System and method for enabling a user interface with GUI meta data

• US 20040003067A1
• Filed: 06/27/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intelliden, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intelliden, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferrin, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US10/183,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20040003067A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0863 by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A system and method for graphically representing and managing network and network device information is described. In one embodiment, the described method generates a graphical display representing at least a partial configuration of a network device. This method includes the steps of receiving an indication of a configuration category; retrieving a stylesheet corresponding to the network device and to the configuration category; retrieving instance data corresponding to the network device; identifying renderable objects using the retrieved stylesheet and the retrieved instance data; retrieving a browser theme; providing the renderable objects to the browser theme; and rendering the renderable objects using the browser theme.

Claims

1. A method for generating a graphical display representing at least a partial configuration of a network device, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a configuration category;

retrieving a stylesheet corresponding to the network device and to the configuration category;

retrieving instance data corresponding to the network device;

identifying a plurality of renderable objects using the retrieved stylesheet and the retrieved instance data;

retrieving a browser theme;

providing at least indications of the plurality of renderable objects to the browser theme; and

initiating rendering of the plurality of renderable objects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the stylesheet comprises:

retrieving an XSL script.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device is associated with a class of network devices and wherein retrieving the stylesheet comprises:

retrieving the stylesheet corresponding to the class of network devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the plurality of renderable objects comprises:

executing at least an indication of the stylesheet against the retrieved instance data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving instance data comprises:

retrieving an XML configuration document from a central repository, wherein the XML configuration document indicates at least a portion of the configuration of the network device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving instance data comprises:

retrieving a structured document that indicates at least a portion of the configuration of the network device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the stylesheet comprises:

retrieving a plurality of conditional instructions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying a plurality of renderable objects comprises:

executing the plurality of conditional instructions against at least a portion of the instance data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of unique names corresponding to at least a portion of the plurality of renderable objects.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

rendering the renderable objects in conjunction with the unique names.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating a unique identifier for at least each of the plurality of renderable objects.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of renderable objects is associated with a hierarchical location and wherein generating the plurality of unique names comprises:

concatenating at least an indication of the hierarchical location for a first of the plurality of renderable objects and the object identifier for the first of the plurality of renderable objects.

13. A system comprising:

a graphical generator;

a stylesheet data device in communication with the graphical generator;

a network data device in communication with the graphical generator; and

a browser theme data device in communication with the graphical generator.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the stylesheet data device comprises:

a plurality of XSLT documents.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the stylesheet data device comprises:

a plurality of procedural documents.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the stylesheet data device comprises:

a plurality of stylesheets, wherein each of the plurality of stylesheets corresponds to a particular class of network devices.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of stylesheets are derived from a configuration schema, wherein the configuration schema corresponds to the particular class of network devices.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of stylesheets are derived from a configuration GUI metadata, wherein the configuration GUI metadata corresponds to the particular class of network devices.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the browser-theme data device comprises:

a plurality of rendering instructions for rendering data stored in the network data device.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a stylesheet generator configured to generate stylesheets to be stored on the stylesheet data device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the stylesheet generator comprises:

an XSLT generator.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the XSLT generator comprises:

a GMD-to-GXSLT generator.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a schema data device configured to store configuration schema data;

wherein the configuration schema data is usable by the stylesheet generator to generate the stylesheets.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a schema data device configured to store configuration schema data; and

a GMD generator for generating GUI metadata from the configuration schema data;

wherein the GUI metadata is usable by the stylesheet generator to generate the stylesheets.

25. A system for generating a graphical display representing at least a partial configuration of a network device, the system comprising:

a processor;

a storage device connected to the processing device; and

a plurality of instructions stored on the storage device, the plurality of instructions configured to cause the processor to;

retrieve a stylesheet corresponding to the network device and to a configuration category;

retrieve instance data corresponding to the network device;

identify a plurality of renderable objects using the retrieved stylesheet and the retrieved instance data;

retrieve a browser theme;

provide at least indications of the plurality of renderable objects to the browser theme; and

initiate rendering of the plurality of renderable objects.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the network device is associated with a class of network devices and wherein the plurality of instructions are configured to cause the processor to retrieve the stylesheet by at least:

retrieving the stylesheet corresponding to the class of network devices.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the plurality of instructions are configured to cause the processor to retrieve instance data by at least:

retrieving a structured document that indicates at least a portion of the configuration of the network device.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the processor to:

generate a plurality of unique names corresponding to at least a portion of the plurality of renderable objects.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the processor to:

render the renderable objects in conjunction with the unique names.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the processor to:

generate a unique identifier for at least each of the plurality of renderable objects.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein each of the plurality of renderable objects is associated with a hierarchical location and wherein the plurality of instructions are configured to cause the processor to generate the plurality of unique names by at least:

concatenating at least an indication of the hierarchical location for a first of the plurality of renderable objects and the object identifier for the first of the plurality of renderable objects.

32. A method for generating a graphical display representing configuration data of a network device, the method comprising:

identifying procedural instructions corresponding to a configuration element in the configuration data;

identifying rendering instructions corresponding to the retrieved procedural instructions; and

rendering an indication of the configuration element according to the rendering instructions.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein identifying procedural instructions comprises:

retrieving stylesheet data corresponding to a particular class of network devices.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein identifying rendering instructions comprises:

retrieving browser theme data.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the configuration element is included in a structured configuration document.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the configuration element is included in an XML configuration document.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein identifying procedural instructions comprises:

identifying a plurality of conditional instructions.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein identifying rendering instructions comprises:

executing at least a portion of the plurality of conditional instructions against the configuration element.

39. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

generating a unique name for the configuration element.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein rendering an indication of the configuration element comprises:

rendering the unique name as hidden text.

41. A system for generating a graphical display representing configuration data of a network device, the system comprising:

means for identifying procedural instructions corresponding to a configuration element in the configuration data;

means for identifying rendering instructions corresponding to the retrieved procedural instructions; and

means for rendering an indication of the configuration element according to the rendering instructions.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the means for identifying procedural instructions comprises:

means for identifying a plurality of conditional instructions.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the means for identifying rendering instructions comprises:

means for executing at least a portion of the plurality of conditional instructions against the configuration element.

44. The system of claim 41, further comprising:

means for generating a unique name for the configuration element.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the means for rendering an indication of the configuration element comprises:

means for rendering the unique name as hidden text.

46. A system for generating a graphical display representing configuration data of a network device, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory device; and

a plurality of instructions stored on the memory device, the plurality of instructions configured to cause the processor to;

identify procedural instructions corresponding to a configuration element in the configuration data;

identify rendering instructions corresponding to the retrieved procedural instructions; and

render an indication of the configuration element according to the rendering instructions.