Method and system for visualizing data from multiple, cached data sources with user defined treemap reports

• US 20040168115A1
• Filed: 02/21/2003
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Webb, Natalie J., Bauernschmidt, Bill G., Schuck, Jonathan L.
• Application Number:
  US10/371,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20040168115A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method for displaying a user-configurable data report such as a treemap. The method includes creating a first data report by processing a set of report data that has been configured to a standardized format, e.g., an XML document. A user interface is provided on the monitor and the first data report is displayed in a report area or window of the user interface. The method includes displaying a hierarchical control tree for the first data report in a control area of the user interface. A selection of one of the nodes of the control tree is received via the user interface and the method includes responding by creating a second data report based on the node selection. The second data report is displayed in the report area. The method includes receiving user input of report creation parameters that are then used in creating the second data report.

Claims

1. A computer-based method for creating and displaying a user-configurable data report on a user device having a monitor, comprising:

creating a first data report including processing a set of report data configured in a standardized format;

providing a user interface on the monitor;

displaying the first data report in a report area of the user interface;

displaying a hierarchical control tree for the first data report in a control area of the user interface;

receiving through the user interface a selection of a node in the control tree;

creating a second data report including processing the set of report data based on the node selection; and

displaying the second data report in the report area of the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of the set of report data to create the first data report includes parsing an extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of the set of report data to create the first data report includes applying a set of mapping algorithms to the set of report data based on the control tree, wherein the first data report comprises a treemap report.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the treemap report includes a plurality of cells each representing a portion of the set of report data and wherein the cells are sized to provide a proportional representation of the portion of the report data.

5. The method of claim 4, further including receiving a selection of another node in the control tree, wherein the second data report displaying includes concurrently displaying the cells for the portions of the report data related to the two selected nodes.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein at least some of the cells are colored to indicate a relationship between the portion of the set data represented by the cells and a trigger value, further including displaying in a legend area of the user interface a coloring legend showing a set of colors used in the coloring of the cells relative to the trigger value.

7. The method of claim 6, further including receiving an editing input for the trigger value or the set of colors, and in response, creating a third data report including processing the set of report data based on the editing input and displaying the third data report in the report area of the user interface.

8. The method of claim 3, further including displaying a set of report creation parameters used during the creating steps in a parameters area of the user interface, receiving via the user interface a user selection of a replacement parameter for one of the report creation parameters, creating a third data report including processing the set of report data based on the replacement parameter, and displaying the third data report in the report area of the user interface.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the report creation parameters are selected from the group consisting of mapping filters, size-by parameters, and color-by parameters.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the report creation parameters include data depth parameters, the data depth parameters defining a hierarchical level in the set of report data for use in the aggregation by the mapping algorithms.

11. The method of claim 1, further including displaying a link to a reporting tool on the user interface, receiving a selection of the link through the user interface, and linking to the reporting tool including providing a portion of the report data to the reporting tool.

12. The method of claim 1, further including receiving via the user interface a print request and in response, printing a copy of the first data report or the second data report displayed in the report area of the user interface.

13. A data visualization system for use in creating and displaying a data report on a monitor of a mapping client, comprising:

a memory device storing data set topics and scheduling rules; and

a reporting tool including a data set retrieval engine retrieving a set of data from a data source defined in part by the data set topics and on a timing schedule defined by the scheduling rules and further including a data set formatting engine generating report data sets from the retrieved set of data including aggregating portions of the retrieved data set and publishing the generated report data sets, wherein the generated report data sets are formatted as a text document.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data source comprises a database system and the text document is an XML document.

15. The system of claim 13, further including a cache mechanism receiving the report data sets published by the data set formatting engine and caching at least a portion of the received report data sets.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the portion of the received report data sets is defined by user parameters stored by the cache mechanism based on requests for the received report data sets by the mapping client.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the cache mechanism is provided on a web server, and further including a distribution tool on the web server responding to a request from the mapping client for one of the received report data sets and in response, transmitting the requested report data set to the mapping client.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the distribution tool applies a security filter based on an access right assigned to the mapping client to the requested report data set prior to the transmitting, whereby a subset of the requested report data set is transmitted to the mapping client.

19. The system of claim 13, further including a mapping tool running on the mapping client, the mapping tool adapted to perform functions including:

creating a data report including parsing one of the generated report data sets and applying a set of mapping algorithms to the parsed one of the data sets to form a treemap;

providing a user interface on the monitor; and

displaying the data report in a report area of the user interface.

20. A method in a computer system for displaying a graphic representation of data based on user input on a monitor of a client device, comprising:

displaying a user interface on the monitor including a report window and a report parameters window;

in the report window, displaying a treemap comprising a plurality of blocks representing a portion of information in a data set, the blocks being sized based on a value of a sizing parameter in the portion of information;

in the report parameters window, displaying a set of parameters used in creating the displayed treemap;

receiving a modification of one of the displayed parameters; and

based on the modified one of the displayed parameters, displaying a modified version of the treemap in the report window.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the displayed parameters include a data depth parameter defining a level in a hierarchy of the data set for inclusion of the portion of the information for representation in the blocks of the treemap.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the blocks are colored a color selected based on the relationship of a trigger value in the portion of the information with a trigger level and wherein the displayed parameters include the trigger level and the modified one is the trigger level.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the displayed parameters are selected from the group consisting of a size-by parameter, a color-by parameters, a data filter, a coloring trigger, and a data depth parameter.