Filtering graphical program elements based on configured or targeted resources

• US 7,120,874 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2002
• Issued: 10/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Thorne, Stephen, Novacek, Matthew, Shah, Biren
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao (Kevin)
• Application Number:
  US10/174,347
• Publication Number:
  US 20030231211A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,575 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733, 715/765, 715/763, 714/24, 714/25, 709/203, 709/223
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

System and method for filtering attributes of a graphical program element (GPE) in a graphical program or diagram, e.g., a property node, menu, property page, icon palette, etc., based on targeted or configured resources. Input is received specifying or selecting a filter option from presented filter options. The filter options include 1) display all attributes of the GPE; 2) display attributes of the GPE associated with configured resources; and 3) display attributes of the GPE associated with selected configured resources. User input is received to access the GPE. Attributes for the GPE associated with the resources are retrieved from the database and displayed in accordance with the selected filtering option. The filtered attributes of the element are then selectable by a user for various operations, e.g., to configure the graphical program, to configure resources, to initiate a purchase or order for the resources, and/or to install the resources, among others.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for configuring a graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a graphical program element, wherein the method operates in a system which includes one or more configured resources, the method comprising:

receiving user input specifying a graphical program element filter option from a plurality of graphical program element filter options;

receiving user input initiating access to the graphical program element; and

displaying relevant attributes of the graphical program element based on the specified filter option, wherein the specified filter option indicates that attributes of the graphical program element associated with at least one of the one or more configured resources are to be displayed;

wherein said displaying relevant attributes of the graphical program element comprises;

retrieving attributes associated with said at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical program element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said at least one configured resource and said graphical program element; and

displaying said extracted attributes;

wherein said extracted attributes of the graphical program element are selectable by a user to configure the graphical program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with said at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with said at least one configured resource from a cache.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with said at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with said at least one configured resource from a database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing a configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource;

retrieving updated attributes associated with said at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical program element from the retrieved updated attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said at least one configured resource and said graphical program element; and

displaying said extracted attributes in accordance with the selected filter option.

5. The method of claim 4,

wherein said at least one configured resource comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA);

and

wherein said changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource comprises reconfiguring the FPGA.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing a configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource;

retrieving attributes associated with said second configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical program element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said second configured resource and said graphical program element; and

displaying said extracted attributes.

7. The method of claim 6,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a hardware resource with a software resource.

8. The method of claim 6,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a software resource with a hardware resource.

9. A computer-readable memory medium which stores program instructions for filtering attributes for a graphical program element in a graphical program, wherein the graphical program operates in a system which includes one or more configured resources, wherein the program instructions are executable to perform:

presenting a plurality of graphical program element filter options to a user;

receiving user input selecting a graphical program element filter option from the plurality of graphical program element filter options;

receiving user input initiating access to the graphical program element; and

displaying one or more attributes of the graphical program element based on the selected filter option, wherein the selected filter option indicates that attributes of the graphical program element associated with at least one of the one or more configured resources are to be displayed;

wherein said displaying one or more attributes of the graphical program element comprises;

retrieving attributes associated with the at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical program element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the one or more extracted attributes are associated with the at least one configured resource and the graphical program element; and

displaying said one or more extracted attributes;

wherein said one or more attributes of the graphical program element are selectable by a user to configure the graphical program.

10. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with the at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with the at least one configured resource from a cache.

11. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with the at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with the at least one configured resource from a database.

12. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

changing a configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource;

retrieving updated attributes associated with said at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical program element from the retrieved updated attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said at least one configured resource and said graphical program element; and

displaying said extracted attributes in accordance with the selected filter option.

13. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 12,

wherein said at least one configured resource comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA);

and

wherein said changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource comprises reconfiguring the FPGA.

14. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

changing a configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource;

retrieving attributes associated with said second configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical program element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said second configured resource and said graphical program element; and

displaying said extracted attributes.

15. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 14,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a hardware resource with a software resource.

16. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 14,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a software resource with a hardware resource.

23. The method of claim 12,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a hardware resource with a software resource.

24. The method of claim 12,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a software resource with a hardware resource.

17. A method for configuring a system, wherein the system includes a graphical diagram and one or more configured resources, and wherein the graphical diagram comprises a graphical element, the method comprising:

receiving user input specifying a graphical element filter option from a plurality of graphical element filter options;

receiving user input initiating access to the graphical element; and

displaying relevant attributes of the graphical element based on the specified filter option, wherein said specified option indicates that attributes of the graphical element associated with at least one of the one or more configured resources are to be displayed;

wherein said displaying relevant attributes of the graphical element comprises;

retrieving attributes associated with said at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said at least one configured resource and said graphical element; and

displaying said extracted attributes;

wherein said relevant attributes of the graphical element are selectable by a user to configure the system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with said at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with the selected at least one configured resource from a cache.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with said at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with said at least one configured resource from a database.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

changing the configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource;

retrieving updated attributes associated with said at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical element from the retrieved updated attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said at least one configured resource and said graphical element; and

displaying said extracted attributes in accordance with the selected filter option.

