Common component framework

• US 7,805,730 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2006
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Refinitiv US Organization, LLC (Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Reuters America LLC (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kolba, Nicholas, Leung, Kwok Ping, Tyldesley, Mike, Holmes, Raymond Douglas, Chua Tze Hou, Adrian
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao; Diem K
• Application Number:
  US11/533,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20080077941A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,468 Days
• Field of Search: 719/316, 719/320
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]

Abstract

A Common Component Framework (CCF) provides a container interface and a component interface for communication in a multi-tiered software application. Component context data may be transmitted to and from a container describing a current state of a component executing within the container. Context data may correspond to a specific entity (e.g., a financial entity such as a company or stock) identified by a user interacting with the component. The container may communicate the context data between different components to synchronize and coordinate component behavior, providing a more robust and coherent user experience. In addition to component context data, other information may be transmitted between containers and components such as properties, menu options, and data fields, supporting more complete integration of even web-based components into containers.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of electronic communication between a component software object and a software container object, comprising:

initiating a registration function on a container object, passing into said registration function a first interface pointer corresponding to a generic component interface supported by a first component object within the container object;

receiving from the container object a second interface pointer corresponding to a generic container interface supported by the container object;

receiving user input on a user interface control running within the first component object;

receiving component context data from the container object, the component context data describing a current state of execution of a second component executing within the container object;

in response to receiving the component context data from the container object, retrieving data from a remote data store based on the component context data;

executing component-specific functionality using the retrieved data;

updating a user interface of the first component object based on the executed component-specific functionality;

determining a function supported by the container interface associated with the received user input; and

invoking the function in the container interface using the second interface pointer;

wherein the first component does not have an interface to directly invoke the functions of the second component, and the second component does not have an interface to directly invoke the functions of the first component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the container object and the first component execute within an instance of a browser application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the component context data received from the container object comprises an entity identifier associated with one of a company name, a stock name, a bond name, a market name, and a country name.

4. A computer-implemented method of electronic communication between a component software object and a container software object, comprising:

transmitting a first interface pointer from a container to a first component object, the first interface pointer defining a plurality of functions supported by the container with respect to the first component;

receiving at the container a second interface pointer from a second component object, the second interface pointer defining a plurality of functions supported by the second component with respect to the container;

receiving at the container via the first interface an indication that a first user action has occurred within the first component, said indication comprising component context data describing a current state of execution of the first component within the container;

detecting a second user action associated with the second component;

determining whether the component context data is compatible with the second component;

if the component context data is not compatible with the second component, converting said component context data based on stored information describing the second component; and

transmitting via the second interface the component context data to the second component;

wherein the container, the first component, and the second component execute within an instance of a browser application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first user action comprises a selection of an entity from a user interface within the first component.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the selected entity comprises one of a company name, a stock name, a bond name, a market name, and a country name.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the first user action comprises a drag event associated with a data field within a user interface within the first component.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second user action comprises a drop event associated with the data field, the drop event occurring on a user interface within the second component.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the first user action designates one or more data fields within a user interface of the first component, and wherein the second user action comprises a drop event for the designated data fields into a user interface of the second component, and wherein other data fields within the user interface of the first component are not dropped into a user interface of the second component.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein one of the first and the second user action comprises a user command for exporting selected data fields into a spreadsheet software application.

11. One or more computer readable media storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed on a computer system, perform a method comprising:

transmitting a first interface pointer to a first component object, the first interface pointer defining a plurality of functions supported with respect to the first component;

receiving a second interface pointer from a second component object, the second interface pointer defining a plurality of functions supported by the second component;

receiving at the container via the first interface an indication that a first user action has occurred within the first component, said indication comprising component context data describing a current state of execution of the first component within the container;

detecting a second user action associated with the second component;

determining whether the component context data is compatible with the second component;

if the component context data is not compatible with the second component, converting said component context data based on stored information describing the second component; and

transmitting via the second interface the component context data to the second component;

wherein the method is executed within an instance of a browser application, and wherein the first component and the second component execute within the same Internet browser application instance.

12. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the first user action comprises a selection of an entity from a user interface within the first component.

13. The computer readable media of claim 12, wherein the selected entity comprises one of a company, stock, bond, market, and country.

14. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the first user action comprises a drag event associated with a data field within a user interface within the first component.

15. The computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the second user action comprises a drop event associated with the data field, the drop event occurring on a user interface within the second component.

16. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the first user action designates one or more data fields within a user interface of the first component, and wherein the second user action comprises a drop event for the designated data fields into a user interface of the second component, and wherein other data fields within the user interface of the first component are not dropped into a user interface of the second component.

17. The computer readable media of claim 11, wherein one of the first and the second user action comprises a user command for exporting selected data fields into a spreadsheet software application.

18. A common component framework system for communication between container and component software objects in a multi-tier software application, said system comprising:

a processor configured to control at least some operations of the system;

memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to perform;

instantiating a container software object, a first individual component software object, and a second individual component software object;

at a first of the plurality of individual software component objects, initiating a registration function on the container object, passing into said registration function a first interface pointer corresponding to a generic component interface supported by the first individual software component object;

at the container software object, transmitting a second interface pointer to the first individual software component object in response to the registration function, wherein the first and the second interface support a predetermined set of functions for generic communication between the container software object and the first component software object;

at a second of the plurality of individual software component objects, initiating a registration function on the container object, passing into said registration function a third interface pointer corresponding to a generic component interface supported by the second individual software component object;

at the container software object, transmitting a fourth interface pointer to the second individual software component object in response to the registration function, wherein the third and the fourth interface support a predetermined set of functions for generic communication between the container software object and the first component software object;

at the first individual software component object, receiving a first user input from a user interface control running within the first individual software component;

at the first individual software component, identifying a first function on the second interface pointer supported by the container software component and corresponding to the received first user input;

at the first individual software component, invoking said function via the second interface pointer;

at the second individual software component object, receiving a second user input from a user interface control running within the second individual software component;

at the second individual software component, identifying a second function on the fourth interface pointer supported by the container software component and corresponding to the received second user input;

at the second individual software component, invoking said second function via the fourth interface pointer;

at the container software object, determining that the first user input received within the first individual software component is associated with the second user input received within the second individual software component;

at the container software object, receiving component context data from the first individual software component comprising one or more execution properties of the first individual software component that are associated with first user input;

determining whether the component context data is compatible with the second component;

if the component context data is not compatible with the second component, converting said component context data based on stored information describing the second component;

at the container software object, transmitting the component context data comprising the one or more execution properties of the first individual software component to the second individual software component; and

at the second individual software component, updating a user interface of second individual software component based on the received component context data comprising the one or more execution properties of the first individual software component from the container software object.