Dynamic interface component control support

• US 20070011620A1
• Filed: 07/08/2005
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mendel, Gili, Murray, Brendan, Myers, Jeffrey, Winchester, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,341,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/31 Programming languages or programming paradigms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

A system, computer program and method for developing a graphical user interface (GUI) in a computer program. The invention allows developers to control the properties of interface components according to the state of a program during execution. According to the invention, a GUI development environment may be configured to provide a GUI builder for creating the GUI, display an interface component with at least one interface component property to be instantiated in the GUI, display a property interface to input at least one value for the interface component property in response to an event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution, and automatically generate GUI program code effectuating the value for the interface component property in response to the event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution.

Claims

1. A method for developing a graphical user interface (GUI) in a computer program, the method comprising:

providing a GUI builder for creating the GUI;

displaying an interface component configured to be instantiated in the GUI, the interface component including at least one interface component property;

displaying a property interface configured to input at least one value for the interface component property in response to an event detectable by the computer program during program execution; and

automatically generating program code effectuating the value for the interface component property in response to the event detectable by the computer program during program execution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the property interface includes:

an event section configured to list at least one event detectable by the computer program during program execution;

a property section configured to list the at least one interface component property; and

a value section configured to input a property value assigned to the at least one interface component property listed in the property section when the event listed in the event section is detected.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating program code includes automatically generating a method wrapper configured to produce events based on an invocation of at least one method bound to the interface component.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a resource indicia configured to represent a instantiated resource coupled to the GUI; and

wherein the property control interface is further configured to assist a developer specify property changes to the interface component in response to changes at the instantiated resource.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the instantiated resource is an argument to a method bound to the instantiated interface component.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the instantiated resource is a dependency to a method bound to the instantiated interface component.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the program code is an object oriented programming language.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one interface component property include at least one of activation, visibility, color, font and icon.

9. A system for developing a graphical user interface (GUI) in a computer program, the system comprising:

a GUI development environment for creating the GUI;

an interface component configured to be instantiated in the GUI, the interface component including at least one interface component property;

a property interface configured to input at least one value for the interface component property in response to an event detectable by the computer program during program execution; and

a program code generator configured to automatically generate program code effectuating the value for the interface component property in response to the event detectable by the computer program during program execution.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the property interface includes:

an event section configured to list at least one event detectable by the computer program during program execution;

a property section configured to list the at least one interface component property; and

a value section configured to input a property value assigned to the at least one interface component property listed in the property section when the event listed in the event section is detected.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a method wrapper configured to generate events based on an invocation of at least one method bound to the interface component.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the program code generator is further configured to automatically generate the method wrapper.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a resource indicia configured to represent an instantiated resource coupled to the GUI;

wherein the property interface is configured to assist a developer specify property changes to the interface component in response to changes at the instantiated resource.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instantiated resource is an argument to a method bound to the interface component.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instantiated resource is a dependency to a method bound to the instantiated interface component.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the program code is an object oriented programming language.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one interface component property includes at least one of activation, visibility, color, font and icon.

18. A computer program product embodied in a tangible media comprising:

computer readable program codes coupled to the tangible media for developing a graphical user interface (GUI) in a computer program, the computer readable program codes configured to cause the program to;

provide a GUI builder for creating the GUI;

display an interface component configured to be instantiated in the GUI, the interface component including at least one interface component property;

display a property interface configured to input at least one value for the interface component property in response to an event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution; and

automatically generate GUI program code effectuating the value for the interface component property in response to the event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the property interface includes:

an event section configured to list at least one event detectable by the computer program during GUI program execution;

a property section configured to list the at least one interface component property; and

a value section configured to input a property value assigned to the at least one interface component property listed in the property section when the event listed in the event section is detected.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the program code configured to cause the program to automatically generate GUI program code includes program code configured to cause the program to automatically generate a method wrapper configured to produce events based on an invocation of at least one method bound to the interface component.

21. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising program code configured to cause the program to:

display a resource indicia configured to represent a instantiated resource coupled to the GUI; and

wherein the property control interface is further configured to assist a developer specify property changes to the interface component in response to changes at the instantiated resource.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instantiated resource is an argument to a method bound to the instantiated interface component.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the instantiated resource is a dependency to a method bound to the instantiated interface component.

24. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the GUI program code is an object oriented programming language.

25. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the at least one interface component property include at least one of activation, visibility, color, font and icon.