Property dependency visualization

• US 10,157,172 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Best, Casey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pillai, Namitha
• Application Number:
  US12/199,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20100058164A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,765 Days
• Field of Search: 715711, 715780
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for property dependency visualization. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for property dependency visualization can be provided. The method can include detecting a proximity event for a control in a user interface (UI) and determining a dependency relationship between a property for the control and at least one other property for at least one control in the UI. Thereafter, a view of the dependency relationship can be rendered in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected. In this way, tracking dependencies in a large form of a multiplicity of controls can be facilitated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a first user interface display on a display device of a computer with at least one processor, memory and supporting an operating system, with the first user interface display comprising a dialog box including a first visual feature corresponding to a multiplicity of user fillable text input fields having a hierarchical relationship with a first one of the text input fields having a portion of the hierarchical relationship with a second one of the text input fields such that providing data input for the first one of the text input fields impacts a value for the second one of the text input fields, and a second visual feature corresponding to a form submission option and a cursor;

receiving textual user input in the dialog box through a user input device in connection with the first one of the text input fields;

responsive to the textual user input, displaying a second user interface display as a pop-up window over the dialog box on the display device in proximity to the first one of the text input fields and including in the second user interface display an alert indicating that providing data input in the first one of the textual input fields impacts a value of the second one of the textual input fields; and

,

responsive to a mouse-over event in connection with the form submission option, displaying a third user interface display as a pop-up window over the dialog box on the display device and including in the third user interface display a visualization of the form submission option and a hierarchical relationship of all of the multiplicity of the text input fields to be submitted upon activating the form submission option.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and rendering in the display device a text string explaining the dependency relationship.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and rendering in the display device a text string warning of consequences arising from the dependency relationship.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and rendering in the display device a hierarchical view of the dependency relationship.

5. A forms based input data processing system configured for property dependency visualization, the system comprising:

a display device comprising at least one computer with at least one processor and memory;

a user interface (UI) for a computer program executing in the memory of the computer, the UI being defined in markup and rendered in a content browser of the display device and executing in memory of the display device;

a multiplicity of controls defined by the UI, each of the controls permitting direct interaction between an end user and the computer program, each of the controls comprising multiple different properties, each property being selected from the group consisting of a foreground and background color, a font type and size, and whether or not the control is enabled or disabled; and

,

dependency visualization logic coupled to the content browser and executing in the display device, the logic comprising program code enabled to display a first user interface display comprising a dialog box on the display device, with the first user interface including a first visual feature corresponding to a multiplicity of user fillable text input fields having a hierarchical relationship with a first one of the text input fields having a portion of the hierarchical relationship with a second one of the text input fields such that providing data input for the first one of the text input fields impacts a value for the second one of the text input fields, and a second visual feature corresponding to a form submission option and a cursor, to receive textual user input in the dialog box through a user input device in connection with the first one of the text input fields, to respond to the textual user input by displaying a second user interface display as a pop-up window over the dialog box on a display device in proximity to the first one of the text input fields and including in the second user interface display an alert indicating that providing data input in the first one of the text input fields impacts a value of the second one of the text input fields and to respond to a mouse-over event in connection with the form submission option by displaying a third user interface display as a pop-up window over the dialog box on the display device and including in the third user interface display a visualization of the hierarchical relationship of all of the multiplicity of the text input fields to be submitted upon activating the form submission option.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the program code is further enabled to determine a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and render in the display device a text string explaining the dependency relationship.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the program code is further enabled to determine a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and to render in the display device a text string warning of consequences arising from the dependency relationship.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the program code is further enabled to determine a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and to render in the display device a hierarchical view of the dependency relationship.

9. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium storing computer usable program code for property dependency visualization, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for displaying a first user interface display on a display device of a computer with at least one processor, memory and supporting an operating system, with the first user interface display comprising a dialog box including a first visual feature corresponding to a multiplicity of user fillable text input fields having a hierarchical relationship with a first one of the text input fields having a portion of the hierarchical relationship with a second one of the text input fields such that providing data input for the first one of the text input fields impacts a value for the second one of the text input fields, and a second visual feature corresponding to a form submission option and a cursor;

computer usable program code for receiving textual user input in the dialog box through a user input device in connection with the first one of the text input fields;

computer usable program code for responding to the textual user input by displaying a second user interface display as a pop-up window over the dialog box on the display device in proximity to the first one of the text input fields and including in the second user interface display an alert indicating that providing data input in the first one of the textual input fields impacts a value of the second one of the textual input fields; and

,

computer usable program code for responding to a mouse-over event in connection with the form submission option by displaying a third user interface display as a pop-up window over the dialog box on the display device and including in the third user interface display a visualization of the form submission option and a hierarchical relationship of all of the multiplicity of the text input fields to be submitted upon activating the form submission option.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising determining a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and rendering in the display device a text string explaining the dependency relationship.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising determining a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and rendering in the display device a text string warning of consequences arising from the dependency relationship.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising determining a dependency relationship in connection with the second visual feature and a first visual feature and rendering in the display device a hierarchical view of the dependency relationship.