Method and system to maintain the integrity of a certified document while persisting state in a dynamic form

1. A system comprising:

a memory;

at least one hardware processor coupled to the memory;

a communications module, using the at least one hardware processor, to receive a request to certify a template associated with an electronic form, the template is associated with session data that can be altered and persisted without invalidating a certifying signature of the template, the session data comprising persistent attributes and properties of the electronic form;

an attribute detector, using the at least one hardware processor, to determine whether the template is associated with a restore state attribute having a value selectable from a manual restore setting or an automatic restore setting,

to determine the value of restore state attribute for the template,

wherein the manual restore setting indicates a presence of a state integrity verification mechanism, wherein the automatic restore setting indicates an absence of the state integrity verification mechanism, and

wherein the state integrity verification mechanism operates to maintain the certifying signature while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, and

to communicate the value of the restore state attribute of the template to a certification module; and

the certification module, using the at least one hardware processor, to selectively grant, the request to certify the template based on receiving the value of the restore state attribute,

wherein, when the value is the manual restore setting, the manual restore setting indicates the presence of the state integrity verification mechanism, the state integrity verification mechanism maintains the certifying signature, in that the certified signature is not invalidated, while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, wherein persisting the altered session data without the state integrity verification mechanism would otherwise invalidate the certifying signature, and

wherein, when the value is the automatic restore setting, the automatic restore setting indicates the absence of the state integrity verification mechanism such that the request to certify the template is denied.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the persistent attributes and properties are stored separately from the state integrity verification mechanism comprising manually scripted restore and validation actions in the template and from application data associated with the electronic form.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic form is in a Portable Document Format (PDF).

4. A method comprising:

receiving a request to certify a template associated with an electronic form, the template is associated with session data that can be altered and persisted without invalidating a certifying signature of the template, the session data comprising persistent attributes and properties of the electronic form;

determining whether the template is associated with a restore state attribute having a value selectable from a manual restore setting or an automatic restore setting;

determining the value of the restore state attribute for the template,

wherein the manual restore setting indicates a presence of a state integrity verification mechanism, wherein the automatic restore setting indicates an absence of the state integrity mechanism, and

wherein the state integrity verification mechanism operates to maintain the certifying signature while persisting altered session data of the electronic form; and

selectively granting, using at least one hardware processor, the request to certify the template based on the value of the restore state attribute,

wherein, when the value is the manual restore setting, the manual restore setting indicates the presence of the state integrity verification mechanism, the state integrity verification mechanism maintains the certifying signature, in that the certified signature is not invalidated, while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, wherein persisting the altered session data without the state integrity verification mechanism would otherwise invalidate the certifying signature, and

wherein, when the value is the automatic restore setting, the automatic restore setting indicates the absence of the state integrity verification mechanism such that the request to certify the template is denied.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the restore state attribute is indicative of the presence of persistent attributes and properties associated with the electronic form, the persistent attributes and properties are stored separately from the template and from data values associated with the electronic form.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the electronic form is in a Portable Document Format (PDF).

7. A system comprising:

a memory;

at least one hardware processor coupled to the memory;

a communications module, using the at least one hardware processor, to receive a request to load an electronic form associated with a template,

wherein, when the template is certified, the template is associated with session data that can be altered and persisted without invalidating a certifying signature of the template, the session data comprising persistent attributes and properties of the electronic form;

a certificate detector, using the at least one hardware processor, to determine whether the template associated with the electronic form is certified,

wherein, when the template is certified, an attribute detector is configured to determine whether the template is associated with a restore state attribute having a value selectable from a manual restore setting or an automatic restore setting, and

wherein, when the template is not certified, an overlay module is configured to selectively perform an overlay operation, wherein the overlay operation restores session data of the electronic form;

the attribute detector, using the at least one hardware processor, to determine whether the template, associated with the electronic form, is associated with the restore state attribute

to determine the value of restore state attribute for the template,

wherein the manual restore setting indicates a presence or an absence of a state integrity verification mechanism,

wherein the automatic restore setting indicates an absence of the state integrity mechanism, and

wherein, the state integrity verification mechanism operates to maintain the certifying signature while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, and

to communicate the value of the restore state attribute of the template to the overlay module; and

the overlay module, using the at least one hardware processor, to selectively perform an overlay operation when the template associated with the electronic form is certified,

wherein, when the value is the manual restore setting, the manual restore setting indicates the presence of the state integrity verification mechanism, the overlay operation restores the altered session data of the electronic form and the state integrity verification mechanism validates the electronic form, the state integrity verification mechanism maintains the certifying signature, in that the certified signature is not invalidated, while persisting the altered session data of the electronic form, wherein persisting the altered session data without the state integrity mechanism would otherwise invalidate the certifying signature,

wherein, when the value is the automatic restore setting, the automatic restore setting indicates the absence of the state integrity mechanism, the overlay operation restores the altered session data of the certified template, the state integrity verification mechanism is absent to maintain the certifying signature.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:

a merge module to merge the template associated with the electronic form and application data associated with the electronic form, upon receiving the request to load the electronic form associated with the template.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the session data of the electronic form includes a value associated with an unbound field in the electronic form.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the session data of the electronic form includes a value associated with an overridden calculation in the electronic form.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the session data of the electronic form includes a value associated with a characteristic of the electronic form.

12. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:

an application data repository to store application data associated with the electronic form;

a template repository to store the template associated with the electronic form; and a session data repository to store the session data of the electronic form.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a request to load an electronic form, the electronic form associated with a template,

wherein, when the template is certified, the template is associated with session data that can be altered and persisted without invalidating a certifying signature of the template, the session data comprising persistent attributes and properties of the electronic form;

determining whether the template associated with the electronic form is certified,

wherein, when the template is certified, a determination is made whether the template is associated with a restore state attribute having a value selectable from a manual restore setting or an automatic restore setting, and

wherein, when the template is not certified, an overlay operation is selectively performed, wherein the overlay operation restores session data of the electronic form;

determining, using at least one hardware processor, whether the template associated with the certified electronic form is associated with the restore state attribute,

based on determining the value of restore state attribute for the template,

wherein the manual restore setting indicates a presence of a state integrity verification mechanism,

wherein the automatic restore setting indicates an absence of the state integrity mechanism, and

wherein the state integrity verification mechanism operates to maintain the certifying signature while persisting altered session data of the electronic form; and

selectively performing an overlay operation to restore session data of the electronic form based on the value of the restore state attribute,

wherein, when the value is the manual restore setting, the manual restore setting indicates the presence of the state integrity verification mechanism, the overly operation restores the altered session data of the electronic form and the state integrity verification mechanism validates the electronic form where the state integrity verification mechanism maintains the certifying signature, in that the certified signature is not invalidated, while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, wherein persisting the altered session data without the state integrity verification mechanism would otherwise invalidate the certifying signature, and

wherein, when the value is the automatic restore setting, the automatic restore setting indicates the absence of the state integrity mechanism, overlay operation restores the altered session data of the template, the state integrity verification mechanism is absent to maintain the certifying signature.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising merging the template associated with the electronic form and application data associated with the electronic form, upon receiving the request to load the electronic form associated with the template.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the session data of the electronic form includes a value associated with an unbound field in the electronic form.

16. A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium having instruction data to cause a machine to:

receive a request to certify a template associated with an electronic form, the template is associated with session data that can be altered and persisted without invalidating a certifying signature of the template, the session data comprising persistent attributes and properties of the electronic form;

determine, using at least one hardware processor, whether the template is associated with a value of a restore state attribute that is a manual restore setting or an automatic restore setting,

wherein the manual restore setting indicates a presence of a state integrity verification mechanism,

wherein the automatic restore setting indicates an absence of the state integrity mechanism, and

wherein the state integrity verification mechanism operates to maintain the certifying signature while persisting altered session data of the electronic form; and

selectively granting the request to certify the template based on the value of the restore state attribute,

wherein, when the value is the manual restore setting, the manual restore setting indicates the presence of the state integrity verification mechanism, the state integrity verification mechanism maintains the certifying signature, in that the certified signature is not invalidated, while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, wherein persisting the altered session data without the state integrity verification mechanism would otherwise invalidate the certifying signature,

wherein, when the value is the automatic restore setting, the automatic restore setting indicates the absence of the state integrity verification mechanism such that the request to certify the template is denied.

17. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a request to certify a template associated with an electronic form, the template is associated with session data that can be altered and persisted without invalidating a certifying signature of the template, the session data comprising persistent attributes and properties of the electronic form;

means for determining whether the template is associated with a value of a restore state attribute that is a manual restore setting or an automatic restore setting,

wherein the manual restore setting indicates a presence of a state integrity verification mechanism,

wherein the automatic restore setting indicates an absence of the state integrity mechanism, and

wherein the state integrity verification mechanism operates to maintain the certifying signature while persisting altered session data of the electronic form; and

means for selectively granting the request to certify the template based on the value of the restore state attribute

wherein, when the value is the manual restore setting, the manual restore setting indicates the presence of the state integrity verification mechanism, the state integrity verification mechanism maintains the certifying signature, in that the certified signature is not invalidated, while persisting altered session data of the electronic form, wherein persisting the altered session data without the state integrity verification mechanism would otherwise invalidate the certifying signature,

wherein, when the value is the automatic restore setting, the automatic restore setting indicates the absence of the state integrity verification mechanism such that the request to certify the template is denied.