Client-side callbacks to server events

• US 7,890,604 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Millington, Bradley D., Lin, Andrew Cheng-Min, Kothari, Nikhil
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US10/840,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20050256933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,475 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 715/221, 715/744
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for client-side callbacks to server events in which a Web server receives a message indicating a client-side event. The client-side event is associated with a specific component of a client resource, the specific component being one of multiple static components of the client resource. A server-side component generates a response to the received message and implements at least a subset of logic of the specific component. In generating the response to the message, server-side logic corresponding to other static components that are different than the specific component are not used.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

injecting a callback script, wherein the callback script is injected by a hierarchy of one or more server-side components for processing client-side events;

specifying, by one or more of the server-side components, a callback handler for handling a client-side event at a client, wherein the callback handler is specified prior to a client-side event;

receiving, by a Web server, a message indicating the client-side event which is associated with a specific component of a client resource, the specific component being one of multiple static components of the client resource, and wherein the received message identifies the one or more server-side components to process the client-side event;

identifying, on the server-side, the one or more server-side components that correspond to the specific component to process the client-side event;

communicating information from the received message to the one or more identified server-side components;

generating, by the one or more identified server-side components, a response to the message, wherein the response is not a full page postback, and wherein the one or more identified server-side components implement at least a subset of logic of the specific component, the server-side logic corresponding to other ones of the multiple static components not being used to generate the response; and

sending the response data to the callback handler.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the static components comprise a form.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, and wherein at least a subset of the static components are being presented to a user by a browser-based Web application executing on a client computing device.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein server-side logic for the static components is identified with a Universal Resource Identifier (URI).

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the response does not comprise rendered markup language.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the response is an incremental update of the client resource, the incremental update not being directed to update respective ones of the static components different from the specific component.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

the one or more server-side components identifying a client-side event handler to receive the response in view of an error.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the client resource is a page, and wherein generating the response further comprises not performing a full page lifecycle for the page.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein not performing a full page lifecycle for the page comprises not pre-rendering or rendering information associated with any one of the static components different from the specific component.

10. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein not performing a full page lifecycle for the page comprises not pre-rendering or rendering information associated with the specific component.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a callback script, wherein the callback script is received by a client device from a hierarchy of one or more server-side components for processing client-side events;

receiving an indication of a callback handler for handling a client-side event, wherein the indication of the callback is received by a client device from one or more server-side components prior to a client-side event;

identifying the client-side event which is associated with at least one specific component of a resource being hosted by the client device, the resource comprising a plurality of static components that include the at least one specific component;

identifying the one or more server-side components that logically correspond to the at least one specific component to process the client-side event;

communicating, by the client device, a message to the identified one or more server-side components, the message identifying the client-side event associated with the at least one specific component and the identified one or more server-side components; and

receiving by the callback handler, a response to the message from a Web server, the response being generated by the identified one or more server-side components that logically correspond to the at least one specific component, the response not comprising data generated by any server-side component associated with respective ones of the static components different than the specific component, and wherein the response is not a full page postback.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the static components comprise a Web page.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the response does not comprise a rendering of a markup language.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, and further comprising presenting, by a browser-based Web application executing at the client device, at least a subset of the static components.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, and further comprising, responsive to receiving the response, incrementally updating only portion(s) of the resource corresponding to the at least one specific component.

16. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the response, rendering data in the response into a markup language for presentation on a display device, the data only corresponding to the at least one specific component.

17. A method as recited in claim 11, and further comprising:

providing interactivity, by a Web application executing on the client device and hosting the resource, to a user during a time period from the communicating to the receiving, the interactivity being provided with respect to at least a subset of the static components that are different than the at least one specific component.

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored in a memory for execution by a processor for client-side callbacks to server events, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for:

injecting a callback script, wherein the callback script is injected by a hierarchy of one or more server-side controls for processing client-side events;

specifying, by one or more of the server-side components, a callback handler for handling a client-side event, wherein the callback handler is specified prior to the client-side event;

receiving, by the one or more server-side controls, a message indicating the client-side event associated with a specific component of a client resource, the specific component being one of a plurality of static components of the client resource, the message being targeted only to a subset of the server-side controls, and wherein the received message identifies the subset of the server-side controls to process the client-side event;

identifying, on the server-side, the subset of the server-side controls that corresponds to the specific component to process the client-side event;

communicating information from the received message to the identified subset of the server-side controls;

generating, by the subset of the server-side controls, a response to the message, wherein the response is not a postback of the client resource;

sending the response data to the callback handler; and

rendering data in the response into a markup language for presentation on a display device.

19. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the response is not a full submittal of the client resource.

20. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the response does not comprise markup language.

21. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the static components comprise a form.

22. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the response is an incremental update of the client resource, the incremental update not being directed to update respective ones of the static components different from the specific component.

23. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the instructions for generating the response further comprise instructions for not pre-rendering information associated with any one of the static components different from the specific component.

24. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, further comprising instructions for communicating, by the server-side control, the response to the client-side callback handler, the client-side callback handler being configured to process data in the response as a function of the architecture of a server-side control that logically corresponds to the specific component.

25. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored in a memory for execution by a processor for client-side callbacks to server events, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a callback script, wherein the callback script is received by a client computing device from a hierarchy of one or more server-side controls for processing client-side events;

receiving an indication of a callback handler for handling a client-side event, wherein the indication is received by a client device from one or more server-side components prior to the client-side event;

identifying the client-side event which is associated with at least one specific component of a resource being hosted by the client computing device, the resource comprising a plurality of static components that include the at least one specific component;

identifying the one or more server-side controls for processing the client-side event;

communicating, by the client device, a message to the identified server-side controls, the message identifying the client-side event associated with one or more particular components of the static components and the identified server-side controls;

receiving, by the by the callback handler, a response to the message, wherein the response is not a full page postback and wherein the response is generated by the one or more identified server-side controls; and

rendering data in the response into a markup language for presentation on a display device.

26. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the message is not a full page post.

27. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the static components comprise a form.

28. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 25, further comprising, responsive to receiving the response, instructions for incrementally updating by a browser-based Web application using the static components, one or more of the resource corresponding to the one or more particular components.

29. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 25, further comprising instructions for providing interactivity, by a Web application executing on the client device and hosting the resource, to a user during a time period from the communicating to the receiving, the interactivity being provided with respect to at least a subset of the static components that are different than the one or more particular components.

30. A server computing device for handling client-side callbacks to server events, the computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer-program instructions executable by the processor for;

injecting a callback script, wherein the callback script is injected by a hierarchy of one or more server-side components for processing client-side events;

specifying, by one or more of the server-side components, a callback handler, wherein the callback handler is specified prior to a client-side event;

receiving a message indicating a client-side event associated with a specific component of a client resource, the specific component being one of a plurality of static components of the client resource, and wherein the received message identifies the one or more server-side components to process the client-side event;

identifying, on the server-side, the one or more server-side components, that correspond to the specific component, to process the message;

communicating information from the received message to the one or more identified server-side components; and

generating, by the one or more server-side components, a response to the message, wherein the response is not a full page postback, and wherein server-side logic corresponding to other ones of the static components is not used to generate the response.

31. A computing device as recited in claim 30, wherein the message is not a full page post.

32. A computing device as recited in claim 30, wherein the static components comprise a form.

33. A computing device as recited in claim 30, wherein the response represents an incremental update of the resource, the incremental update not being directed to update of respective ones of the static components different from the specific component.

34. A computing device as recited in claim 30, wherein the computer-program instructions generating the response further comprise computer-program instructions for not pre-rendering or rendering information associated with any one of the static components different from the specific component.

35. A client device computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer-program instructions executable by the processor for;

receiving a callback script, wherein the callback script is received by a client device from a hierarchy of one or more server-side controls for processing client-side events;

receiving an indication of a callback handler for handling a client-side event, wherein the indication is received by the client device from one or more server-side components prior to the client-side event;

identifying the client-side event associated which is with at least one specific component of a resource being hosted by the client device, the resource comprising a plurality of static components that include the at least one specific component;

identifying the one or more server-side controls that logically correspond to the at least one specific component to process the client-side event;

communicating a message to the identified one or more server-side controls, the message identifying a client-side event associated with at the least one specific component and the identified one or more server-side controls; and

receiving a response to the message, wherein the response is not a full page postback and is not comprised of data generated by any server-side control associated with respective ones of the static components different than the specific component; and

sending the response data to the callback handler.

36. A computing device as recited in claim 35, wherein the response represents only data for an incremental update of portion(s) of the resource corresponding to the at least one specific component.

37. A computing device as recited in claim 35, and further comprising computer-program instructions for providing interactivity, by a Web application executing on the client device and hosting the resource, to a user during a time period from the communicating to the receiving, the interactivity being provided with respect to at least a subset of the static components that are different than the at least one specific component.