Application programs constructed entirely from autonomous component objects
First Claim
1. An application program for interacting with a user to perform multiple functions, the application comprising:
- a plurality of individual tools performing the functions of the application program, each tool including a set of methods for performing certain ones of the functions, and a set of stored resources associated with the individual tools and requestable by the methods of that tree and its children, some of the resources being displayable user interfaces; and
a configuration file containing a representation of a tree structure specifying the relationships of the tools in the tree structure to each other.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An application program is constructed entirely from a collection of individual reusable tools arranged in a tree structure. Each tool provides resources for other tools in the tree, located by a hierarchical search. A configuration file read into the root tool of the structure as a resource provides a persistent specification of the placement of other tools in the tree, user interface elements, and other state information. The interfaces used by the tools can also be stored as resources in the tools themselves. Each tool is a class in an object-oriented language having inheritance. A base class, subclassed by all tools, provides a number of widely useful functions.
90 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An application program for interacting with a user to perform multiple functions, the application comprising:
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a plurality of individual tools performing the functions of the application program, each tool including a set of methods for performing certain ones of the functions, and a set of stored resources associated with the individual tools and requestable by the methods of that tree and its children, some of the resources being displayable user interfaces; and
a configuration file containing a representation of a tree structure specifying the relationships of the tools in the tree structure to each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An application program for interacting with a user to perform multiple functions, the application program comprising:
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a plurality of individual tool means performing the functions of the application program, each tool means including a set of method means for performing certain ones of the functions, and a set of stored resource means associated with the individual tools and requestable by the method means of that tree and its children, some of the resource means being displayable user interfaces; and
a configuration file associated with at least one of the tools and containing a representation of a tree structure specifying the relationships of the tools in the tree structure to each other. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A computer-readable storage medium containing executable instructions and data for an application program executable by a suitably programmed computer, the instructions and data comprising:
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a plurality of individual tools, each tool including a set of methods for performs individual functions of the application program, and a set of stored resources associated with the individual tools and requestable by the tool and by its parents in a tree, some of the resources being displayable user interfaces; and
a configuration file containing a representation of a tree structure specifying the relationships of the tools in the tree structure to each other. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A method for constructing an application program from a plurality of component tools, comprising:
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reading into one of the tools a configuration file specifying a hierarchy of named tools and user interfaces;
constructing instances of those of the tools named in the configuration file;
connecting the tools in a hierarchical tree in accordance with the configuration file; and
adding the tools to user interfaces specified in the configuration files.
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13. A method for constructing an application program from a plurality of component tools, comprising:
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reading into one of the tools a configuration file specifying a hierarchy of named tools and user interfaces;
constructing instances of those of the tools named in the configuration file wherein the configuration file contains a specification that an instance of one of the tools is not to be constructed, and delaying the construction of the one tool;
connecting the tools in a hierarchical tree in accordance with the configuration file; and
adding the tools to user interfaces specified in the configuration files.
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14. A method for constructing an application program from a plurality of component tools, comprising:
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reading into one of the tools a configuration file specifying a hierarchy of named tools and user interfaces;
constructing instances of those of the tools named in the configuration file;
connecting the tools in a hierarchical tree in accordance with the configuration file;
executing the application in accordance with the user interfaces; and
terminating the execution of the application, the termination having the effect of destroying the hierarchical tree.
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15. A configuration file for building an application program from a set of individual tools, the file comprising:
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names of a plurality of the tools and representations of their relationships as parents and children in a hierarchical order representing a tree structure;
names of a plurality of interface elements associated with individual ones of the tools. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer-readable medium containing a configuration file for building an application program executable by a suitably programmed digital computer from a set of individual tools, the file comprising:
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names of a plurality of the tools and representations of their relationships as parents and children in a hierarchical order representing a tree structure;
names of a plurality of interface elements associated with individual ones of the tools. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. A method for executing an application program from a plurality of component tools, comprising:
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reading into one of the tools a configuration file specifying a hierarchy of named tools and user interfaces;
constructing instances of those of the tools named in the configuration file wherein the configuration file contains a specification that an instance of one of the tools is not to be constructed, and delaying the construction of the one tool;
connecting the tools in a hierarchical tree in accordance with the configuration file; and
adding the tools to user interfaces specified in the configuration files;
receiving a command to one of the tools from a user interface;
locating a resource required for the command; and
performing a function specified by the command. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
determining that the one tool receiving the command does not contain the resource; and
requesting the same required resource from a further tool in the tree.
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25. A method according to claim 24, wherein the further tool is a parent of the one tool receiving the command.
Specification