Method, system, and apparatus for providing a document preview

• US 20060074869A1
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shaw, Rhae-Christie, Rosenberg, Jonathan Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for generating a document preview. According to the method, a preview handler provides an interface to one or more previewers. The previewers are software components capable of generating a visual preview for one or more document types. In response to a request from a host application to generate a preview for a document, the preview handler is operative to identify the appropriate previewer for generating a preview for the document. The preview handler may then call the previewer and instruct the previewer to load the document and to show the preview in a sub-window of a window provided by the calling host application.

Claims

1. A method for providing a document preview, the method comprising:

providing a preview handler callable by one or more host applications, the preview handler operative to identify and load a previewer for generating a visual preview of a document identified by the host application;

receiving a request at the preview handler from a host application to generate a visual preview of a document;

in response to receiving the request, identifying a previewer capable of generating the preview of the document; and

transmitting a request from the preview handler to the previewer instructing the previewer to load the document and to generate the visual preview of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request from the host application further comprises a handle to a window in which the preview should be generated and wherein the previewer is further operative to display the preview within a sub-window within the window identified by the host application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying a previewer capable of generating the preview of the document comprises requesting the host application to identify the previewer.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying a previewer capable of generating the preview of the document comprises requesting the host application to identify a class identifier corresponding to the previewer.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying a previewer capable of generating the preview of the document comprises searching the contents of a registry to identify the previewer.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether the previewer successfully loaded the document; and

in response to determining that the previewer did not successfully load the document, returning an error message from the preview handler to the host application.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a request at the preview handler from the host application to display an message corresponding to the error message, and displaying the message in response to the request.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving from the host application at the preview handler a pointer to a progress interface;

passing the pointer to the progress interface from the preview handler to the previewer; and

transmitting progress messages from the previewer to the host application view the progress interface.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising querying the host application for the location of additional files necessary to generate the preview of the document.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving from the host application at the preview handler a pointer to an beacon interface;

passing the pointer to the beacon interface from the preview handler to the previewer; and

querying the host application for permission to load supporting files necessary to generate the preview of the document on the beacon interface.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to expose a preview handler interface to one or more host applications, the preview handler interface operative to expose one or more methods for identifying and loading a previewer for generating a preview of a document.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the preview handler interface comprises an initialize method for initializing a preview handler.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the preview handler interface comprises a load method for identifying and loading the previewer.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein identifying the previewer comprises calling an interface exposed by the host application for the identity of the previewer.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein identifying the previewer comprises calling an interface exposed by the host application for a class identifier of the previewer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein identifying the previewer comprises searching a registry for a previewer registered as a previewer for the document type.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the preview handler interface comprises a show method for showing the preview.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the previewer is operative to expose a previewer interface comprising a show method for showing the preview and wherein the preview handler is operative to call the show method on the previewer interface in response to receiving a call to the show method on the preview handler interface.

19. A method for providing a document preview, the method comprising exposing a preview host interface at a host application, the preview host interface comprising a get previewer method through which a preview handler may obtain the identity of a previewer for a document type, a get previewer class identifier method, through which the preview handler may obtain a class identifier for a previewer for a document type, a get interface method through which the preview handler may obtain pointers to other interfaces provided by the host application, and a done loading method through which the preview handler may inform the host application that a document to be previewed has been loaded.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising exposing a preview handler interface at the preview handler, the preview handler interface comprising an initialize method for initializing the preview handler, a load method for instructing the preview handler to identify a previewer and loading the document to be previewed into the previewer, a show method for displaying the preview, a window changed method for instructing the preview handler that a window in which the preview was display has changed, and an uninitialize method for uninitializing the operation of the preview handler.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising exposing a previewer interface at the previewer, the previewer interface comprising a load method for receiving an instruction to load the document to be previewed, a show method for displaying an instruction to show the preview, and a window changed method for receiving an indication that the window in which the preview is displayed has changed.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the load method on the previewer interface is called by the preview handler in response to receiving a call to the load method on the preview handler interface.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the show method on the previewer interface is called by the preview handler in response to receiving a call to the show method on the preview handler interface.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the window changed method on the previewer interface is called by the preview handler in response to receiving a call to the window changed method on the preview handler interface.