EFFICIENT NAVIGATION THROUGH HIERARCHICAL MAPPINGS

• US 20160162598A1
• Filed: 12/05/2014
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Schaerges, Hans-Peter, Beyer, Bertram, Brueggemann, Thomas, Heinrich, Julia
• Granted Patent: US 10,262,075 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/282 Hierarchical databases, e.g. IMS, LDAP data stores or Lotus Notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/86 Mapping to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method comprises displaying a first portion of a representation a first and a second hierarchical structure, each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure including a plurality of fields, displaying a representation of mappings between fields of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure, receiving a predetermined user command associated with a particular field of the second hierarchical structure, in response to receiving the predetermined user command, if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes no field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, displaying a second portion of the first structure including at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, and, if the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is hidden, expand the second portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure becomes visible.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying a first portion of a representation of a first hierarchical structure and a first portion of a representation of a second hierarchical structure, wherein each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure includes a plurality of fields which can be collapsed and expanded to hide or display fields of the hierarchical structure;

displaying a representation of mappings between fields of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure;

receiving a predetermined user command associated with a particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

in response to receiving the predetermined user command;

if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes no field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, displaying a second portion of the first structure including at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, and

if the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is hidden, expanding the second portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure becomes visible;

if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes a hidden field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, expanding the first portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped becomes visible.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprises displaying a third portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure including the at least one field mapped wherein if the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is not in the displayed area after the expanding step of the first portion or the second portion.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure are database objects of a computerized database system.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined user command is a selection command of the particular field of the second hierarchical structure.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a second predetermined user command associated with the particular field of the second hierarchical structure; and

in response to receiving the second predetermined user command;

displaying a fourth portion of representation of the first hierarchical structure including at least one second field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

if the at least one second field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is hidden, expanding the fourth portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one second field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure becomes visible.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising receiving further predetermined user commands associated with the particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

and

in response to receiving the further predetermined user commands displaying further portions of first hierarchical structure including at least one further field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is a next field in the representation of the first hierarchical structure to the first portion of a representation of the first hierarchical structure currently displayed.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the at least one second field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is a next field in a downward direction in the representation of the first hierarchical structure.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first hierarchical structure includes a plurality of further fields on a hierarchical level of the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, and

wherein expanding the second portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure becomes visible includes:

displaying a predetermined number of fields of the plurality of further fields on the hierarchical level of the at least one field mapped in the vicinity of the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure; and

hiding the remaining fields of the plurality of further fields on the hierarchical level of the at least one field mapped in one or more sibling nodes.

10. The computer-implemented invention of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a user command associated with one of the one or more sibling nodes; and

expanding the one of the one or more sibling nodes to display one or more of the hidden fields on the hierarchical level of the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure.

11. The computer-implemented invention of claim 9, wherein the predetermined number of fields displayed is zero or between 1 and 10.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second predetermined user command associated with a particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

in response to receiving the second predetermined user command;

expanding all portions of the first hierarchical structure including fields mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a third predetermined user command associated with a particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

in response to receiving the third predetermined user command;

highlighting all fields mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein displaying the first portion or the second portion includes indicating connections between fields of the first hierarchical structure mapped to fields of the second hierarchical structure.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein connections between the particular field of the second hierarchical structure and fields of the first hierarchical structure are highlighted.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein highlighting involves changing a line type, line color, or both of a connection between fields.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a predetermined user command associated with the particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

in response to receiving the predetermined user command;

displaying a first portion of a representation of a third hierarchical structure, wherein the third hierarchical structure includes a plurality of fields, wherein at least one field of the third hierarchical structure is mapped onto the particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

displaying a representation of mappings between fields of the third hierarchical structure and a second hierarchical structure; and

if the at least one field of the third hierarchical structure mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is hidden, expand the first portion of the third hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped is visible.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

displaying the second portion of the first structure and the first portion of the third structure simultaneously.

19. A computer readable medium storing instructions thereon which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

display a first portion of a representation a first hierarchical structure and a first portion of a representation of a second hierarchical structure, wherein each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure includes a plurality of fields and wherein each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure can be collapsed and expanded to hide or display fields of the hierarchical structure;

display a representation of mappings between fields of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure;

receive a predetermined user command associated with a particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

in response to receiving the predetermined user command;

if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes no field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, display a second portion of the first structure including at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, and

if the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is hidden, expand the second portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure becomes visible;

if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes a hidden field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, expand the first portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped becomes visible.

20. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

displaying a first portion of a representation a first hierarchical structure and a first portion of a second hierarchical structure, wherein each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure includes a plurality of fields and wherein each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure can be collapsed and expanded to hide or display fields of the hierarchical structure;

displaying a representation of mappings between fields of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure;

receiving a predetermined user command associated with a particular field of the second hierarchical structure;

in response to receiving the predetermined user command;

if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes no field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, displaying a second portion of the first structure including at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, and

if the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure is hidden, expanding the second portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure becomes visible;

if the displayed first portion of the representation of the first hierarchical structure includes a hidden field mapped to the particular field of the second hierarchical structure, expanding the first portion of the first hierarchical structure until the at least one field mapped becomes visible.