PROPERTY DEPENDENCY VISUALIZATION

• US 20100058164A1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Best, Casey A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,157,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for property dependency visualization. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for property dependency visualization can be provided. The method can include detecting a proximity event for a control in a user interface (UI) and determining a dependency relationship between a property for the control and at least one other property for at least one control in the UI. Thereafter, a view of the dependency relationship can be rendered in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected. In this way, tracking dependencies in a large form of a multiplicity of controls can be facilitated.

Claims

1. A method for property dependency visualization comprising:

detecting a proximity event for a control in a user interface (UI);

determining a dependency relationship between a property for the control and at least one other property for at least one control in the UI; and

, rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected, comprises rendering a text string explaining the dependency relationship.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected, comprises rendering a text string warning of consequences arising from the dependency relationship.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected, comprises rendering a hierarchical view of the dependency relationship.

5. A forms based input data processing system configured for property dependency visualization, the system comprising:

a user interface (UI) defined in markup and rendered in a content browser executing in a host computing platform;

a plurality of controls defined by the UI, each of the controls comprising at least one property; and

,

dependency visualization logic coupled to the content browser and executing in the host computing platform, the logic comprising program code enabled to detect a proximity event for a control amongst the controls, to determine a dependency relationship between a property for the control and at least one other property for at least one of the controls and to render a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the control is a text field.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the control is a submit button.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the dependency relationship is a tree visualizing a hierarchical relationship of dependencies between the property for the control and other properties for others of the controls in the UI.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein where the property is a value property of the text field affecting a value property of another text field.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the property is an enablement property of the submit button dependent upon a value property of a text field receiving input.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium embodying computer usable program code for property dependency visualization, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for detecting a proximity event for a control in a user interface (UI);

computer usable program code for determining a dependency relationship between a property for the control and at least one other property for at least one control in the UI; and

,

computer usable program code for rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer usable program code for rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected, comprises computer usable program code for rendering a text string explaining the dependency relationship.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer usable program code for rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected, comprises computer usable program code for rendering a text string warning of consequences arising from the dependency relationship.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer usable program code for rendering a view of the dependency relationship in connection with the control for which the proximity event is detected, comprises computer usable program code for rendering a hierarchical view of the dependency relationship.