21. The method of claim 20,

wherein said at least one configured resource comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA);

and

wherein said changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource comprises reconfiguring the FPGA.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

changing the configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource;

retrieving attributes associated with said second configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said second configured resource and said graphical element; and

displaying said extracted attributes.

25. A computer-readable memory medium which stores program instructions for filtering attributes for a graphical element in a graphical diagram, wherein the graphical diagram operates in a system which includes one or more configured resources, wherein the program instructions are executable to perform:

presenting a plurality of graphical element filter options to a user;

receiving user input selecting a graphical element filter option from the plurality of graphical element filter options;

receiving user input initiating access to the graphical element; and

displaying one or more attributes of the graphical element based on the selected filter option, wherein the selected filter option indicates that attributes of the graphical element associated with at least one of the one or more configured resources are to be displayed;

wherein said displaying one or more attributes of the graphical element comprises;

retrieving attributes associated with the at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the one or more extracted attributes are associated with the at least one configured resource and the graphical element; and

displaying said one or more extracted attributes;

wherein said one or more attributes of the graphical element are selectable by a user to configure the system.

26. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 25, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with the at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with the at least one configured resource from a cache.

27. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 25, wherein said retrieving attributes associated with the at least one configured resource comprises retrieving said attributes associated with the at least one configured resource from a database.

28. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

changing a configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource;

retrieving updated attributes associated with said at least one configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical element from the retrieved updated attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said at least one configured resource and said graphical element; and

displaying said extracted attributes in accordance with the selected filter option.

29. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 28,

wherein said at least one configured resource comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA);

and

wherein said changing the configuration of said at least one configured resource comprises reconfiguring the FPGA.

30. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

changing a configuration of the system, wherein said changing comprises replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource;

retrieving attributes associated with said second configured resource;

extracting one or more attributes associated with the graphical element from the retrieved attributes, wherein the extracted attributes are associated with said second configured resource and said graphical element; and

displaying said extracted attributes.

31. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 30,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a hardware resource with a software resource.

32. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 30,

wherein said replacing said at least one configured resource with a second configured resource comprises replacing a software resource with a hardware resource.

33. A computer-implemented method for configuring a graphical program, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of interconnected nodes in the graphical program, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes includes a first node;

receiving user input selecting a filtering option from a plurality of filtering options;

filtering a plurality of attributes of the first node in order to determine one or more relevant attributes of the first node to display based on the selected filtering option; and

displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first node.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

displaying the plurality of filtering options;

wherein said receiving user input selecting a filtering option comprises receiving user input selecting one of the displayed filtering options.

35. The method of claim 33,

wherein said filtering the plurality of attributes of the first node determines that a subset, but not all, of the plurality of attributes are relevant attributes based on the selected filtering option;

wherein said displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first node comprises displaying the subset of the plurality of attributes.

36. The method of claim 33,

wherein the selected filtering option indicates that all of the attributes of the first node are relevant attributes to be displayed;

wherein said displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first node comprises displaying all of the attributes of the first node.

37. The method of claim 33,

wherein the method operates in a system that includes one or more configured resources;

wherein the, plurality of filtering options includes one or more of;

a filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first node that are relevant to the configured resources are relevant attributes to be displayed; and

/or

a filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first node that are relevant to selected ones of the configured resources are relevant attributes to be displayed.

38. The method of claim 33,

wherein the method operates in a system that includes at least one configured resource;

wherein the plurality of filtering options includes a first filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first node that are relevant to one or more of the configured resources are relevant attributes to be displayed;

wherein said receiving user input selecting a filtering option from the plurality of filtering options comprises receiving user input selecting the first filtering option;

wherein the one or more relevant attributes of the first node are determined based on the one or more configured resources.

39. The method of claim 38,

wherein said displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first node comprises displaying a first one or more relevant attributes;

wherein the method further comprises;

changing a configuration of at least one of the one or more configured resources after said displaying the relevant attributes of the first node;

re-filtering the plurality of attributes of the first node after said changing the configuration of the at least one of the one or more configured resources, wherein said re-filtering the plurality of attributes determines a second one or more relevant attributes, wherein the second one or more relevant attributes is different than the first one or more relevant attributes; and

displaying the second one or more relevant attributes of the first node in response to said re-filtering the plurality of attributes of the first node.

