An object-oriented form description language and approach to handwritten form processing

Virtually all form processing systems rely upon a form description file which holds some form design specific information. Such files are written in a form description language. This paper presents a novel form description language and a new approach to form processing which makes full use of the language. The form description language which is presented is novel in two ways: firstly, it allows the comprehensive utilisation of contextual information; secondly, it enables the storage of form models which economically describe the variations in the form design which are allowed for a particular class of forms.