Dialogs for multiple operating systems and multiple languages

• US 6,785,866 B1
• Filed: 05/01/1998
• Issued: 08/31/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Hamburg, Mark, Lewis, Lance, Clark, David W., Costa, Thomas, McRae, Thomas W., Strauss, Randolph A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bashore, William L.
• Application Number:
  US09/071,289
• Time in Patent Office: 2,314 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707/536, 707/9, 395/339, 345/334, 345/762, 345/764, 345/801, 725/139, 715/513, 715/536
• US Class Current: 715/209
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for a developer to create and display a “dialog definition”, i.e., a description of the dialog that has the position and size of its constituent elements expressed in relative layout rules. These layout rules include expressions of alignment and/or justification of the elements within a container, rather than expressions of the coordinate positions of the elements. In addition, a set of text strings is provided for each language in a separate language file. The user may identify an operating system and a language in which the dialog will be displayed, and the size of the elements in the identified operating system and language will be determined by the computer. The description is interpreted in the computer to lay out the dialog.

Claims

1. A method of creating a dialog, comprising:

receiving a dialog definition in a computer for a dialog having a graphical user interface including visible text and/or controls for a user to manipulate, the definition having a hierarchical array of elements including a first graphical user interface layout container including a first display element and a second display element, the hierarchical array further including a third display element that is not contained by the first container, the definition having a first portion describing the relative positioning of first and second display elements of the first container on the graphical user interface and a second portion describing the relative positioning of the first and third display elements on the graphical user interface, wherein the second portion includes cross-hierarchical constraints on positions on the graphical user interface between display elements of separate containers;

interpreting the dialog definition in the computer to lay out the dialog, including calculating a final position of the display elements on the graphical user interface using the relative positioning described in the first portion and the cross-hierarchical constraints included in the second portion; and

displaying the dialog on the graphical user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the relative positioning of the first and third display elements is selected from horizontal alignment and vertical alignment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the horizontal alignment is selected from right edge, center, left edge, and width.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the vertical alignment is selected from top edge, middle, bottom edge, baseline, and height.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the third display element is the first container.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical array includes a second graphical user interface layout container that contains the first container and the third display element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the relative positioning of the first and second display elements and the relative positioning of the first and third display elements includes relative alignment orjustification and does not include coordinate positions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a dialog definition that does not contain a preset text string.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating a final position of the display elements includes:

calculating default positions of the display elements in the first container using the first portion; and

after calculating the default positions, applying the cross-hierarchical constraints to calculate a final position of the display elements.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating a final position of the display elements on the graphical user interface includes:

checking for impossible or contradictory cross-hierarchical constraints;

if any impossible or contradictory cross-hierarchical constraints are found, rejecting the impossible or contradictory cross-hierarchical constraints;

sorting remaining cross-hierarchical constraints into vertical and horizontal constraints, creating a sorted order of cross-hierarchical constraints; and

applying the cross-hierarchical constraints in the sorted order.

11. A method of creating a dialog, comprising:

receiving a dialog definition in a computer for a dialog having a graphical user interface, the definition having a hierarchical array of elements operable to be displayed on the graphical user interface, the definition having a first portion describing the relative positioning on the graphical user interface of elements that are in the same layout container and a second portion having at least one cross-hierarchical constraint describing the relative positioning on the graphical user interface of elements that are not in the same layout container,

laying out the dialog in the computer according to the first portion of the dialog definition to determine default positions on the graphical user interface for the dialog elements;

applying the constraints in the second portion of the dialog definition to determine final positions on the graphical user interface for the dialog elements; and

displaying the dialog on the graphical user interface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein laying out the dialog includes determining a minimum size for each element.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first portion includes at least one alignment term to describe the relative positioning of elements, and laying out the dialog further includes determining a default position for each element based on the alignment term.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein applying the constraints includes disregarding the alignment term.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the constraint describes the relative positioning of a first element and a second element.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein applying the constraints includes determining a range of possible positions for the first and second elements, selecting a target position in the range of possible positions, and locating the first and second elements at the target position.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein selecting the target position includes determining a minimum difference between a target position that satisfies the constraint and the default position.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the range of possible positions for an element includes determining a difference between left and right justifications of that element.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the elements are not reduced below their minimum sizes.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the relative positioning of elements that are in the same layout container and the relative positioning of elements that are not in the same layout container includes relative alignment or justification and does not include coordinate positions.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a dialog definition that does not contain a preset text string.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein applying the constraints in the second portion of the dialog comprises:

checking for impossible or contradictory constraints;

if any impossible or contradictory constraints are found, rejecting the impossible or contradictory constraints;

sorting remaining constraints into vertical and horizontal constraints, creating a sorted order of constraints; and

applying the constraints in the sorted order.

23. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, for creating a dialog, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a dialog definition in a computer for a dialog having a graphical user interface including visible text and/or controls for a user to manipulate, the definition having a hierarchical array of elements including a first graphical user interface layout container including a first display element and a second display element, the hierarchical array further including a third display element that is not contained by the first container, the definition having a first portion describing the relative positioning of first and second display elements of the first container on the graphical user interface and a second portion describing the relative positioning of the first and third display elements on the graphical user interface, wherein the second portion includes cross-hierarchical constraints on positions on the graphical user interface between display elements of separate containers;

interpret the dialog definition in the computer to lay out the dialog, including calculating a final position of the display elements on the graphical user interface using the relative positioning described in the first portion and the cross-hierarical constraints included in the second portion; and

display the dialog on the graphical user interface.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the relative positioning of the first and third display elements in selected from horizontal alignment and vertical alignment.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the horizontal alignment is selected from right edge, center, left edge, and width.

26. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the vertical alignment is selected from top edge, middle, bottom edge, baseline, and height.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the third display element is the first container.

29. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the relative positioning of the first and second display elements and the relative positioning of the first and third display elements includes relative alignment or justification and does not include coordinate positions.

30. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions operable to receive a dialog definition that does not contain a preset text string.

31. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein instructions operable to calculate a final position of the display elements include instructions operable to:

calculate default positions of the display elements in the first container using the first portion; and

after calculating the default positions, apply the cross-hierarchical constraints to calculate a final position of the display elements.

32. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein instructions operable to calculate a final position of the display elements on the graphical user interface include instructions operable to:

check for impossible or contradictory cross-hierarchical constraints;

if any impossible or contradictory cross-hierarchical constraints are found, reject the impossible or contradictory cross-hierarchical constraints;

sort remaining cross-hierarchical constraints into vertical and horizontal constraints, creating a sorted order of cross-hierarchical constraints; and

apply the cross-hierarchical constraints in the sorted order.

28. The computer program product of 23, wherein the hierarchical array includes a second graphical user interface layout container that contains the first container and the third display element.

33. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, for creating a dialog, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a dialog definition in a computer for a dialog having a graphical user interface, the definition having a hierarchical array of elements operable to be displayed on the graphical user interface, the definition having a first portion describing the relative positioning on the graphical user interface of elements that are in the same layout container and a second portion having at least one cross-hierarchical constraint describing the relative positioning on the graphical user interface of elements that are not in the same layout container;

lay out the dialog in the computer according to the first portion of the dialog definition to determine default positions on the graphical user interface for the dialog elements;

apply the constraints in the second portion of the dialog definition to determine final positions on the graphical user interface for the dialog elements; and

display the dialog on the graphical user interface.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein instructions operable to lay out the dialog include instructions operable to determine a minimum size for each element.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the first portion includes at least one alignment term to describe the relative positioning of elements, and instructions operable to lay out the dialog further include instructions operable to determine a default position for each element based on the alignment terms.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein instructions operable to apply the constraints include instructions operable to disregard the alignment term.

37. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the constraint describes the relative positioning of a first element and a second element.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein instructions operable to apply the constraints include instructions operable to determine a range of possible positions for the first and second elements, select a target position in the range of possible positions, and locate the first and second elements at the target position.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein instructions operable to select the target position include instructions operable to determine a minimum difference between a target position that satisfies the constraint and the default position.

40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein instructions operable to determine the range of possible positions for an element include instructions operable to determine a difference between left and right justifications of that element.

41. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the elements are not reduced below their minimum sizes.

42. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the relative positioning of elements that are in the same layout container and the relative positioning of elements that are not in the same layout container includes relative alignment or justification and does not include coordinate positions.

43. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising instructions operable to receive a dialog definition that does not contain a preset text string.

44. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein instructions operable to apply the constraints in the second portion of the dialog comprise instructions operable to:

check for impossible or contradictory constraints;

if any impossible or contradictory constraints are found, reject the impossible or contradictory constraints;

sort remaining constraints into vertical and horizontal constraints, creating a sorted order of constraints; and

apply the constraints in the sorted order.