System and method for facilitating generation and editing of event handlers

• US 6,268,852 B1
• Filed: 06/02/1997
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lindhorst, Greg, Buehler, John, Kerr, Randall Lee, Sonntag, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Application Number:
  US08/867,011
• Time in Patent Office: 1,520 Days
• Field of Search: 345/335, 345/966, 345/967, 345/970, 345/346, 345/348, 345/333, 345/334, 345/356, 345/357, 345/353, 345/352, 709/303, 709/302, 709/328, 709/329, 709/315, 709/316, 709/318, 395/703, 395/702, 395/710, 707/501, 707/513, 717/3, 717/2, 717/10
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/967 Visual or iconic programming

Abstract

A method and system for creating and editing event handlers that link events triggered on one object to actions taken on one or more different objects. The method provides a user interface having an event pane, action pane and codepane. A user selects an event icon in the event pane to link that event to a desired action in the action pane. The code that is generated in the code pane can be displayed in either a list view or a code view. In the list view, the event handler is presented to the user in simple, concise statements that are easy for the user to understand. In the code view, the actual event handler code in either VBScript or JavaScript languages is presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method in a computer for generating an event handling program that is triggered upon activation of an event on an object, comprising the computer implemented steps of:

a) displaying a graphical representation of objects and events in a first region of a computer screen;

b) displaying a graphical representation of objects and actions in a second region of said computer. screen;

c) monitoring said first region and said second region of said computer screen for interaction by a user; and

d) generating a program responsive to said interaction by said user, wherein said program includes commands for performing an action displayed in said second region in response to a triggering of an event displayed in said first region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step d) comprises generating an event handling program.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step d) comprises generating a script.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said script is generated in the Visual Basic, Java, VBScript or JavaScript. language.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphical representation of events comprises a hierarchical tree.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphical representation of actions comprises a hierarchical tree.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

e) translating said program into a human-readable simplified narrative reflective of said program.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

f) displaying said simplified narrative in a third region of said computer screen.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said actions are a property or method of an Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) object, a Corba object, a Java Bean, an OpenDoc object or an HTML scriptable object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step b) comprises displaying a dialog box for receiving property settings from said user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein step b) comprises filtering said actions so that said graphical representation only displays a portion of the available actions.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein step c) comprises monitoring said interaction by a user to detect the selection of an event in said first region and an action in said second region.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein step d) comprises generating said program to perform the action selected in the second region with the event selected in the first region.

14. A method in a computer for linking an event triggered by a first object referenced in an Internet document to an action performed by a second object referenced in said Internet document, comprising the computer implemented steps of:

a) displaying a representation of at least one event associated with the first object on a first region of a computer screen;

b) displaying a representation of at least one action associated with the second object on a second region of said computer screen;

c) monitoring said first region and said second region of said computer screen for interaction by a user; and

d) generating a program responsive to said interaction by said user, wherein said program includes commands for performing an action displayed in said second region in response to a triggering of an event displayed in said first region.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein step d) comprises generating an event handling program.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein step d) comprises generating a script.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said script is written in the VBScript or JavaScript language.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said first object and said second object are Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) objects, Corba objects, Java Beans, OpenDoc objects or HTML. scriptable objects.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein step b) comprises displaying a dialog box for receiving property settings from said user.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein said representation of at least one event associated with said first object is in the form of a hierarchical tree.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein said representation of at least one action associated with said second object is in the form of a hierarchical tree.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

e) translating said program into a simplified, non-executable narrative reflective of said program.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step. of:

f) displaying said non-executable narrative in a third region of said computer screen.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein said Internet document is written in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

25. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

e) inserting said program into said Internet document.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein step b) comprises filtering said at least one action so that said representation only displays a portion of the available actions.

27. The method of claim 14, wherein step c) comprises monitoring said interaction by a user to detect the selection of an event in said first region and an action in said second region.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein step d) comprises generating said program to perform an action selected in the second region with an event selected in the first region.

