Interactive tooltip

• US 20050050470A1
• Filed: 10/08/2004
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Huynh, Tuan, Tikunova, Mariya, Patterson, Eric W., Maguire, Justin M. III, Lowry, Kent R., Hudson, Margaret G., Rader, Marcella
• Granted Patent: US 7,533,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/711
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

An interactive tooltip provides access to help information and enhanced editing capabilities. The interactive tooltip is especially useful for a user editing a function within a spreadsheet formula. The present invention integrates HTML-like interactivity with a conventional tooltip to provide a new interface for working with the associated data. The interactivity of the tooltip provides additional levels of help or documentation when requested and provides additional editing navigation functionality within the associated data. The present invention provides a tooltip in close proximity to the associated data, while the associated data is being edited. In the case of a spreadsheet, a tooltip will be provided when the user begins editing a function within a spreadsheet cell. The help facility of the present invention recognizes that the user has begun entering a function, when the user has entered an equals sign (identifying a formula), a known function name, and a parenthesis (indicating the beginning of an argument set). The help facility then references a function database and determines the required argument set. The help facility renders the function name and argument set in an HTML-like text, and provides an alternate method for selecting any argument. Finally, the help facility displays the HTML-like text to the user next to the point at which the user is editing the spreadsheet function.

Claims

1. A method for providing an interactive tooltip, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication that a function is being entered in an editing location;

recognizing an entered function name;

retrieving tooltip information associated with the recognized function name; and

displaying the tooltip information in a display location, the display location being proximate to the editing location;

wherein the tooltip information includes a function name and an argument name, the function name providing a link to a function name help topic, the argument name providing a selection tool to select a portion of the editing location corresponding to the argument name.

2. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the indication comprises recognizing the entry of an equals sign, a function name, and an open parenthesis.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recognizing the entered function name comprises comparing the entered function name to a function list and finding a matching function name in the function list.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the editing location is a spreadsheet cell.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the editing location is a formula bar.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the tooltip information comprises displaying a currently selected argument name in a boldfaced format.

7. (Canceled)

9. An interactive tooltip associated with data comprising:

a first text string that provides a link to help information corresponding to the associated data; and

a second text string that operates as a selection tool for selecting a portion of the associated data;

wherein the first text string and the second text string are displayed in proximity to an associated data location.

10. The interactive tooltip of claim 9, wherein the associated data comprises spreadsheet data.

11. The interactive tooltip of claim 10, wherein the spreadsheet data comprises a formula in a spreadsheet cell.

12. The interactive tooltip of claim 10, wherein the first text string is a function name.

13. The interactive tooltip of claim 10, wherein the second text string is an argument name.

14. The interactive tooltip of claim 10, wherein the associated data location is a spreadsheet cell.

15. The interactive tooltip of claim 10, wherein the associated data location is a formula bar.

16. The interactive tooltip of claim 9, wherein the associated data comprises text data.

17-20. -20. (Canceled)

21. A method for providing an interactive tooltip, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication that a function is being entered in an editing location;

receiving a function name;

recognizing the function name;

retrieving tooltip information associated with the recognized function name, wherein the tooltip information includes the function name and an argument name associated with the function name;

displaying the tooltip information in a display location, the display location being proximate to the editing location;

determining if the function name associated with the tooltip information has been selected; and

if the function name has been selected, then displaying a help topic corresponding to the function name.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining if the argument name associated with the function name has been selected; and

if the argument name has been selected, then selecting a portion of the editing location corresponding to the argument name.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of receiving an indication that a function is being entered in an editing location comprises recognizing an entry of an equals sign.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of recognizing the function name comprises comparing the function name to a function list and finding a matching function name in the function list.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the editing location is a spreadsheet cell.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the editing location is a formula bar.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of displaying the tooltip information comprises displaying the function name in an underlined format.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of displaying the tooltip information comprises displaying a currently selected argument name in a boldfaced format.

29. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method for providing an interactive tooltip, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that a function is being entered in an editing location;

receiving a function name;

recognizing the function name;

retrieving tooltip information associated with the recognized function name, wherein the tooltip information includes the function name and an argument name associated with the function name;

displaying the tooltip information in a display location, the display location being proximate to the editing location;

determining if the function name associated with the tooltip information has been selected; and

if the function name has been selected, then displaying a help topic corresponding to the function name.

30. A method for providing an interactive tooltip, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication that a function is being entered in an editing location;

receiving a function name;

recognizing the function name;

retrieving tooltip information associated with the recognized function name, wherein the tooltip information includes the function name and an argument associated with the function name;

displaying the tooltip information in a display location, the display location being proximate to the editing location;

determining if the argument name associated with the tooltip information has been selected; and

if the argument name has been selected, then displaying a help topic corresponding to the argument name.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

determining if the function name associated with the tooltip information has been selected; and

if the function name has been selected, then displaying a help topic corresponding to the function name.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of receiving an indication that a function is being entered in an editing location comprises recognizing the entry of an equals sign.

33. An interactive tooltip associated with data comprising:

a first text string that provides a link to help information corresponding to the associated data; and

a second text string that operates as a selection tool for selecting a portion of the associated data corresponding to the second text string;

wherein the first text string and the second text string are displayed in proximity to an associated data location.

34. The interactive tooltip of claim 33, wherein the associated data comprises spreadsheet data.

35. The interactive tooltip of claim 34, wherein the spreadsheet data comprises a formula in a spreadsheet cell.

36. The interactive tooltip of claim 34, wherein the first text string is a function name.

37. The interactive tooltip of claim 34, wherein the second text string is an argument name.

38. The interactive tooltip of claim 34, wherein the associated data location is a spreadsheet cell.

39. The interactive tooltip of claim 34, wherein the associated data location is a formula bar.

40. The interactive tooltip of claim 33, wherein the associated data comprises text data.