual design that is subsequently printed from within Visio to create the hard copy form pages used to capture the handwritten data and b it is submitted to VI Joe via email or other means for processing and automatic creation of a database 0014 The email is sent to a public folder on an email server An agent a programming script that executes under specific conditions is executed whenever new email is deposited in the VI Joe public folder This agent preferably acts as a load balancer and assigns the email to a listener for processing This assignment is done in a simple round robin fashion based on the number of listeners that are running See FIG 2 The number of listeners is based upon expected usage and desired response time 0015 A listener is a computer program that looks for email that has been assigned to it and processes the email In a preferred embodiment this processing has three com ponents US 2002 0161772 Al 0016 The first component illustrated in FIG 1 is to examine the return email address and verify that the user is authorized to submit forms to VI Joe This is done by comparing the reply email address to a list of authorized users If the user is not authorized then an email is generated with an error message stating that the user is not authorized and that the user should set up an account A
19. d position 0062 4 To group the text with the checkbox click the Pointer Tool arrow on the standard toolbar drag a rectangle around the items that you want grouped then Choose Shape Grouping then Group Oct 31 2002 0063 To unlock sizing restrictions 0064 The size of some objects such as a Social Security Number comb cannot be altered If you wish to alter these objects 0065 1 Select the object 0066 2 Choose Format then Protection 0067 3 Clear the appropriate checkboxes 0068 To create a larger Context Zone 0069 1 Drag a rectangle around the data fields you want to appear inside the larger Context Zone 0070 2 To group these items choose Shape Grouping then Group 0071 3 To name your group choose Format then Special then enter your name then click OK 0072 To copy items on a form 0073 To copy any item or object in a form use CNTL Drag 0074 To create an Image Snippet see FIG 10 0075 1 Drag an Image Snippet onto the drawing page from the VI JOE Fields stencil to create an Image Snippet field This field will be captured as an image by WorkOnce 0076 2 To alter the size or shape of the Image Snippet field drag one of the green handles squares on the panels 0077 To create a Data Field Comb see FIG 11 0078 1 Drag a comb onto the drawing page from the VI JOE Fields stencil to create the data fields you want 0079 2 You can add or
20. delete boxes from the comb by simply dragging the side panels to the left or right 0080 Note You cannot add or delete boxes from data field combs that deal with dates phone numbers social security numbers or time These combs below do not have green handles on their side panels See FIG 12 0081 To set Field Attributes for objects 0082 A Microsoft Visio drawing is more than a picture it s a valuable medium for storing data A shape can act as a visual database field that stores data you can retrieve in a report For example a shape in a flowchart can store data about the cost duration and resources involved in the process the shape represents 0083 Custom properties are stored in their own section of the shape s ShapeSheet spreadsheet You can add fields using the Define Custom Properties dialog box To store data with a Visio shape add custom properties to shapes so that others can enter custom property data 0084 1 Select your field then choose Shape then Custom Properties 0085 2 From the options select the appropriate custom property US 2002 0161772 Al 0086 KeyFlag specifies that this data field is a searchable field in the document viewer and editor 0087 RequiredFlag specifies that the data field is required causes the verifier to show an exception if the field is blank 0088 LabelFlag specifies that this data field is part of the label for the page in the document viewer and
21. e green Stencil in the left pane to the drawing page in the right pane Do not place any item inside the Dead Zone 0032 2 To insert text next to the box double click on the description then type the text 0033 To create a Multi select Option or Radio But ton 0034 1 Drag a Multi select Option or Radio Button from the green Stencil in the left pane to the drawing page in the right pane Do not place any item inside the Dead Zone 0035 2 To insert text next to the box double click on the description then type the text 0036 3 To move a box click inside the box and drag it to a new location within the margins See FIG 8 0037 Checkbox A box that indicates something when marked 0038 Multi Select Option A group of boxes that allows the user to select more than one option 0039 Radio Button A group of boxes that allows the user to select only one item of a group 0040 To group Multi select Options or Radio But tons 0041 1 Click the Pointer Tool arrow on the standard toolbar 0042 2 Drag a rectangle around the items that 8 8 you want grouped US 2002 0161772 Al 0043 3 Choose Shape Grouping then Group 0044 4 Name the group by clicking on the Text Tool letter A on the standard toolbar then typing the group name 0045 5 Modify or move your group name by clicking F2 then dragging the text box to the desired position 0046 To move text see FIG 9 0047
