Efficient and intuitive databinding for mobile applications

• US 10,073,679 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2015
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Straub, Christian David, Liu, Peter Tehchuan, Broadbent, Liza Lyons
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wei, Zheng
• Application Number:
  US14/865,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20160092176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for allowing end users to intuitively databind functional components to backend services through visual affordances. Each UI component can advertise which sections of the UI can be independently databound to individual properties coming from data of backend services. When the user wishes to databind a UI component, the sections of the UI that can be databound now transforms to show relevant text describing the function of that particular section. The user can be presented with a databinding interface that consistent of all the possible pieces of data that the user can bind to as well as visual slots that map to the slots in the visual preview. To databind a component, a user can drag and drop the particular piece of data from the available list, and drop that into the slot they want that data to apply to.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computer, a first gesture made by a user of an application development framework binding a data source to a user interface of a mobile application being developed with the application development framework, wherein the first gesture includes a selection of the data source from a catalog of services comprising data sources available to the mobile application;

identifying, by the computer, a harvester configured to;

identify deployed services for the data source, create Application Programing Interface (API) assets that represent the identified deployed service for the data source, and identify a set of data points mapping to the API assets;

receiving, from the harvester, the set of data points available at the data source;

identifying, by the computer, a plurality of regions of the user interface;

determining, by the computer, a set of data bindable areas of the plurality of regions of the user interface based at least in part on information provided by the user interface, wherein the information provided by the user interface includes a set of user interface elements based on a template associated with the user interface that correspond to the set of data bindable areas;

receiving, at the computer, a second gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a data point from the received set of data points available at the data source to a data bindable area from the determined set of data bindable areas of the user interface, wherein the receiving includes;

receiving information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point from a visual representation of the set of data points on to a visual representation of the data bindable area, and highlighting data bindable areas including the data bindable area in at least one region of the plurality of regions of the user interface based at least on a determination of the data bindable areas affected by the data point; and

modifying, by the computer, a predetermined expression of the data bindable area with a reference to the data point available at the data source based at least in part on the second gesture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, at the computer, the first gesture made by the user of the application development framework comprises receiving information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data source from the catalog of services on to a visual representation of the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the harvester identifies the set of data points available at the data source by accessing a Representational State Transfer (REST) or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) definition.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the computer, the set of data bindable areas comprises:

identifying the template associated with the user interface; and

determining the set of user interface elements based on the template that correspond to the set of data bindable areas.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, at the computer, the second gesture made by the user of the application development framework comprises receiving information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point available at the data source from a visual representation of the set of data points available at the data source on to a visual representation of the data bindable area.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying, by the computer, the predetermined expression of the data bindable area with the reference to the data point available at the data source comprises updating a reference to first data used when previewing the user interface without databinding with the reference to the data point available at the data source.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the computer, a set of parameters required to request data from the data source;

determining, by the computer, a set of parameter sources based on the information provided by the user interface; and

receiving, at the computer, a third gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a parameter to a parameter source.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer-program product which when executed by a processor of a computer causes the processor to:

receive a first gesture made by a user of an application development framework binding a data source to a user interface of a mobile application being developed with the application development framework, wherein the first gesture includes a selection of the data source from a service catalog comprising data sources available to the mobile application;

identify a harvester configured to;

identify deployed services for the data source, create Application Programing interface (API) assets that represent the identified deployed service for the data source, and identify a set of data points mapping to the API assets;

receive, at the computer from the harvester, the set of data points available at the data source that map to services provided by the data source;

identifying a plurality of regions of the user interface;

determine a set of data bindable areas of the plurality of regions of the user interface based at least in part on information provided by the user interface, wherein the information provided by the user interface includes a set of user interface elements based on a template associated with the user interface that correspond to the set of data bindable areas;

receive a second gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a data point from the received set of data points available at the data source to a data bindable area from the determined set of data bindable areas of the user interface, wherein the receiving includes highlighting data bindable areas including the data bindable area in at least one region of the plurality of regions of the user interface based at least on a determination of the data bindable areas affected by the data point; and

modify a predetermined expression of the data bindable area with a reference to the data point available at the data source based at least in part on the second gesture.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein to receive the first gesture made by the user of the application development framework the computer program product causes the processor to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data source from the catalog of services on to a visual representation of the user interface.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein to determine the set of data points available at the data source the computer program product causes the processor to access a Representational State Transfer (REST) or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) definition.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein to determine the set of data bindable areas the computer program product causes the processor to:

identify the template associated with the user interface; and

determine the set of user interface elements based on the template that correspond to the set of data bindable areas.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein to receive the second gesture made by the user of the application development framework the computer program product causes the processor to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point available at the data source from a visual representation of the set of data points available at the data source on to a visual representation of the data bindable area.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein to modify the predetermined expression of the data bindable area with the reference to the data point available at the data source the computer program product causes the processor to update a reference to first data used when previewing the user interface without databinding with the reference to the data point available at the data source.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the computer program product further causes the processor to:

determine a set of parameters required to request data from the data source;

determine a set of parameter sources based on the information provided by the user interface; and

receive a third gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a parameter to a parameter source.

15. A system comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a memory storing a set of instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a first gesture made by a user of an application development framework binding a data source to a user interface of a mobile application being developed with the application development framework, wherein the first gesture includes a selection of the data source from a service catalog comprising data sources available to the mobile application;

identity a harvester configured to identify deployed services for the data source, create Application Programing Interface (API) assets that represent the identified deployed service for the data source, and identify a set of data points mapping to the API assets;

receive, at the computer from the harvester, the set of data points available at the data source that map to services provided by the data source;

identify a plurality of regions of the user interface;

determine a set of data bindable areas of the plurality of regions of the user interface based at least in part on information provided by the user interface, wherein the information provided by the user interface includes a set of user interface elements based on a template associated with the user interface that correspond to the set of data bindable areas;

receive a second gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a data point from the received set of data points available at the data source to a data bindable area from the determined set of data bindable areas of the user interface, wherein the receiving includes highlighting data bindable areas including the data bindable area in at least one region of the plurality of regions of the user interface based at least on a determination of the data bindable areas affected by the data point; and

modify a predetermined expression of the data bindable area with a reference to the data point available at the data source based at least in part on the second gesture.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein to receive the first gesture made by the user of the application development framework the processor is caused to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data source from the catalog of services on to a visual representation of the user interface.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein to determine the set of data points available at the data source the processor is caused to access a Representational State Transfer (REST) or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) definition.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein to determine the set of data bindable areas the processor is further caused to:

identify the template associated with the user interface; and

determine the set of user interface elements based on the template that correspond to the set of data bindable areas.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein to receive the second gesture made by the user of the application development framework the processor is caused to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point available at the data source from a visual representation of the set of data points available at the data source on to a visual representation of the data bindable area.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein to modify the predetermined expression of the data bindable area with the reference to the data point available at the data source the processor is caused to update a reference to first data used when previewing the user interface without databinding with the reference to the data point available at the data source.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further caused to:

determine a set of parameters required to request data from the data source;

determine a set of parameter sources based on the information provided by the user interface; and

receive a third gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a parameter to a parameter source.