CONFIGURABLE VIEW ON DATA MODELS

• US 20090284549A1
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mollicone, Laurent, Flynn, James Randall, Murray, Michael Charles, Jayadevan, Siddharth, Voss, Florian W.H., Williams, Anthony Scott, Danton, Stephen Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,581 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

Data-driven configuration of various views on data models. A framework may be provided that offers one or more parameterized view generation components, each aimed at generating a particular view type in response to configuration data that populates the parameters of the associated component. A user or other computing entity merely provides configuration data to an appropriate view generation component to generate a custom view. That custom view may then optionally perhaps be applied to any number of data models, or perhaps not applied to any data model at all and just saved for perhaps some future use. This view generation may generate composite views on a data model, or even hierarchical views on a data model.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method for formulating a custom view that may be applied to a plurality of data models, the method comprising:

an act of accessing configuration data; and

an act of applying the configuration data as parameters to a view construction module to generate a custom view component that may be applied to any one of a plurality of data models.

2. A computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-readable media is or are physical memory and/or storage media.

3. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of applying the custom view component to a first data model to thereby generate a custom view of the first data model.

4. A computer program product in accordance with claim 3, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configured to perform the act of applying in response to user input.

5. A computer program product in accordance with claim 3, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of applying the custom view component to a second data model to thereby generate a custom view of the second data model.

6. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the configuration data is a property of a view.

7. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the configuration data is a condition that affects a behavior of a view.

8. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the configuration data is a custom view component.

9. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the custom view component is a lower-level custom view component, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of using the lower-level custom view component as a component in a higher-level data model when rendering the higher-level data model.

10. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the customer view component is a first custom view component, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of applying the configuration data as parameters to a view construction module to generate a second custom view component that may be applied to any one of a plurality of data models.

11. A computer program product in accordance with claim 10, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of generating a composite detail custom view component using the first custom view component and the second custom view component.

12. A computer program product in accordance with claim 11 wherein the composite detail custom view component is configured to perform the following when the composite detail custom view component is applied to a particular data model:

an act of generating a first window in which a first detail view of the particular data model is illustrated, the first detail view being generated by applying the first custom view component to the particular data model; and

an act of generating a second window in which a second detail view of the particular data model is illustrated, the second detail view being generated by applying the second custom view component to the particular data model.

13. A computer program product in accordance with claim 12, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, and when user input is received, the method further comprises:

an act of visually positioning the first window relative to the second window.

14. A computer program product in accordance with claim 12, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of providing a master view that allows a user to select one of a plurality of data models to apply the composite detail custom view component to.

15. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method for formulating a composite custom view of a plurality of data models, the method comprising:

an act of accessing configuration data;

an act of detecting user input designating that the configuration data is to be applied to generate a custom view;

in response to the act of detecting the user input, an act of applying the configuration data as parameters to a view construction module to generate a plurality of custom view components;

an act of applying the plurality of custom view components to the view construction module to generate a composite custom view component, wherein the composite custom view component is configured to do the following when applied to a particular data model;

for each of the plurality of custom view components, an act of generating a corresponding window in which a detail view of the particular data model is illustrated, the detail view being generated by applying the corresponding custom view component to the particular data model;

an act of visually positioning all of the detail views.

16. A computer program product in accordance with claim 15, wherein the one or more computer-readable media is or are physical memory and/or storage media.

17. A computer program product in accordance with claim 16, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the method further comprises:

an act of providing a master view that allows a user to select one of a plurality of data models to apply the composite detail custom view component to.

18. A method for formulating a hierarchical custom view that may be applied to a plurality of data models, the method comprising:

an act of accessing configuration data;

an act of applying the configuration data as parameters to a plurality of view construction modules to generate a plurality of lower-level custom view components that may be applied to a data model;

an act of applying the plurality of lower-level custom view components as components to a higher-level data model that be rendered using a higher-level custom view component.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18, wherein the higher-level custom view component is an application viewer component.

20. A method in accordance with claim 18, wherein the higher-level custom view component is configured to do the following when applied to a particular data model:

for each of the plurality of lower-level view components, an act of generating a corresponding lower-level views by applying the lower-level view component to the particular data model; and

an act of visually relating each of the plurality of lower-level custom views, wherein the visual relation is dependent on configuration data.