Method and apparatus for enhancing drag and drop manipulation of objects in a graphical user interface
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method of enhancing a standard direct manipulation drag and drop operation in a data processing system, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a processor object potentially providing a series of changes for a source object;
dragging said source object over said processor object while performing said standard direct manipulation drag and drop operation in said data processing system and dropping said source object on a target object; and
processing said series of changes by said processor object for said source object in response to dropping said source object on said target object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus provide a direct manipulation protocol to allow a user, while dragging a source object to a target object, to pass the source object through one or more intervening processor objects, causing an appropriate action to occur to the source object when it is dropped on the target object. If the source object is passed across a processor object for which no appropriate action occurs, the source object remains unchanged in appearance and content. If the source object undergoes modification, its graphical representation to the user changes, giving the user feedback that the source object has been modified.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method of enhancing a standard direct manipulation drag and drop operation in a data processing system, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a processor object potentially providing a series of changes for a source object; dragging said source object over said processor object while performing said standard direct manipulation drag and drop operation in said data processing system and dropping said source object on a target object; and processing said series of changes by said processor object for said source object in response to dropping said source object on said target object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An apparatus for augmenting standard direct manipulation operations, the operations displayed on a work desk containing a plurality of source objects and target objects, wherein said standard direct manipulation operations are accomplished by dragging a selected one of said source objects over to and dropping said selected one of source object on a selected one of said target objects, the apparatus comprising:
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means for providing at least one processor object potentially providing a series of changes to be performed on said selected one of said source objects; means for dragging said selected one of said source objects across said work desk and over said at least one processor object; and means for dropping said selected one of said source objects on said selected one of said target objects and performing said series of changes on said selected one of said source objects in response to dropping said selected one of said source objects on said selected one of said target objects. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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Specification