INTEGRATED VISUALIZATION FOR MODELED CUSTOMIZATIONS

• US 20150113500A1
• Filed: 10/18/2013
• Published: 04/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Shah, Nitinkumar, Narayanan, Suriya, Badawy, Robert, Aggag, Khalid
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

An integrated view is generated for a model element being customized. The integrated view shows an integrated visualization of the model element in the base system as well as a plurality of different extensions to the model element. The integrated view also facilitates editing of an extension document that represents a customization currently being made.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of visualizing customizations to a computer system having types modeled with model elements, comprising:

receiving a user selection input, at a development and customization system, indicative of a selected model element to be visualized as a current extension model; and

displaying an integrated view of the selected model element that identifies a base model corresponding to the selected model element and identifies customizations in the current extension model, separately from the base model, the current extension model being customizable from the integrated view and the base model being viewable from the integrated view.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying a hierarchical tree view having parent and child nodes indicative of items in the selected model element, each node having a visual model indication indicating a customization and a model to which it belongs.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying the integrated view to identify all other customizations to the base model, other than those modeled in the current extension model, as belonging to other extension models, by identifying all the other customizations separately from the base model and separately from the customizations in the current extension model.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying a visual customization model indication identifying a model in which each node in the hierarchical tree view has been customized.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying a visual re-ordering indication identifying that a given node in the hierarchical tree view has been customized to be re-ordered relative to other nodes in the hierarchical tree view.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying a visual re-parenting indication identifying that a given node in the hierarchical tree view has been customized to be re-ordered to have a different parent node in the hierarchical tree view.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying the integrated view with user input mechanisms so that user interaction to customize the selected model element in its corresponding extension model is the same across other extension models and model elements in the other extension models as well as user interaction with a base model to customize the base model element in the base model.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the customizations are reflected in a hierarchy of models, and wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying nodes in the hierarchical tree view as customizable if they are in the current extension model or in a higher layer of models in the hierarchy of models than the current extension model.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising:

receiving user inputs indicative of whether the user is to customize a model element within an existing project or in a new project.

10. The computer-implemented method of 1 wherein receiving a user selection input comprises:

receiving the user selection input to select a model element comprising one of a table, a form, a menu, an enumeration, a method, and other model elements.

11. A development system, comprising:

a model generator that receives user model inputs and generates a first model that models a type in a computer system, the first model including first model elements, the model generator receiving model customization inputs and generating a customization model that models customizations to the model element;

a visualization component that receives a user element selection that identifies a model element to be visualized, the visualization component displaying an integrated view of the selected model element that identifies the first model and that also visually indicates customizations to the selected model element made in the customization model; and

a computer processor that is a functional part of the development system and that is activated by the model generator and the visualization component to facilitate model generation and displaying the integrated view of the selected model.

12. The development system of claim 11 wherein the visualization component generates the integrated view to show all other customizations to the selected model element modeled in other customization models.

13. The development system of claim 12 wherein the visualization component displays the integrated view to identify which parts of the selected model element are modeled by which of the other customization models.

14. The development system of claim 13 wherein the visualization component displays the integrated view so that parts of the selected model element that are modeled by the customization model are customizable by the model generator from the integrated view and so that parts of the selected model element customized in the other customization models are read only in the integrated view.

15. The development system of claim 14 wherein the visualization component displays the integrated view so that parts of the selected model element that are modeled by the first model are read only in the integrated view.

16. The development system of claim 12 wherein the visualization component displays the integrated view as a hierarchical tree view of the model element, the hierarchical tree view displaying parent nodes and child nodes, a given child node being dependent on a given parent node, the hierarchical view identifying which nodes are modeled by the first model, which nodes are modeled by the customization model and which nodes are modeled by the other customization models.

17. The development system of claim 16 wherein the visualization component displays a visual re-ordering indication adjacent nodes that have been re-ordered in the hierarchical tree view.

18. The development system of claim 12 wherein the computer system comprises a business system.

19. A computer readable storage medium that stores computer executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method, comprising:

receiving a user selection input indicative of a selected model element to be visualized as a current extension model; and

displaying an integrated view of the selected model element that identifies a base model corresponding to the selected model element and identifies customizations in the current extension model, separately from the base model, the current extension model being customizable from the integrated view and the base model being viewable from the integrated view, the integrated view including a hierarchical tree view having parent and child nodes indicative of items in the selected model element, each node having a visual model indication indicating a model to which it belongs, the integrated view identifying all other customizations to the selected model element, other than those modeled in the current extension model, as belonging to other extension models, by identifying all the other customizations separately from the base model and separately from the customizations in the current extension model, and by displaying a visual customization model indication identifying a model in which each node in the hierarchical tree view has been customized.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 wherein displaying the integrated view comprises:

displaying parts of the selected model element that are modeled by the current extension model as being customizable and displaying parts of the selected model element modeled by the base model as being read only.