Method and apparatus for presenting a summary of selected values

• US 20050180640A1
• Filed: 02/12/2004
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andrews, Gregory Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,478,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A method, system, and article of manufacture for quickly and easily obtaining information about a list of elements. The present invention provides a method, system, and article of manufacture that provides a way to quickly and easily obtain information about a list of elements. One aspect of the present invention is a method of displaying customizable summary information about a list of elements. One embodiment of this method comprises receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function, generating a configuration file containing the at least one desired summary function, receiving a selection of a list of numbers, copying the list of numbers into a clipboard, parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function, calculating the at least one desired summary function using the list of desired numbers to generate summary information, displaying the summary information in a pop-up window, and replacing the selected list of numbers with the summary information. The results window in some embodiments may be a pop-window, a hover-help window, or the clipboard.

Claims

1. A method of displaying summary information about a list of elements, comprising:

receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function;

receiving a selection of a list of elements;

calculating the at least one desired summary function using the list of desired elements to generate summary information; and

displaying the summary information in a results window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function comprises:

generating a configuration file; and

parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the configuration file comprises at least one field chosen from the group consisting of a library name, a function name field, and an display name field.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of display method selection.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering with a window procedure with an operating system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising copying the selected list of elements into a temporary memory structure.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising replacing the selected list of elements with the summary information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the results window comprises a pop-up window.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the results window comprises a hover help window.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the results window comprises a clipboard.

11. A method of displaying customizable summary information about a list of elements, comprising:

receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function;

generating a configuration file containing the at least one desired summary function;

receiving a selection of a list of numbers;

copying the list of numbers into a clipboard;

parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function;

calculating the at least one desired summary function using the list of desired numbers to generate summary information;

displaying the summary information in a pop-up window; and

replacing the selected list of numbers with the summary information.

12. A computer program product, comprising:

(a) a program configured to perform a method of displaying summary information about a list of elements, the method comprising;

receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function;

receiving a selection of a list of elements;

calculating the at least one desired summary function using the list of desired elements to generate summary information; and

displaying the summary information in a results window; and

(b) a signal bearing media bearing the program.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the program comprises an operating system.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the program comprises a word processing program.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the program comprises a web browser.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the program comprises a plug-in.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the signal bearing media is chosen from the group consisting of information permanently stored on non-writable storage media;

alterable information stored on writable storage media; and

information conveyed to a computer by a communications medium.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function comprises:

generating a configuration file; and

parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the signal bearing comprises a memory of a pervasive device.

20. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the elements are non-contiguous.

21. A method for transferring information into an application program, comprising:

selecting at least one desired output function;

selecting of a list of elements;

copying the list of elements into a first addressable memory structure;

calculating the at least one desired output function using the list of desired elements to generate output information; and

automatically transferring the output information into the application program.