Methods and apparatus for implementing inline controls for transposing rows and columns of computer-based tables

• US 7,614,006 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2005
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Molander, Mark E.
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, TING ZHOU
• Application Number:
  US11/055,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20060184889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,726 Days
• Field of Search: 715/503, 715/509, 715/764, 715/769, 715/227, 715/840, 715/788, 707/7, 707/101, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

The present invention concerns methods and apparatus for implementing the ability to transpose rows and columns of a table displayed in a graphical user interface of a computer system. In embodiments of the invention, at least one in-line table row and column control is incorporated in the table; when selected, the in-line table row and column control causes information originally arrayed in columns to be displayed in rows, and causes information originally arrayed in rows to be displayed in columns. In other embodiments of the present invention, a user can select subsets of rows or columns for display in a transposed table with a filter function that operates in combination with the in-line table row and column control. After a filter selection is made, information contained in rows and columns not selected is filtered out and only information in selected rows and columns will be displayed in the transposed table.

Claims

1. A memory medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus of a computer system to perform operations for controlling a table-based graphical user interface system, the operations comprising:

displaying an interactive table on a display of the computer system, where the interactive table comprises rows and columns;

displaying at least one table row and column control in the interactive table, where the at least one table row and column control, when selected, causes the rows and columns of the interactive table to be transposed by moving information originally displayed in rows to columns, and by moving information originally displayed in columns to rows;

receiving a command entered with the at least one table row and column control to transpose the rows and columns of the table;

transposing the rows and columns of the table by displaying information previously arranged in rows in columns, and by displaying information previously arranged in columns in rows;

receiving a plurality of commands entered with the at least one table row and column control, where each command of the plurality of commands creates a new table state comprising a unique selection and arrangement of rows, columns and table information;

saving each new table state created with the plurality of commands to a memory of the computer system;

receiving at least one command to display at least one of the previously saved table states created by one of the plurality of commands;

recalling the table state from the memory of the computer system; and

displaying the table in accordance with the recalled table state.

2. The memory medium of claim 1, where the table row and column control allows a user to select a subset of the rows originally displayed in the table for transposition, and wherein information in the remaining, unselected rows will not be displayed when the selected rows are transposed to column orientation.

3. The memory medium of claim 2, where the table row and column control further comprises a checkbox in each row, and wherein entering a check in a checkbox indicates that the row containing the selected checkbox is to comprise part of the subset of rows for transposition to column orientation.

4. The memory medium of claim 1 where the table row and column control allows a user to select a subset of the column originally displayed in the table for transposition, and wherein information in the remaining, unselected columns will not be displayed when the selected columns are transposed to row orientation.

5. The memory medium of claim 4 where the table row and column control further comprises a checkbox in each column, and wherein entering a check in a checkbox indicates that the column containing the selected checkbox is to comprise part of the subset of columns for transposition to row orientation.

6. The memory medium of claim 1 where the at least one table row and column control further comprises a filter function for filtering at least one of the rows and columns of the table, where filtering of rows and columns removes the filtered rows and columns from display.

7. The memory medium of claim 1 where the operations further comprise:

displaying a filter control for filtering at least one of the rows and columns of the table, where filtering of rows and columns removes the filtered rows and columns from display.

8. The memory medium of claim 1 where the at least one table state selected for display corresponds to a beginning table state.

9. The memory medium of claim 1 where the at least one table state selected for display corresponds to an end table state.

10. A computer system for displaying a table-based graphical user interface, the computer system comprising:

at least one memory to store at least one program of machine-readable instructions, where the at least one program performs operations to display an interactive table when executed; and

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, where the at least one processor causes the computer system to perform at least the following operations when the at least one program is executed;

displaying the interactive table on a display of the computer system, where the interactive table comprises rows and columns;

displaying at least one table row and column control in the interactive table, where the table row and column control, when selected, causes the rows and columns of the interactive table to be transposed by moving information originally displayed in rows to columns, and by moving information originally displayed in columns to rows;

receiving a command entered with the at least one table row and column control to transpose the rows and columns of the interactive table;

transposing the rows and columns of the interactive table by displaying information previously arranged in rows in columns, and by displaying information previously arranged in columns in rows;

receiving a plurality of commands entered with the at least one table row and column control, where each command of the plurality of commands creates a new table state comprising a unique selection and arrangement of rows, columns and table information;

saving each new table state created with the plurality of commands to a memory of the computer system;

receiving at least one command to display at least one of the previously saved table states created by one of the plurality of commands;

recalling the table state from the memory of the computer system; and

displaying the interactive table in accordance with the recalled table state.

11. The computer system of claim 10 where the at least one table row and column control further comprises a filter function for filtering at least one of the rows and columns of the interactive table, where filtering of rows and columns removes the filtered rows and columns from display.

12. The computer system of claim 10 where the operations further comprise:

displaying a return to beginning table state control, where selecting the return to beginning table state control returns the interactive table to a beginning state.

13. The computer system of claim 10 where the operations further comprise:

displaying a forward to end table state control, where selecting the forward to end table state control forwards the interactive table to an end state.

14. The computer system of claim 10 where the operations further comprise:

displaying a forward to next table state control, where selecting the forward to next table state control forwards the interactive table to a next table state immediately after a present table state.

15. The computer system of claim 10 where the operations further comprise:

displaying a return to previous table state control, where selecting the return to previous state control returns the interactive table to a table state immediately previous to a present table state.

16. A user interface control system method comprising:

displaying an interactive table on a display of a computer system, where the interactive table comprises rows and columns;

displaying at least one table row and column control in the interactive table, where the table row and column control, when selected, causes the rows and columns of the interactive table to be transposed by moving information originally displayed in rows to columns, and by moving information originally displayed in columns to rows;

receiving a command entered with the at least one table row and column control to transpose the rows and columns of the interactive table;

transposing the rows and columns of the interactive table by displaying information previously arranged in rows in columns, and by displaying information previously arranged in columns in rows;

receiving a plurality of commands entered with the at least one table row and column control, where each command of the plurality of commands creates a new table state comprising a unique selection and arrangement of rows, columns and table information;

saving each new table state created with the plurality of commands to a memory of the computer system;

receiving at least one command to display at least one of the previously saved table states created by one of the plurality of commands;

recalling the table state from the memory of the computer system; and

displaying the interactive table in accordance with recalled table state.

17. A computer system for displaying a table-based graphical user interface, the computer system comprising:

memory means for storing at least one program of machine-readable instructions, where the at least one program performs operations to display an interactive table when executed; and

processor means coupled to the memory means, the processor means for executing the at least one program, wherein the following operations are performed when the at least one program is executed;

displaying the interactive table on a display of the computer system, where the interactive table comprises rows and columns;

displaying a table row and column control means in the interactive table, the table row and control means for controlling the rows and columns of the interactive table, wherein selecting the table row and column control means causes the rows and columns of the interactive table to be transposed by moving information originally displayed in rows to columns, and by moving information originally displayed in columns to rows;

receiving a command entered with the table row and column control means to transpose the rows and columns of the interactive table;

transposing the rows and columns of the interactive table by displaying information previously arranged in rows in columns, and by displaying information previously arranged in columns in rows;

receiving a plurality of commands entered with the at least one table row and column control, where each command of the plurality of commands creates a new table state comprising a unique selection and arrangement of rows, columns and table information;

saving each new table state created with the plurality of commands to a memory of the computer system;

receiving at least one command to display at least one of the previously saved table states created by one of the plurality of commands;

recalling the table state from the memory of the computer system; and

displaying the interactive table in accordance with the recalled table state.