Intuitive technique for building graphical menus
First Claim
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1. In a computing environment, a tool for creating menus for use in graphical user interfaces comprising computer readable code, said tool comprising:
- a class library comprising classes corresponding to edges and nodes;
first subprocesses for permitting a developer to visually build a representation of a menu by creating a tree comprising instances of node classes and edge classes; and
second subprocesses for converting the tree into a standard text format for use in an application.
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Abstract
A technique for permitting the intuitive creation of menus for utilization in graphical user interfaces is disclosed. Menus are created through a visual programming technique by utilizing a visual menu builder tool which enables a developer to create a representation of a menu in the form of a tree comprising nodes and interconnecting edges.
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10 Claims
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1. In a computing environment, a tool for creating menus for use in graphical user interfaces comprising computer readable code, said tool comprising:
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a class library comprising classes corresponding to edges and nodes; first subprocesses for permitting a developer to visually build a representation of a menu by creating a tree comprising instances of node classes and edge classes; and second subprocesses for converting the tree into a standard text format for use in an application. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. In a computing environment, a system for creating a menu for a graphical user interface, comprising:
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a class library including classes corresponding to edges and nodes for use in a node tree; means for creating a node tree representing a menu with node objects and edge objects from said class library; and means for converting the node tree into a format for a menu utilizable by a software application. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A method for graphically creating a menu for use in a software application by building a menu tree representative of the menu being created, comprising the steps of:
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creating a first tier for the menu by adding first tree nodes, each of the first tree nodes corresponding to a pane of the first tier of the menu; creating submenus for one or more of the panes of the first tier, if desired, by adding submenu tree nodes and edges connecting each of the submenu tree nodes to its parent tree node among the first tree nodes, each of the submenu tree nodes corresponding to a pane of the submenu for its parent tree node; and converting the built menu tree into a menu format utilizable by a software application. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification