Declarative mechanism for defining a hierarchy of objects

• US 20060129921A1
• Filed: 02/10/2006
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Relyea, Robert A., King, Joseph, Bogdan, Jeff, Wilson, Chris, Grambihler, Roger
• Application Number:
  US11/352,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20060129921A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Described is a method and data structure that enables an object to be specified declaratively within a markup document. The markup document may be XML-based. In accordance with the invention, the object is written based on a mapping. The mapping includes a URL attribute for defining a location for a definition file having assemblies and namespaces where classes are specified. The class name is mapped to the markup document as a tag name. Properties and events of a class are mapped to attributes of the tag associated with the class. The method further includes a method to parse the markup language to create a hierarchy of objects. Attributes that do not map directly to a class are defined with a definition tag. The definition tag is also used to add programming code to a page.

Claims

1. A method to declaratively define an object comprising the steps of:

mapping a uniform resource locator (URL) for a location of a definition file to an xmlns attribute in one of a root tag and a mapping tag, the definition file having at least one namespace;

setting a tag name to a class name in the at least one namespace;

setting an attribute of the tag to a property name if the object has a property setting.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of setting the attribute of the tag to an event name if the object has an event defined.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of defining a definition tag to add one of programming code into a page and resources.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining a definition tag to add one of the programming code into the page and the resources comprises setting a def:

Code element to add the programming code into the page.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of defining a definition tag to add an attribute that is not associated with a class.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of defining a definition tag to add an attribute that is not associated with a class comprises setting a def:

Language attribute to specify a language used to compile code.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of representing the attribute as a first section and a second section separated by a period, the first section set to a class name corresponding to the class in which one of the property and an event is defined and the second section set to a name of the one of the property and the event.