Tabstrip user interface element for formulating boolean statements

• US 20040085362A1
• Filed: 11/05/2002
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sauermann, Volker, Von Bergen, Axel, Schwarz, Arne
• Granted Patent: US 7,665,030 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/777
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence

Abstract

A user interface element for manipulating Boolean expressions includes at least one tab panel element operable to define a term of a Boolean expression with each term including one or more condition statements, and an add tab element operable to add an additional tab panel element. The defined terms of each of the tab panel elements are combined to form the Boolean expression.

Claims

1. A user interface element for manipulating Boolean expressions, the user interface element comprising:

at least one tab panel element operable to define a term of a Boolean expression, each term including one or more condition statements; and

an add tab element operable to add an additional tab panel element,

wherein the defined terms of each of the tab panel elements are combined to form the Boolean expression.

2. The user interface element of claim 1 wherein each of the condition statements includes an attribute, an operator, and a value.

3. The user interface element of claim 2 wherein the operator includes one or more from the group consisting of:

equal to, not equal to, less than, less than or equal to, greater than, greater than or equal to, within a range, or outside a range.

4. The user interface element of claim 1 wherein the condition statements are combined using a term combination operator.

5. The user interface element of claim 4 wherein the term combination operator is selectable.

6. The user interface element of claim 5 wherein the term combination operator is selectable from the group consisting of:

logical-and; and

logical-or.

7. The user interface element of claim 5 wherein the add tab element is operable to add a logical-and tab such that the term defined by the logical-and tab is combined with terms defined by preceding tab panel elements using a logical-and operation.

8. The user interface element of claim 5 wherein the add tab element is operable to add a logical-or tab such that the term defined by the logical-or tab is combined with terms defined by preceding tab panel elements using a logical-or operation.

9. A data query tool comprising:

a data store operable to store data elements;

a data query software application operable to query the data store to identify data elements satisfying a query statement; and

a user interface for defining the query statement, the user interface including;

at least one tab panel element operable to define a term of the query statement, each term including one or more condition statements; and

an add tab element operable to add an additional tab panel element,

wherein the defined terms of each of the tab panel elements are combined to form the query statement.

10. The data query tool of claim 9 wherein each of the condition statements includes an attribute, an operator, and a value.

11. The data query tool of claim 10 wherein the operator includes one or more from the group consisting of:

equal to, not equal to, less than, less than or equal to, greater than, greater than or equal to, within a range, or outside a range.

12. The data query tool of claim 9 wherein the condition statements are combined using a term combination operator.

13. The data query tool of claim 12 wherein the term combination operator is selectable.

14. The data query tool of claim 13 wherein the term combination operator is selectable from the group consisting of:

logical-and; and

logical-or.

15. The data query tool of claim 13 wherein the add tab element is operable to add a logical-and tab such that the term defined by the logical-and tab is combined with terms defined by preceding tab panel elements using a logical-and operation.

16. The data query tool of claim 13 wherein the add tab element is operable to add a logical-or tab such that the term defined by the logical-or tab is combined with terms defined by preceding tab panel elements using a logical-or operation.

17. A computer software application comprising:

a data store code segment operable to store data elements;

a data query code segment operable to query the stored data elements to identify data elements satisfying a query statement; and

a user interface code segment operable to implement a user interface for defining the query statement, the user interface including;

at least one tab panel element operable to define a term of the query statement, each term including one or more condition statements; and

an add tab element operable to add an additional tab panel element,

wherein the defined terms of each of the tab panel elements are combined to form the query statement.