Method, system, and program for presenting data in a limited display area

• US 7,120,870 B1
• Filed: 01/06/2000
• Issued: 10/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nakamura, Lee Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/478,974
• Time in Patent Office: 2,469 Days
• Field of Search: 715/526, 715/500.1, 715/501.1, 715/711, 715/714, 715/715, 715/780, 345/835, 345/836, 345/111, 345/157, 345/163, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/10
• US Class Current: 715/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

Disclosed is a system, method, and program for displaying data on a display monitor under control of a computer. A first portion of a field of data and a graphical element indicating that there is a second portion of the field of data are displayed within a display area of a page, such as an HTML page. The page is enabled to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input.

Claims

1. A method for displaying data on a display monitor under control of a computer, comprising:

receiving a user request including a search criteria;

querying a database on the search criteria to access data records satisfying the search criteria, wherein each accessed data record includes the field of data, wherein there is a display area for each record;

retrieving one or more records matching the search criteria, wherein each record includes at least one field of data; and

when a field of data includes a separator indicating that there are multiple values for the field,

displaying in a page a first portion of the field of data and a graphical element indicating that there is a second portion of the field of data within a display area of the page, further comprising displaying in the display area for each record the at least first portion of the field of data from each accessed data record, wherein the page is enabled to selectively present the first and second portion of the field for the record in response to user input; and

enabling the page to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input passing over the graphical element, wherein displaying the first portion in the display area comprises displaying a first value in the data field, and wherein presenting the first and second portions in response to user input comprise displaying all the values from the data field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the first and second portions of the field of data comprises displaying the first and second portions in response to the user input.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selectively presenting the first and second portions comprises displaying the first and second portions as hover text superimposed over the display area displaying the first portion of the field of the data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the page is an HTML page and wherein an HTML alternative text attribute element is used to enable the page to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one additional field of data in each display area for each accessed record.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second portions are presented in response to user input indicating movement of a graphical pointer over the displayed graphical element.

7. A system for displaying data, comprising:

a computer;

a display monitor under control of the computer;

means for receiving a user request including a search criteria;

means for querying a database on the search criteria to access data records satisfying the search criteria, wherein each accessed data record includes the field of data, wherein there is a display area for each record;

means for retrieving one or more records matching the search criteria, wherein each record includes at least one field of data; and

when a field of data includes a separator indicating that there are multiple values for the field,

means for displaying in a page on the display monitor a first portion of the field of data and a graphical element indicating that there is a second portion of the field of data within a display area of the page, further comprising means for displaying in the display area for each record the at least first portion of the field of data from each accessed data record, wherein the page is enabled to selectively present the first and second portion of the field for the record in response to user input; and

means for enabling the page to selectively display on the monitor the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input passing over the graphical element wherein the means for displaying the first portion in the display area comprises displaying a first value in the data field, and wherein presenting the first and second portions in response to user input comprise displaying all the values from the data field

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the means for displaying the first and second portions of the field of data comprises displaying the first and second portions in response to the user input.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the means for selectively displaying the first and second portions comprises displaying the first and second portions as hover text superimposed over the display area displaying the first portion of the field of the data.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the page is an HTML page and wherein an HTML alternative text attribute element is used to enable the page to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising displaying at least one additional field of data in each display area for each accessed record.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the first and second portions are displayed in response to user input indicating movement of a graphical pointer over the displayed graphical element.

13. An article of manufacture for displaying data on a display monitor under control of a computer, the article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium including at least one computer program embedded therein that is capable of causing the computer to perform:

receiving a user request including the search criteria;

querying a database on the search criteria to access data records satisfying the search criteria, wherein each accessed data record includes the field of data, wherein there is a display area for each record;

retrieving one or more records matching the search criteria, wherein each record includes at least one field of data;

when a field of data includes a separator indicating that there are multiple values for the field,

displaying in a page a first portion of the field of data and a graphical element indicating that there is a second portion of the field of data within a display area of the page, further comprising displaying in the display area for each record the at least first portion of the field of data from each accessed data record, wherein the page is enabled to selectively present the first and second portion of the field for the record in response to user input; and

enabling the page to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input passing over the graphical element, wherein displaying the first portion in the display area comprises displaying a first value in the data field, and wherein presenting the first and second portions in response to user input comprise displaying all the values from the data field.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein presenting the first and second portions of the field of data comprises displaying the first and second portions in response to the user input.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein selectively presenting the first and second portions comprises displaying the first and second portions as hover text superimposed over the display area displaying the first portion of the field of the data.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the page is an HTML page and wherein an HTML alternative text attribute element is used to enable the page to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 13, further comprising displaying at least one additional field of data in each display area for each accessed record.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the first and second portions are presented in response to user input indicating movement of a graphical pointer over the displayed graphical element.