METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING A SUMMARY OF SELECTED VALUES

• US 20090119271A1
• Filed: 01/12/2009
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andrews, Gregory Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,356,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A method, system, and article of manufacture for quickly and easily obtaining information about a list of elements. One embodiment of the invention comprises receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function, generating a configuration file containing the at least one desired summary function, receiving a selection of a list of numbers, copying the list of numbers into a clipboard, parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function, calculating the at least one desired summary function using the list of desired numbers to generate summary information, displaying the summary information in a pop-up window, and replacing the selected list of numbers with the summary information. The results window may be a pop-window, a hover-help window, or a clipboard.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising:

(a) a program configured to perform a method of a method of displaying customizable summary information about a list of elements, comprising;

receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function;

generating a configuration file containing the at least one desired summary function;

receiving notification of a selection event in a web browser, the selection event comprising a user identifying a portion of a web page comprising a plurality of numbers;

in response to the selection event, automatically;

copying the portion of the web page into a clipboard;

parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function;

extracting the numbers from the web page;

calculating the at least one desired summary function using the extracted numbers to generate summary information;

displaying the summary information in a results window; and

replacing the portion of the web page in the clipboard with the summary information; and

(b) a computer-readable storage media bearing the program.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage media comprises a memory of a pervasive device.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the plurality of numbers in the web page are non-contiguous.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the selection event comprises highlighting textual material that contains the plurality of numbers and at least one separator.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein extracting the numbers from the portion of the web page comprises:

parsing the selected material to identify the at least one separator; and

removing the at least one separator from the list of elements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the results window is selected from the group consisting of a pop-up window and a hover help window.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration file comprises at least one field chosen from the group consisting of a library name, a function name field, and an display name field.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering a window procedure with an operating system.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

(a) a program configured to perform a method of displaying summary information about a list of elements, comprising;

parsing a configuration file to extract at least one desired summary function;

receiving notification of a selection event, the selection event comprising a user identifying in a web browser executing on the computing system a portion of a web page, wherein the the portion of the web page comprises a list of elements;

in response to the selection event, automatically;

copying the portion of the web page into a clipboard;

parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function;

extracting the elements from portion of the web page;

calculating the at least one desired summary function using the extracted elements to generate summary information;

displaying the summary information in a results window; and

replacing the portion of the web page in the clipboard with the summary information; and

(b) a computer-readable storage media bearing the program.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein identifying the list of elements in the portion of the web page comprises highlighting textual material that contains the list of elements and at least one separator.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein extracting the elements from the portion of the web page comprises:

parsing the textual material to identify the at least one separator; and

removing the at least one separator from the list of elements.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the elements in the list are non-contiguous.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the results window comprises a pop-up window.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the results window comprises a hover help window.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the configuration file comprises at least one field chosen from the group consisting of a library name, a function name field, and an display name field.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising registering a window procedure with an operating system.

17. A computer system, comprising:

a processing unit;

a system memory coupled to the processing unit through a system bus;

an program executed from the system memory by the processing unit and having a runtime element adapted to system for;

receiving a selection of at least one desired summary function;

generating a configuration file containing the at least one desired summary function;

receiving notification of a selection event in a web browser, the selection event comprising a user identifying a portion of a web page comprising a plurality of numbers;

in response to the selection event, automatically;

copying the portion of the web page into a clipboard;

parsing the configuration file to extract the least one desired function;

extracting the numbers from the web page;

calculating the at least one desired summary function using the extracted numbers to generate summary information;

displaying the summary information in a pop-up window; and

replacing the portion of the web page in the clipboard with the summary information.

18. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the program comprises an operating system.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the program comprises a web browser.

20. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the program comprises a browser plug-in.