Autocompleting with queries to a database

• US 20070055922A1
• Filed: 09/08/2005
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Martynov, Alexander, Dickerman, Howard, Gainer, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/210
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

An autocomplete method and system provides suggested completions for partial data entries based upon predefined coordinates, operands and/or commands. In one embodiment, the partial data entry may be in an active cell of a spreadsheet and the predefined coordinates may be queried from a separate, preconfigured, multi-dimensional database linked to the active cell or the spreadsheet.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for suggesting completion of a partial data entry for an active cell in a spreadsheet from a database, wherein the database is separate from the spreadsheet and connected to the spreadsheet by a communications link, said computer process comprising:

defining a partial data entry within the active cell;

querying the database to identify an element from the database corresponding to said partial data entry; and

displaying the corresponding element as a suggested completion for the partial data entry.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an acceptance command in association with said suggested completion.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to said acceptance command, storing said matching completed elements within the active cell.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a command pertinent to said suggested completion;

operating on said suggested completion in accordance with said command; and

if said command contains a modified partial data entry, then displaying a modified suggested element that corresponds to said modified partial data entry.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying multiple suggested completions in a list adjacent the active cell to allow a user to select one of the suggested completion from the list.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the partial data entry in the active cell in response to a user input; and

adjusting the list of suggested completions to correspond to the modified partial data entry.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the suggested completion comprises a dimension, hierarchy, member, or coordinate of the database.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the database is an OLAP database.

9. A system for autocompleting entries within an active cell of a spreadsheet, comprising:

a database contained on a server device;

a client device comprising a spreadsheet application having an active cell with a partial data entry; and

a communication module configured to communicate between the client device and the server device to retrieve suggested completed elements from the database based upon the partial data entry within the active cell, wherein the completed elements from the database are displayed for selection by a user of the spreadsheet application.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a query module configured to receive the partial data entry and a predefined link to a database, wherein the query module creates a query for the linked database based on the partial data entry.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication module is a dynamic-link library provided by the database.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication module is configured by the database.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one suggested completed element is a coordinate of the database.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one suggested completed element is a function capable of being utilized in the spreadsheet application.

15. A computer readable medium encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for autocompleting an entry in an active cell of a spreadsheet utilizing a preconfigured database, said computer process comprising:

linking the spreadsheet to the preconfigured database;

defining a partial data entry within the active cell;

querying the database to find elements corresponding to the partial data entry;

displaying the corresponding elements;

receiving an acceptance command related to one of the displayed elements; and

storing the accepted element within the active cell.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

modifying the partial data entry; and

querying the database to identify elements corresponding to the modified partial data entry.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the database is an OLAP database.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the displayed elements comprise coordinates of the database.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein at least one suggested completed element is a function capable of being utilized in the spreadsheet application.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the partial data entry comprises no character and the suggested elements comprise all possible functions, and coordinates from the database.