22. ects using these stencils and may subsequently be examined and or manipulated by other software programs such as VI JOE 0012 In the preferred embodiment custom stencils are provided which contain generic visual properties that pertain to the visual physical layout of fields on a form s design e g a date field a field for entering Social Security Number etc The stencils also contain properties that allow the form designer to specify other parameters of the given field which are related to the data storage identification and verification of the data subsequently entered onto the field by users of the printed form Examples of these properties would include limiting a field s valid content to only include numbers for SSN fields or to limit a field s value to never exceed a particular value e g a date field can never exceed 31 0013 The user of these custom stencils drags them onto a form page and adjusts them to visually create the form layout design needed to capture the type of information that will be collected using the normal properties and then specifies the custom properties for each field to define the data storage identification and verification properties as needed to specify the proper database storage for the data collected in this field Once all data fields have been com pletely specified satisfying both the form layout needs via normal properties and data storage requirements via the
23. editor 0089 VerifyFlag specifies that this data field should be autoverified regardless of the setting in the admin tab 0090 Rangelow specifies the low value for range check ing on numeric fields 0091 Rangehigh specifies the high value for range checking on numeric fields 0092 Using the Stencil 0093 To create a Radio Button table see FIG 13 0094 1 Drag the Radio Button table shape onto the drawing page from the Smart Controls stencil 0095 2 Drag the right square green handle to add columns 0096 3 Drag the bottom square green handle to add rows 0097 4 Radio Button tables are automatically grouped 0098 To create a Radio Button list see FIG 14 0099 1 Drag the Radio Button list shape onto the drawing page from the Smart Controls stencil 0100 2 Drag the right square green handle to expand the text area of the list item 0101 3 Drag the bottom square green handle to add list items 0102 4 Radio Button lists are automatically grouped 0103 Using the Form Shapes stencil 0104 The Form Shapes stencil provides you with ele ments that can be used to enhance the esthetic quality of your form These elements are not designed to capture data 0105 To open Form Shapes stencil 0106 1 Choose File New Forms and Charts then Form Design This stencil will give you more tools with which to design your form 0107 2 These form shapes are designed for cos metic
24. en processed Yes y End Patent Application Publication EA Oct 31 2002 Sheet 6 of 11 FIG 6 Set error list to empty Loop from 1 to the number of pages Verify that all the shapes on the page are within the margins Were all the shapes within the margins Add any margin errors to the error list Yes Verify that the spacing between the data fields is above the minimal spacing value Were all the shapes far enough apart Add any spacing errors to No the error list Yes E Verify that all the data fields are property named and that the combs and checkboxes are sized appropriately Have all the pages been Yes processed J Were all the data field shapes properly defined Add any data field definition errors to the error list PES TN End returning the error list US 2002 0161772 A1 Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 7 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 8 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 aa i A a 5 ki fave epe OR vo d E sa SA iei nn pr wee S oe EN Wa e MR pue AN E a EII A FIG 8 Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 9 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 ee m Hansles i eo n gt LO RS IR Es E Numeric vett ee eer ra Uppercase
25. es the margin is exceeded by a shape s text box which is too large Reducing the size of the text box can resolve this problem An important point to remember is that a shape has a text box even if the text is set to blank This can still cause E t an error Error The shape s and Move the offending shapes further apart the s on page s are too This rule prevents a form from being so close together for good dense that the OCR engine won t be able recognition They must be at to work well least g inches apart Error The s on page s The default text associated with a stencil does not have a valid name assigned to it Change the shape s text or its name master must be changed The only exceptions to this rule if the Phone Number and Social Security Number fields All other fields must have names other than the name of the data type This occurs more often with radio button groups when a user forgets to set the text of the group or creates the question as a separate text field Visio will name groups by default Sheet NNN Field names can not be reused on he page This is probably due to having everal fields called Other on t s the page Change the names of the c d Error The field name s is used more than once on page s conflicting fields to be more escriptive and thereby unique Also field names are taken from the text of the object If the text contain
26. ety of reasons The DSN was not specified correctly possibly misspelled in the registry The DSN was not defined on the system as a system DSN The Oracle service name is not correct The username password is not correct The MERGE command was specified and the formset does not already exist Remove the MERGE command and resubmit the email or correct the formset name Error Too many pages d The Visio document has too many pages in formset Max d This means that the formset must be changed to be fewer pages or the algorithm for laying out the bubbles need to be rewritten The page number specified in the FIRST PAGE command is overlapping with an existing page in the formset Change the page number in the FIRST PAGE number command Error Database error unable This error means that a new formset name to create formset s could not be added to the database Possibly due to security rights This means that the software threw an unknown exception The Visio file could not be processed for some unknown reason Debugging would be necessary to determine the exact nature of the exception Error The checkbox for the Increase the size of the checkbox to the s on page Yo s is too specified size NOTE The checkbox and small for accurate recognition radio button shapes are already at the The height and width of a minimum size in the stencil They should checkbox must be at least not be resi
