System and method for network user interface report formatting

1. A system for facilitating web-browser-based presentation and report requests over a network, the system comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more processors programmed to execute computer program instructions which, when executed, cause the computer system to:

obtain, from a user system through a web browser, a request for a first report, wherein the first report request comprises a selection of one or more template or filter combinations for formatting the first report;

return control of the web browser to enable a user to use the web browser to perform one or more other tasks while the first report request is being processed, wherein the one or more other tasks comprises requesting another report via the web browser while the first report request which was obtained through the web browser is being processed;

process the first report request by obtaining and formatting the first report in accordance with the one or more selected template or filter combinations of the first report request; and

transmit the formatted first report over the network to the web browser of the user system through which the first report request was obtained.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is further caused to:

obtain, from the user system through the web browser, a request for a second report during the processing of the first report request;

process the second report request to obtain the second report; and

transmit the second report over the network to the web browser of the user system.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein a prior-requested report, formatted in accordance with one or more template or filter combinations different from the one or more selected template or filter combinations, is stored in a cache of the computer system, and wherein the computer system processes the first report request by:

obtaining, from the computer system cache, the prior-requested report formatted in accordance with the one or more different template or filter combinations; and

responsive to determining that the prior-requested report corresponds to a same report as the first report, formatting the prior-requested report in accordance with the one or more selected template or filter combinations to generate the formatted first report that is transmitted over the network to the web browser.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify a plurality of format levels used to format the first report.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of format levels are used to format the first report in a hierarchical order, wherein the hierarchical order comprises superseding at least one of the plurality of format levels that are higher in the hierarchical order with at least one of the plurality of format levels that are lower in the hierarchical order.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of format levels comprise a global format level, a worksheet format level, a report format level, an attribute, element, a metric format level, and a value format level in that hierarchical order, and wherein the global format level is highest in the hierarchical order and the value format level is lowest in the hierarchical order.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify a merged format used to format the first report.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify a combined grid and graph format used to format the first report.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify one or more predefined formats used to format the first report.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify one or more scripts used to format the first report, wherein the one or more scripts are created at the user system and specified through the web browser.

11. A method of facilitating web-browser-based presentation and report requests over a network, the method being implemented by a computer system comprising one or more processors executing computer program instructions which, when executed, perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining, from a user system through a web browser, a request for a first report, wherein the first report request comprises a selection of one or more template or filter combinations for formatting the first report;

returning control of the web browser to enable a user to use the web browser to perform one or more other tasks while the first report request is being processed, wherein the one or more other tasks comprises requesting another report via the web browser while the first report request which was obtained through the web browser is being processed;

processing the first report request by obtaining and formatting the first report in accordance with the one or more selected template or filter combinations of the first report request; and

transmitting the formatted first report over the network to the web browser of the user system through which the first report request was obtained.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

obtaining, from the user system through the web browser, a request for a second report during the processing of the first report request;

processing the second report request to obtain the second report; and

transmitting the second report over the network to the web browser of the user system.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein a prior-requested report, formatted in accordance with one or more template or filter combinations different from the one or more selected template or filter combinations, is stored in a cache of the computer system, and wherein processing the first report request comprises:

obtaining, from the computer system cache, the prior-requested report formatted in accordance with the one or more different template or filter combinations; and

responsive to determining that the prior-requested report corresponds to a same report as the first report, formatting the prior-requested report in accordance with the one or more selected template or filter combinations to generate the formatted first report that is transmitted over the network to the web browser.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify a plurality of format levels used to format the first report.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of format levels are used to format the first report in a hierarchical order, wherein the hierarchical order comprises superseding at least one of the plurality of format levels that are higher in the hierarchical order with at least one of the plurality of format levels that are lower in the hierarchical order.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of format levels comprise a global format level, a worksheet format level, a report format level, an attribute, element, a metric format level, and a value format level in that hierarchical order, and wherein the global format level is highest in the hierarchical order and the value format level is lowest in the hierarchical order.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify a merged format used to format the first report.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify a combined grid and graph format used to format the first report.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify one or more predefined formats used to format the first report.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more template or filter combinations specify one or more scripts used to format the first report, wherein the one or more scripts are created at the user system and specified through the web browser.