METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSFORMING A FIRST EDITABLE DOCUMENT FORM PREPARED WITH A BATCH TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEM TO A SECOND EDITABLE DOCUMENT FORM USABLE BY AN INTERACTIVE OR BATCH TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEM

A method of transforming a first editable form of a document prepared by a batch text processing system [20-26) into a second and incompatible editable form for use in another batch or an interactive text processing system 134-42) through the use of a transform mechanism (48) is described. A significant step of this method requires the identification of a limited number of key state variables, whose values reflect information concerning source document controls that have been read in a sequence thereof. The next step requires a definition of control compatibility, i.e. determining which source document controls are compatible with other source controls that set the state variables to their current values in that sequence.After control compatibility has been determined, it will be necessary to define the output items that may need to be written fo the target document as part of the transformation of any possible input sequence. In the next step, with respect to the output items thus defined, an ordering or hierarchy of these items is established so that they will be uniformly handled in the transformation. Then, for each possible output item, determine a set or rules which will govern when and if that output item gets written to the target document based on the value of the key variables in response to a particular set of input items that have been read from the source document. The output item is written if any one or more of the rules is satisfied. Text, when encountered, is defined as always ending a sequence and thereby initiating a write, if appropriate, to the target document of the transformation of the preceding sequence of controls.