System and method for exposing tasks in a development environment

• US 7,490,314 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2004
• Issued: 02/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horton, Anson M., Barber, Corrina, Wallace, Donna, Dias, Christopher, Schmelzer, James, Balsiger, Fred, Perez, Meghan Rae, Mott, Graeme, Harsh, Michael, Kubiniec, Joseph F., Chrisope, Jeffrey, Calvert, Simon, Mohan, Bulusu Krishna, Kothari, Nikhil, Lin, Andrew Cheng-min, Cote, Antoine, Yuknewicz, Paul, Pepin, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brophy; Matthew J
• Application Number:
  US10/768,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20050171967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,838 Days
• Field of Search: 717100-113, 717/120, 715/810
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06

Abstract

A user interface is provided that exposes items such as developer tasks, commands, property settings, and other related information to a user. The user interface may be invoked in a number of development interfaces such as, for example, a designer or an editor. The user interface may be either an object bound interface or an action triggered interface. An object bound interface exposes a set of items that are associated with a corresponding object. An action triggered interface exposes a set of items that are associated with a corresponding triggering action. In addition to enumerating developer tasks, the user interface may provide a direct link to other interfaces that facilitate task execution.

Claims

1. A method for exposing a developer task that is associated with an object in a development interface, the method comprising:

detecting an object in a development interface;

determining that a developer task is associated with the object;

displaying a first icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object to indicate that a panel is available that enables the developer task to be viewed and selected, the first icon being displayed without first requiring the object to be selected;

in response to the screen pointer hovering over the object, displaying a third icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the third icon being larger than the second icon and including the informational symbol and an additional symbol;

detecting a selection of the third icon; and

displaying the panel in response to detecting the selection of the third icon.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting the object in a designer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting the object in an editor.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a state of the object; and

determining that the developer task is associated with the object based on the state of the object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the developer task is associated with the object comprises querying a task to service to determine that the developer task is associated with the object.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a programmatic interface that enables a user to associate the developer task with the object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a second the icon adjacent to the object when a screen pointer is hovering over a screen area adjacent to the object; and

displaying a third icon adjacent to the object when the screen pointer is hovering over the object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the panel adjacent to the first icon.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a marker icon when a screen pointer is hovering over a screen area that is not adjacent to the object.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a non-shaded icon when a screen pointer is hovering adjacent to the object.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a shaded icon when a screen pointer is hovering over the first icon.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the developer task is associated with a child object that is associated with the object that is detected in the development interface.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user interface with a user input field that enables the user to set a property of the object.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a selection of the developer task; and

providing a direct link to another user interface that facilitates the execution of the developer task.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the developer task in a re-entrant fashion.

16. A computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the steps of:

detecting an object in a development interface;

determining that a developer task is associated with the object;

displaying a first icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object to indicate that a panel is available that enables the developer task to be viewed and selected, the first icon being displayed without first requiring the object to be selected;

in response to a screen pointer hovering over a screen area adjacent to the object, displaying a second icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the second icon being larger than the first icon and including an informational symbol;

in response to the screen pointer hovering over the object, displaying a third icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the third icon being larger than the second icon and including the informational symbol and an additional symbol;

detecting a selection of the third icon;

and displaying the panel in response to detecting the selection of the third icon.

17. a method for exposing a developer task that is associated with an object in a development interface, the method comprising:

detecting the performance of an action on an object in a development interface;

determining that a developer task is associated with the action;

displaying a first icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object to indicate that a panel is available that enables the developer task to be viewed and selected, the first icon being displayed without first requiring the object to be selected;

in response to a screen pointer hovering over a screen area adjacent to the object, displaying a second icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the second icon being larger than the first icon and including an informational symbol;

in response to the screen pointer hovering over the object, displaying a third icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the third icon being larger than the second icon and including the informational symbol and an additional symbol;

detecting a selection of the third icon; and

displaying the panel in response to detecting the selection of the third icon.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising detecting the performance of the action in a designer.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising detecting the performance of the action in an editor.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining that the developer task is associated with the action comprises querying a task to service to determine that the developer task is associated with the action.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing a programmatic interface that enables a user to associate the developer task with the action.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

displaying a second icon adjacent to the object on which the action is performed when a screen pointer is hovering over a screen area adjacent to the object; and

displaying a third icon adjacent to the object when the screen pointer is hovering over the object.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying the panel adjacent to the first icon.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying a marker icon when a screen pointer is hovering over a screen area that is not adjacent to the object on which the action is performed.

25. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying a non-shaded icon when a screen pointer is hovering adjacent to the object on which the action is performed.

26. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying a shaded icon when a screen pointer is hovering over the first icon.

27. The method of claim 17, further comprising causing the first icon to expire after a selected time interval.

28. The method of claim 17, further comprising causing the first icon to expire that expires after a performance of another action by a user.

29. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying with the first icon that include an informational symbol corresponding to a type of action.

30. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting a selection of the developer task; and

providing a direct link to another user interface that facilitates the execution of the developer task.

31. A computer readable medium storage having computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the steps of:

detecting the performance of an action on an object in a development interface;

determining that a developer task is associated with the action;

displaying a first icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object to indicate that a panel is available that enables the developer task to be viewed and selected, the first icon being displayed without first requiring the object to be selected;

in response to a screen pointer hovering over a screen area adjacent to the object, displaying a second icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the second icon being larger than the first icon and including an informational symbol;

in response to the screen pointer hovering over the object, displaying a third icon in the development interface and adjacent to the object, the third icon being larger than the second icon and including the informational symbol and an additional symbol detecting a selection of the third icon; and

displaying the panel in response to detecting the selection of the third icon.