29. A system in a computer for linking events of objects referenced in an Internet document to actions of objects referenced in said Internet document, comprising:

a user interface providing a first representation of a first object and at least one event associated with said object, said user interface additionally providing a second representation of a second object and at least one action associated with said object, wherein said first object and said second object are referenced by an Internet document; and

commands for automatically generating a program that links an event associated with said first object to an action associated with said second object in response to a user'"'"'s request.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein said commands comprise commands for generating an event handling program.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein said commands comprise commands for generating a script.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein said script is generated in the Visual Basic, Java, VBScript or JavaScript language.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein said actions are properties or methods of an Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) object.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein said actions are properties or methods of an HTML scriptable object.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein said first representation of a first object and associated events is in the form of a hierarchical tree.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein said second representation of a second object and associated actions is in the form of a hierarchical tree.

37. The system of claim 29, further comprising a converter for converting said program into a human readable, non-executable form.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein said converter comprises a look up table to convert simple actions into corresponding human-readable explanations.

39. The system of claim 29, wherein said user interface comprises a display region for displaying a simplified narrative reflective of said program.

40. The system of claim 29, wherein said representation of said first object and said representation of said second object comprise a graphical indicator indicative of a program being associated with an event.

41. The system of claim 29, wherein said representation of said first object and said representation of said second object are graphical.

42. An apparatus in a computer for linking events of objects referenced in an Internet document to actions of objects referenced in said Internet document, comprising:

means for providing a first graphical representation of objects and events and providing a second graphical representation of objects and actions, wherein said objects are referenced by an Internet document; and

means for generating a program, wherein said program performs an action displayed in said second graphical representation in response to an event displayed in said first graphical representation.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said means for generating a program comprise commands for generating an event handling program.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said means for generating a program comprise commands for generating a script.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein said script is generated in the VBScript or JavaScript language.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said actions are properties or methods of an Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) object, HTML scriptable object, Java Bean or OpenDoc object.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising a converter for converting said program into a human readable, non-executable form.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein said converter comprises a look up table to convert simple actions into corresponding human-readable explanations.

49. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said user interface comprises a display region for displaying a simplified translation of said event handling program.

50. A method of automatically generating an event handling program, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) monitoring user activity in a first region of a display to detect selection by a user of an event associated with a first object;

(b) monitoring user activity in a second region of the display to detect selection by the user of an action associated with a second object; and

(c) automatically generating an event handling program which links the event selected in step (a) to the action selected in step (b).

51. The method of claim 50, wherein step (c) comprises generating the event handling program in a scripting language.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein the event handling program performs the action selected in step (b) when the event selected in step (a) is triggered.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein the first an second objects form part of an Internet document, and the method further comprises embedding the event handling program within the Internet document.

54. The method of claim 50, further comprising displaying the event handling program to the user in a non-executable, human-readable form.

55. A method for editing an event handling program stored in an Internet document, wherein said event handling program links a first set of events on a first object to a first set of actions of a second object, comprising the computer implemented steps of:

a) parsing the Internet document to identify said event handling program linking said first set of events of said first object to said first set of actions of said second object;

b) displaying a representation of said first set of events associated with said first object on a first region of a computer screen;

c) displaying a representation of said first set of actions associated with said second object on a second region of said computer screen; and

d) displaying said event handling program in a third region of said computer screen.

56. The method of claim 55, further comprising the computer implemented steps of:

e) displaying a representation of a second set of events on said first region of said computer screen and displaying a representation of a second set of actions on said second region of said computer screen;

f) monitoring said first region and said second region of said computer screen for interaction by a user; and

g) generating a new event handling program in response to said interaction by said user;

wherein said new event handling program includes commands for performing at least one action of said second set of actions displayed in said second region when at least one event of said second set of events displayed in said first region is triggered.

57. The method of claim 55, wherein said event handling program is a script.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein said script is written in the Visual Basic, Java, VBScript or JavaScript language.

59. The method of claim 55, wherein said representation of said first set of events associated with said first object is in the form of a hierarchical tree.

60. The method of claim 55, wherein said representation of said first set of actions associated with said second object is in the form of a hierarchical tree.

61. The method of claim 55, wherein step d) comprises displaying a simplified translation of said event handling program.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein said simplified translation of said event handling program comprises a header line and a body.

63. The method of claim 55, wherein step c) comprises displaying a dialog box for setting properties.