JP2015005150A - Document creating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document creating system that can create PDFs optimal for output environment of each user when creating a document on a cloud.SOLUTION: A form storage section determines a specification start of an embedded font, provides selection means for the embedded font, and stores in a form file a setting whether the font is embedded, and a setting that which font is embedded at a time of creating a document. A document creating section acquires the form file from a form management section (S1501), determines whether the embedded font is specified (S1502), acquires the specification of the embedded font from the form file (S1503), and inserts the specified embedded font into the document (S1504).

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).

  As a format of a document generated by the document generation server, PDF (Portable Document Format) is mainly used. In the case of the PDF format, font information for drawing characters is not included in the PDF file in the normal generation method. For this reason, when browsing in an environment different from the environment in which the PDF is generated, if there is no font in the browsing environment, the characters described in the PDF may be different from the assumptions or may not be displayed.

  In order to cope with such a problem, conventionally, there is a technique for embedding font information in a PDF document to be generated so that characters are not garbled or displayed differently than expected when viewed in any environment. When a document is generated, font information is embedded in the PDF according to a setting fixed in advance for each document generation server, so that a constant display can be obtained in any browsing environment (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-345787 A

  When document generation is performed on the cloud server, all users (enterprises and tenants) use the same document generation server. Therefore, the settings for generating a document on the document generation server are common to all users. For this reason, in the prior art, which font is embedded in the PDF to be generated is fixed for each document generation server, and detailed control in accordance with each user's request cannot be performed. For example, user A wants to reduce the file size without embedding “font x” information in the PDF for the operation of distributing “font x” to all environments browsing the PDF.

  On the other hand, the user B wants to embed “font x” in the PDF because it is assumed that there is no “font x” in the viewing environment. As described above, although there is a different demand for each user, the conventional technology cannot generate an optimum PDF for each user's output environment. In particular, in recent years, the number of cases where PDF is browsed on a computer other than a PC such as a mobile terminal is increasing, and it is expected that cases in which the operating environment of PDF differs for each user will increase.

  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, and includes the following.

  A data access unit 504 that determines whether or not a call with a special JOIN syntax is necessary for data acquisition from the cloud platform service 102. An acquisition number limit unit 507 that independently limits the number of cases. A number limit management unit 508 that holds the number limit setting.

  The data access unit 504 acquires the query command 1006 from the form information management unit 505 (S1401), and whether or not a call with a special JOIN syntax is necessary for acquiring data from the cloud platform service 102 based on the acquired information. It is determined (S1402), whether or not a special JOIN syntax is issued is determined (S1403), and in the case of issuance, the data acquisition number limit setting defined in the query command 1006 is invalidated (S1404).

  The acquisition number limit unit 507 acquires the query command 1006 from the form information management unit 505 (S1401), acquires the number limit setting for the acquired data from the query command 1006 (S1407), and based on the acquired number limit setting Then, the number of cases is limited for the data acquired by the data access unit 504 (S1408).

  The number limit management unit 508 performs the number limit setting for the acquired data with respect to the query command 1006 in accordance with a user instruction (S1301).

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the system which produces | generates a document (PDF) on a cloud, the optimal PDF for an output environment can be produced | generated according to each user's request. The user can control the designation of the font to be embedded in the PDF, thereby optimizing the operation on the mobile terminal whose PDF file size affects the response and performance.

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 production | generation system in Example 1 performs. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embedded font designation process of the Web server in the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the embedded font selection dialog which the Web server in Example 1 displays. 6 is a flowchart illustrating document generation processing of a document generation service according to the first exemplary embodiment. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an embedded font designation process of the Web server in the second embodiment.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

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

  In the figure, 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. In the figure, 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. In the figure, reference numeral 103 denotes a document generation server 103 which receives a request from the client apparatus 101 and generates a document.

  In addition, each of the above components is connected to be communicable by the 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. In the figure, 201 is 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.
In the figure, 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, a form and a query command managed by itself, and generates document data. In the query command, 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 cloud platform service 102 includes the following.