27. he background rectangle behind the text and other shapes in the section of the form 0171 Date information in forms 0172 The Date Time Page shape is one of several title block shapes that you can use to give users more information about your drawing or form US 2002 0161772 Al 0173 Use the Date Time Page shape to keep track of the creation date last edited date last printed date or current date of a form 0174 By default when you drag the Date Time Page shape on the drawing page it displays the date and time you created the form You can also set the Date Time Page shape to display the current date and time each time you open the drawing 0175 To set the Date Time Page shape to reflect the current date and time 0176 1 Drag a Date Time Page shape onto the drawing page from the Forms Shapes stencil 0177 2 Select the Date Time Page shape in your drawing Choose Edit gt Open Date Time Page 0178 3 Click the date numbers not the word Date and then choose Insert gt Field 0179 4 Under Category click Date Time 0180 5 Under Field click Current Date and then click OK 0181 6 Click the time numbers not the word Time and then choose Insert gt Field 0182 7 Under Field click Current Time and then click OK 0183 8 Click the close box to close the group window and return to the drawing 0184 Saving your form and publishing it 0185 To save a drawing file for the first time
28. he shapes 0160 By default the ruler zero point is at the lower left comer of the drawing page Sometimes you may want to change the position of the zero point For example you might want to measure the distances between shapes that aren t near the current zero point 0161 Snap behavior and automatic alignment 0162 Youcan rely on snap behavior to position and align shapes exactly See FIG 17 Snapping pulls shapes to one another or to ruler subdivisions grid lines guides or guide points so you can control placement and alignment You can control what types of objects shapes snap to and the snap strength which is the amount of pull that an object exerts 0163 To add colored backgrounds to parts of a form 0164 1 Open the Form drawing that you want to modify by doing one of the following 0165 Choose File New Forms And Charts then Form Design to open the Form Design solution Choose File Open and then open a Form drawing that you previously saved 0166 2 Click the rectangle tool rectangle icon on the Standard toolbar 0167 3 Draw a rectangle the size of the section of the form you want to color Before you attempt to draw the rectangle make sure no other shapes on the form are selected 0168 4 Choose the pointer tool on the Standard tool bar 0169 5 Choose Format then Fill Under Fill choose the color you want and then click OK 0170 6 Choose Shape then Send To Back to put t
29. m 14 wherein each form includes a form number 16 Software as in claim 14 wherein each form includes a form identification bubble 17 Software as in claim 14 further comprising software for sending created forms via email to said user 18 Software as in claim 11 wherein said document is a Visio document 19 Software as in claim 14 wherein said document is received via email 20 Software as in claim 14 wherein said document is a Visio document
30. nates the name of the user for the form set may be repeated to create several users If not used a new user is created named formsetX XX with access to the form set 0205 Merge Optional tells I JOE to merge new forms with an existing form set Requires the Formset command If not used a new form set is created 0206 First Page Optional designates the starting page number for the form set This is used when merging new forms into an existing form set Defaults to one more than the number of pages in the form set 0207 Test Only This command tells VI Joe to test the validity of the form set without creating the database This allows a user to test their work for accuracy without clog ging up the database with partially completed forms 0208 Dump Shapes This command causes VI Joe to return a data dump of all the shapes on each page of the document This is useful in tracking down field duplication errors 0209 Preferred External Interface Requirements 0210 The software is preferably a C program with a COM object that will process Visio documents An email account is set up with a macro that is triggered on receipt of new mail The incoming mail message is moved to a public folder for a listener to retrieve 0211 Sort Ordering 0212 VI Joe preferably sequences the fields in a top down left right order It does not include the text of a shape in determining the order only the data collection shape
31. not defined Yes Yes Create new formset in Get formsetiD for old database formset Get formsetiD for new formset Set first page number to number of pages in formset 1 First page number number of pages in Visio document lt 54 No Return with error Too many pages in formset Max 52 US 2002 0161772 A1 Patent Application Publication m Create new form in database Y Walk through all pages in N Visio document each page is a form Add form to formset Add Page ID bubble to Visio f document a Generate image of form for VI Joe Loop through all objects on page s object a recognize data object Vo All objects processed T Oct 31 2002 FIG 4 Yes Has this data field Iready been defined Yes y Add data field to the form in l the database j All forms processed Sheet 4 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 No Add new field to database Patent Application Publication Oct 31 2002 Sheet 5 of 11 US 2002 0161772 A1 FIG 5 Create new user called formsetxxx Were any users specifed in email Yes y Loop from 1 to the number of users defined in the email Does user exist in database Create user as specified Set formsetlD for the user Have all users be
