Generic User Interface Command Architecture

• US 20100023954A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gusmorino, Paul A. III, Miller, Marc M., Odins-Lucas, Zeke B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,359,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

Certain aspects of a generic user interface command architecture allow an application to host commands for presentation on a computing device. The commands can be written by the same designer or author as the application, or alternatively by other parties (e.g., by a third-party developer). Other aspects of the generic UI command architecture describe an application programming interface (API) that can be used to allow the application to host the commands. Other aspects of the generic UI command architecture describe an activation mechanism by which registered commands can be activated by an application.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that describe a component, wherein the component, when created, is to:

expose a modes enumeration; and

return to a requester, in response to the requestor invoking the modes enumeration, a list of one or more presentation models supported by the component for a particular command associated with the component.

2. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component is created by being instantiated.

3. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component, when created, is further to have an identity property that identifies the component.

4. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component, when created, is further to:

expose a first property that allows a command context for the component to be set.

5. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component, when created, is further to have a group property that allows identification of one or more groups to which the particular command belongs.

6. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component, when created, is further to:

expose a groups enumeration; and

return to the requester, in response to the requestor invoking the groups enumeration, a list of one or more groups supported by the component.

7. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component, when created, is further to:

expose a get provider property, the get provider property having a parameter that is an identifier of a presentation model; and

create, in response to the requestor invoking the get provider property, a command provider component that implements the particular command for the identified presentation model.

8. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein the component is to create the command provider component by instantiating the command provider component.

9. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the component, when created, is further to have a command context handler property that is fired whenever a context for the particular command changes.

10. A method, comprising:

accessing a modes enumeration exposed by a component; and

receiving, in response to accessing the modes enumeration, a list of one or more presentation models supported by the component for a particular command associated with the component.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

accessing an identity property of the component to retrieve the identity of the component.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

accessing a first property of the component that allows a command context for the component to be set.

13. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

accessing a groups enumeration of the component; and

receiving, in response to accessing the groups enumeration, a list of one or more groups supported by the component.

14. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

accessing a get provider property of the component;

including, as a parameter in the accessing of the get provider property, an identifier of one of the one or more presentation models supported by the component; and

receive, in response to accessing the get provider property, an identifier of a command provider component that implements the particular command for the presentation model identified as the parameter.

15. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions to create a command broker, the plurality of instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

identify an object definition that includes one or more arguments;

for each of the one or more arguments that is a non-literal argument, recursively identify one or more additional object definitions based on the argument; and

create, as the command broker, the objects defined by the identified object definitions.

16. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to identify, as the object definition, a top-level object definition associated with the command broker.

17. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the plurality of instructions that cause the one or more processors to create the objects defined by the identified object definitions further cause the one or more processors to instantiate the objects defined by the identified object definitions.

18. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to identify the object definition within a registry of a Windows®

operating system.

19. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the object definition includes a type field storing data representing an identifier of an object defined by the first object definition, and an arguments field storing data representing one or more additional object definitions.

20. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first object definition including a type field storing data representing an identifier of an object defined by the first object definition, and an arguments field storing data representing one or more additional object definitions; and

a second object definition identified by the arguments field, wherein during a processing operation on the first object definition, the arguments field is examined to identify the second object definition.

21. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the data structure includes data defining a command broker.

22. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the first object definition further comprises an assembly field to store data representing an identifier of a command host to create the first object definition.