Method and apparatus for building efficient and flexible geometry management widget classes
First Claim
1. A method of managing a graphical user interface (GUI), the method comprising the steps of:
- identifying GUI elements to be displayed on a computer display;
invoking procedures included in a hierarchy of spatial arrangement elements associated with the GUI elements to dynamically generate display position information and size information for each of the GUI elements;
adjusting the display position information and the size information in a constraint resolution engine to determine a respective position on the display and a respective size for each of the GUI elements; and
displaying each of the GUI elements on the display according to its respective position and its respective size.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention identifies and separates the spatial grouping element from the management element in a geometry management scheme. The management element provides a constraint-resolution engine. A spatial grouping element can describe spatial groupings for graphic user interface (GUI) elements. A spatial group captures and encapsulates the set of constraints that describe the layout of a small portion of a user interface. A higher level spatial group can capture the constraints among the other spatial groups. The present invention provides independent, lightweight spatial-grouping elements that are incorporated into the constraint language of a geometry manager. Further, the present invention allows a GUI component to be grouped with multiple spatial-grouping elements. The present invention restricts the effect of a grouping element to a subset of the available set of dimensions. The present invention minimizes the number of geometry management elements. The present invention provides the ability to introduce geometry management to an existing application with minimal disruption. Further, the present invention postpones the addition of geometry support until after a static layout is perfected. The present invention allows a GUI application to perform dynamic layout alterations to adapt an application'"'"'s layout to the configuration of a specific graphical environment. Further, the present invention allows an application to easily respond to window resizing. The present invention determines a new layout of a resized window based on previously-specified constraints. Further, the present invention can accommodate length variances resulting from internationalization of a text string.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of managing a graphical user interface (GUI), the method comprising the steps of:
-
identifying GUI elements to be displayed on a computer display; invoking procedures included in a hierarchy of spatial arrangement elements associated with the GUI elements to dynamically generate display position information and size information for each of the GUI elements; adjusting the display position information and the size information in a constraint resolution engine to determine a respective position on the display and a respective size for each of the GUI elements; and displaying each of the GUI elements on the display according to its respective position and its respective size. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. An apparatus comprising:
-
a processor; a display coupled to said processor; and a memory coupled to said processor;
the memory having stored thereininformation representing graphical user interface (GUI) elements; and sequences of instructions which, when executed by said processor, cause said processor to manage a layout of the GUI elements in said display by causing said processor to; identify the GUI elements to be displayed on said display; invoke procedures included in a hierarchy of spatial arrangement elements associated with the GUI elements to dynamically generate display position information and size information for each of the GUI elements; adjust the display position information and the size information in a constraint resolution engine to determine a respective position on said display and a respective size for each of the GUI elements; and display each of the GUI elements on said display according to its respective position and its respective size. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. For use in a computer system, an article of manufacture comprising a computer usable mass storage medium including computer-readable program code embodied therein for causing one or more processors to manage a graphical user interface (GUI) in the computer system, said computer readable program code, when executed by said one or more processors, causing said one or more processors to:
-
identify GUI elements to be displayed on a display of said computer system; invoke procedures included in a hierarchy of spatial arrangement elements associated with the GUI elements to dynamically generate display position information and size information for each of the GUI elements; adjust the display position information and the size information in a constraint resolution engine to determine a respective position on the display and a respective size for each of the GUI elements; and display each of the GUI elements on the display according to its respective position and its respective size. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification