Binding spreadsheet cells to objects

• US 6,701,485 B1
• Filed: 06/15/1999
• Issued: 03/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Igra, Mark S., Matteson, Eric L., Milton, Andrew M. P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): YUAN, ALMARI ROMERO
• Application Number:
  US09/333,756
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: 707/503, 707/513, 707/538, 707/901, 715/503, 715/513, 715/538, 715/901
• US Class Current: 715/210
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

Spreadsheet cells are bound to external objects using a direct communication scheme having little processing overhead. A spreadsheet cell is bound to an object external to the spreadsheet, exposing a property or method of the object. The exposed property or method can then be used to update the value of the spreadsheet cell, either automatically when the exposed property changes, or in response to a request from the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is preferably a spreadsheet COM control, which is embedded in a web page that is preferably browsed with a Microsoft INTERNET EXPLORER™ browser. The external object is also preferably embedded in the web page and may include an automatic control that is used to acquire data over a network such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A method of binding a cell in a spreadsheet to an external object that is not included on the spreadsheet, comprising the steps of:

(a) referencing the external object and a property of the external object in a formula within the cell of the spreadsheet;

(b) parsing the formula to extract a reference to the external object and its property;

(c) establishing a property change notice link between the spreadsheet and the external object based on the reference to the external object and its property;

(d) forwarding a property change notice to the spreadsheet when the external object'"'"'s property changes;

(e) extracting the changed property from the external object and forwarding it to the spreadsheet; and

(f) recalculating the formula in the cell using the changed property of the external object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the external object is associated with a function that automatically forwards the property change notice to the spreadsheet when the external object'"'"'s property changes.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of using a value calculated from the formula in the cell to recalculate the spreadsheet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the property change notice is established by registering the spreadsheet as a change notification sink.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the external object is contained within a document, and the reference to the object identifies the document.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the spreadsheet comprises a spreadsheet control that is embedded in the document.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the document comprises a web page.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the external object comprises an automatic control that communicates data across a computer network.

9. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

10. A method for binding a cell in a spreadsheet to an external object that is not included on the spreadsheet, comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a formula in the cell, said formula referencing an identity of the external object and a method or property exposed by the external object, wherein the external object comprises functional compiled code;

(b) parsing the formula to extract the identity of the external object and the method or property exposed by the external object; and

(c) binding the external object to the cell by establishing a link from the cell to the external object, so that the method exposed by the external object is executed or the property exposed by the external object is retrieved when a recalculation is performed on the cell.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the external object is contained in or allowed access to a top-level document, and the formula includes an identification of the top-level document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the top-level document references an identifier for the external object and the method or property exposed by the external object.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of binding the external object to the cell comprises the steps of:

(a) obtaining an identifier for the method or property exposed by the external object, by accessing an interface for the top-level document; and

(b) invoking interface for the top-level document with the identifier to access the method or property exposed by the external object in response to a request to recalculate the cell.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the top-level document comprises a web page.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the spreadsheet comprises a spreadsheet control that is embedded in the web page.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the spreadsheet control is viewed with a browser that displays a value for the cell after the recalculation.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the external object comprises an automatic control that is contained in the top-level document, the automatic control being able to automatically retrieve data from external data sources.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 10.

19. A system for binding a cell in a spreadsheet to an external object that is not included on the spreadsheet, comprising:

(a) a memory in which are stored a plurality of machine instructions; and

(b) a processor, coupled to the memory, for implementing a plurality of functions when executing the machine instructions stored in the memory, said plurality of functions including;

(i) enabling a user to reference the external object and a property of the external object in a formula within the cell of the spreadsheet;

(ii) parsing the formula to extract a reference to the external object and its property;

(iii) establishing a property change notice link between the spreadsheet and the external object based on the reference to the external object and its property;

(iv) forwarding a property change notice to the spreadsheet when the external object'"'"'s property changes;

(v) extracting the changed property from the external object and forwarding it to the spreadsheet; and

(vi) recalculating the formula in the cell using the changed property of the external object.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the external object is associated with a function that automatically forwards the property change notice to the spreadsheet when the external object'"'"'s property changes.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein execution of the machine instructions further implements the function of using a value calculated from the formula in the cell to recalculate the spreadsheet.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the property change notice is established by registering the spreadsheet as a change notification sink.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein a plurality of data and machine instructions comprising a document are stored in the memory, the external object is contained within the document, and the reference to the external object identifies the document.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the spreadsheet comprises a spreadsheet control comprising data and machine instructions that are embedded in the document, execution of the machine instructions comprising the spreadsheet control enabling said control to provide a spreadsheet functionality within the document.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the document comprises a web page, and the machine instructions further comprise a browser application program for viewing the web page.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor is connected to a computer network, and the external object includes an automatic control comprising machine instructions stored in the memory that cause the processor to communicate data across the computer network.

27. A method of binding a cell in a spreadsheet to an external object that is not within the spreadsheet, said external object being associated with one or more properties, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing the external object that is not within the spreadsheet, the external object comprising compiled code, internal data, and being associated with a property that provides a service to the spreadsheet;

(b) referencing the external object and the property of the external object in a formula within the cell of the spreadsheet;

(c) parsing the formula to extract a reference to the external object and its property;

(d) establishing a property change notice link between the spreadsheet and the external object based on the reference to the external object and its property;

(e) forwarding a property change notice to the spreadsheet when the external object'"'"'s property changes, resulting in a changed property;

(f) obtaining the changed property from the external object and forwarding the changed property to the spreadsheet; and

(g) recalculating the formula in the cell using the changed property of the external object.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of referencing the external object and the property of the external object in the formula within the cell of the spreadsheet comprises the step of referencing a default property of the external object.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of referencing the external object and the property of the external object in the formula within the cell of the spreadsheet comprises the step of referencing a specific property included in a table of properties, by name.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein:

(a) the step of referencing the external object and a property of the external object in a formula within the cell of the spreadsheet comprises the step of referencing the property of the external object by referencing a type of the property, and

(b) the step of establishing the property change notice link between the spreadsheet and the external object comprises the steps of;

(i) querying the external object to determine each property of the external object;

(ii) comparing each property of the external object with the type of property referenced in the formula; and

(iii) establishing a property change notice link between the spreadsheet and the property of the external object that most closely corresponds to the type of property referenced in the formula.