Methods, techniques, software and systems for rendering multiple sources of input into a single output

摘要

A computer-implemented template provides a structure for a document. The template may provide zero or more region definitions and zero or more placeholders. Region definitions may be associated with data provided in data providers. There are two types of data providers, namely software data providers and non-software data providers. Software data providers provide data through the execution of software code, whereas non-software data providers do not execute software code. A rendering engine renders the template pursuant to a rendering strategy. If a region definition in a template is associated with a region in a single data provider, the rendering engine replaces the region definition in the template with the located region. If a single region definition is associated with two or more regions, the rendering engine and the rendering strategy decide which region to use based upon a predetermined strategy. The placeholders in the template are replaced during the rendering process by their associated globally defined values.