Selectively locking GUI controls to prevent accidental operations in a computing environment

• US 8,015,509 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2007
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Karstens, Christopher K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadeese
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hope; Darrin
• Application Number:
  US11/939,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125850A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 715/846
• US Class Current: 715/866
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

The present invention discloses a solution to add a user selectable lock to a GUI control, such as a close button. The lock can be imposed on an individual window. After being applied, a user will have to explicitly unlock the control before the control can be selected, which prevents inadvertent selections of the locked control. For example, a lock can be placed on a close control to prevent accidental closing of a window. Locks can be manually or automatically applied. Automatically applied locks can be associated with a set of user configurable rules, which can also establish rules for automatically unlocking GUI controls. An applied GUI control lock can be unlocked in a user configurable manner, with any level of security.

Claims

1. A method for preventing an unintentionally closing of a window comprising:

providing a user selectable mechanism within a graphical user interface for locking and unlocking a plurality of different types of user selectable, visually presented controls of a window within a graphical user interface, on a per control type basis;

establishing a plurality of user configured settings to automatically lock/unlock at least one of said presented control of a designated type, referred to herein as the window control, depending upon a deterministic system condition for a percentage of the window area that is viewable to the user as contrasted against a portion of a window area that is obscured by another different window within the graphical user interface;

detecting a change in said deterministic system condition, which triggers a change of said locked state based upon said user configured settings;

automatically firing an event based upon said detecting of said change;

detecting the event associated with said user selectable mechanism that changes a locking state of the window control of the designated type without affecting other ones of the different types of the controls; and

responsive to the event, changing a locking state of each of the presented controls of the designated type within said window without affecting any other type of control of the window, wherein locking states comprise at least a locked state and an unlocked state, wherein when each of the controls of the designated type in said window is in a locked state a user is prevented from performing an action related to the control and wherein each control in a locked state includes a control specific visual indicator that indicates to users that the specific one of the user selectable controls is locked, and when each of the controls of the designated type in said window is in an unlocked state, a user is permitted to perform the action related to the control, wherein the different types of control comprise a close control type that closes the window, a minimize control type that minimizes the window, and a maximize/restore control type that selectively maximizes the window.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a manual user input for toggling the locked state, wherein the manual user input is a selection of a displayed GUI control by positioning a GUI pointer over the displayed GUI control then performing a selection action for the displayed GUI control; and

firing said event based upon said received user input.

3. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer usable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to provide a user selectable mechanism within a graphical user interface for locking and unlocking a plurality of different types of user selectable, visually presented controls of a window within a graphical user interface, on a per control type basis;

computer usable program code configured to establish a plurality of user configured settings to automatically lock/unlock at least one of said presented control of a designated type, referred to herein as the window control, depending upon a deterministic system condition for a percentage of the window area that is viewable to the user as contrasted against a portion of a window area that is obscured by another different window within the graphical user interface;

computer usable program code configured to detect a change in said deterministic system condition, which triggers a change of said locked state based upon said user configured settings;

computer usable program code configured to automatically fire an event based upon said detecting of said change;

computer usable program code configured to detect the event associated with said user selectable mechanism that changes a locking state of the window control of the designated type without affecting other ones of the different types of the controls; and

computer usable program code configured to responsive to the event, change a locking state of each of the presented controls of the designated type within said window without affecting any other type of control of the window, wherein locking states comprise at least a locked state and an unlocked state, wherein when each of the controls of the designated type in said window is in a locked state a user is prevented from performing an action related to the control and wherein each control in a locked state includes a control specific visual indicator that indicates to users that the specific one of the user selectable controls is locked, and when each of the controls of the designated type in said window is in an unlocked state, a user is permitted to perform the action related to the control, wherein the different types of control comprise a close control type that closes the window, a minimize control type that minimizes the window, and a maximize/restore control type that selectively maximizes the window.

4. A computing device comprising hardware and software, wherein said software is stored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, wherein said hardware is operable to execute said software causing said computing device to:

provide a user selectable mechanism within a graphical user interface for locking and unlocking a plurality of different types of user selectable, visually presented controls of a window within a graphical user interface, on a per control type basis;

establish a plurality of user configured settings to automatically lock/unlock at least one of said presented control of a designated type, referred to herein as the window control, depending upon a deterministic system condition for a percentage of the window area that is viewable to the user as contrasted against a portion of a window area that is obscured by another different window within the graphical user interface;

detect a change in said deterministic system condition, which triggers a change of said locked state based upon said user configured settings;

automatically fire an event based upon said detecting of said change;

detect the event associated with said user selectable mechanism that changes a locking state of the window control of the designated type without affecting other ones of the different types of the controls; and

responsive to the event, change a locking state of each of the presented controls of the designated type within said window without affecting any other type of control of the window, wherein locking states comprise at least a locked state and an unlocked state, wherein when each of the controls of the designated type in said window is in a locked state a user is prevented from performing an action related to the control and wherein each control in a locked state includes a control specific visual indicator that indicates to users that the specific one of the user selectable controls is locked, and when each of the controls of the designated type in said window is in an unlocked state, a user is permitted to perform the action related to the control, wherein the different types of control comprise a close control type that closes the window, a minimize control type that minimizes the window, and a maximize/restore control type that selectively maximizes the window.