Content transfer

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of transferring content from a file and a database. In this case, the file includes content instances, each content instance being associated with a respective field, and each field having a respective type. The transfer is achieved by determining the type of each field, and then storing each content instance in a store in accordance with the determined field type of the associated field. Each content instance can then be transferred to the database in accordance with the determined field type. A similar procedure is provided for creating XML files based on content within the database.

1 - 27 . (canceled) 
     
     
         28 . A method for use in importing content into a database, the database including database fields having a respective database field type, the method including:
 a) examining a file including content instances associate with file fields having a respective field type;   b) determining where content instances in the file should be stored in the database; and,   c) generating data relating database fields to corresponding file fields, the data being used in transferring at least one content instance from the file to the database via a store.   
     
     
         29 . A method of extracting content from a database, the database including content instances associated with database fields having a respective database field type, the method including:
 creating a plurality of files, each file including file fields having a respective file field type;   for each file, select an appropriate mapping in accordance with a document type definition of the file, wherein the mapping is a node map including a node rule for each node in the file;   create a store in the memory of the processing system, the store including store fields for content instances to be extracted from the database, the store fields corresponding to fields specified in the mapping;   after the store including the store fields is created, store the content instances to be extracted from the database in the store fields by:
 i) retrieving at least one content instance from the database; 
 ii) storing the at least one content instance in a respective store field of the store in accordance with the database field type of the associated database field and in accordance with the respective node rule in the mapping; 
 iii) repeating steps i) and ii) until each content instance to be extracted is stored in the store; and, 
   transferring the at least one content instance into at least one file so that the content instance is associated with a file field of at least one of the files in accordance with the database field type of the associated database field,   wherein each file contains respective content instances and at least one content instance is stored in multiple files, and wherein each processing system determines if a content instance cannot be transferred from the respective one of the files.   
     
     
         30 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein at least one of:
 at least one processing system creates a number of files; and,   a number of processing systems generate respective files.   
     
     
         31 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein at least one of:
 each file contains respective content instances; and,   each content instance is stored in at least one file.   
     
     
         32 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the method includes storing content instances in a respective store for each of the plurality of files. 
     
     
         33 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the method includes:
 in a first processing system, transferring at least one content instance from the database to a first file; and,   in a second processing system, transferring at least one content instance from the database to a second file.   
     
     
         34 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein content instances are transferred between the file and the database in accordance with mapping rules, and wherein the mapping rules define manipulations to be performed on content instances. 
     
     
         35 . A method according to  claim 34 , wherein the manipulations are performed as content instances are stored in the store. 
     
     
         36 . A method according to  claim 34 , wherein the manipulations include at least one of combining and splitting content instances. 
     
     
         37 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the method is used for transferring content from a first database to a second database, the method including:
 transferring at least one content instance from the first database to a file, via a store, in accordance with a first mapping; and,   transferring at least one content instance from the file to the second database, via a store, in accordance with a second mapping.   
     
     
         38 . A method according to  claim 37 , wherein the method includes:
 transferring at least one content instance from the first database to a file using a first processing system;   transferring at least one content instance from the file to the second database using a second processing system.   
     
     
         39 . A method according to  claim 38 , wherein the first and second databases include respective first and second database fields for storing content instances, each database field having a respective field type, and wherein the method includes:
 in a first processing system:
 retrieving at least one content instance from the first database; 
 storing the at least one content instance in a store in accordance with the database field type of the associated first database field; 
 transferring the at least one content instance into a respective file field in accordance with the database field type of the first database field; and, 
   in a second processing system:
 determining the type of each file field; 
 storing each content instance in a store in accordance with the field type of the associated field; and, 
 transferring each content instance to the second database in accordance with the determined field type. 
   
     
     
         40 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the method includes transferring at least one content instance between the store and the database using a respective query, the query being generated in accordance with the file field type and the database field type. 
     
     
         41 . A method according to  claim 40 , wherein the method includes extracting content instances from the database by:
 creating the query including one or more vacant locations;   applying the query to the database to thereby transfer the at least one content instance into a respective vacant location; and,   Ttransferring the at least one content instance to the store.   
     
     
         42 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the file is a mark-up language file, each content instance being stored as a respective node in a file field and the file field type of each file field being defined by the document type definition. 
     
     
         43 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the database is at least one of:
 a relational database; and,   a hierarchical database.   
     
     
         44 . A method according to  claim 29 , wherein the method is performed at least in part using at least one of:
 a processing system having a processor coupled to a store; and,   a specialised hardware processor.   
     
     
         45 . A method of importing content into a database from a plurality of files, the database including database fields having a respective field type, the file including file fields having a respective file field type, each file field storing a content instance as a respective node and the method including, in each of a plurality of processing systems, each processing system including a processor and memory, and being adapted to:
 receive a respective one of the files, the file including content instances associated with file fields having a respective file field type;   after the file is received, select an appropriate mapping in accordance with a document type definition of the received file, wherein the mapping is a node map including a node rule for each node in the file;   create a store in the memory of the processing system, the store including store fields for content instances to be extracted from the file, the store fields corresponding to fields specified in the mapping;   after the store including the store fields is created, store the content instances to be extracted from the file in the store fields by:
 i) retrieving at least one content instance from the file, the at least one content instance corresponding to a node of the file; 
 ii) storing the at least one content instance in a respective store field of the store in accordance with the field type of the associated file field and in accordance with the respective node rule in the mapping; and, 
 iii) repeating steps i) and ii) until each content instance to be extracted is stored in the store; and, 
   transfer each content instance from the respective store field of the store into the database so that the content instance is stored in a respective database field in accordance with the field type of the associated file field and the mapping and,   wherein each file contains respective content instances and at least one content instance is stored in multiple files, and wherein each processing system determines if a content instance cannot be transferred from the respective one of the files.   
     
     
         46 . A method according to  claim 45 , wherein content instances are transferred between the file and the database in accordance with mapping rules, and wherein the mapping rules define manipulations to be performed on content instances. 
     
     
         47 . A method according to  claim 46 , wherein the manipulations are performed on content instances stored in the store. 
     
     
         48 . A method according to  claim 47 , wherein the manipulations include at least one of combining and splitting content instances. 
     
     
         49 . A method according to  claim 45 , wherein the method includes:
 creating a store field associated with each content instance; and,   storing the content instance in the store field.   
     
     
         50 . A method according to  claim 45 , wherein the method includes transferring at least one content instance between the store and the database using a respective query, the query being generated in accordance with the file field type and the database field type. 
     
     
         51 . A method according to  claim 50 , wherein the method includes importing content instances into the database by:
 creating one or more vacant locations in the query in accordance with the field type;   transferring the at least one content instance into a respective vacant location; and,   applying the query to the database to thereby transfer the at least one content instance to the database.   
     
     
         52 . A method according to  claim 45 , wherein the file is a mark-up language file, each content instance being stored as a respective node in a file field and the file field type of each file field being defined by the document type definition. 
     
     
         53 . A method according to  claim 45 , wherein the database is at least one of:
 a relational database; and,   a hierarchical database.