Method for dynamically generating a user interface from XML-based documents
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- defining display objects from which a graphical user interface (GUI) can be built;
defining a layout hierarchy comprising layout rules specifying layout relationships between the display objects;
processing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document that includes a plurality of XML elements to identify XML elements that pertain to corresponding display objects; and
generating data by which a GUI can be rendered, said GUI comprising a plurality of display objects that are rendered on a layout window contained with the GUI, each display object containing data pertaining to an XML element to which it corresponds and being positioned on the layout window based on any relationship it may have to other display objects in accordance with the layout hierarchy.
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Abstract
A method for dynamically generating a graphical user interface (GUI) from XML-based documents. In accordance with the method, visual components or display objects for building a GUI are defined, as well as a layout hierarchy describing layout relationships between the display objects, specifying how related display objects are to be laid out relative to each other on a layout window in the GUI. XML elements in an XML document pertaining to respective display objects are identified. A GUI is generated by rendering the identified display objects on the layout window, wherein the size and the position of each display object is based on layout rules defined by the layout hierarchy and a hierarchical position of the XML element pertaining to the display object within a hierarchy of XML elements of the XML document. The appearance of display objects in the GUI may also be altered through the use layout descriptors.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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defining display objects from which a graphical user interface (GUI) can be built;
defining a layout hierarchy comprising layout rules specifying layout relationships between the display objects;
processing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document that includes a plurality of XML elements to identify XML elements that pertain to corresponding display objects; and
generating data by which a GUI can be rendered, said GUI comprising a plurality of display objects that are rendered on a layout window contained with the GUI, each display object containing data pertaining to an XML element to which it corresponds and being positioned on the layout window based on any relationship it may have to other display objects in accordance with the layout hierarchy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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defining display objects from which a graphical user interface (GUI) can be built;
generating an object model tree comprising a plurality of objects corresponding to respective XML elements in an XML document, said object model tree further defining a hierarchical position of each object; and
processing the object model tree to generate display objects based on corresponding objects in the object model tree and a respective hierarchical position for each of the corresponding objects;
retrieving data corresponding to a layout hierarchy, said layout hierarchy defining layout rules specifying how related display objects are to be displayed relative to each other upon rendering; and
dynamically generating a GUI comprising the display objects that are generated, each display object containing data pertaining to an XML element from which its corresponding object was generated from and being positioned on the GUI based on any relationship it may have to other display objects in accordance with the layout rules defined by the layout hierarchy - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A machine-readable media having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a computing machine perform the operations of:
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processing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document that includes a plurality of XML elements to identify XML elements that pertain to corresponding display objects that may be used to build a graphical user interface (GUI);
retrieving data corresponding to a layout hierarchy, said layout hierarchy defining layout rules specifying how related display objects are to be displayed relative to each other upon rendering; and
generating data by which a GUI can be rendered, said GUI comprising a plurality of display objects that are rendered on a layout window contained with the GUI, each display object containing data pertaining to an XML element to which it corresponds and being positioned on the layout window based on any relationship it may have to other display objects in accordance with the layout rules defined by the layout hierarchy. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification