System and method for reducing memory use associated with the graphical representation of a list control

• US 20020180787A1
• Filed: 05/31/2001
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Broussard, Scott J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,562,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/749
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed whereby a list-based control (e.g., a Listbox or Choice control) in a graphical user interface may share a single copy of a list with the peer component of the control in the application program interface (API) used to display the control. This overcomes a problem in legacy Java applications, based on the abstract windowing toolkit API, wherein the peer component creates a copy of the list when the corresponding list-based control is displayed. In contrast, peer components within the Swing API reference the original version of the list associated with the control, avoiding this redundancy. According to the system and method disclosed herein, an enhanced version of Swing can be used with legacy application programs, allowing them to benefit from this feature of Swing. No modification of the legacy code is necessary. This extension to Swing is referred to herein as AWTSwing.

Claims

1. A display system, comprising:

a display;

an application program adapted to execute from a processor that also operates from an operating system;

a memory;

a software component containing lines of code which, during execution of the application program, fetch a list of text contained within the memory for producing an image of the list upon the display absent invoking a display routine from the operating system.

2. The display system as recited in claim 1, wherein the application program is adapted to operate during runtime of the operating system, wherein the application program creates the list prior to fetching the list from the memory.

3. The display system as recited in claim 1, wherein the list is created only once in the memory by the application program, and not again by the operating system.

4. The display system as recited in claim 1, wherein the image of the list upon the display is created independent of the operating system.

5. The display system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a peer component coupled between the software component and a list of Java swing component, said peer component containing a pointer for translating call routines from the software component to the memory containing the list of text.

6. The display system as recited in claim 5, wherein the lines of code within the software component comprise an object which, when presented on the display, produces a graphical representation, and wherein the peer component emulates at least some of the behavior of a second peer component adapted to serve as an interface between the software component and the object such that the second peer component creates a copy of the list.

7. The display system as recited in claim 6, wherein the second peer component is part of the abstract windowing toolkit (AWT).

8. The display system as recited in claim 6, wherein the system of software components comprises a Java swing application program interface (API).

9. The display system as recited in claim 6, wherein the object is part of a graphical user interface associated with the application program.

10. The display system as recited in claim 6, wherein the object is a choice or list control.

11. The display system as recited in claim 1, wherein the application program is written in Java programming language.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said creating comprises communicating the call routine to lines of code within a peer software component that serves as an interface between object code created while running the application program and an image formed on a display.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said creating comprises communicating the call routine to lines of code within a peer software component that serves to point to the list file within the memory.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising emulating, via the peer component, at least some of the behavior of a second peer component serving as an interface between the object code and its corresponding image.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the object code is part of a graphical user interface associated with the application program.

12. A method for displaying an image, comprising:

running an application program upon a computer operating under an operating system also running on the computer; and

creating a list file during said running of the application program by pointing a call routine created in the application program to a library of platform-independent commands and storing the created list file in memory without creating a copy of the list file in memory.

17. A computer-readable storage device, comprising:

a single copy of a code listing that, when executed by a processor, produces an image containing a list of items which can be selected by a user via a pointing device;

an operating system for operating a computer that includes the storage device; and

an application program adapted to create the code listing absent any involvement of the operating system by sending call instructions to a software component that draws from commands within a library that are independent of said operating system, and importing said commands as said lines of code listing.