Method and system for reducing coding complexity by providing intelligent manipulable defaults
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for collaboratively developing a computer application software product, the system comprising:
- a first computer and a second computer linked by way of a network;
a first set of one or more computer programs embodied in a computer-readable medium used by a first system user operating the first computer for producing an executable program component of the computer application software product;
at least one user interface resource file embodied in a computer-readable medium, the at least one user interface resource file comprising a document in a markup language, wherein tagged text elements are associated with attributes of a user interface component of the computer application software product and the markup language includes a plurality of resource tag attribute default value mechanisms whose order corresponds to a precedence order of default values for the attributes, the precedence order of default values comprising first using an attribute value associated with a previous occurrence of a tag in a tree if the tag is not provided with an overriding attribute, then using a default attribute value if no previous occurrence of the tag is present in the tree, if an acceptable attribute value comprising an attribute value causing non-overlapping controls is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, then using an attribute provided by one of the application or the user wherein the user interface resource file includes tags not specified in a schema or a document type definition if the acceptable attribute value is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value wherein the acceptable attribute value not being obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag comprises the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag causing overlapping controls; and
a second set of one or more computer programs embodied in a computer-readable medium used by a second system user operating the second computer for creating and modifying the user interface component by manipulating the at least one user interface resource file, wherein the creating and modifying by the second system user are independent of actions taken by the first system user.
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Abstract
A method and system is provided for allowing designers, who are primarily concerned with the look and feel of the program, to modify the dialogs in an application being developed without having to rely on the developers to generate executable code in each iteration. Intelligent defaults for parameters that are either not specified in a resource definition or governed by a common style specification are provided to facilitate switching from one dialog element to another without requiring that all of the parameters be specified again.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for collaboratively developing a computer application software product, the system comprising:
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a first computer and a second computer linked by way of a network; a first set of one or more computer programs embodied in a computer-readable medium used by a first system user operating the first computer for producing an executable program component of the computer application software product; at least one user interface resource file embodied in a computer-readable medium, the at least one user interface resource file comprising a document in a markup language, wherein tagged text elements are associated with attributes of a user interface component of the computer application software product and the markup language includes a plurality of resource tag attribute default value mechanisms whose order corresponds to a precedence order of default values for the attributes, the precedence order of default values comprising first using an attribute value associated with a previous occurrence of a tag in a tree if the tag is not provided with an overriding attribute, then using a default attribute value if no previous occurrence of the tag is present in the tree, if an acceptable attribute value comprising an attribute value causing non-overlapping controls is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, then using an attribute provided by one of the application or the user wherein the user interface resource file includes tags not specified in a schema or a document type definition if the acceptable attribute value is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value wherein the acceptable attribute value not being obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag comprises the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag causing overlapping controls; and a second set of one or more computer programs embodied in a computer-readable medium used by a second system user operating the second computer for creating and modifying the user interface component by manipulating the at least one user interface resource file, wherein the creating and modifying by the second system user are independent of actions taken by the first system user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for customizing a user interface for an executable computer program by a user of the program, the system comprising:
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a computer operated by the user, the computer including a memory in which the executable computer program is stored; at least one user interface resource file embodied in a computer-readable medium, comprising a document in a markup language, wherein tagged text elements are associated with attributes of the user interface and the markup language includes a plurality of resource tag attribute default value mechanisms whose order corresponds to a precedence order of default values for the attributes, the precedence order of default values comprising first using an attribute value associated with a previous occurrence of a tag in a tree if the tag is not provided with an overriding attribute, then using a default attribute value if no previous occurrence of the tag is present in the tree, if an acceptable attribute value comprising an attribute value causing non-overlapping controls is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, then using an attribute provided by one of the application or the user wherein the user interface resource file includes tags not specified in a schema or a document type definition if the acceptable attribute value is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value wherein the acceptable attribute value not being obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag comprises the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag causing overlapping controls; and a set of one or more computer programs, embodied in a computer-readable medium, for modifying the at least one user interface resource file. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for collaboratively developing a computer application software product by at least two system users, the computer application software product including a user interface, the method comprising:
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by a first system user, writing source code for the computer application software product, and generating a first build of the computer application software product; and by a second system user, executing the first build, thereby causing the user interface to be presented; proposing changes to the user interface; if the proposed changes require the first system user to rewrite the source code and generate a second build, communicating the proposed changes to the first system user; and if the proposed changes do not require the first system user to rewrite the source code and generate a second build, editing at least one user interface resource file to incorporate the proposed changes, each user interface resource file comprising symbols of a markup language having a plurality of resource tag attribute default value mechanisms whose order corresponds to a precedence order of a default values for the attributes, the precedence order of default values comprising first using an attribute value associated with a previous occurrence of a tag in a tree if the tag is not provided with an overriding attribute, then using a default attribute value if no previous occurrence of the tag is present in the tree, if an acceptable attribute value comprising an attribute value causing non-overlapping controls is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, then using an attribute provided by one of the application or the user wherein the user interface resource file includes tags not specified in a schema or a document type definition if the acceptable attribute value is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, and causing a new user interface to be presented wherein the acceptable attribute value not being obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag comprises the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag causing overlapping controls. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing a method for collaboratively developing a computer application software product having a user interface, the method comprising:
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executing a first build of the computer application software product; opening at least one user interface resource file specifying characteristics of the user interface, so that the at least one user interface resource file may be edited by a user to effect changes to the user interface, each user interface resource file comprising symbols of a markup language having a plurality of resource tag attribute default value mechanisms whose order corresponds to a precedence order of default values for the attributes, the precedence order of default values comprising first using an attribute value associated with a previous occurrence of a tag in a tree if the tag is not provided with an overriding attribute, then using a default attribute value if no previous occurrence of the tag is present in the tree, if an acceptable attribute value comprising an attribute value causing non-overlapping controls is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, then using an attribute provided by one of the application or the user wherein the user interface resource file includes tags not specified in a schema or a document type definition if the acceptable attribute value is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value wherein the acceptable attribute value not being obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag comprises the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag causing overlapping controls; and causing a new user interface incorporating the changes to be presented, without requiring a recompilation of the computer application software product. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for customizing a user interface for an executable computer program by a user of the program, the method comprising:
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executing the computer program, thereby causing the user interface to be presented; editing at least one user interface resource file, the at least one user interface resource file comprising a document in a markup language, wherein tagged text elements are associated with attributes of the user interface and the markup language includes a plurality of resource tag attribute default value mechanisms whose order corresponds to a precedence order of default values for the attributes, the precedence order of default values comprising first using an attribute value associated with a previous occurrence of a tag in a tree if the tag is not provided with an overriding attribute, then using a default attribute value if no previous occurrence of the tag is present in the tree, if an acceptable attribute value comprising an attribute value causing non-overlapping controls is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value, then using an attribute provided by one of the application or the user wherein the user interface resource file includes tags not specified in a schema or a document type definition if the acceptable attribute value is not obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag in the tree or the default attribute value wherein the acceptable attribute value not being obtained by the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag comprises the attribute value associated with the previous occurrence of the tag causing overlapping controls; and causing a new user interface to be presented. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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Specification