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

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

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

  An authentication unit 405 that authenticates a user who has requested login.

  A session management unit 404 that manages session information of a user successfully authenticated by the authentication unit 405.

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

  A setting management unit 407 holds settings for performing redirection to the document generation server 103.

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

  In the figure, reference numeral 408 denotes a DB 408 that 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.

  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 Web server 303 is configured as follows.

  A transmission / reception unit 501 that processes communication with the Web browser 301, the cloud platform service 102, and the document generation service 304 of the client apparatus 101. A control unit 502 that executes processing according to the received request. A page generation unit 503 that generates a Web page for returning a response to the Web browser 301. A data access unit 504 that accesses the cloud platform service 102 and acquires business data. A form information management unit 505 that manages a later-described form information table. A session management unit 506 that manages session information of the Web browser 301. A form storage unit 507 that creates and stores a form file. 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 document generation service 304 includes the following.

  A request receiving unit 601 that receives a document generation request from the Web server 303. A control unit 602 that executes processing according to the received request. A form management unit 603 that manages form data. A document generation unit 604 that performs overlay processing using the business data and form transmitted from the Web server 303 and generates document data. A document transmission unit 605 transmits the generated document data to the Web server 303 or the client terminal 101.

  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 detailed information 702 and products 703 of a record.

  In FIG. 7, the details of the business negotiation record on the business screen relating to the business negotiation are displayed. 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 negotiations among business data held by the data management unit 406 of the cloud platform service 102.

  The business data is managed in the data table 800, and includes a business negotiation table 801 and a product table 811.

  The negotiation table 801 includes a record ID 802 that is an identifier of a record, and a negotiation name 803 that can be set to an arbitrary name so that the user can easily distinguish the record.

  The product table 811 includes a business negotiation record ID 812, a record ID 813 that is an identifier of a record in the product table, a product name 814, a quantity 815, and a price 816. The negotiation record ID 812 is related to the record ID 802 of the negotiation table.

  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 in the “negotiation” screen and the “customer” screen, and the setting information of the custom button displayed on the “negotiation” screen is redirected to the button display name 903 and the document generation server 103. 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 negotiation 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. A query command 1006 describing 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.

  In the following drawings, the cloud platform service is abbreviated as CPS.

  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.

  Further, 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 Embodiment 1 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 document generation server 103.

  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.

  When the Web server 303 receives a document generation request in S1206, the document generation service 103 issues a query command 1006 that matches the form specified in the selection form 1104, and makes a data acquisition request 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. In step S <b> 1207, the document generation server 103 creates a data acquisition screen 1106 and sends it to the web browser 301.

  The Web browser 301 periodically transmits a data acquisition completion confirmation request to the document generation server 103 in S1208. The Web server 303 of the document generation server 103 sends a data acquisition screen 1106 similar to S1207 to the Web browser 301 until a data acquisition response is returned from the cloud platform service 02.

  Next, a data acquisition response is returned from the cloud platform service 102 to 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 using the data obtained from the cloud platform service 102, and returns it to the web browser 301 (S1209).

  When the user presses the creation button 1108 on the acquired data confirmation screen 1107 returned to the Web browser 301 in S1209, the Web browser 301 transmits a document generation request to the Web server 303 (S1210). .

  In step S1210, when the Web server 303 receives a document generation request, a document generation process described later is performed.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the embedded font designation process of the Web server 303 in the present invention.

  In step S1301, the form storage unit 507 determines whether designation of an embedded font has been started for the form file in accordance with a user instruction.

  If it is determined in S1301 that the designation of the embedded font has not been started, the processing is terminated as it is.

  If it is determined in S1301 that the designation of the embedded font has been started, the process proceeds to step S1302.

