Searching with adaptively configurable user interface and extensible query language

• US 20070027851A1
• Filed: 08/01/2005
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kaler, Christopher, Kruy, Steven, Hardy, Kenneth, Fisher, Jomo
• Granted Patent: US 7,610,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2448 for particular applications; for extensibility, e.g. user defined types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An adaptively configurable user interface to facilitate a common user experience across two or more databases and an extensible common query structure to allow expansion of a query language to meet the demands of new file types. An exemplary embodiment includes a discovery mechanism for determining query properties of search providers, thereby facilitating adaptive configuring of a user interface to expose the determined query properties. An exemplary embodiment of the user interface includes a portion which remains relatively constant across two or more search providers to reduce user disorientation.

Claims

1. A method for providing a unified user interface to two or more search providers, each adapted to search a different data store and each having one or more unique query operators or query-definition fields, the method comprising:

identifying at least the unique query operators and query-definition fields supported by each search provider by receiving information from each search provider identifying its unique query operators and query definition fields;

displaying a user interface that allows definition of a query based on one or more of the unique query operators or query-definition fields, the user interface including in query definition input fields the unique query operators and query definition fields identified; and

processing the query by passing information regarding the one or more unique query operators and query-definition fields in the query to at least one of the search providers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a user interface that allows definition of a query based on one or more of the unique query operators or query-definition fields comprises displaying the one or more unique query operators or query-definition fields.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the query by passing information regarding the one or more unique query operators and query-definition fields in the query to at least one of the search providers comprises passing a parse tree based on the query to at least one of the search providers.

4. A computer readable medium having computer-executable components comprising:

a plurality of search providers, each adapted to search at least one data store using a supported set of search operators and a supported set of search fields;

a configurable user interface having two or more interface elements which allow construction of a query using any of the set of supported search operators and search fields from any of the plurality of search providers; and

a search application program interface between the configurable user interface and the plurality of search providers, the search application program interface adapted to receive and provide information regarding the supported set of search operators and search fields for each of the search providers so that the user interface can include the information, without user entry of the information, to allow access to search operators and search fields supported by any of the plurality of search providers through user entry of a single query definition in the user interface.

5. The medium of claim 4, wherein one or more portions of the search providers, the user interface, or the search application program interface are implemented in accord with COM.

6. The medium of claim 4, wherein one or more of the search providers are implemented in an object-oriented programming language.

7. The medium of claim 4, wherein one or more of the search providers is adapted to search two or more data stores.

8. The medium of claim 4, wherein the plurality of search providers includes at least three search providers.

9. The medium of claim 4, wherein the plurality of search providers includes a first search provider for searching bug files, a second search provider for searching link files, and a third search provider for searching software component files.

10. A search architecture, comprising:

two or more search providers; and

a user interface, wherein information regarding query definition forms of one or more of the search providers is communicated to the user interface and a portion of the user interface is adapted to receive the query definition forms of one or more of the search providers communicated, thereby providing a common user experience when defining a query operating across two or more data classes.