System and method for managing data using static lists

• US 7,711,754 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2007
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Banks, Richard Malcolm, Guzak, Chris J., McKee, Timothy P., van Dok, Cornelis K., Belt, Jeffrey C., De Vorchik, David G., Moore, Jason F., Ivanovic, Relja, Smith, Walter R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali; Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peng; Huawen
• Application Number:
  US11/627,620
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 707/200, 709/213, 709/229, 715/234
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method and system are provided in which static lists facilitate arbitrary grouping of items of data independent of their locations and in ways that are meaningful to the user. A static list is a set of items defined by a root item, a direction, and the entry relationships with that root item in that direction. The static list also defines the properties that each entry relationship in the list is required to have. Verbs are provided to manage a static list. A verb is an action that may be performed on the items in the static list, and includes, among others, move, copy, add, remove, and delete. A view is provided to specify characteristics for displaying data from a static list, including visibility, order, and formatting, among other characteristics.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing data in a list, the method comprising:

creating, via a first computing process, a static list comprising a plurality of items, each item referencing one or more locations where a file associated with the item is stored, the one or more locations being independent of the static list, and the static list having an item type and a relationship type, wherein the relationship type corresponds to a relationship between items in the static list;

generating, via a second computing process, a list entry template based on the relationship type, wherein the list entry template includes one or more item properties associated with the relationship type;

generating, via a third computing process, a list entry, in accordance with the list template, representing the relationship between an item of the plurality of items and a root list item of the plurality of items, wherein the list entry comprises the one or more item properties specified by the list entry template;

adding, via a fourth computing process, the generated list entry to the created static list;

storing the static list in a memory of a data processing device;

automatically managing, via a fifth computing process, the static list so that reference to the one or more locations at which the data file corresponding to each item is stored remains valid; and

moving the item of the plurality of items from the static list to a new static list, wherein moving includes deleting the list entry from the static list and generating a new list entry in the new static list and copying the value for any property that the relationship type of the new static list has in common with the relationship type of the static list,

wherein each of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth computing processes is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically managing the static list comprises changing a location of the item and updating the list entry to reference the changed location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a status of the item changes when the item is deleted, and wherein when the item is deleted, the method further comprises removing the list entry from the static list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining a property for the relationship type, wherein generating the list entry in accordance with the list entry template includes generating a value for the property.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising copying the item to a new static list, wherein copying includes generating a new list entry in the new static list and copying the value for any property that the new static list'"'"'s relationship type has in common with the static list'"'"'s relationship type.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting the item, wherein deleting includes removing the list entry from the static list and removing any other entry in other static lists, where the other entries also represent an association with the item.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a view to the static list, wherein applying the view includes retrieving entries in the static list having properties that match properties specified in the view and applying a display characteristic to values of the matching properties.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the static list is a file in XML format, wherein the list entry is a non-holding reference to the item associated with the item type and the property is a metadata associated with the item, and wherein the method further comprises serializing a shell link to the non-holding reference.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the static list is a file system container, and the list entry is a holding reference to the item, the holding reference reflecting a current status of the item.

10. A system for managing data, the system comprising:

a storage medium for storing a static list comprising a plurality of items, each item referencing one or more locations where a file associated with the item is stored, the one or more locations being independent of the static list, and a list entry template, wherein the list entry template is generated based on a relationship type of the static list, and wherein the relationship type corresponds to a relationship between items in the static list;

a processing unit for operating a process to generate the static list, wherein each entry of the generated static list is generated in accordance with the list entry template and represents a reference to the data file corresponding to the item, wherein each entry includes a property value generated in accordance with the list entry template, and wherein the process to generate the static list includes a process to automatically manage the static list so that the reference to one or more locations at which the data file corresponding to each item is stored remains valid; and

a display unit for displaying a view of the plurality of items in the static list, the view including a display of the property values of each entry in accordance with a display characteristic,

wherein the process to generate the static list includes a process to copy at least one of the plurality of items to a new static list comprising making a new entry in the new static list and copying the property value from the entry associated with the at least one of the plurality of items to the new entry in accordance with a list entry template of the new static list, and

wherein the process to generate the static list includes a process to move the at least one of the plurality of items to the new static list including the process to cony the at least one of the plurality of items to the new static list plus a process to delete the entry associated with the at least one of the plurality of items from the static list.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the stored data files is moved to a new location and the process to automatically manage the static list includes a process to update the entry associated with the item corresponding to the at least one of the stored data files to refer to the new location.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the process to update the entry includes removing the entry associated with the item corresponding to the at least one of the stored data files from the static list when the item is no longer stored on the storage medium.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing unit is to further operate a process to delete at least one of the plurality of items from the storage medium that includes removing all entries that refer to the at least one of the plurality of items.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the generated static list is a file in XML format, and wherein the entry associated with the at least one of the plurality of items in the static list is a non-holding reference to the at least one of the plurality of items and the property value is a metadata associated with the at least one of the plurality of items, and wherein the process to update the entry associated with the at least one of the plurality of items further includes serializing a shell link to the reference.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the generated static list is a file system container, and wherein at least one entry of the generated static list is a holding reference to one of the plurality of items, the holding reference referring to a current location of one of the plurality of items.

16. Computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method of managing data in a list, the method comprising:

defining a static list comprising a plurality of items, each item referencing one or more locations where a file associated with the item is stored, the one or more locations being independent of the static list, the static list having an item type and a relationship type;

generating a list entry template based on the relationship type of the static list, wherein the list entry template includes one or more item properties specified by the relationship type;

generating a list entry, in accordance with the list entry template, representing an association between one of the plurality of items and the item type, wherein the list entry comprises the one or more item properties of the list entry template;

updating the list entry in response to a change of a status of the one of the plurality of items to reference the one or more locations at which the data file corresponding to each item is stored; and

moving the one of the plurality of items to a new static list, wherein moving includes deleting the list entry from the static list and generating a new list entry in the new static list and copying a value for any property that a relationship type of the new static list has in common with the static list'"'"'s relationship type.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable component updates the list entry to refer to a current location of the one of the plurality of items, regardless of an actual location of the one of the plurality of items.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable component automatically removes the list entry from the static list when the one of the plurality of items is deleted.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable component further defines a property for the relationship type, wherein generating the list entry in accordance with the list entry template includes generating a value for the property.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable component further copies the one of the plurality of items to a new static list, wherein copying includes generating a new list entry in the new static list and copying a value for any property that a relationship type of the new static list has in common with the static list'"'"'s relationship type.

21. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable component further applies a view to the static list, wherein applying the view includes retrieving entries in the static list having properties that match properties specified in the view and applying a display characteristic to any values of the matching properties.

22. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the static list is stored in XML format, wherein the list entry is a non-holding reference to the one of the plurality of items associated with the item type and the property is a metadata associated with the one of the plurality of items, and wherein updating the list entry includes serializing a shell link to the reference.

23. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the static list is stored in a file system container, and the list entry is a holding reference to the one of the plurality of items, the holding reference reflecting a current status of the one of the plurality of items.