Methods, systems and computer program products for controlling tree diagram graphical user interfaces and/or for partially collapsing tree diagrams

• US 20040239683A1
• Filed: 05/27/2003
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Haynes, Thomas Richard, Chu, Heng
• Granted Patent: US 7,242,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Methods for selectively displaying portions of a hierarchical data set on an electronic display comprise the steps of displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data set on an electronic display in a tree diagram format. Input may then be obtained from a user to identify one or more displayed nodes in the tree diagram that are to be hidden and/or one or more hidden nodes in the tree diagram that are to be displayed. Based on this input, at least one node in the tree diagram is partially collapsed and/or at least one node in the tree diagram may be partially expanded so as to display the hidden nodes identified by the user and so as to hide the displayed nodes identified by the user.

Claims

1. A method for selectively displaying portions of a hierarchical data set on an electronic display, the method comprising:

displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data set on the electronic display in a tree diagram format;

obtaining user input to identify one or more nodes in the tree diagram that are to be hidden; and

partially collapsing at least one node in the tree diagram to hide the one or more identified nodes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining user input to identify one or more portions of the hierarchical data set that are not currently displayed in the tree diagram; and

partially expanding at least one node in the tree diagram to display the one or more identified portions of the hierarchical data set.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic display is part of a handheld computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a dialog box is associated with the at least one node in the tree diagram, and wherein the dialog box displays at least some of the at least one node'"'"'s descendant nodes to facilitate obtaining the user input identifying the one or more nodes that are to be hidden.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a dialog box is associated with a first node in the tree diagram that displays at least some of the nodes in the tree diagram between the first node and a corresponding root node to facilitate obtaining the user input identifying the one or more nodes that are to be hidden.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining user input identifying one or more nodes in the tree diagram that are to be hidden comprises having a user identify nodes that will remain displayed when an ancestor node is partially collapsed.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising saving to a memory storage device the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein saving to a memory storage device the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display comprises having a user associate a name with the current configuration and saving the current configuration and the associated name to the memory storage device.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein saving to a memory storage device the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display comprises saving the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display when an application used to display the hierarchical data is terminated.

2. The method of Claim I, further comprising providing an indicia on the electronic display associated with each partially collapsed node that identifies the node as being a partially collapsed node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indicia comprises an ellipsis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the ellipsis is located between the partially collapsed node and a first descendant node of the partially collapsed node that is displayed on the electronic display.

22. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting the indicia.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the selection of the indicia causes the node associated with the indicia to collapse.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the selection of the indicia causes a dialog box to appear that displays at least two options for further collapsing or expanding the node associated with the indicia.

25. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting one portion of the indicia effects a collapse of the node associated with the indicia and wherein selecting a different portion of the indicia effects an expansion of the node associated with the indicia.

9. The method of Claim I, wherein partially collapsing at least one node comprises collapsing at least one immediate descendant node of the at least one node into the at least one node without collapsing all the descendant nodes of the at least one node into the at least one node.

11. A method for selectively displaying portions of a hierarchical data set on an electronic display, the method comprising:

displaying a portion of the hierarchical data set on the electronic display in a tree diagram format;

obtaining user input to identify one or more hidden nodes in the tree diagram that are to be displayed; and

partially expanding at least one node in the tree diagram to display the one or more identified hidden nodes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein partially expanding at least one node comprises expanding the at least one node to display at least a direct descendant node and an indirect descendant node of the at least one node without fully expanding the at least one node.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing an indicia on the electronic display associated with each partially expanded node that identifies the node as being a partially expanded node.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein a dialog box is associated with the at least one node that is used to obtain the user input identifying the one or more undisplayed nodes'"'"' in the tree diagram that are to be displayed.

15. A system for controlling the display of hierarchical data in a tree diagram on an electronic display comprising:

means for partially collapsing an expanded node in the tree diagram so that only some, but less than all, of descendants of the expanded node are displayed on the electronic display; and

means for partially expanding a collapsed node in the tree diagram so that some, but less than all, of hidden descendants of the collapsed node are displayed on the electronic display.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for obtaining user input for identifying the descendant nodes of the expanded node that will remain displayed when the expanded node is partially collapsed.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for obtaining user input for identifying the descendant nodes of the collapsed node that will be displayed when the collapsed node is partially expanded.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for obtaining user input comprises a dialog box that displays at least some of the collapsed node'"'"'s descendant nodes.

19. A system for controlling the display of hierarchical data in a tree diagram on an electronic display comprising:

a partial node collapse circuit configured to partially collapse an expanded node in the tree diagram so that only some, but less than all, of descendants of the expanded node are displayed on the electronic display; and

a partial node expand circuit configured to partially expand a collapsed node in the tree diagram so that some, but less than all, of hidden descendants of the collapsed node are displayed on the electronic display.

20. A computer program product for controlling the display of hierarchical data in a tree diagram on an electronic display comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to partially collapse an expanded node in the tree diagram so that only some, but less than all, of descendants of the expanded node are displayed on the electronic display; and

computer readable program code configured to partially expand a collapsed node in the tree diagram so that some, but less than all, of hidden descendants of the collapsed node are displayed on the electronic display.

21. The computer system of claim 20, further comprising a control circuit associated with at least a first node in the tree diagram that allows a user to partially expand the first node when the node is in a fully or partially collapsed state so that some, but less than all, of the previously hidden descendant nodes of the first node are displayed on the display device.