INTERACTIVE TOOLTIP TO DISPLAY AND NAVIGATE TO DIFFERENT RESOURCES OF A DATA POINT

• US 20080209354A1
• Filed: 08/03/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stanek, Christopher E., Malaspina, Fabio, Silvestro, Michael, Ericsson, Matthew Robert, Wang, Jiao
• Granted Patent: US 8,302,006 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

Systems and methodologies for viewing locations of a data point within a system are provided. A system provided herein includes a locate component that determines locations of a selected data point and a display component that displays the locations of the selected data point in a location structure, which can be displayed at a common area of display with the selected data point. In addition, a system provided herein further includes a navigation component that receives the locations of the selected data point and facilitates navigation of the area of display to a location selected from the location structure.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates viewing locations of a data point, comprising:

a locate component that determines locations of a selected data point; and

a display component that displays the locations of the selected data point in a location structure, the location structure is displayed at a common area of display with the selected data point.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component displays an information structure relative to the selected data point, the information structure includes a control region that facilitates display of the location structure upon engagement of the control region.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the information structure and the location structure is removed from the area of display when a cursor is moved greater than a predetermined distance from the information structure or the location structure.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more locations displayed in the location structure include respective control regions and detailed information about a location is displayed by the display component upon engagement of a control region corresponding to the location.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component determines whether sufficient available display space exists at the area of display to display the location structure according to a default arrangement, the display component displays the location structure according to an alternative arrangement upon a negative determination.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the display component further determines whether sufficient available display space exists at the area of display to list the locations of the selected data point, the location structure provided by the display component comprises a control region for one or more of navigating a user to an external reference window and scrolling through the locations of the selected data point within the location structure upon a negative determination.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a navigation component that receives the locations of the selected data point and facilitates navigation of the area of display to a location selected from the location structure.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein one or more locations of the selected data point displayed in the location structure are hyperlinks that facilitate selection of a location upon engagement of a corresponding hyperlink.

9. A computer-implemented system for logic programming employing the system of claim 1, wherein the locate component determines locations of a selected data point within a set of logic and the display component displays the corresponding location structure at a common area of display with the set of logic.

10. A method that facilitates viewing locations of a data point within a system, comprising:

determining locations of a data point within a system, and

displaying the locations of the data point in a common area of display with the system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying the locations of the data point includes:

displaying an information structure comprising an expansion button; and

displaying a location structure that includes the locations of the data point within the system upon engagement of the expansion button.

12. The method of claim 11;

wherein the displaying a location structure includes;

displaying a location structure that includes references corresponding to the locations of the data point within the system, the references comprising respective control regions; and

providing detailed information corresponding to a reference in the common area of display upon engagement of a corresponding control region for the reference.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying the locations of the data point includes assessing available area at the common area of display for displaying the locations of the data point within the system and displaying the locations of the data point based at least in part on the assessment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the assessing available area at the common area of display includes determining whether sufficient available area exists at the common area of display for displaying the locations of the data point within the system, and the displaying the locations of the data point based at least in part on the assessment includes providing a control region that facilitates navigation to an external reference window upon a negative determination.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising navigating the common area of display to a location selected from the displayed locations of the data point within the system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the displaying the locations of the data point includes displaying selectable hyperlinks providing respective locations of the data point and the navigating includes navigating the common area of display to a location corresponding to a selected hyperlink.

17. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions operable to perform the method of claim 10.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the system is a set of control logic for an industrial automation system.

19. A system that facilitates viewing locations of a data point within a set of logic, comprising:

means for identifying locations of a data point within a set of logic; and

means for displaying the identified locations of the data point in a common area of display with the set of logic.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising means for navigating the common area of display to a selected location of the data point within the set of logic.