Lookup control configuration

• US 20060101390A1
• Filed: 10/19/2004
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lasker, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating lookup control configuration is provided. The system incorporates the persistence of the metadata required to associate a field and a display value of a lookup list, and facilitates creation of a lookup type user interface control. Thus, a user (e.g., developer) can drag a lookup control to a design surface and set the relevant property(ies) on the control. The user can then drag lists of information onto the control to automatically set the properties of the lookup control to display the values of the list. The user can then run their application to see immediate results. Optionally, the user can leverage Smart tags to change the default values set to different values.

Claims

1. A lookup control configuration system comprising:

a control configuration component that generates a configured lookup control based, at least in part, upon property information associated with a control and information associated with an entity; and

,

a display component that displays the configured lookup control generated by the configuration component.

2. The system of claim 1, the configured lookup control comprising an identifier, associated display values and linking information associating the identifier with the associated display values.

3. The system of claim 1, employed in a design-time environment to facilitate application development.

4. The system of claim 1, the entity comprising at least one of a DataType, a database and an object.

5. The system of claim 1, the property information comprising property names.

6. The system of claim 1, the property information comprising attributes that define associated properties of a custom control.

7. The system of claim 1, the information associated with the entity comprising properties associated with the entity.

8. The system of claim 1, the configured lookup control comprising a data source derived from a list defined by a drag source.

9. The system of claim 1, the configured lookup control comprising a value displayed to a user, the value being based on a first string value defined within the entity.

10. The system of claim 1, the configured lookup control comprising a value member, the value member being based on a first property in the entity.

11. The system of claim 1,.the configured lookup control comprising a value member, the value member being based on a primary key of the entity.

12. The system of claim 1, the configured lookup control can be modified via a user interface associated with a smart tag.

13. The system of claim 1., generation of the configured lookup control initiated by a user dragging the entity onto a lookup control on a design surface of a development environment.

14. A method of configuring a lookup control comprising:

receiving property information associated with the lookup control;

obtaining information associated with an entity;

generating a configured lookup control based, at least in part, upon the property information and the information obtained from the entity; and

,

displaying the configured lookup control.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising modifying the configured lookup control based on user input.

16. The method of claim 14, the entity comprising at least one of a DataType, a database and an object.

17. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 14.

18. A data packet transmitted between two or more computer components that facilitates configuration of a lookup control, the data packet comprising:

a data field comprising information associated with a configured lookup control, the information being based, at least in part, upon property information associated with a control and information associated with an entity.

19. A computer readable medium storing computer executable components of a lookup control configuration system comprising:

a control configuration component that generates a configured lookup control based, at least in part, upon property information associated with a control and information associated with an entity; and

,

a display component that displays the configured lookup control generated by the configuration component.

20. A lookup control configuration system comprising:

means for generating a configured lookup control based, at least in part, upon property information associated with a control and information associated with an entity; and

,

means for displaying the configured lookup control.