32. oup group of one This is probably due to the user forgetting to group the radio buttons or incorrectly trying to add a radio button to an existing group Error Radio button group A non radio button data field was grouped s contains an invalid s together with the radio buttons This is not field called s on page permitted This is probably due to s Radio button groups grouping a data field associated with a can only contain radio buttons radio button in with the radio buttons of the same type Try grouping the radio buttons together first then group the radio button group with the other data field Error The s on page s A comb data type field is missing some or is corrupted all of the user defined properties on its shape sheet Remove the bad data field and recreate it from the VI Joe stencil Error The radio button A radio button groups contains both option s in s on page multiselect radio buttons and regular s is not the same type as single selection radio buttons Remove the rest of the group You can the buttons with the wrong style and not mix radio buttons with recreate them with the correct items multiselect options in the from the VI Joe stencil same group Error Caere engine error creating zones d The Caere engine returned an error while creating the ZON files for the formset Refer to the Caere documentation on how to resolve the problem NOTE
33. ped into said docu ment 3 A method as in claim 1 wherein said document comprises a plurality of pages 4 A method as in claim 3 further comprising creating a form using said information associated with each page 5 A method as in claim 4 wherein each form includes a form number 6 A method as in claim 4 wherein each form includes a form identification bubble 7 Amethod as in claim 4 further comprising the step of sending created forms via email to said user 8 A method as in claim 1 wherein said document is a Visio document 9 A method as in claim 4 wherein said document is received via email 10 A method as in claim 4 wherein said document is a Visio document 11 Software for creating a database for a form based data collection system comprising software for receiving from a user a document wherein said document comprises data regarding shapes or graphical objects associated with information compris ing one or more of the following data type data field size and field location and software for populating a database from said information using said data 12 Software as in claim 11 wherein said shapes or graphical objects are dragged and dropped into said docu ment 13 Software as in claim 11 wherein said document comprises a plurality of pages 14 Software as in claim 13 further comprising software for creating a form using said information associated with each page 15 Software as in clai
34. s a new line character the name is truncated to only the first line of text This does not apply to text that word wraps automatically Oct 31 2002 continued Messages returned by the VI Joe object Message Meaning and Resolution Error The radio button option s is used more than once in the field called s on page s Radio button options must be unique within the group of radio buttons Change the names of the conflicting options to be more descriptive and hereby unique Also radio button option names are taken from the text of the object If the text contains a new line character the name is truncated to only he first line of text This does not apply o text that word wraps automatically Error A sis in the dead The dead zone is a rectangle at zone on page s The field 96 g g g g A data field is too close to the clip on the is in the dead zone The message digitizer pad i e is in the states which shape is in the dead zone as dead zone well as the coordinates of the dead zone These coordinates are measured from the op left corner of the page Move and or resize the offending shape to be outside he dead zone This error unlike the margin error is only checking for the data entry portion of the shape The text of a shape can be within the dead zone though he use should be aware that the clip on the pad may obscure the text This can occur for a vari
35. s can be set by the user to accom modate the target printer Recommended margins are 1 4 top margin and bottom margin of 1 4 for laser printers and 5 for ink jet printers 0198 The initial Visio stencil has an object for each of the different data types These are generic items that create new fields in the database Additional stencils will eventu ally be created that contain specific data fields so that data can easily be aggregated across form sets 0199 Supported Data Types 0200 Radio Button Check Box Uppercase Letters Mixed Case Letters Alphanumeric Numeric Uppercase Alphanumeric Date Medium MMDDYY Date Long MMDDCCY Y Date Short MMYY Multiselect Radio Button Duration weeks months years WWMMYY Duration years months YYMM Date CCYY Time HH MM Date Medium YYMMDD Phone Number Social Security Number Decimal Number and Image Snip pet 0201 Command Summary 0202 Commands are case insensitive Each command is on a separate line in the email The order of commands is not significant The placement of the attachment icon is not US 2002 0161772 Al significant Unrecognized text in the email will return a warning to the user in the reply email but it will not prevent the email from being processed 0203 Formset Optional designates the name of the form set If not present it will default to the user s email address plus the form set number 0204 User Optional desig
36. s not a The FIRST PAGE command was included valid first page number in the email but the page number was not a number The starting page number must be digits only and follow the command on the same line The FIRST PAGE command was included in the email but the page number was out of range The starting page number must be between 1 and 54 and follow the command on the same line The FIRST PAGE command was encountered more than once in the email Remove the extra commands This is a warning that extraneous text was found in the email and was ignored This is typically due to a signature block in the email Error Invalid user account Please contact sales to create a valid user account Error Missing Visio document attachment o Error First page d is out of range The range of valid values is 1 to 54 Error First page is specified more than once Invalid command ignored s 0216 Messages returned by the VI Joe Object 0217 All shapes that are referenced in the error messages are described in one of two ways shape named s with text s at g g or shape named s with no text at g g Where the first s refers to the internal Visio name for the shape this name is displayed on the Format Special dialog box The second s refers to the text associated with the shape if the shape has text The coordi nates generally refer to the center of
