Generation of application behaviors

• US 10,592,211 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2018
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Colle, Olivier, Chauhan, Yudhvir Singh, Onu, Laura Sabina
• Primary Examiner(s): Morshed, Hossain M
• Application Number:
  US15/866,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20180129482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Examples of the disclosure provide a system and method for receiving a component at a design surface, the component representing a user interface element of an application. A selection of the component is received and a selection of at least a portion of a first target component is detected. Based on the selection of the first target component, a first property of the first target component is determined to use in an expression, the expression to be dynamically evaluated at runtime of the component. The expression automatically generated to change a property of the component based on the first property of the first target component.

Claims

1. A method for generating an expression representing runtime behavior of an application, the method comprising:

detecting a selection of a first component in a design environment, wherein a component represents a user interface element of the application;

identifying, by design logic, a current design context for the design environment, wherein the current design context is determined by a property selection mechanism using at least one of;

a learned property of a control of the design environment, machine learning, and telemetry of a control of the design environment;

identifying, based on the selection of the first component, a compatible property type or a compatible data type;

detecting a selection of at least a portion of a second component as a target component, the selections available being limited based at least on;

the selected first component, and the compatible property type or the compatible data type;

based on the identified current design context and on the detected selection of the target component,

determining a first property of the target component to use in the expression, the expression to be dynamically evaluated at runtime of the first component; and

automatically generating, by the design logic, the expression to change a property of the first component based on the determined first property of the target component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the current design context further comprises:

determining a current cursor location within the expression or partial expression displayed in a formula bar of the design environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the current design context further comprises:

determining a location of the expression or partial expression where a parameter is inserted or selected.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the current design context further comprises:

determining a dynamic property of at least one of the first component or the target component.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the current design context further comprises:

determining a learned property of at least one of the first component or the target component based on past user interaction or selection of the first component or the target component.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a first indicator proximate to the second component, the first indicator providing a visual cue of the first property of the target component used in the expression.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first property of the target component is a parameter used in the expression.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing an updated interactive list of properties of the target component proximate to the expression displayed in a formula bar of the design environment;

receiving a selection of a second property from the updated interactive list; and

modifying the expression based on the selection of the second property.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component and the second component are application controls.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting another selection of at least a portion of another target component;

based on the detected selection of the portion of the other target component and the identified current design context, determining a second property of the other target component to use in the expression; and

modifying the expression to change the property of the first component based on the first property of the target component and the second property of the other target component.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first property is displayed as a first parameter and the second property is displayed as a second parameter of the expression.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first property of the target component is one of:

a default property of the target component based at least on the current design context, and

a user selected property that the user selected from an interactive list of properties that are compatible with the target component based at least on the current design context.

13. A system for generating an expression representing runtime behavior of an application, the system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory;

a design environment implemented on the processor and configured to receive a first control and a second control;

a component identification mechanism coupled to the design environment and configured to detect a selection of at least a portion of the second control as a target component, the selections available being limited based at least on;

the first control, and

a compatible property type or a compatible data type;

a property selection mechanism coupled to the design environment and configured to;

identify a current design context, wherein the current design context is determined by a property selection mechanism using at least one of;

a a learned property of a control of the design environment, machine learning, and telemetry of a control of the design environment,

identify, based on the first control, a compatible property type or a compatible data type, and

determine a first property of the target component to use in the expression of the second control, the expression to be dynamically evaluated at runtime of the first control; and

an expression generation mechanism coupled to the design environment and configured to generate the expression to change a property of the first control based on the determined first property of the target component.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a visual cue generator coupled to the design environment and configured to display a first indicator proximate to the target component, the first indicator providing a visual cue of a relationship between the first property of the second control and a parameter used in the expression.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the property selection mechanism is further configured to:

provide an updated interactive list of properties of the second control proximate to the expression;

receive a selection of a second property from the updated interactive list; and

provide the selection of the second property to the expression generation mechanism for modifying the expression.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the component identification mechanism is further configured to detect a selection of at least a portion of a third control.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the property selection mechanism is further configured to determine a second property of the selected portion of the third control to use in the expression, and provide the second property to the expression generation mechanism to modify the expression to change the property of the first control based on the first property and the second property.

18. One or more computer storage devices having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for generating an expression representing runtime behavior of an application, which, on execution by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

detecting a selection of a first component in a design environment, wherein a component represents a user interface element of an application; and

identifying, by design logic, a current design context for the design environment, wherein the current design context is determined by a property selection mechanism using at least one of;

a learned property of a control of the design environment, machine learning, and telemetry of a control of the design environment;

identifying, based on the selection of the first component, a compatible property type or a compatible data type;

detecting a selection of at least a portion of a second component as a target component, the selections available being limited based at least on;

the selected first component, and

the compatible property type or the compatible data type;

based on the detected selection of the target component and the identified current design context, determining a first property of the target component to use in the expression, the expression to be dynamically evaluated at runtime of the first component, and

automatically generating, by the design logic, the expression to change a property of the first component based on the determined first property of the target component.

19. The one or more computer storage devices of claim 18, having further computer-executable instructions which cause the computer to perform further operations comprising:

displaying a valid target indicator proximate to one or more valid target components, the valid target indicator providing a visual cue of other selectable components based on the detected selection of the first component.

20. The one or more computer storage devices of claim 19, having further computer-executable instructions which cause the computer to perform further operations comprising:

displaying a first target indicator proximate to the target component, the first target indicator providing a visual cue of the first property of the second component used in the expression.