Method for dynamically displaying controls in a toolbar display based on control usage

• US 6,232,972 B1
• Filed: 06/17/1998
• Issued: 05/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Van Tilburg, Martijn E., Johnson, Jeffrey J., Arcuri, Michael P., Hoek, Tjeerd
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hailu, Tadesse
• Application Number:
  US09/098,787
• Time in Patent Office: 1,063 Days
• Field of Search: 345/339, 345/352, 345/348, 345/349, 345/333, 345/334, 345/353, 345/354, 345/146
• US Class Current: 715/815
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Displaying controls in a toolbar display based on the control'"'"'s usage. A toolbar displays controls, including a special control for accessing a drop-off well display for those controls not fitting into the toolbar display. A Most Recently Used parameter is associated with each control and is determined by the user'"'"'s selection of individual controls. When the user selects a control from the drop-off well display, the Most Recently Used parameter associated with the selected control is updated to indicate that it is the control that has been used most recently. Preferably, the toolbar display attempts to expand to incorporate the selected control. If the toolbar display can be expanded, then the selected control is added to the toolbar display and placed in the toolbar displayed in a predefined relational order. If the toolbar display cannot be expanded, then a calculation is performed to determine which controls to display in the toolbar and which controls to place in the drop-off well display. This calculation is based on the Most Recently Used parameter and the display size of the associated control. Only those most recently used controls will be displayed in the toolbar display and the remaining controls will be placed in the drop-off well display.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically displaying controls of a toolbar in a toolbar display of a program module, comprising the steps of:

in response to a selection of a special control on the toolbar, displaying non-selected controls in a drop-off well display;

receiving the selection of one of the non-selected controls displayed in the drop-off well display;

executing a command associated with the selected control; and

modifying a usage parameter associated with the selected control so that the selected control is displayed

in the toolbar display and is no longer displayed in the drop-off well.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of expanding the toolbar display to accommodate presentation of the selected control.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining certain ones of the controls to display in the toolbar display based on a usage parameter maintained for each of the controls.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of displaying certain ones of the controls in the toolbar display according to a predefined relational order.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the toolbar display includes a slide control operative to modify the size of the toolbar display, further comprising the steps of:

adjusting the toolbar display size in response to receiving toolbar display size data from the slide control; and

displaying certain ones of the controls in the toolbar display that can be accommodated based on the adjusted toolbar display size of the adjusted toolbar display.

6. A method for dynamically displaying selected ones of controls of a toolbar in a toolbar display and remaining non-selected controls in a drop-off well display, the toolbar display including a special control operative to display the non-selected controls in the drop-off well display, comprising the steps of:

displaying the non-selected controls in the drop-off well display in response to an indication of selection of the special control;

receiving an indication of assigning focus to a certain one of the non-selected controls in the drop-off well display;

executing a command associated with the certain non-selected control; and

displaying the selected controls and the certain non-selected control in the toolbar display.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of expanding the toolbar display to accommodate the presentation of the certain non-selected control.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of displaying an arrangement of the selected controls and the certain non-selected control in the toolbar display according to a predefined relational order.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising the steps of:

providing a slide control operative to modify the size of the toolbar display;

adjusting the size of the toolbar display in response to receiving size data from the slide control; and

displaying the selected controls and a subset of the non-selected controls, including the certain non-selected control, in the toolbar display that can be accommodated by the adjusted toolbar display size of the toolbar display.

10. A method of dynamically adjusting the size of a toolbar display, comprising the steps of:

providing a toolbar display including controls and a special control operative to display controls in a drop-off well display;

displaying the controls in the drop-off well display in response to a user selecting the special control;

selecting one of controls in the drop-off well display;

expanding the toolbar display size to accommodate the selected control; and

displaying controls contained in the toolbar display and the selected control in a predefined relational order in the toolbar display.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of:

adjusting the toolbar display size in response to receiving toolbar display size data; and

displaying controls in the toolbar display that can be accommodated in the adjusted toolbar display.

12. A method for dynamically allocating display space between a first toolbar display and a second toolbar display, wherein a portion of the first toolbar display and a portion of the second toolbar display share access to the same display area, comprising the steps of:

expanding the first toolbar display into the display area of the second toolbar display;

in response to the expansion of the first toolbar display, reducing the size of the second toolbar display so that the first toolbar display and the second toolbar display do not overlap display area; and

displaying controls in the first toolbar display and the second toolbar display based on usage of the controls.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first toolbar display is expanded in response to adjusting the first toolbar display size by selecting a slide control.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of:

expanding the second toolbar display into the display area of the first toolbar display; and

in response to expanding the second toolbar display, reducing the size of first toolbar display so that the first toolbar display and the second toolbar display do not overlap display area,

displaying controls in the first toolbar display and the second toolbar display based on usage of the controls.

15. A method for dynamically displaying selected ones of a plurality of controls of a toolbar for a program module in a corresponding toolbar display, comprising the steps of:

determining the amount of display area allocated to the toolbar display;

monitoring usage of the selected controls displayed by the toolbar display and the remaining non-selected controls of the toolbar displayed in another display element;

identifying controls to display in the toolbar display based on the allocated toolbar display area, the usage of the selected controls displayed in the toolbar display and the usage of the non-selected controls displayed in the display element; and

modifying the toolbar display by displaying the identified controls in the toolbar display.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of monitoring the usage of the selected controls and the non-selected controls is performed by tracking the most recently used controls of the toolbar.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of monitoring usage of the selected controls and the non-selected controls is performed by monitoring the number of times the controls of the toolbar have been selected for operation.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

storing results of the usage monitoring; and

using the stored results in a subsequent session of the program module to display selected controls in the toolbar display and non-selected controls in the display element.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the identified controls are displayed in the toolbar display in a predefined relational order.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of identifying the selected controls to display in the toolbar display and the non-selected controls in the display element, comprises the steps of:

assigning a priority value to the selected controls displayed in the toolbar display and the non-selected controls in the display element; and

displaying the selected and non-selected controls having a priority value matching a predefined value in the toolbar display.

21. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 15.

22. A method for determining which controls to display in a first toolbar display, comprising the steps of:

associating a most recently used (MRU) value to each control, wherein the MRU value indicates how recently the associated control was selected in relation to the other controls;

receiving the selection of one of the controls contained in a drop-off well display;

modifying the MRU value associated with the selected control;

determining which controls to display in the first toolbar display based on the MRU values associated with the controls currently displayed in the first toolbar display and the drop-off well display;

modifying the first toolbar display by displaying the determined controls in the first toolbar display.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the determined controls are displayed in the first toolbar display in a predefined relational order.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the first toolbar display is expanded to accommodate the size of the selected control.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of reducing the size of a second toolbar display so that the first toolbar display and the second toolbar display do not overlap.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

determining controls to display in the reduced second toolbar display, wherein the determination is based on MRU values associated with controls displayed in the second toolbar display and a second drop-off well; and

displaying the determined controls in the reduced second toolbar display.

27. A method for dynamically displaying controls of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) element in a primary GUI element display for displaying certain ones of the controls, comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication of selection of one of the controls from a secondary GUI element display that is accessed via a special control on the primary GUI element display;

updating a usage parameter associated with the selected control and any other control displayed in the primary GUI element display;

displaying the selected control in the primary GUI element display; and

displaying a second selected control in the primary GUI element display in the event that the usage parameter for the second selected control is below a usage parameter threshold.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of expanding the primary GUI element display to accommodate presentation of the selected control within the primary GUI element display.