37. sales or accounts department preferably also receives a copy of this email If the user is authorized then the processing contin ues 0017 The second processing component is to examine the text in the body of the email for commands Any commands that are recognized are processed Unrecognized commands are ignored These commands allow a user to a define a set of users who will be able to use the form set being defined b define the name of the form set and c control certain aspects of the form processing 0018 The third processing component is to process the contents see FIGS 3 5 of the attached Visio document itself with each page of the Visio document defining a separate form page within the formset to verify the form design is valid and then to extract the information from the custom fields to build the database 0019 Initially the locations of all fields are examined and compared to form limits and the locations of other fields to ensure that all objects are within the document s margins not too close to each other etc After checking the form layout validity see FIG 6 the document is then further processed by examining each of the objects fields in the document extracting and examining the custom property values and verifying that these property values are both self consistent e g a field cannot contain letters and also be gt 25 and also that they specify unique data fields e g a database cannot have
38. the list Another possibility is that the VI Joe Outlook profile is not set up to use the Client List as an address book An email to VI Joe must contain one and only one Visio attachment VI Joe recognizes an attachment as a Visio document by the VSD extension Error Too many attached An email to VI Joe must contain one and Visio documents Only one only one Visio attachment VI Joe Visio document can be recognizes an attachment as a Visio processed per email document by the VSD extension Error Missing formset The FORMSET command was included in name the email but the name of the formset was left blank The name must follow the command on the same line Error Formset name s Shorten the formset name to less than 64 is too long characters Maximum length is 64 characters Error Too many formset The FORMSET command was encountered names specified Only one more than once in the email Remove the formset can be created extra commands per email Error Missing user name The USER command was included in the mail but the name of the user was left blank The name must follow the command on the same line Error User name s is Shorten the user name to less than 32 too long Maximum length characters is 32 characters Error Missing first page The FIRST PAGE command was included number in the email but the page number was left blank The starting page number must follow the command on the same line Error s i
39. the shape 0218 Shapes can be quickly found using the Drawing Explorer window in Visio which allows shapes to be selected based on their name This is especially useful for US 2002 0161772 Al shapes that have no text and are called Sheet NNN Also using the Dump Shapes command will provide the user with a complete listing of all the shapes in the document This listing can be used to easily see how fields are grouped together and help resolve grouping problems 0219 Tip Grouping and ungrouping objects causes an empty group object to be created If objects are selected by clicking and dragging a selection box these invisible group objects are also selected and can cause grief When ungroup ing shapes make sure to delete the invisible group object before regrouping Messages returned by the VI Joe object Message Meaning and Resolution Error Margins were The margins can not be violated by ANY exceeded on page s by shapes Move and or resize the offending a s Margins are set at shape to be within the margins The Left g g numbers specified in the second Right g g entence of the error message specify Top g g he current margin coordinates as Bottom g g measured from the bottom left corner of the page The numbers in parentheses tell the user the coordinates of the shape that is crossing the margins Comparing these numbers allows the user to determine where the problem is Sometim
40. zed g inches Error The comb for the s Increase the height of the comb to the on page 96 s is too short specified height for accurate recognition NOTE The combs in the stencil are Combs must be at least g already the minimum height They should inches tall not be resized Error The comb for the s Increase the width of the character cells of on page 96 s is too narrow the comb to the specified width for accurate recognition Each NOTE The combs in the stencil are character position must be at already the minimum width They should least g inches wide not be resized Error Unable to connect to database Error Formset s is not defined Error Overlapped page numbers first page is d and there are already d pages in the formset Error Unknown error US 2002 0161772 Al continued Messages returned by the VI Joe object Message Meaning and Resolution Error The characters for the Increase the spacing of the character cells s on page s are too of the comb to the specified width close together for accurate NOTE The combs in the stencil are recognition Each character already the minimum width They should position must be separated not be resized by at least g inches Error The radio button s The specified radio button is an orphan It on page s is not part of must be made to be part of a group or be a a radio button gr
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