Interactive tooltip to display and navigate to different resources of a data point

• US 8,302,006 B2
• Filed: 08/03/2007
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Stanek, Christopher E., Wang, Jiao, Malaspina, Fabio, Silvestro, Michael, Ericsson, Matthew Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): PHANTANA ANGKOOL, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US11/833,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20080209354A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,915 Days
• Field of Search: 715/711, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/711
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

Systems and methodologies for viewing locations of a data point within a system are provided. A system provided herein includes a locate component that determines locations of a selected data point and a display component that displays the locations of the selected data point in a location structure, which can be displayed at a common area of display with the selected data point. In addition, a system provided herein further includes a navigation component that receives the locations of the selected data point and facilitates navigation of the area of display to a location selected from the location structure.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates viewing locations of a data point, comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, the memory having stored thereon computer-executable components to implement the system, including;

a locate component configured to determine one or more locations of a data point within a control program in response to selection of the data point; and

a display component configured to display an information structure that contains information relating to the data point in response to the selection of the data point, wherein;

the information structure includes a first control region configured to trigger display of a location structure that displays the one or more locations of the data point in response to selection of the first control region,

at least a portion of the location structure is superimposed over at least a portion of the control program within a common window of display,

at least one location of the one or more locations displayed in the location structure includes a second control region, and

the display component is further configured to display information about the at least one location in response to selection of the second control region.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information relating to the data point contained in the information structure includes at least one of a data type of the data point, a program scope of the data point, or a description of the data point.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the information structure or the location structure is removed from display in response to a cursor being moved a distance from the information structure or the location structure greater than a predetermined distance.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component is further configured to determine whether sufficient available display space exists within the common window of display to display at least one of the information structure or the location structure according to a default arrangement, and to display the at least one of the information structure or the location structure according to a non-default arrangement in response to a negative determination.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the display component is further configured to determine whether sufficient available display space exists within the common window of display to list the one or more locations of the data point, wherein the first control region is further configured to at least one of navigate to an external reference window or scroll through the one or more locations of the data point within the location structure in response to a negative determination.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a navigation component configured to receive an indication of a selected location of the one or more locations of the data point via the location structure and to navigate to the selected location within the control program.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one location of the one or more locations of the data point is represented by a hyperlink that effects navigation to the at least one location within the control program.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component is further configured to display the location structure in response to a cursor moving within a predetermined distance from the data point.

9. A method that facilitates viewing locations of a data point within a control program, comprising:

determining at least one location of a data point within a control program;

superimposing an information structure over at least a first portion of the control program in response to the data point being selected, the information structure including an expansion control;

displaying information relating to the data point within the information structure;

superimposing a location structure over at least a second portion of the control program in response to selection of the expansion control;

displaying at least one hyperlink corresponding to the at least one location of the data point in the location structure; and

navigating to the at least one location within the control program in response to selection of the at least one hyperlink.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the superimposing the location structure includes:

displaying at least one reference within the location structure corresponding to the at least one location of the data point within the control program, the at least one reference comprising a respective at least one control region; and

displaying information corresponding to the at least one reference in response to engagement of the at least one control region.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the displaying the at least one hyperlink includes:

assessing available area within a window of display, containing the control program, for displaying the at least one location; and

displaying the at least one hyperlink at a position within the window of display selected based at least in part on the assessing.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the assessing the available area within the window of display includes determining whether sufficient available area exists within the window of display for displaying the at least one hyperlink, and the displaying the at least one hyperlink includes displaying a control region that causes navigation to a reference window external to the window of display in response to a negative determination.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the control program is control logic for an industrial automation system.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computer system to perform operations, including:

determining at least one location of a data point within a control program;

overlaying a first display graphic on at least a first portion of the control program in a display window in response to selecting the data point, the first display graphic having a control area;

rendering information relating to the data point within the first display graphic;

overlaying a second display graphic over at least a second portion of the control program in the display window in response to receiving a selection of the control area;

rendering at least one link corresponding to the at least one location of the data point in the second display graphic; and

navigating to the at least one location of the data point within the control program in response to selection of the at least one link.

15. A system that facilitates viewing locations of a data point within displayed logic, comprising:

means for identifying one or more locations of a data point within a set of logic displayed in a display area;

means for superimposing, in response to selection of the data point, a first graphic window containing information relating to the data point over at least a first portion of the logic within the display area;

means for superimposing, in response to selection of a first control element within the first graphic window, a second graphic window containing the one or more locations of the data point over at least a second portion of the logic within the display area, at least one location of the one or more locations contained in the second graphic window including a second control element; and

means for displaying information about the at least one location in response to selection of the second control element.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for navigating to a location of the data point within the set of logic corresponding to a selected location displayed in the second graphic window.