Methods, systems, and computer program products for controlling picklists

• US 5,867,162 A
• Filed: 12/06/1996
• Issued: 02/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: O'Leary, Daniel J., Jeffries, Robin
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US08/759,694
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 345/352, 345/353
• US Class Current: 715/843
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Methods, and systems, and computer program products for displaying and editing picklists in a drop-down menu of a graphical user interface (GUI) of a computer. The drop-down menu allows a user to see a list of entries in a picklist section and to select an option to remove entries from the picklist section, to minimize clutter. The picklist section filters out redundant entries which are similar though not textually equivalent, to eliminate confusion in file lists and lists of recently used e-mail.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of controlling a file drop down menu in a graphical user interface, comprising:

providing a mechanism for generating a file drop down menu having a picklist section displaying recently accessed files; and

providing within the File drop down menu, a command for optionally removing an entry in the picklist.

2. The method according to claim 1, including displaying at least one entry of the picklist section of the menu in a separate window and displaying at least one entry of the picklist section of the menu in a list box.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein adding at least one entry to the picklist section of the menu comprises:

adding to the picklist section of the menu a first reference comprising at least one entry;

determining if a first reference is equivalent to any other of the entries of the picklist;

blocking addition of said at least one entry if said at least entry is equivalent to any other item on said picklist; and

adding the at least one new entry to the picklist section if the new entry is not equivalent to any other of the at least one entry.

4. The method according to claim 3 including determining whether a new entry is equivalent to any other of at least one entry even though the new entry is not textually equivalent to any other of the at least one entry.

5. The method according to claim 1, including displaying said at least one entry of the picklist section in a separate Window.

6. A computer program product comprising a computer storage medium and a computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storage medium for causing a computer to control a File drop down menu of a graphical user interface, the computer program code mechanism comprising:

a first computer code device configured to generate a File drop down menu having a picklist section displaying recently accessed files;

a second computer code device configured to add a file picklist item remove option to the File drop down menu;

a third computer code device configured to display the at least one entry of the file picklist section of the File drop down menu in a separate window when a user selects the file picklist item remove option of the menu; and

a fourth computer code device configured to remove a selected one of the at least one entry from the file picklist section of the File drop down menu in response to selection of a file picklist item in said separate window.

7. The computer program product according to claim 6, wherein said third computer code device is configured to display at least one entry of the file picklist section of the File drop down menu.

8. The method of removing a picklist item in a menu of a graphical user interface comprising:

entering a File drop down menu having a plurality of file picklist items indicative of recently accessed files in a graphical user interface;

selecting one of the plurality of said file picklist items to be deleted; and

activating direct removal of the selected item.