  In step S1302, the form storage unit 507 displays a dialog for selecting a font to be embedded at the time of form generation for the form file. An example of the dialog is shown in FIG. The user operates the dialog shown in FIG. 14 provided by the form management unit 507 to specify the font to be embedded. For example, in FIG. 14, a list of fonts to be embedded in a document when a form designated by the user is generated is displayed in the embedded font list 1401. The user selects a font to be embedded in the document from the font list 1403 and moves the font to the embedded font list 1401 to instruct embedding. When the designation of the font to be embedded is completed, an OK button 1402 is pressed to close the dialog. Note that the font displayed in the font list 1403 is a font that exists in the environment in which the form storage unit 507 operates.

  In step S1303, the form storage unit 507 stores the form file in accordance with a user instruction. Step S1303 is performed, for example, when a “file save” menu command of the form saving unit 507 is executed by a user operation. In this step, the designation of the embedded font set in the dialog in step S1302 is stored in the form file.

  It is only necessary to provide a means for holding the designation of the embedded font in the form file. For this reason, the form storage unit 507 need not belong to the Web server 303. For example, another server may belong to the client device 101.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing document generation processing of the document generation service 304 in the present invention.

  In step S1501, the document generation unit 604 reads a form file from the form management unit 603.

  In step S1502, the document generation unit 604 determines whether an embedded font is specified in the form file read in step S1501.

  If it is determined in step S1502 that the embedded font is specified in the form file, in step S1503, the document generation unit 604 acquires the embedded font specification from the form file.

  In step S1504, the document generation unit 604 generates a document using the embedded font designation acquired in step S1503. The document generation unit 604 embeds a font specified at the time of document generation.

  If it is determined in step S1502 that an embedded font is not specified in the form file, the document generation unit 604 generates a document with a specified setting in step S1505. Since no embedded font is specified, no font is embedded in the document.

[Example 2]
In the first embodiment, the font displayed in the font list 1403 is a font that exists in the environment in which the form storage unit 507 operates. However, in that case, there is a possibility that a font that does not exist in the environment of the document generation service 304 on which the document generation unit 604 operates is specified to be embedded by the form storage unit 507. If the specified font is not in the document generation unit 604, the specified font cannot be embedded at the time of document generation, and the problem cannot be solved. In this example, an embodiment for solving this problem will be described.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing document generation processing of the Web server 303 in the present invention. Only portions different from FIG. 13 will be described.

  In step S1602, the form storage unit 507 acquires a font list from the document generation service 304. When the document generation service 304 receives a request from the Web server 303, the document generation service 304 acquires information on fonts existing in its own environment and notifies the Web server 303.

  In step S1602, the form storage unit 507 determines a font to be displayed in the font list 1403 of the embedded font selection dialog based on the font information received from the document generation service 304 in step S1601. The decision logic may be arbitrary. For example, the received font of the environment 304 of the document generation service may be used as it is, or a font existing in the Web server 303 may be added to mix fonts of both environments.

  In step 1302, the form storage unit 507 displays the font determined in step S1602 in the font list 1403 of the embedded font selection dialog.

  This embodiment can solve the problem that the font specified in the form storage unit 507 is not embedded in the document according to the user's instruction because the font is not in the document generation unit.

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 (2)

A document generation system characterized in that a client terminal 101, a cloud platform service 102, and a document generation server 103 are connected via a network, and includes the following.
A form storage unit 507 for specifying a font to be embedded when generating a document. A document generation unit 604 that generates a document based on designation of an embedded font designated in the form file.
The form storage unit 507 determines the start of embedding font designation (S1301), provides an embedding font selection means (S1302), sets whether to embed the font when generating the document, and sets which font to embed. Save in the file (S1303).
The document generation unit 604 acquires a form file from the form management unit 603 (S1501), determines whether or not an embedded font is specified (S1502), acquires the specification of the embedded font from the form file (S1503), and specifies the specified embedding. The font is embedded in the document (S1504). The form storage unit 507 acquires a list of fonts existing in the document generation environment from the document generation environment (S1601), and determines the fonts to be displayed on the user interface for determining the font to be embedded in the document based on the acquired font list. The document generation system according to claim 1, wherein the document generation system determines (S1602) and displays the determined font on the user interface (S1302).