40. The method of claim 33,

wherein the method operates in a system that includes one or more configured devices;

wherein the plurality of filtering options includes a first filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first node that are relevant to the configured devices are relevant attributes to be displayed;

wherein said receiving user input selecting a filtering option from the plurality of filtering options comprises receiving user input selecting the first filtering option;

wherein the one or more relevant attributes of the first node are determined based on the configured devices.

41. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

receiving user input selecting at least one attribute from the displayed relevant attributes of the first node; and

configuring the first node according to the selected at least one attribute.

42. The method of claim 33, wherein the first node comprises one of:

a property node;

an access node;

a reference node.

43. A computer-readable memory medium which stores program instructions for configuring a graphical program, wherein the program instructions are executable to perform:

displaying a plurality of interconnected nodes in the graphical program, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes includes a first node;

receiving user input selecting a filtering option from a plurality of filtering options;

filtering a plurality of attributes of the first node in order to determine one or more relevant attributes of the first node to display based on the selected filtering option; and

displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first node.

44. A system for configuring a graphical program, the system comprising:

a memory storing program instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory;

wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to perform;

displaying a plurality of interconnected nodes in the graphical program, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes includes a first node;

receiving user input selecting a filtering option from a plurality of filtering options;

filtering a plurality of attributes of the first node in order to determine one or more relevant attributes of the first node to display based on the selected filtering option; and

displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first node.

45. A computer-implemented method for configuring a system, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of graphical elements in a configuration diagram, wherein the graphical elements represent resources in the system, wherein the plurality of graphical elements includes a first graphical element;

receiving user input selecting a filtering option from a plurality of filtering options;

filtering a plurality of attributes of the first graphical element in order to determine one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element to display based on the selected filtering option; and

displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element;

wherein the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element are selectable by a user to configure the system.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

displaying the plurality of filtering options;

wherein said receiving user input selecting a filtering option comprises receiving user input selecting one of the displayed filtering options.

47. The method of claim 45,

wherein said filtering the plurality of attributes of the first graphical element determines that a subset, but not all, of the plurality of attributes are relevant attributes based on the selected filtering option;

wherein said displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element comprises displaying the subset of the plurality of attributes.

48. The method of claim 45,

wherein the selected filtering option indicates that all of the attributes of the first graphical element are relevant attributes to be displayed;

wherein said displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element comprises displaying all of the attributes of the first graphical element.

49. The method of claim 45,

wherein the system includes one or more configured resources;

wherein the plurality of filtering options includes one or more of;

a filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first graphical element that are relevant to the configured resources are relevant attributes to be displayed; and

/or

a filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first graphical element that are relevant to selected ones of the configured resources are relevant attributes to be displayed.

50. The method of claim 45,

wherein the system includes at least one configured resource;

wherein the plurality of filtering options includes a first filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first graphical element that are relevant to one or more of the configured resources are relevant attributes to be displayed;

wherein said receiving user input selecting a filtering option from the plurality of filtering options comprises receiving user input selecting the first filtering option;

wherein the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element are determined based on the one or more configured resources.

51. The method of claim 50,

wherein said displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element comprises displaying a first one or more relevant attributes;

wherein the method further comprises;

changing a configuration of at least one of the one or more configured resources of the system after said displaying the relevant attributes of the first graphical element;

re-filtering the plurality of attributes of the first graphical element after said changing the configuration of the at least one of the one or more configured resources, wherein said re-filtering the plurality of attributes determines a second one or more relevant attributes, wherein the second one or more relevant attributes is different than the first one or more relevant attributes; and

displaying the second one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element in response to said re-filtering the plurality of attributes of the first graphical element.

52. The method of claim 45,

wherein the system includes one or more configured devices;

wherein the plurality of filtering options includes a first filtering option indicating that only attributes of the first graphical element that are relevant to the configured devices are relevant attributes to be displayed;

wherein said receiving user input selecting a filtering option from the plurality of filtering options comprises receiving user input selecting the first filtering option;

wherein the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element are determined based on the configured devices.

53. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

receiving user input selecting at least one attribute from the displayed relevant attributes of the first graphical element; and

configuring the system according to the selected at least one attribute.

54. The method of claim 45,

wherein the system comprises a measurement system;

wherein the graphical elements in the configuration diagram represent resources in the measurement system; and

wherein the configuration diagram is useable to configure the one or more resources in the measurement system to perform a measurement task.

55. A computer-readable memory medium which stores program instructions for configuring a system, wherein the program instructions are executable to perform:

displaying a plurality of graphical elements in a configuration diagram, wherein the graphical elements represent resources in the system, wherein the plurality of graphical elements includes a first graphical element;

receiving user input selecting a filtering option from a plurality of filtering options;

filtering a plurality of attributes of the first graphical element in order to determine one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element to display based on the selected filtering option; and

displaying the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element;

wherein the one or more relevant attributes of the first graphical element are selectable by a user to configure the system.