Lookup control configuration

• US 7,962,856 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2004
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lasker, Steven M
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadeese
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pan; Yongjia
• Application Number:
  US10/968,668
• Publication Number:
  US 20060101390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,429 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715/705, 715/712, 715/713, 715/762, 715/763, 715/764, 715/769, 715/771, 715/780, 715/809, 715/810, 715/813, 715/825, 715/843, 715/961, 715/965, 715/966, 715/967, 715/969, 717/100, 717106-110, 717/120, 717/162
• US Class Current: 715/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating lookup control configuration is provided. The system incorporates the persistence of the metadata required to associate a field and a display value of a lookup list, and facilitates creation of a lookup type user interface control. Thus, a user (e.g., developer) can drag a lookup control to a design surface and set the relevant property(ies) on the control. The user can then drag lists of information onto the control to automatically set the properties of the lookup control to display the values of the list. The user can then run their application to see immediate results. Optionally, the user can leverage Smart tags to change the default values set to different values.

Claims

1. A lookup control configuration system embodied on a computer storage medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, implement a method, comprising:

defining metadata comprising a default display member attribute and a default value member attribute of a data table having a multi-dimensional set of values arranged in rows and columns, the default display member attribute of the data table being set to indicate a first column of the data table, the default value member attribute of the data table being set to indicate a second column of the data table;

generating a lookup control configured to display user-selectable values, the lookup control including;

a data source attribute adapted to indicate a data source entity from which the user-selectable values are retrieved and displayed in the lookup control;

a display member attribute adapted to indicate a first column of the data source entity, the user-selectable values being retrieved from the first column of the data source entity; and

a value member attribute adapted to indicate a second column of the data source entity;

in response to a drag and drop of the data table onto the lookup control, automatically configuring the lookup control by;

inferring from the drag and drop that the data table is to be used for the lookup control;

automatically setting the data source attribute of the lookup control to indicate the data table, which causes the user-selectable values displayed in the lookup control to be retrieved from the data table;

automatically setting the display member attribute of the lookup control to the default display member attribute of the data table based on the metadata, which causes the user-selectable values displayed in the lookup control to be retrieved from the first column of the data table; and

automatically setting the value member attribute of the lookup control to the default value member attribute of the data table based on the metadata;

displaying attributes of the lookup control in a user interface component that includes;

a first user-selectable configuration option that displays the data table as the data source attribute;

a second user-selectable configuration option that displays the default display member attribute of the data table as the display member attribute; and

a third user-selectable configuration option that displays the default value member attribute of the data table as the value member attribute; and

displaying the automatically configured lookup control.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is employed in a design-time environment to facilitate application development.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data source entity comprises at least one of a DataType, a database and an object.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the configured lookup control comprises a value displayed to a user, the value being based on a first string value defined within the data table.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the configured lookup control comprises a value member, the value member being based on a first property in the data table.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the configured lookup control comprises a value member, the value member being based on a primary key of the data table.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the configured lookup control can be modified via a user interface associated with a smart tag that change default values to different values.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the lookup control is a listbox.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the lookup control is a combobox.

8. A method of configuring a lookup control comprising:

defining metadata comprising a default display member attribute and a default value member attribute of a data table having a multi-dimensional set of values arranged in rows and columns, the default display member attribute of the data table being set to indicate a first column of the data table, the default value member attribute of the data table being set to indicate a second column of the data table;

generating a lookup control configured to display user-selectable values, the lookup control including;

a data source attribute adapted to indicate a data source entity from which the user-selectable values are retrieved and displayed in the lookup control;

a display member attribute adapted to indicate a first column of the data source entity, the user-selectable values being retrieved from the first column of the data source entity; and

a value member attribute adapted to indicate a second column of the data source entity;

in response to a drag and drop of the data table onto the lookup control, automatically configuring the lookup control by;

inferring from the drag and drop that the data table is to be used for the lookup control;

automatically setting the data source attribute of the lookup control to indicate the data table, which causes the user-selectable values displayed in the lookup control to be retrieved from the data table;

automatically setting the display member attribute of the lookup control to the default display member attribute of the data table based on the metadata, which causes the user-selectable values displayed in the lookup control to be retrieved from the first column of the data table; and

automatically setting the value member attribute of the lookup control to the default value member attribute of the data table based on the metadata;

displaying attributes of the lookup control in a user interface component that includes;

a first user-selectable configuration option that displays the data table as the data source attribute;

a second user-selectable configuration option that displays the default display member attribute of the data table as the display member attribute; and

a third user-selectable configuration option that displays the default value member attribute of the data table as the value member attribute; and

displaying the automatically configured lookup control.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising modifying the configured lookup control based on user input.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the data source entity comprises at least one of a DataType, a database and an object.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the lookup control is a listbox.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the lookup control is a combobox.

18. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying a user interface component for defining the metadata, the user interface component including:

a first user-selectable configuration option that, when selected, sets the first column as the default display member attribute; and

a second user-selectable configuration option that, when selected, sets the second column as the default value member attribute.

19. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving user input to manually change at least one of the data source attribute, the display member attribute, or the value member attribute.

15. A computer storage medium having stored thereon one or more computer-executable instructions that perform a method when executed by a computer processor, the method comprising:

defining metadata comprising a default display member attribute and a default value member attribute of a data table having a multi-dimensional set of values arranged in rows and columns, the default display member attribute of the data table being set to indicate a first column of the data table, the default value member attribute of the data table being set to indicate a second column of the data table;

generating a lookup control configured to display user-selectable values, the lookup control including;

a data source attribute adapted to indicate a data source entity from which the user-selectable values are retrieved and displayed in the lookup control;

a display member attribute adapted to indicate a first column of the data source entity, the user-selectable values being retrieved from the first column of the data source entity; and

a value member attribute adapted to indicate a second column of the data source entity;

in response to a drag and drop of the data table onto the lookup control, automatically configuring the lookup control by;

inferring from the drag and drop that the data table is to be used for the lookup control;

automatically setting the data source attribute of the lookup control to indicate the data table, which causes the user-selectable values displayed in the lookup control to be retrieved from the data table;

automatically setting the display member attribute of the lookup control to the default display member attribute of the data table based on the metadata, which causes the user-selectable values displayed in the lookup control to be retrieved from the first column of the data table; and

automatically setting the value member attribute of the lookup control to the default value member attribute of the data table based on the metadata;

displaying attributes of the lookup control in a user interface component that includes;

a first user-selectable configuration option that displays the data table as the data source attribute;

a second user-selectable configuration option that displays the default display member attribute of the data table as the display member attribute; and

a third user-selectable configuration option that displays the default value member attribute of the data table as the value member attribute; and

displaying the automatically configured lookup control.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the lookup control is a listbox.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the lookup control is a combobox.