Searching and displaying hierarchical information bases using an enhanced treeview

• US 20030214538A1
• Filed: 05/17/2002
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zhou, Wei, Farrington, Shannon Matthew, Hutcheson, Tracy
• Granted Patent: US 7,484,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/854
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for specifying a criteria for searching an information hierarchy and displaying search results in a tree-based view that indicates the location of matching elements within the information hierarchy. The location of matching elements within the information hierarchy is emphasized using techniques that include highlighting instances of matching elements within a treeview display, graphically connecting a plurality of matching elements within a treeview display, and displaying a first matching element while presenting a graphical link to the next matching element within the treeview display. Search criteria can be specified using a pop-up search-test input window, or by simply right/left/double clicking upon an element within the information hierarchy. Search results are displayed within a treeview display that presents matching elements within the path-based context of the original information hierarchy but in which non-matching elements are selectively hidden based upon user configuration options selected.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a view of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

searching an information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon a search criteria; and

displaying within the pane the view of the information hierarchy and indicating within said view locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the view of the information hierarchy, indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element, is a graphical view.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the displayed graphical view is a treeview.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayed view contains summary statistics with respect to the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the information hierarchy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating the locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element includes highlighting the plurality of occurrences of the specified element within the view.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes graphically connecting the plurality of occurrences of the specified element within the view.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising graphically connecting a compressed branch of the information hierarchy containing a specified element with the plurality of graphically connected occurrences of the specified element within the view.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes displaying a first instance of the specified information element within the view and displaying a graphical link to a second instance of the specified information element within the view.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes compressing tree branches not containing matching elements.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes hiding elements that do not match the search criteria.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting characteristics of the displayed view based upon an assessment of user configurable parameters.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving the search criteria via an interface with a user.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of updating the view in response to a change in the search criteria and a user configurable parameter.

14. A method for displaying a graphical treeview of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

displaying a first graphical treeview of an information hierarchy within a first pane of the computer display window;

searching the information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon a search criteria; and

displaying a second graphical treeview of the information hierarchy indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within a second pane of the computer display window.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second pane is within a second computer display window.

16. A program product embodied on a computer readable medium including program instructions executable by a computer for displaying a view of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, the program product comprising:

program instructions for searching an information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon a search criteria; and

program instructions for displaying within the pane the view of the information hierarchy and indicating within said view locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element.

17. The program product of claim 16, wherein the view of the information hierarchy, indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element, is a graphical view.

18. The program product of claim 17, wherein the displayed graphical view is a treeview.

19. The program product of claim 16, wherein the displayed view contains summary statistics with respect to the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the information hierarchy.

20. The program product of claim 16, wherein indicating the locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element includes highlighting the plurality of occurrences of the specified element within the view.

21. The program product of claim 16, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes graphically connecting the plurality of occurrences of the specified element within the view.

22. The program product of claim 21, further comprising program instructions for graphically connecting a compressed branch of the information hierarchy containing a specified element with the plurality of graphically connected occurrences of the specified element within the view.

23. The program product of claim 16, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes displaying a first instance of the specified information element within the view and displaying a graphical link to a second instance of the specified information element within the view.

24. The program product of claim 16, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes compressing tree branches not containing matching elements.

25. The program product of claim 16, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes hiding elements that do not match the search criteria.

26. The program product of claim 16, further comprising program instructions for setting characteristics of the displayed view based upon an assessment of user configurable parameters.

27. The program product of claim 16, further comprising program instructions for receiving the search criteria via an interface with a user.

28. The program product of claim 16, further comprising program instructions for updating the view in response to a change in the search criteria and a user configurable parameter.

29. A program product embodied on a computer readable medium including program instructions executable by a computer for displaying a graphical treeview of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, the program product comprising:

program instructions for displaying a first graphical treeview of an information hierarchy within a first pane of the computer display window;

program instructions for searching the information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon a search criteria; and

program instructions for displaying a second graphical treeview of the information hierarchy indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within a second pane of the computer display window.

30. The program product of claim 29, wherein the second pane is within a second computer display window.

31. An apparatus suitable for displaying a view of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

an input unit configured to receive user configurable view characteristics and a search criteria;

a search unit configured to search an information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon the search criteria; and

a display unit configured to display within the pane the view of the information hierarchy and indicate within said view locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the view of the information hierarchy, indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element, is a graphical view.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the displayed graphical view is a treeview.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the displayed view contains summary statistics with respect to the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the information hierarchy.

35. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein indicating the locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element includes highlighting the plurality of occurrences of the specified element within the view.

36. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes graphically connecting the plurality of occurrences of the specified element within the view.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the display unit is further configured to graphically connect a compressed branch of the information hierarchy containing a specified element with the plurality of graphically connected occurrences of the specified element within the view.

38. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes displaying a first instance of the specified information element within the view and displaying a graphical link to a second instance of the specified information element within the view.

39. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes compressing tree branches not containing matching elements.

40. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein indicating the location of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within the view includes hiding elements that do not match the search criteria.

41. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the display unit is further configured to set characteristics of the displayed view based upon an assessment of user configurable parameters.

42. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the input unit is further configured to receive the search criteria via an interface with a user.

43. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the display unit is further configured to update the view in response to a change in the search criteria and a user configurable parameter.

44. An apparatus suitable for displaying a graphical treeview of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

an input unit configured to receive user configurable view characteristics and a search criteria;

a search unit that searches the information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon the search criteria; and

a display unit configured to display a first graphical treeview of an information hierarchy within a first pane of the computer display window and to display a second graphical treeview of the information hierarchy indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within a second pane of the computer display window.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the second pane is within a second computer display window.