System and method for styling content in a graphical user interface control

• US 20060090130A1
• Filed: 10/21/2004
• Published: 04/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bent, Samuel W., Gupta, Namita, Jenni, David Jakob, Bogdan, Jeffrey Lawrence
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets

Abstract

An improved system and method for styling content in a graphical user interface control is provided. An application may define a user interface control having a data object of any type of singular content, including another user interface control. An application may include style declarations that may associate a style resource with the user interface control and a style resource may be dynamically selected for presenting the data object of the user interface control. The style resources may define property values that may be selectively applied to specify a visual representation for the user interface control and data object, such as a visual subtree. A visual representation of the user interface control with the data object may be generated and then a display representation may be rendered for presentation on a user interface display.

Claims

1. A computer system for displaying a user interface element, comprising:

a user interface control having a data object of any type of singular content;

one or more style resources having property values to be assigned to the user interface control and to the data object of the user interface control;

a styling engine for applying the assigned property values of the one or more style resources to the user interface control and to the data object of the user interface control; and

a rendering engine operably coupled to the styling engine for rendering a display representation of the user interface control with the data object for presentation on a user interface display.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a tree assembler operably coupled to the styling engine for generating a visual representation of the user interface control with the applied property values of the one or more style resources and for generating a visual representation of the data object with the applied property values of the one or more style resources.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising an application operably coupled to control definitions used for declaring the user interface control having the data object of any type of singular content.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising an application operably coupled to the one or more style resources and to the user interface control, the application having style declarations for associating the one or more style resources with the user interface control and for associating the one or more style resources with the data object of the user interface control.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a content presenter operably coupled to the styling engine for dynamically assigning (determining—

dependent method claim) a style resource of the one or more style resources to the data object of the user interface control.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a property engine operably coupled to the styling engine for locating the property values.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a data binding engine operably coupled to the styling engine for binding the property values to the user interface control and to the data object of the user interface control.

8. The system of claim 2 further comprising a layout engine operably coupled to the tree assembler for generating a layout of the user interface control with the applied property values of the one or more style resources and for generating a layout of the data object of the user interface control with the applied property values of the one or more style resources.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user interface display operably coupled to the rendering engine for displaying the display representation.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more styling resources comprises a control style.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components comprising the system of claim 1.

12. A method for displaying a user interface element in a computer system, comprising:

receiving a request to display a user interface control having a data object of any type of singular content;

locating a first style resource associated with the user interface control;

applying the property values of the first style resource to the user interface control;

dynamically assigning a second style resource to the data object of the user interface control;

applying the property values of the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control;

generating a visual representation of the user interface control with the data object; and

rendering a display representation of the visual representation of the user interface control with the data object for presentation on a user interface display.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising associating the first style resource with the user interface control.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein associating the first style resources with the user interface control comprises providing a style declaration assigning the first style resource to the user interface control.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising binding property values of the user interface control to the corresponding property values of a content presenter.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising binding the property values in the visual representation with properties on the data object of the user interface control.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising generating a layout of the user interface control with the applied property values of the first style resource.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising generating a layout of the data object with the applied property values of the second style resource.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising displaying the display representation on the user interface display.

20. The method of claim 12 further comprising providing declarations that define the second style resource with property values to be selectively applied to the data object of the user interface control.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein providing declarations that define the second style resource with property values to be selectively applied to the data object comprises providing a declaration explicitly specifying the style to be applied to the data object.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein providing declarations that define the second style resource with property values to be selectively applied to the data object comprises providing a declaration specifying a call to executable code provided by the application to dynamically select the style to be applied to the data object.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein providing declarations that define the second style resource with property values to be selectively applied to the data object comprises providing a declaration specifying the type of data object for which a style may be dynamically selected that may apply to the type of the data object.

24. The method of claim 12 wherein dynamically assigning the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control comprises assigning a style explicitly specified by an application.

25. The method of claim 12 wherein dynamically assigning the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control comprises assigning a style selected by executable code provided by an application.

26. The method of claim 12 wherein dynamically assigning the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control comprises assigning a style declared for a data type that may apply to the type of the data object.

27. The method of claim 12 wherein dynamically assigning the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control comprises assigning a style for adding a user interface element to the visual representation as an embedded object.

28. The method of claim 12 wherein dynamically assigning the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control comprises assigning a style for adding a text element to the visual representation as a text control.

29. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 12.

30. A computer system for providing a user interface element, comprising:

a control definition used for declaring a user interface control having a data object of any type of singular content;

one or more style resources having property values for assigning to the user interface control and for assigning to the data object of the user interface control;

an application operably coupled to the control definition for declaring the user interface control and for associating property values of the one or more style resources to the user interface control and to the data object of the user interface control; and

a content presenter operably coupled to the application for dynamically assigning a style resource to the data object of the user interface control.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising a data store operably coupled to the application for persistently storing the declared user interface control with the data object.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the data object comprises another user interface control.

33. The method of claim 30 wherein the data object comprises a user interface element.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein the data object comprises a text control.

35. A computer system for displaying a user interface object, comprising:

means for providing a user interface control having a data object of any type of singular content;

means for providing a first style resource having property values to be assigned to the user interface control;

means for applying the property values of the first style resource to the user interface control;

means for providing a second style resource to the data object of the user interface control;

means for applying the property values of the second style resource to the data object of the user interface control; and

means for rendering a display representation of a visual representation of the user interface control with the data object for presentation on a user interface display.

36. The system of claim 35 further comprising means for assigning the first style resource associated with the user interface control;

37. The system of claim 35 further comprising means for assigning the second style resource associated with the data object of the user interface control;

38. The system of claim 35 further comprising means for locating the second style resource provided for the data object of the user interface control.

39. The system of claim 35 further comprising means for generating a visual representation of the user interface control with the data object.

40. The method of claim 35 further comprising means for displaying the display representation on the user interface display.