Method and Apparatus for Generating Object-Oriented World Wide Web Pages

Abstract

In the present invention, HTML elements are mapped to objects in an object oriented environment. Classes of objects are defined for each HTML element as well as the HTML document (or page). By providing a one-to-one mapping between each HTML element and object classes, HTML documents can be manipulated programmatically. The properties of each element are stored in instance variables of the associated object. Each object class can include methods to manipulate the HTML element within an HTML document.

1 . A method of processing Hypertext Markup Language elements using objects, comprising the steps of:
 defining object classes for each of said elements of said HTML;   creating an HTML template, said HTML template having a statement that defines one of said HTML elements;   identifying the object class associated with said one of said HTML elements;   creating an instance of said object class, said instance containing data and methods for processing said one of said HTML elements; and   transmitting a message to said instance to perform an operation using the data and methods of said instance.