Client-side components

• US 20080307299A1
• Filed: 06/08/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Marchant, Benoit, Jolley, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 8,504,913 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

Generating web pages dynamically at a client is disclosed. In some embodiments, when a web application or other code determines that a page is to be displayed, a set of components required to generate the page dynamically at the client is determined. Any components not already available at the client is obtained from a server. In some embodiments each component includes a display portion and may include one or both of a set of binding declarations and a logic portion. The components are parsed at the client and used to generate the page dynamically at the client, e.g., by generating associated portions of the document object model (DOM), retrieving JavaScript™ or other functions/classes and linking them to the respective portions of the DOM to which they correspond, and using the browser to render the page so created.

Claims

1. A method for generating a page, comprising:

receiving at a client a set of one or more components, each component being associated with at least a part of the page and each component comprising at least one of a display definition portion and a logic portion; and

using the set of one or more components to generate the page dynamically at the client, including for at least one part of the page using a display definition portion of a component associated with that part of the page to generate a display definition for that part of the page and a logic portion of the component to implement a behavior associated with that part of the page.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the display definition portion of a component comprises an XHTML template or tag.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the logic portion of a component comprises a software object.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the logic portion of a component comprises an instance of a JavaScript class.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a component includes one or more subcomponents.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a component includes one or more declarations.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a component includes one or more binding declarations.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving at the client data associated with the page.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein generating the page dynamically at the client comprises building a display definition of the page and a logic definition of the page.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein generating the page dynamically at the client includes building a DOM tree of the page and a logic tree of the page.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic tree comprises a hierarchy of the set of one or more components.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic tree hierarchy is inferred from the DOM tree hierarchy.

13. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the display definition portion of a component is represented by at least one element in the DOM tree of the page.

14. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic portion of a component is represented by an object in the logic tree.

15. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein each logic object in the logic tree registers as an event listener for DOM events at a DOM element with which the logic object is associated.

16. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein a page-level logic object in the logic tree registers as an event listener for all DOM events for all logic objects.

17. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein an element in the DOM tree and an object in the logic tree that are associated with each other have the same name or identifier.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the name or identifier is unique.

19. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising requesting a component.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein a component is requested on demand.

21. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein requesting a component comprises requesting an XML file associated with the component.

22. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein receiving the requested component at the client comprises receiving an XHTML file of the requested component.

23. A method as recited in claim 22, further comprising parsing the XHTML file of the requested component without rendering.

24. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving client-side code associated with a web application with which the page is associated.

25. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying the page.

26. A method for providing a page, comprising:

receiving from a client a request for a page; and

sending to the client a set of one or more components, each component being associated with at least a part of the page and each component comprising at least one of a display definition portion and a logic portion;

wherein the set of one or more components are usable by the client to generate the page dynamically at the client, including for at least one part of the page using a display definition portion of a component associated with that part of the page to generate a display definition for that part of the page and a logic portion of the component to implement a behavior associated with that part of the page.

27. A system for generating a page, comprising:

a processor at a client configured to;

receive a set of one or more components, each component being associated with at least a part of the page and each component comprising at least one of a display definition portion and a logic portion; and

use the set of one or more components to generate the page dynamically at the client, including for at least one part of the page using a display definition portion of a component associated with that part of the page to generate a display definition for that part of the page and a logic portion of the component to implement a behavior associated with that part of the page; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide instructions to the processor.

28. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein the display definition portion of a component comprises an XHTML template or tag.

29. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein the logic portion of a component comprises a software object.

30. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein a component includes one or more declarations.

31. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein generating the page dynamically at the client comprises building a display definition of the page and a logic definition of the page.

32. A computer program product for generating a page, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving at a client a set of one or more components, each component being associated with at least a part of the page and each component comprising at least one of a display definition portion and a logic portion; and

using the set of one or more components to generate the page dynamically at the client, including for at least one part of the page using a display definition portion of a component associated with that part of the page to generate a display definition for that part of the page and a logic portion of the component to implement a behavior associated with that part of the page.

33. A computer program product as recited in claim 32, wherein the display definition portion of a component comprises an XHTML template or tag.

34. A computer program product as recited in claim 32, wherein the logic portion of a component comprises a software object.

35. A computer program product as recited in claim 32,, wherein a component includes one or more declarations.

36. A computer program product as recited in claim 32, wherein a component includes one or more binding declarations.

37. A computer program product as recited in claim 32, wherein generating the page dynamically at the client comprises building a display definition of the page and a logic definition of the page.

38. A computer program product as recited in claim 32, wherein generating the page dynamically at the client includes building a DOM tree of the page and a logic tree of the page.

39. A computer program product for providing a page, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving from a client a request for a page; and

sending to the client a set of one or more components, each component being associated with at least a part of the page and each component comprising at least one of a display definition portion and a logic portion;

wherein the set of one or more components are usable by the client to generate the page dynamically at the client, including for at least one part of the page using a display definition portion of a component associated with that part of the page to generate a display definition for that part of the page and a logic portion of the component to implement a behavior associated with that part of the page.