Interactive Web forms based on assistance rules

The paper describes techniques for developing assistance functions for Web form input operations. The techniques allow developers to define input-assistance functions as a set of assistance rules. The assistance rules are converted into a program that implements the assistance functions defined in the rules by a software module called a rule compiler. The program is embedded into a Web form to monitor a user´s input operations on a Web browser and to provide assistance functions such as help-message displays, validation checks of input values, and automatic inputs in accord with the user´s input operations. By defining assistance functions as a set of assistance rules, developers can implement interactive Web forms without any complicated script programming. Therefore, it is possible to rapidly prototype assistance functions and reduce the development cost of the interactive Web forms.