CROSS PLATFORM COMPOSITIONAL WIDGETS

• US 20090249282A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Beckman, Brian C., Meijer, Henricus Johannes Maria, Van Velzen, Danny, Van Gogh, Jeffrey
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

Mechanisms are afforded for supporting cross platform widgets. A generic widget can be converted into a specialized widget of a corresponding platform. Dually, a specialized widget can be generalized to a generic widget for subsequent deployment on the same or different host. Furthermore, support is provided for compositional widgets across platforms.

Claims

1. A widget system, comprising:

a development component to facilitate construction of a first widget; and

a loader component that loads the first widget into a container, wherein the container is a second widget.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a transform component that transforms the first and/or second widget to facilitate compositionality.

3. The system of claim 2, the transform component alters element identifiers of the first and second widget to ensure uniqueness.

4. The system of claim 2, the transform component enables call interception and redirection.

5. The system of claim 2, the transform component transforms the first and/or second widget in accordance with a policy that defines secure interaction on a spectrum from full access to complete isolation.

6. The system of claim 2, further comprising an analysis component that analyzes the first and/or second widget actions either statically or dynamically.

7. The system of claim 6, the analysis component checks a proof and/or endorsement associated with the first and/or second widget

8. The system of claim 6, the analysis component analyzes a function that transforms a generic widget into a specific widget related to a specific widget platform.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that generates the first widget specific to a widget platform from a generic widget produced with aid from the development component.

10. The system of claim 9, the generic widget includes a function that produces declarative widget metadata specific to a widget platform to facilitate transformation from generic to specific.

11. A method of widget production, comprising:

acquiring a generic widget; and

generating a specialized widget from the generic widget for execution on a specific widget platform.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising applying a wrapper to the generic widget to produce the specialized widget.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising rewriting the generic widget as the specialized widget statically prior to execution or dynamically at runtime.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising transforming a specialized widget into the generic widget.

15. The method of claim 14, transforming the specialized widget comprising removing a wrapper applied thereto.

16. The method of claim 11, generating the specialized widget comprising calling a generic widget metadata function to produce specialized widget metadata.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating the specialized widget from a transformation function carried by the widget.

18. A widget system, comprising:

means for generating a specialized widget for a corresponding platform from a generic widget; and

means for loading the specialized widget into a container, wherein the container is a widget and/or includes other widgets.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a means for generalizing a specific widget to a generic widget.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising a means for controlling interaction between embedded widgets.