MANIPULATING DESIGN MODELS BY EDITING GENERATED REPORTS

• US 20090019353A1
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nelson, Eric M., Keyser, Paul T., Kimelman, Douglas N., Tang, Steven, Abrams, Steven R., Vlissides, John M., Vlissides, Dru Ann, Simmonds, Ian, Bloom, Bard, Roth, Tova
• Granted Patent: US 8,499,238 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for manipulating a model, where that model represents some or all of a design. The design includes a multitude of design elements, the model includes a multitude of model elements, and each of the design elements is represented by a single model element. The method comprises the steps of generating a suite of documents from the model, each of the documents describing a view of the model; and displaying the documents to a user as a series of forms. The user provides information to the forms to change the documents, and changes to the documents result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across the suite of documents. In the preferred embodiment, the model identifies specific relationships between the elements of the model, and each of the model elements has defined properties.

Claims

1. A method of producing changes in a model, wherein changes to a suite of documents generated from the model result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across said suite of documents, said method comprising the steps of:

generating a suite of documents from the model, each of the documents describing a view of the model;

displaying the documents to a user as a series of forms; and

said user providing information to said forms to change the documents;

wherein changes to the documents result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across the suite of documents.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the model includes a multitude of model elements, the model identifies specific relationships between the elements of the model, and each of the model elements has defined properties, and wherein:

at least some of the documents include first and second types of text;

the first type of text is retrieved from the properties of the model elements;

the second type of text is reproduced verbatim from a template; and

the structure of the documents is derived from the structure of the model.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing information includes the step of the user editing the first type of text in one said document;

wherein said editing results in a change to one of the properties of the model elements, and leads to the refreshing of said one property wherever said one property is repeated in all of the documents.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing information includes the step of the user editing the document structure of one of said documents, wherein said editing results in a corresponding change to the model structure, leading to the refreshing of said model structure wherever said model structure appears in all of the documents.

5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of:

prompting the user to select one of a plurality of possible model change interpretations of the document structure edit.

6. A method according to claim 2, wherein at least one portion of at least one said documents is associated with a pop-up menu that allows elements and relationships of the model to be created and deleted.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

generating additional information that is not displayed to the user and that enables changes to the documents to result in corresponding changes to the model.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein said additional information includes information concerning a portion of the document and includes:

an identifier of the model element represented, or a name of a property whose value is represented, or a type of model element to be created when adding another model element, or a type of relationship to create and a model element identifier of a peer model element to relate to when adding another new or existing model element, or an arbitrary command to be offered as an operation in a pop-up menu for that portion of the document.

9. A method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

the user selecting a portion of the document;

opening a graph editor on the portion of the model represented by said selected portion of the document;

the user using the graph editor to make changes to the model; and

the changed model content being refreshed wherever said model content appears in all of the documents.

10. A method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of:

producing a clue book providing a mapping from strings in the displayed documents to objects in the model.

11. A system for producing changes in a model, wherein changes to a suite of documents generated from the model result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across said suite of documents, said system comprising:

a report generator for generating a suite of documents from the model, each of the documents describing a view of the model;

a display for displaying the documents to a user as a series of forms; and

user input means to enable a user to provide information to said forms to change the documents;

wherein

changes to the documents result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across the suite of documents.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the model includes a multitude of model elements, the model identifies specific relationships between the elements of the model, and each of the model elements has defined properties, and wherein:

at least some of the documents include first and second types of text;

the first type of text is retrieved from the properties of the model elements;

the second type of text is reproduced verbatim from a template; and

the structure of the documents is derived from the structure of the model.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein when the user edits the first type of text in one of said documents, said edit results in a change to one of the properties of the model elements, and leads to the refreshing of said one property wherever said one property is repeated in all of the documents.

14. A system according to claim 12, wherein when the user edits the document structure of one of said documents, said edit results in a corresponding change to the model structure, leading to the refreshing of said model structure wherever said model structure appears in all of the documents.

15. A system according to claim 14, further comprising means for prompting the user to select one of a plurality of possible model change interpretations of the document structure edit.

16. A system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a graph editor; and

wherein;

when the user selects a portion of the document, said graph editor opens on the portion of the model represented by said selected portion of the document; and

when the user uses the graph editor to make changes to the model, the changed model content is refreshed wherever said model content appears in all of the documents.

17. A computer readable program storage media, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for producing changes in a model, wherein changes to a suite of documents generated from the model result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across said suite of documents, said method steps comprising:

generating a suite of documents from the model, each of the documents describing a view of the model;

displaying the documents to a user as a series of forms; and

said user providing information to said forms to change the documents;

wherein

changes to the documents result in both changes to the model and consistent changes across the suite of documents.

18. A computer readable program storage media according to claim 17, wherein the model includes a multitude of model elements, the model identifies specific relationships between the elements of the model, and each of the model elements has defined properties, and wherein:

at least some of the documents include first and second types of text;

the first type of text is retrieved from the properties of the model elements;

the second type of text is reproduced verbatim from a template; and

the structure of the documents is derived from the structure of the model.

19. A computer readable storage media according to claim 18, wherein the step of providing information includes the step of the user editing the first type of text in one said document;

wherein said editing results in a change to one of the properties of the model elements, and leads to the refreshing of said one property wherever said one property is repeated in all of the documents.

20. A computer readable storage media according to claim 18, wherein the step of providing information includes the step of the user editing the document structure of one of said documents, wherein said editing results in a corresponding change to the model structure, leading to the refreshing of said model structure wherever said model structure appears in all of the documents.