System and method of providing replaceable and extensible user interface for the installation of a suite of applications

• US 6,910,208 B1
• Filed: 04/25/2000
• Issued: 06/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zimniewicz, Jeff A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen-Ba, Antony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Steelman, Mary J
• Application Number:
  US09/557,143
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• Field of Search: 717/111, 717174-178, 717/168, 717/170, 345/762, 345/763, 345/760, 345/767
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Presented is a system and a method for installing a suite of application programs that uses a common structure of a wizard page returned from a procedure exported from a dynamic link library (DLL) or executable (EXE) file. In this way, component writers are able to write their UI in a separate DLL or executable (EXE) file for their component. This improves portability of the UI as the writers are now able to take this file and copy it from version to version without needing to rewrite or port the code in any way. Further, the system and method allow for the usage of a number of default or template UI screens. Modification of the display order, including insertion and deletion of UI screens as well as reordering of the screens is also provided by the system and method of the invention. This functionality is provided through a textural setup database file that includes a textural listing of the UI screens to be utilized. A suite integration toolkit (SIT) utilizes this text file to coordinate the UI display.

Claims

1. A method of modifying a display order of user interface (UI screens, comprising the steps of:

providing a single record text based setup data file for a suite installation and setup application having at least one section containing a display order textual listing of the user interface (UI) screens;

providing a text editor; and

editing the display order textual listing of the UI screens in the setup data file using the text editor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the display order textual listing includes a plurality of individual UI screen identifiers, and wherein said step of editing comprises the step of deleting at least one of the plurality of individual UI screen identifiers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the display order textual listing includes a plurality of individual UI screen identifiers listed in a first order, and wherein said step of editing comprises the step of reordering the individual UI screen identifiers to a second order.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display order textual listing includes a plurality of individual UI screen identifiers, and wherein said step of editing comprises the step of adding a new UI screen identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the display order textual listing includes a plurality of individual UI screen identifiers, and wherein said step of editing comprises the step of replacing the plurality of individual UI screen identifiers with a new textual listing of screen identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a dynamic link library (dll) defining a UI screen, and wherein said step of editing comprises the step of inserting a textual reference to the dll in the display order textual listing.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an executable (EXE) file defining a UI screen, and wherein said step of editing comprises the step of inserting a textual reference to the EXE file in the display order textual listing.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of providing a suite installation program having UI screen templates provided therein, wherein the display order textual listing includes a plurality of individual UI screen identifiers, and wherein at least one of said individual UI screen identifiers relate to one of said UI screen templates.

9. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable components comprising a plurality of components bundled in a suite, and a single record text based setup database file, said setup database file including a display order textual listing that is modifiable via a text editor, the display order textual listing identifying a specific user interface (UI) screens to be displayed during installation of said components.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further including at least one dynamic link library (dll) defining a UI screen, and wherein said display order textual listing contains a textual reference to said dll.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further including at least one executable (EXE) file defining a UI screen, and wherein said display order textual listing contains a textual reference to said EXE file.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions to perform the steps of:

acquiring a single record textual listing whose order of user interface screens is modifiable via a text editor, the display order textual listing providing a listing of user interface screens for each of applications in a suite that are to be installed;

acquiring the user interface screens identified by the textual listing; and

displaying the user interface screens identified by the textual listing for each of the applications in the suite that are to be installed.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said step of acquiring the user interface screens comprises the step of acquiring user interface screen templates provided by an installation application.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said step of acquiring the user interface screens comprises the step of acquiring at least one user interface screen dynamic link library (dll) defining at least one user interface screen.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said step of acquiring the user interface screens comprises the step of acquiring at least one user interface screen executable file (EXE) defining at least one user interface screen.