GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR MULTI-FRAME PRESENTATION

• US 20090282364A1
• Filed: 05/12/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: White, Cheryl S., Gulik, Bartosz, Anderson, Casey A., Snow, David Matthew, Herman, Douglas W., Kim, Hana, Schreiber, Patrick, Soin, Ravipal, Dietz, Robert S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,205,160 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/804
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

A computing device configured to execute computer code to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) for creating a multi-frame presentation is provided. The generated GUI may include a canvas pane configured to display a main frame and supporting frame icons representing a plurality of supporting frames of the presentation. The generated GUI may further include a connector tool operable within the canvas pane for creating a link between a source element and a target element, the source element being the main frame or an element of the main frame, the target element being a supporting frame or an element of a supporting frame, the link being defined by an associated linking script, the connector tool being operable to create the link via a click-and-drag action from the source element to the target element.

Claims

1. A computing device configured to execute computer code to generate a graphical user interface for creating a multi-frame presentation, the graphical user interface comprising:

a canvas pane configured to display a main frame and supporting frame icons representing a plurality of supporting frames of the presentation; and

a connector tool operable within the canvas pane for creating a link between a source element and a target element, the source element being the main frame or an element of the main frame, the target element being a supporting frame or an element of the main frame, the link being defined by an associated linking script, the connector tool being operable to create the link via a click-and-drag action from the source element to the target element.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises:

a scripting dialogue box tool configured to display a dynamic linking script template that is configured based on the selected source element and target element, the script dialogue box tool being configured to receive user input script parameters to produce the linking script based on the linking script template.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the linking script template includes a plurality of scripting blocks, including:

a source block for specifying the source element of the link;

an event block for indicating an event triggering the link; and

an action block for indicating a linking action to be taken upon traversal of the link.

4. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the source block is programmatically filled based on an identity of the source element.

5. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the event block is programmatically filled with selection options based on allowable events of the source element.

6. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the action block is programmatically filled with selection options based on the target element.

7. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the plurality of blocks further includes:

a conditional block for indicating one or more conditional statements including conditions under which one or more linking actions are to be performed.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the conditional block is programmatically filled with selection options selected from the group consisting of element, property, operator, and value.

9. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the link is a first link from the source element to a first target element, the connector tool being further configured to create a second link via a click-and-drag action from the source element to a second target element.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the conditional block is a branching conditional block that branches to the first link and the second link, which the linking script template is programmatically set to generate upon the creation of the second link.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the connector tool is configured to display a link source icon at the source element and a link target icon at the target element.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the connector tool is configured to display a graphical connecting element between the link source icon and the link target icon, upon mouse over of the link source icon or link target icon.

13. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the supporting frame icons are displayed in presentation order along a path in the canvas pane, such that all supporting frame icons in the presentation are visible.

14. The computing device of claim 1, wherein linked frames are visually differentiated from frames that are not linked via a linking graphic.

15. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the connector too is further configured to perform a linking action selected from the group consisting of moving a link, deleting a link, linking to self, and modifying a link.

16. A method of creating a multi-frame presentation, comprising:

displaying a canvas pane including a main frame and supporting frame icons representing a plurality of supporting frames of the presentation; and

providing a connector tool operable within the canvas pane for creating a link between a source element and a target element, the source element being the main frame or an element of the main frame, the target element being a supporting frame or an element of a supporting frame, the link being defined by an associated linking script, the connector tool being operable to create the link via a click-and-drag action from the source element to the target element.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing a scripting dialogue box tool configured to display a dynamic linking script template that is configured based on the selected source element and target element, the script dialogue box tool being configured to receive user input script parameters to produce the linking script based on the linking script template.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the linking script template includes a plurality of scripting blocks, including:

a source block for specifying the source element of the link;

an event block for indicating an event triggering the link; and

an action block for indicating a linking action to be taken upon traversal of the link.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the source block is programmatically filled based on an identity of the source element, the event block is programmatically filled with selection options based on allowable events of the source element, and the action block is programmatically filled with selection options based on the target element.

20. A computing device configured to execute computer code to generate a graphical user interface for creating a multi-frame presentation, the graphical user interface comprising:

a canvas pane configured to display a main frame and supporting frame icons representing a plurality of supporting frames of a presentation;

a connector tool operable within the canvas pane for creating a link between a source element and a target element, the source element being the main frame or an element of the main frame, the target element being a supporting frame or an element of a supporting frame, the connector tool being operable to create the link from the source element to the target element; and

a scripting dialogue box tool configured to display a dynamic linking script template that is configured based on the selected source element and target element, the linking script template scripting dialogue tool being configured to receive user input script parameters to produce a linking script based on the linking script template.