Prescribed navigation using topology metadata and navigation path

• US 20060149782A1
• Filed: 01/05/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yeh, Erh-Chun, Nuthakki, Manoj, Jin, Youxuan, Teh, Jin Teik, Tang, Zhenyu
• Granted Patent: US 7,650,349 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

The subject invention provides a system and/or method that facilitates prescribing a navigation within an application utilizing a topology and a navigation path. The topology is created based upon received metadata and is a network of node objects and link objects. The navigation path is a sequential list over the topology that represents a sub-graph thereof. A prescribing component can create the topology and navigation path such that a prescribed navigation can be utilized by an application during navigation (e.g., exploration) during runtime.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates developing an application, comprising:

a topology component that creates a topology that is a network of a node object and a link object based on received metadata; and

a navigation component that creates a navigation path that is a sequential list of links over the topology to represent a sub-graph thereof, wherein the topology and navigation path are utilized by an application during runtime for navigation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the topology and the navigation path are created during design time of the application using metadata.

3. The system of claim 1, the node object represents a state of navigation containing a list of links to another node and associated data contents.

4. The system of claim 1, the node object is at least one of the following:

an entity;

an entity cube;

a query;

a task, and information source that is query-able from a provider.

5. The system of claim 1, the link object does one of the following:

references to a source and a destination node; and

requests to a provider that offers access to a destination node.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a model editor that creates the navigation path from the topology by identifying a root node and pruning the sub-graph.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a filter that creates the navigation path by filtering the node in the topology with a navigation path expression.

8. The system of claim 7, the navigation path expression is an object model created during the design time of the application based on the topology and associated code.

9. The system of claim 1, the navigation path is persisted as a set of metadata describing a navigation route, wherein the set of metadata is utilized to generate code including a navigation path expression composed in a strong typed manner.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface tool that provides for manual generation of the topology.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an automatic component that automatically creates the topology by utilizing at least one of:

an entity graph, a business intelligence metadata, and a business intelligence journal.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a navigation path provider infrastructure that manages communication between a client application and at least one navigation path provider and enables the generation of the topology metadata in design time.

13. The system of claim 12, the navigation path provider infrastructure includes a navigation path provider that provides a navigation path service and accesses a context node through a transformation and/or an information retrieval mechanism.

14. The system of claim 13, the information retrieval mechanism is at least one of the following:

a meta-model provider for the entity;

a drill function for the business intelligence;

a task for operation, and information that is query-able from a navigation path provider.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising one of the following:

a journal that records a history of navigation; and

a user interface binding that enables a binding to a user interface driven by metadata.

16. A computer readable medium having stored thereon the components of claim 1.

17. A computer-implemented method that facilitates prescribing a navigation within an application, comprising:

receiving metadata;

creating a topology based upon metadata;

establishing a sub-graph of the topology as a navigation path;

code generating a navigation path for the strongly typed navigation expression; and

utilizing the navigation path and topology as a prescribed navigation for an application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the topology is a network of a node object and a link object representing a subset of traversable objects and paths and the navigation path is a sequential list of links over the topology.

19. A data packet that communicates between the topology component and the navigation component, the data packet facilitates the method of claim 17.

20. A computer implemented system that facilitates prescribing a navigation within an application, comprising:

means for receiving metadata;

means for creating a topology based upon metadata;

means for establishing a sub-graph of the topology as a navigation path;

means for code generating a navigation path for the strongly typed navigation path expression; and

means for utilizing the navigation path and topology as a prescribed navigation for an application.