Interactive Code Editing

• US 20160026439A1
• Filed: 07/23/2014
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zaydman, Oleg, Srinivasan, Ashok
• Granted Patent: US 11,188,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

Techniques for interactive code editing are described. A system can provide for display a code editing environment that resembles a text editor. Upon detecting various user inputs, the system can display, in place of text, widgets in the code editing environment. The widgets can have the appearance of text, and have functions to interact with the user to provide various conveniences including, for example, line management, step completion, calculation completion, parameter management, and code folding.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a window for creating or editing a script;

receiving a first user input for editing the script; and

in response to the first user input, displaying, in the window and in place of unstructured text, one or more widgets, each widget having an appearance of the unstructured text and corresponding to a keyword, a control structure, a function name, a function parameter, or a comment of the script, each widget configured to perform actions comprising;

receiving a keystroke input and a pointer input for selecting the widget or selecting an item displayed in the widget; and

upon receiving the keystroke input or pointer input, displaying an editing interface for modifying the script,

wherein the method is performed by one or more processors.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first user input is a keystroke for creating a new line,

displaying the one or more widgets comprises displaying a new line widget, the new line widget being a data object having an appearance of an empty text line or a non-empty text line and being operable to receive content for entering into the script; and

displaying the editing interface for modifying the script comprises displaying a text input interface for editing the script in the new-line widget.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the keystroke is a keystroke on a new line key or on an enter key, or a keystroke for entering a character on a non-empty line displayed in the window.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first user input is a series of one or more keystrokes inputting one or more alphanumeric characters in a new-line widget, and

displaying the one or more widgets comprises displaying a step completion widget including a list of static items and dynamic items, each static item including a function name or keyword, each dynamic item including a database table name or data field name of a database table, each item in the list at least partially matching the one or more alphanumeric characters.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

determining one or more components for each static item and each dynamic item, each component including one or more characters separated from other characters of the static item or dynamic item by a pre-specified delimiter that includes at least one of a space, a punctuation mark, or a capitalization;

determining that a beginning section of at least one component of a first item includes the one or more alphanumeric characters in the first user input; and

in response, adding the first item to the list for display in the step completion widget.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the one or more alphanumeric characters in the first user input comprise a first portion including one or more characters, followed by a space, and then followed by a second portion including one or more characters, and

determining that the beginning section of at least one component of the first item includes the one or more alphanumeric characters comprises;

determining that a beginning section of a first component of the first item includes the first portion; and

determining that beginning section of a second component of the first item includes the second portion, the second component being located after the first component in the first item.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the step completion widget displays a respective indicator in association with each item in the list, the indicator indicating whether a corresponding item is a static item or a dynamic item, and

the items in the list are displayed in alphanumeric order, a first matching static item being emphasized and designated as a default entry.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the keystroke input or the pointer input selects one of the static items or one of the dynamic items, and

displaying the editing interface for modifying the script comprises displaying the selected static item or dynamic item in the new line widget and displaying an interface for editing a parameter of the selected static item or dynamic item in the new line widget.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first user input is an input to write a function that includes one or more optional parameters,

displaying the one or more widgets comprises displaying a parameter editing widget following a name of the function or, when the function has mandatory parameters, following a last mandatory parameter of the function, the parameter editing widget being accessible by the keystroke input or the pointer input, and

displaying the editing interface comprises displaying a selection list of the one or more optional parameters in a popover widget.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors and from a text editing environment that is in a state of accepting text input in a first language, text segments separated by a delimiter, the text segments being in the first language;

determining that each text segment corresponds to a character in a second language and that a first character corresponds to a first text segment and a second character corresponds to a second text segment, the first character and the second character being indexed in a second language index associated with the text editing environment; and

in response to the determining, replacing the text segments in the first language with the first character and the second character of the second language while the text editing environment remains in the state of accepting text input in the first language.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first language is English and the second language is one of Chinese, Korean, or Japanese.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the second language index includes an index in hiragana, katakana, or rō

maji.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the delimiter is a space.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein replacing the text segments with the first character and the second character occurs without requiring a user input for switching the state of accepting text input in the first language to a new state of accepting text input in the second language.

