Mechanism allowing separation of graphical display of object status from underlying data

• US 20030095143A1
• Filed: 10/30/2001
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Lauris, Inna
• Granted Patent: US 6,810,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system that isolates all of the information that determines the look and feel of status displays of a GUI into one file is described. This file can be quickly edited to change the appearance when needed. In one embodiment, a user requests that an object border should be yellow instead of green for a particular situation. This modification is achieved without code recompilation, by editing a few lines in a file. Similarly, if another visual indicator needs to be added, file editing is all that is required. The application source code utilizes a class schema which defines the visual components of the GUI that should be modifiable file. A modifiable file comprising class instances corresponding to the class schema is read in and processed when the application is launched. Further changes require the application to be restarted to read in the modified file.

Claims

1. A method for displaying visual indicators in a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising:

identifying modifiable parameters for visual indicators associated with a GUI;

constructing a class schema associating classes with the identified modifiable parameters;

defining primary queries associated with objects in the GUI;

defining secondary queries associated with objects in the GUI, the secondary queries having a priority which determines an order in which this query is run;

constructing a managed object format file with instances of the classes defined in the class schema, the instances corresponding to data maintained by an application using the graphical user interface.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

for each object in the display,

selecting all queries corresponding to the object;

running a primary query to obtain object status;

determining whether the object status requires a visual indicator, and if so, displaying the required visual indicator;

determining whether the object status requires one or more secondary queries, and if so, then

for each required secondary query,

running a query to obtain an underlying status; and

determining whether the underlying object status requires a visual indicator, and if so, displaying the required visual indicator.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the modifiable parameters for visual indicators identified in the identifying step are selected from a group of border colors, border pattern and associated icons.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the parameters for visual indicators, wherein the step of modifying comprises;

editing a managed object format file; and

launching an application associated with the GUI.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein launching an application further comprises:

reading the modified managed object format file; and

instantiating classes associated with the modified parameters.

6. A computer system for displaying visual indicators in a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising:

a computing device capable of executing object-oriented computer programs;

a module comprising a GUI running on the computing device;

a first section of object-oriented computer code defining a class schema, the schema comprising class definitions for a status query types and status queries for selected display objects, and relationships among the defined classes;

a second section of object-oriented computer code defining instances of classes for status query type classes and status query classes, wherein relationships between the GUI and display of desired visual indicators is modifiable in a text file.

7. The computer system as recited in claim 6, wherein the status query types class identifies a priority for a query type.

8. The computer system as recited in claim 7, wherein each status query class is associated with a status query type.

9. The computer system as recited in claim 6, wherein a status query type is a primary or secondary query, the primary queries determining a status of an object and a secondary query determining a compound status (or badge) for an object.

10. The computer system as recited in claim 9, wherein a secondary query has priority and type fields for determining an order for which compound status queries are to be run.

11. A method for dynamically modifying a visual indicator in a graphical user interface (GUI) without recompilation, said method comprising:

selecting desired visual indicators in a GUI;

modifying at least one parameter of the visual indicators, the modification being performed dynamically, wherein the dynamic modification enables display of the modified visual indicators upon re-launching of the GUI application without recompilation.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

re-launching the GUI application; and

displaying modified visual indicators.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein re-launching the GUI application comprises:

exiting the GUI application; and

launching the GUI application, the GUI application reading a file having modified parameters for at least one visual indicator, the file being generated in the step of modifying at least one parameter of the visual indicators.

14. A memory for storing data for access by a graphical user interface (GUI) application program being executed on a data processing system, comprising:

an object-oriented data structure stored in the memory, the data structure including information related to a class schema, wherein the class schema comprises class definitions for status query types and status queries for selected display objects, and relationships among the defined classes and wherein the class schema identifies modifiable parameters for visual indicators associated with the GUI, the class schema being utilized in compilation of the GUI;

a plurality of primary queries stored in the memory, the primary queries being associated with objects in the GUI;

a plurality of secondary queries stored in the memory, the secondary queries being associated with objects in the GUI, and having a priority which determines an order in which a query is run; and

a plurality of instances of classes, the classes being defined in the class schema, wherein the class instances are stored in the memory and correspond to data maintained by an application using the graphical user interface,

wherein data in the memory are inputs to the GUI upon launching of the GUI application program, thereby avoiding recompilation of the GUI application program when the data in memory is modified.

15. A memory for storing data for access by a graphical user interface (GUI) application program being executed on a data processing system, comprising:

an object-oriented class schema stored in a first memory, wherein the class schema comprises class definitions for status query types and status queries for selected display objects, and relationships among the defined classes and wherein the class schema identifies modifiable parameters for visual indicators associated with the GUI, the class schema being utilized in compilation of the GUI; and

an object-oriented data structure stored in a second memory, the data structure comprising a plurality of class instances corresponding to classes defined in the class schema, a plurality of primary queries, the primary queries being associated with objects in the GUI, and a plurality of secondary queries associated with objects in the GUI, and having a priority which determines an order in which a query is run,

wherein data in the second memory are inputs to the GUI upon launching of the GUI application program, thereby avoiding recompilation of the GUI application program when data in the second memory is modified.

16. A method for displaying a layout of graphical user interface (GUI) properties panel, comprising:

selecting a display object, wherein the display object represents a focus object in memory, the focus object having a corresponding status in memory, relationships between the display object, the layout of the display object in the GUI and display object corresponding status being defined by a class schema, wherein the class schema comprises class definitions for status query types and status queries for selected display objects, and relationships among the defined classes and wherein the class schema identifies modifiable parameters for visual indicators associated with the GUI, the class schema being utilized in compilation of the GUI, and wherein instances of classes defined in the schema are defined in a modifiable text file, the modifiable text file being read by the GUI at application launch time; and

displaying the display object with visual indicators in a layout defined by the schema.