Application user interface template with free-form layout

• US 7,237,227 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2003
• Issued: 06/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Richardson, Russell, Wang, Yuhong, Levin, Isaac, Gampala, Ravikumar, Mukundan, Anil, Shroff, Vipul, Lei, Shu
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHIH CHING
• Application Number:
  US10/634,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20040268299A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• Field of Search: 717/113, 717/100, 717/136, 717/101, 345/413, 706/45
• US Class Current: 717/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and apparatuses for quickly and easily configuring an application user interface using a flexible generic layout file. For one embodiment, a free-form grid layout is provided that allows an application provider to create a desired number of placeholders, each of a desired size, by positioning objects at desired locations on the free-form grid. In this way the application provider configures the application user interface. For one embodiment, the placeholders are created by dragging selected objects, from a provided set of objects, onto the grid layout. For such an embodiment, a set of parameters that describe the objects on the grid layout (e.g., indicating number, size, and location) is stored to a database. At run-time, the parameters are used to dynamically generate HTML code, which when executed presents the application user interface.

Claims

1. A method for generating a user interface of an application, the method comprising:

receiving a configuration for the user interface of the application;

determining a set of configuration parameters corresponding to the configuration; and

in response to a request by a user, dynamically generating user interface display code at run time, wherein

the user interface code is based upon the set of configuration parameters and a role of the user within an organization,

the configuration parameters are configured to indicate a position and a size for each selected object of a plurality of objects,

the position and the size for each selected object is a location in a free-form grid layout, and the position and the size for each selected object are user-defined.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting the user interface display code to a client digital processing system in response to a request to access the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration for the user interface is determined by selecting one or more objects and positioning each of the one or more objects selected in a desired location of the free-form grid layout.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request is communicated through the Internet and the user interface display code is hypertext markup language (HTML) code.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more objects are selected using a user input device and each of the one or more objects selected is positioned by dragging the object to the desired location of the free-form grid layout.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

indicating a desired size for each of the one or more objects selected.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein indicating a desired size for each of the one or more objects selected includes selecting a perimeter of the object at a first location on the free-form grid layout and dragging the perimeter to a second location on the free-form grid layout.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the free-form grid layout comprises a plurality of grid cells and the set of configuration parameters includes information indicating a position of each of the one or more objects in reference to one or more of the plurality of grid cells.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes a grid coordinate specifying one of the plurality of grid cells, a column span specifying a first dimension, and a row span specifying a second dimension for each of the one or more objects.

10. A system for generating a user interface of an application, the system comprising:

a storage device configured to store a set of configuration parameters corresponding to a configuration of the user interface of the application; and

a processor, coupled to the storage device and configured to dynamically generate user interface display code at run time, wherein

the user interface display code is dynamically generated at run time in response to a request from a client device to access the application and a request by a user,

the user interface display code is based upon the set of configuration parameters and a role of the user within an organization,

the configuration parameters are configured to indicate a position and a size for each selected object of a plurality of objects,

the position and the size for each selected object is a location in a free-form grid layout, and the position and the size for each selected object are user-defined.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the client device is coupled to the processor through the Internet and the user interface display code is hypertext markup language (HTML) code.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the configuration is determined by selecting one or more objects and positioning each of the one or more objects selected in a desired location of the free-form grid layout.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein positioning each of the one or more objects selected in the desired location of the free-form grid layout includes indicating a desired size for each of the one or more objects selected.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein indicating the desired size for each of the one or more objects selected includes selecting a perimeter of the object at a first location on the free-form grid layout and dragging the perimeter to a second location on the free-form grid layout.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the free-form grid layout comprises a plurality of grid cells and the set of configuration parameters includes information indicating a position of each of the one or more objects selected in reference to one or more of the plurality of grid cells.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the set of configuration parameters includes a grid coordinate specifying one of the plurality of grid cells, a column span specifying a first dimension, and a row span specifying a second dimension for each of the one or more objects.

17. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method for generating a user interface of an application, the method comprising:

accessing a generic layout file for the user interface of the application, the generic layout file having a free-form grid layout and a set of objects;

creating a configuration for a user interface of an application;

determining a set of configuration parameters corresponding to the configuration; and

in response to a request by a user, dynamically generating user interface display code at run time, wherein

the user interface display code is based upon the set of configuration parameters and a role of the user within an organization,

the configuration parameters are configured to indicate a position and a size for each selected object of a plurality of objects,

the position and the size for each selected object is a location in a free-form grid layout, and the position and the size for each selected object are user-defined.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 further comprising:

transmitting the user interface display code to a client digital processing system in response to a request to access the application.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the configuration for the user interface is determined by selecting one or more objects and positioning each of the one or more objects selected in a desired location of the free-form grid layout.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the request is communicated through the Internet and the user interface display code is hypertext markup language (HTML) code.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the one or more objects are selected using a user input device and each of the one or more objects selected is positioned by dragging the object to the desired location of the free-form grid layout.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises indicating a desired size for each of the one or more objects selected.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein indicating a desired size for each of the one or more objects selected includes selecting a perimeter of the object at a first location on the free-form grid layout and dragging the perimeter to a second location on the free-form grid layout.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the free-form grid layout comprises a plurality of grid cells and the set of configuration parameters includes information indicating a position of each of the one or more objects in reference to one or more of the plurality of grid cells.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes a grid coordinate specifying one of the plurality of grid cells, a column span specifying a first dimension, and a row span specifying a second dimension for each of the one or more objects.