15. A method comprising:

detecting a block from computer code displayed on a display device for folding, including;

detecting one or more lines of comments followed by one or more lines of instructions; and

designating the one or more lines of comments and the one or more lines of instructions as the block, wherein folding the computer code including collapsing one or more lines of the computer code;

providing for display a marker that is associated with the block, the marker being operable to receive an input to fold the block;

receiving, through the marker, a request for folding the computer code; and

in response to the request, folding the block, including hiding the one or more lines of instructions while continuing displaying the one or more of lines of comments.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising, after folding the block, providing for display a second marker in association with the folded block, the marker operable to receive an input to unfold the block.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting the block includes designating the one or more lines of comments and the one or more lines of instructions as the block upon determining that the one or more lines of comments and the one or more lines of instructions are located at a beginning of the computer code, at an end of the computer code, or are separated from other portions of the computer code by one or more blank lines or by an indentation level.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein:

detecting the block from the computer code for folding comprises detecting one or more lines of error checking instructions and one or more lines of error handling instructions, and

folding the block comprises hiding the one or more lines of error handling instructions while continuing displaying the error checking instructions.

19. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a storage device storing computer instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

displaying a window for creating or editing a script;

receiving a first user input for editing the script; and

in response to the first user input, displaying, in the window and in place of unstructured text, one or more widgets, each widget having an appearance of the unstructured text and corresponding to a keyword, a control structure, a function name, a function parameter, or a comment of the script, each widget configured to perform actions comprising;

receiving a keystroke input and a pointer input for selecting the widget or selecting an item displayed in the widget; and

upon receiving the keystroke input or pointer input, displaying an editing interface for modifying the script.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the first user input is a keystroke for creating a new line,

displaying the one or more widgets comprises displaying a new line widget, the new line widget being a data object having an appearance of an empty text line or a non-empty text line and being operable to receive content for entering into the script; and

displaying the editing interface for modifying the script comprises displaying a text input interface for editing the script in the new-line widget.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the keystroke is a keystroke on a new line key or on an enter key, or a keystroke for entering a character on a non-empty line displayed in the window.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the first user input is a series of one or more keystrokes inputting one or more alphanumeric characters in a new-line widget, and

displaying the one or more widgets comprises displaying a step completion widget including a list of static items and dynamic items, each static item including a function name or keyword, each dynamic item including a database table name or data field name of a database table, each item in the list at least partially matching the one or more alphanumeric characters.

23. The system of claim 22, the operations comprising:

determining one or more components for each static item and each dynamic item, each component including one or more characters separated from other characters of the static item or dynamic item by a pre-specified delimiter that includes at least one of a space, a punctuation mark, or a capitalization;

determining that a beginning section of at least one component of a first item includes the one or more alphanumeric characters in the first user input; and

in response, adding the first item to the list for display in the step completion widget.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the one or more alphanumeric characters in the first user input comprise a first portion including one or more characters, followed by a space, and then followed by a second portion including one or more characters, and

determining that the beginning section of at least one component of the first item includes the one or more alphanumeric characters comprises;

determining that a beginning section of a first component of the first item includes the first portion; and

determining that beginning section of a second component of the first item includes the second portion, the second component being located after the first component in the first item.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein:

the step completion widget displays a respective indicator in association with each item in the list, the indicator indicating whether a corresponding item is a static item or a dynamic item, and

the items in the list are displayed in alphanumeric order, a first matching static item being emphasized and designated as a default entry.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein:

the keystroke input or the pointer input selects one of the static items or one of the dynamic items, and

displaying the editing interface for modifying the script comprises displaying the selected static item or dynamic item in the new line widget and displaying an interface for editing a parameter of the selected static item or dynamic item in the new line widget.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the first user input is an input to write a function that includes one or more optional parameters,

displaying the one or more widgets comprises displaying a parameter editing widget following a name of the function or, when the function has mandatory parameters, following a last mandatory parameter of the function, the parameter editing widget being accessible by the keystroke input or the pointer input, and

displaying the editing interface comprises displaying a selection list of the one or more optional parameters in a popover widget.

28. A non-transitory storage device storing computer instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors and from a text editing environment that is in a state of accepting text input in a first language, text segments separated by a delimiter, the text segments being in the first language;

determining that each text segment corresponds to a character in a second language and that a first character corresponds to a first text segment and a second character corresponds to a second text segment, the first character and the second character being indexed in a second language index associated with the text editing environment; and

in response to the determining, replacing the text segments in the first language with the first character and the second character of the second language while the text editing environment remains in the state of accepting text input in the first language.

29. A non-transitory storage device storing computer instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors and from a text editing environment that is in a state of accepting text input in a first language, text segments separated by a delimiter, the text segments being in the first language;

determining that each text segment corresponds to a character in a second language and that a first character corresponds to a first text segment and a second character corresponds to a second text segment, the first character and the second character being indexed in a second language index associated with the text editing environment; and

in response to the determining, replacing the text segments in the first language with the first character and the second character of the second language while the text editing environment remains in the state of accepting text input in the first language.