CUSTOMIZING A FORM IN A MODEL-BASED SYSTEM

• US 20110035654A1
• Filed: 11/05/2009
• Published: 02/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wright, Travis, Zenkovitch, Andrei, Forget, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,707,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Techniques are described herein for customizing a form (a.k.a. a dialog) in a model-based system. For instance, the form may be customized without the need to modify the form in persistent memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc. A representation of a customization (e.g., an extensible markup language file, a management pack, etc.) regarding the form is captured in memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), and stored in a file or a database. For instance, the representation of the customization may be stored separately from the form. The representation of the customization is retrieved from the file or the database and applied to a rendering of the form.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing a representation of a first user interface customization regarding a declaratively-defined form;

serializing the representation of the first user interface customization to facilitate distribution of the representation;

retrieving the serialized representation of the first user interface customization; and

applying the first user interface customization with respect to a rendering of the form using one or more processors in response to retrieving the serialized representation of the first user interface customization.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the representation of the first user interface customization comprises:

capturing the representation of the first user interface customization in a portable format.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the representation of the first user interface customization, serializing the representation of the first user interface customization, retrieving the serialized representation of the first user interface customization, and applying the first user interface customization are performed in the context of a test environment, the method further comprising:

importing the representation of the first user interface customization to a production environment in response to applying the first user interface customization in the context of the test environment;

serializing the representation of the first user interface customization in a context of the production environment;

retrieving the serialized representation of the first user interface customization in the context of the production environment; and

applying the first user interface customization with respect to a rendering of the form in the context of the production environment in response to retrieving the serialized representation of the first user interface customization in the context of the production environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing a representation of a second user interface customization regarding the form; and

determining that capturing the representation of the first user interface customization is performed after capturing the representation of the second user interface customization;

wherein applying the first user interface customization with respect to the rendering of the form is performed in response to determining that capturing the representation of the first user interface customization is performed after capturing the representation of the second user interface customization.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing a representation of a second user interface customization regarding the form; and

determining that a most recent modification of the representation of the second user interface customization precedes a most recent modification of the representation of the first user interface customization;

wherein applying the first user interface customization with respect to the rendering of the form is performed in response to determining that the most recent modification of the representation of the second user interface customization precedes the most recent modification of the representation of the first user interface customization.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing a representation of a second user interface customization regarding the form;

providing an inquiry to a user to select the first user interface customization or the second user interface customization; and

receiving an indication that the user selects the first user interface customization;

wherein applying the first user interface customization with respect to the rendering of the form is performed in response to receiving the indication.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing a representation of a second user interface customization regarding the form;

assigning a first priority that is greater than a second priority to the representation of the first user interface customization; and

assigning the second priority to the representation of the second user interface customization;

wherein applying the first user interface customization with respect to the rendering of the form is performed in response to the first priority being greater than the second priority.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the representation of the first user interface customization comprises:

capturing a plurality of representations of a plurality of respective user interface customizations regarding the form;

wherein applying the first user interface customization with respect to the rendering of the form comprises;

applying the plurality of user interface customizations with respect to the rendering of the form in an order that is based on a plurality of hierarchical classes of a class hierarchy to which the plurality of respective user interface customizations is targeted.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the first user interface customization is human understandable.

10. A manager comprising:

a capture module configured to capture a representation of a first user interface customization regarding a declaratively-defined form;

a serialization module configured to serialize the representation of the first user interface customization to facilitate distribution of the representation;

a retrieval module configured to retrieve the serialized representation of the first user interface customization; and

an application module configured to apply the first user interface customization with respect to a rendering of the form based on retrieval of the serialized representation of the first user interface customization.

11. The manager of claim 10, further comprising:

a form receipt module configured to receive a modified version of the form;

wherein the application module is further configured to apply the first user interface customization with respect to a rendering of the modified version of the form to an extent that the first user interface customization is applicable to the modified version.

12. The manager of claim 10, further comprising:

a deletion module configured to delete the representation of the first user interface customization from persistent storage in response to an instruction;

wherein the application module is further configured to render the form without the first user interface customization in response to deletion of the representation of the first user interface customization from the persistent storage.

13. The manager of claim 10, further comprising:

an interface module configured to provide a what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface that enables a user to make modifications to a visual representation of the form in real time; and

an indicator receipt module configured to receive an indicator that specifies that the user makes a first modification to the visual representation;

wherein the first user interface customization corresponds to the first modification of the visual representation.

14. The manager of claim 10, wherein the representation of the first user interface customization is a management pack.

15. A method comprising:

capturing a first representation of a first customization regarding a declaratively-defined form;

implementing the first customization with respect to the form using one or more processors without changing the form in persistent storage, including changing values of respective properties that are associated with the form to implement the first customization; and

providing a visual representation of the form that includes the first customization in response to implementing the first customization.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

capturing a second representation of a second customization regarding the form; and

implementing the second customization with respect to the form without changing the form in the persistent storage;

wherein providing the visual representation of the form comprises;

providing the visual representation of the form that further includes the second customization.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

programmatically creating the first representation of the first customization automatically based on logic programmed into a processing system that includes the one or more processors.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein capturing the first representation of the first customization comprises:

capturing a plurality of representations of a plurality of respective customizations regarding the form;

wherein implementing the first customization with respect to the form comprises;

implementing the plurality of customizations with respect to the form in a designated order to provide a plurality of respective form instances without changing the form in the persistent storage; and

wherein providing the visual representation of the form comprises;

providing a plurality of sequential visual representations of the plurality of respective form instances in the designated order.