Application model that integrates the web experience with the traditional client application experience

• US 20050108678A1
• Filed: 11/18/2003
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Alcazar, Mark A., Goodwin, Margaret
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,944 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

This Application Model includes elements that define the scope of an application, its startup and shutdown behavior, and how it manages windows and resources; provide basic navigation functionality, journaling and journal extensibility, browser integration, and Structured Navigation; and define the way an application is deployed, installed, activated, updated, rolled back, and removed from the system in a secure, non-impactful way. It also enables using the same tools and languages for Web applications and locally installed applications, and allows the same application to be hosted in the browser or in a standalone window, based on a compile-time attribute.

Claims

1. A method for developing an application, comprising:

providing an application framework including components that define a scope of the application, startup and shutdown behavior for the application, and how the application manages windows and resources;

providing a navigation framework including components that provide navigation functionality, journaling, journal extensibility, and structured navigation; and

providing application lifecycle management components that define how the application is deployed, installed, activated, updated, rolled back, and removed from a computing system.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the component that defines the scope of the application and the startup and shutdown behavior of the application includes an application object.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the application object further includes functionality that defines how the application manages the windows and resources.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the application framework further includes components that define the behavior of windows associated with the application.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the application framework further comprises a component that defines a mechanism that allows the application to access common window properties of a hosting environment in a like manner regardless of whether the hosting environment is a browser or a standalone window environment.

6. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the component that provides navigation functionality comprises a NavigationApplication object.

7. The system recited in claim 6, wherein the NavigationApplication object identifies an initial resource to which the application navigates when launched.

8. The system recited in claim 7, wherein the NavigationApplication object further includes navigation related events that are fired in response to the occurrence of a navigation.

9. The system recited in claim 7, wherein the NavigationApplication object further comprises a Properties collection in which is stored state information about the application.

10. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the component that provides journaling and journal extensibility comprises a Journal object.

11. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the navigation framework further comprises a NavigationWindow component associated with the application and that persists across navigations.

12. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable components implementing an application, the components comprising:

an application class that defines a scope of the application, the application class including at least a shutdown method that closes the application;

a window class that defines a window object, the window class including a method for invoking a parent-modal dialog that blocks interaction with a parent of an instance of the window class but not other windows associated with the application; and

a pane class that defines an object for mediating between the application and a hosting environment, the hosting environment being either a browser or a standalone window.

13. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 12, further comprising an IWindowService interface that exposes properties for interacting with a window of the application in a manner consistent with a standalone window, and a BrowserWindowService class that exposes additional properties consistent with a browser window.

14. The computer-readable medium recited in claim 12, further comprising:

a NavigationApplication class that includes a property that identifies an initial resource to which the application navigates when launched;

an INavigator interface that exposes navigation-related properties, methods, and events associated with the application; and

a NavigationWindow class that defines an object that persists across navigations within the application.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising a NavigationContainer class.

16. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable components implementing an application, the components comprising:

a NavigationApplication class that includes a property that identifies an initial resource to which the application navigates when launched;

an IiNavigator interface that exposes navigation-related properties, methods, and events associated with the application; and

a NavigationWindow class that defines an object that persists across navigations within the application.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising a NavigationContainer class.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the NavigationApplication class includes a synchronous attribute that, if set, causes each element of a resource associated with the application to be displayed simultaneously.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising

a Journal class that defines an object for storing a navigation history associated with the application;

and

a JournalEntry class that defines a particular entry within an instance of the Journal class.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the Journal class further defines a first method for adding an entry to the object, and a second method for removing another entry from the object.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the JournalEntry class comprises a name property for storing text associated with a particular navigation, and a URI property for storing a locator of the particular navigation.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising a PageFunction class that defines an object encapsulating a unit of functionality and that can be called as a resource from other resources associated with the application.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the PageFunction class further includes a RemoveFromJournal property that indicates whether the PageFunction should be removed from a journal after the PageFunction functionality is complete.