Systems and methods providing interaction interfaces

• US 7,856,620 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2006
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Nirell, Magnus, Fleischer, Silke
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cheng; Chung
• Application Number:
  US11/526,921
• Time in Patent Office: 1,547 Days
• Field of Search: 717106-113
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

A method for creating an application comprises receiving input specifying a plurality of elements of a software application, said elements including interactions between a user and said software application, generating a dialog that includes a listing of said user interactions from said plurality of elements and is adapted to receive user input to edit one or more of said user interactions, and generating said software application based at least partly upon said received input and said user input to edit.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing system comprising a processor, input specifying a plurality of elements of a software application, said elements including interactions to be available in a user interface of said software application;

generating, by the computing system, a dialog that includes a listing of said interactions from said plurality of elements in a tabular format, the dialog adapted to receive input to edit one or more of said interactions; and

generating, by the computing system, said software application based at least partly upon said received input and said input to edit,

wherein the tabular format listing said interactions includes a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, including a row for each of said interactions, the rows for interactions associated with an element of said software application nested beneath a row corresponding to the element,

wherein generating the dialog comprises providing a collapse command operative to hide at least one row of the plurality of rows,

wherein each interaction is defined by a plurality of characteristics,

wherein each column corresponds to a characteristic of said interaction, and

wherein the columns comprise;

a column corresponding to a score characteristic of at least one said interaction, and

a column corresponding to a branching characteristic of said software application.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said generating comprises:

maintaining in memory information indicative of said interactions;

accessing said memory to retrieve said information;

rendering a view of said information in a tabular format, wherein said view is an editing interface for said information;

receiving input through said interface instructing editing at least some of said information; and

saving said edited information in said memory, thereby modifying at least one of said interactions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating comprises:

rendering a thumbnail view of said elements in said dialog.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

receiving input selecting an interaction; and

highlighting said selected element in said thumbnail view.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said application is a website, and said elements are web pages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said application is an eLearning application, and said elements are slides, the progression of said slides determined by said interactions.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

filtering said interactions in said dialog by type of interaction.

8. A method for editing an interactive application, said method comprising:

receiving input information specifying elements of said interactive application, said elements including end-user interactions;

saving said received input information in a memory;

retrieving at least some of said information that corresponds to said end-user interactions;

rendering a dialog interface of end-user interactions for a plurality of said elements, said dialog featuring a tabular format organized by individual end-user interactions and properties thereof, the tabular format including a row corresponding to each of said interactions and a plurality of columns, each column corresponding to one of the properties, wherein said columns comprise a column corresponding to a score property associated with one of said interactions and a column corresponding to a branching characteristic of said interactive application;

receiving editing input through said dialog interface to change at least one property of at least one of the end-user interactions and based on said retrieved information; and

editing said information in said memory in response to receiving said editing input,

wherein the rows corresponding to end-user interactions that are associated with an element of said interactive application are nested beneath a row in the dialog corresponding to the element, and

wherein rendering comprises providing a collapse command operative to hide rows corresponding to at least some individual end-user interactions.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said rendering comprises:

applying filtering to said interface of end-user interactions, said filtering applied by type of end-user interaction.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving editing input through said dialog comprises:

receiving user selection input selecting one of said end-user interactions for editing; and

applying highlighting to said selection.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said elements are visual elements, said method further comprising:

rendering a thumbnail interface of said elements in said dialog; and

applying highlighting to said selected interaction in said thumbnail interface.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein said end-user interactions determine a progression of elements in said application when said application is executed.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein said receiving input information is performed in an element-editing interface different from said dialog.

14. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for creating user-interactive applications, said computer program product comprising:

code for providing an environment within which an operator enters input specifying elements of a user-interactive application, said elements including interactive actionable attributes;

code for rendering a dialog that displays information associated with said interactive actionable attributes for a plurality of said elements, the dialog including a row for each interactive actionable attribute and a plurality of columns, each column corresponding to said information associated with the interactive actionable attributes; and

code for receiving operator input through said dialog, said input through said dialog editing one or more of said interactive actionable attributes,

wherein said columns comprise;

a column corresponding to a score associated with one of said interactive actionable attributes, and

a column corresponding to a branching characteristic of said user-interactive application,

wherein rows for interactive actionable attributes that are associated with an element are nested beneath a row for in the dialog corresponding to the element, and

wherein the dialog comprises a collapse command operative to hide at least one row of the plurality of rows.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said dialog is separate from an interface for creating said elements.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for receiving operator input through said dialog comprises:

code for receiving user selection input selecting one of said interactive actionable attributes for editing; and

code for applying highlighting to said selection.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said elements are visual elements, said computer program product further comprising:

code for rendering a thumbnail interface of said elements in said dialog; and

code for applying highlighting to said selected interactive actionable attributes in said thumbnail interface.