METHOD FOR CREATING, EXPORTING, SHARING, AND INSTALLING GRAPHICS FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS

• US 20100306651A1
• Filed: 06/02/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Koelling, Troy, Sabatelli, Alessandro, Matas, Michael, Quennesson, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,778,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/704
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/51 Source to source
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, computer readable media, and methods for creating, exporting, sharing, and installing graphics functional blocks are described herein. In one embodiment, a selection is received from a graphical user interface (GUI) for one or more patches of multiple linked patches representing a graphics composition. In response to the selection, a dependency analysis is performed to determine one or more related patches that have a dependency relationship with the selected patches. Based on the dependency analysis, source code associated with the selected patches and the related patches is extracted without extracting source code of unselected and unrelated patches. Thereafter, the selected patches, the related patches, and the extracted source code are exported into a composition file to be shared with another user. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

in response to selecting one or more patches, performing a dependency analysis to determine one or more related patches that have a dependency relationship with the selected patches;

extracting source code associated with the selected patches and the related patches based on the dependency analysis without extracting source code of unselected and unrelated patches; and

exporting the selected patches, the related patches, and the extracted source code to be shared with another user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of linked patches in an editing window of a graphical user interface (GUI), the linked patches representing a graphics composition, wherein the one or more patches are selected by highlighting the corresponding one or more patches from the editing window; and

displaying a viewing window of the GUI to instantly display a result of rendering of the plurality of linked patches displayed in the editing window.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying a toolbar within the editing window having a plurality of buttons;

receiving an activation from a first button displayed on the toolbar for exporting; and

in response to the activation of the first button, performing the dependency analysis and extracting source code of the selected patches and the related patches.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising exporting into a composition file, prompting a user for a filename of the composition file to be shared with another user, including a copyright statement and a brief description of the composition file.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

in response to an activation of a second button from the toolbar, creating a macro patch representing the selected patches from the editing window;

replacing the selected patches with the macro patch in the editing window; and

reconnecting the macro patch with patches previously connected with the replaced patches.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

importing a second composition file having a plurality of patches, the plurality of patches being exported from another user;

determining whether one or more of the patches in the second composition file exist in a local system; and

replacing the one or more patches that exist in the local system with the corresponding one or more patches from the second composition file.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether one or more patches exist comprises:

searching in the local system based on an identifier of each patch from the second composition file to determine whether a particular patch from the second composition file exists in the local system; and

comparing a version of each patch that exists in the local system with a version of the corresponding patch from the second composition file.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying a dialog box to prompt a user of the local system to confirm whether the user wants to replace a patch of the local system with the corresponding patch from the second composition file.

9. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

in response to selecting one or more patches, performing a dependency analysis to determine one or more related patches that have a dependency relationship with the selected patches;

extracting source code associated with the selected patches and the related patches based on the dependency analysis without extracting source code of unselected and unrelated patches; and

exporting the selected patches, the related patches, and the extracted source code to be shared with another user.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a plurality of linked patches in an editing window of a graphical user interface (GUI), the linked patches representing a graphics composition, wherein the one or more patches are selected by highlighting the corresponding one or more patches from the editing window; and

displaying a viewing window of the GUI to instantly display a result of rendering of the plurality of linked patches displayed in the editing window.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying a toolbar within the editing window having a plurality of buttons;

receiving an activation from a first button displayed on the toolbar for exporting; and

in response to the activation of the first button, performing the dependency analysis and extracting source code of the selected patches and related patches.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises exporting into a composition file, prompting a user for a filename of the composition file to be shared with another user, including a copyright statement and a brief description of the composition file.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to an activation of a second button from the toolbar, creating a macro patch representing the selected patches from the editing window;

replacing the selected patches with the macro patch in the editing window; and

reconnecting the macro patch with patches previously connected with the replaced patches.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

importing a second composition file having a plurality of patches, the plurality of patches being exported from another user;

determining whether one or more of the patches in the second composition file exist in a local system; and

replacing the one or more patches that exist in the local system with the corresponding one or more patches from the second composition file.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein determining whether one or more patches exist comprises:

searching in the local system based on an identifier of each patch from the second composition file to determine whether a particular patch from the second composition file exists in the local system; and

comparing a version of each patch that exists in the local system with a version of the corresponding patch from the second composition file.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises displaying a dialog box to prompt a user of the local system to confirm whether the user wants to replace a patch of the local system with the corresponding patch from the second composition file.

17. A system, comprising:

a dependency analyzer, in response to selecting one or more patches, to perform a dependency analysis to determine one or more related patches that have a dependency relationship with the selected patches;

a code generator to extract source code associated with the selected patches and the related patches based on the dependency analysis without extracting source code of unselected and unrelated patches; and

an exporter to export the selected patches, the related patches, and the extracted source code to be shared with another user.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the GUI comprises:

an editing window to display the plurality of linked patches representing a graphics composition, wherein the one or more patches are selected by highlighting the corresponding one or more patches from the editing window; and

a viewing window to instantly display a result of rendering of the plurality of linked patches displayed in the editing window.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the GUI further comprises a toolbar displayed within the editing window, the toolbar having a plurality of buttons, including a first button to receive a user input for exporting, wherein in response to the activation of the first button, the dependency analyzer is configured to perform the dependency analysis and the code generator is configured to extract source code of the selected patches.

20. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

importing a file into a graphics development framework, the file being exported from another graphics development framework of another user, wherein the file includes a plurality of linked patches, each patch representing a functionality of a graphics operation;

for each patch being imported, examining each patch to determine whether a similar patch exists in a local system running the graphics development framework; and

upgrading the local system by replacing at least one patch that exists in the local system with a corresponding imported patch if the corresponding imported patch is newer than the patch of the local system.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

searching the local system based on an identifier of each patch to determine whether a particular path exists in the local system; and

comparing a version of each patch and the locally existed patch to determine which patch is newer.