Producing a chart

• US 8,484,554 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Noppens, Kai
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nazar, Ahamed I
• Application Number:
  US11/514,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20080055313A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,504 Days
• Field of Search: 715/243, 715/234, 715/227, 715/228, 705/9, 705 715- 721, 345/440, 345/440.2
• US Class Current: 715/243
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided for a computer implemented method of producing a chart, such as, for example, a Gantt chart. The method can include providing a template containing a definition of at least one column of the chart and inserting the template into a basic layout to form a document. An instruction to add a row to the chart is received. The instruction can include at least one type of information pertaining to the first task to be included on the chart contained in the document. The method further includes adding the row pertaining to the first task contained in the document. In one example, the template is an XML template, the basic layout is an XML basic layout and the document is an XML document.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of producing a Gantt chart, comprising:

providing an XML template defining at least one column of the Gantt chart and a non-XML code instruction including functionality to add a row;

inserting the definition of the at least one column and the non-XML code instruction to add the row into an XML basic layout;

calling a method to perform the non-XML code instruction to add the row to the Gantt chart, the row representing a first task to be included on the Gantt chart;

generating XML coding for adding the row representing the first task based on the non-XML code instruction and the called method;

adding the XML coding for adding the row to a ROW-XML document, the ROW-XML document including control data; and

removing the control data from the ROW-XML document to produce an XML output document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the control data includes a definition of the XML template.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying existing lines of XML code in the ROW-XML document based on receiving the instruction to add the row.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction to add the row includes date information associated with the first task.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising customizing the XML basic layout by replacing at least one variable in the XML basic layout with a customized value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the customized value is a color definition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row includes a non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row upon receiving a user input during interaction with the ROW-XML document.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the XML template includes processing instructions to identify a graphic output of a duration of a timeline in the Gantt chart.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the XML basic layout contains XML definitions for showing the Gantt chart.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the XML template defining at least one column defines a title of the at least one column of the Gantt chart and a name of a second task associated with the at least one column.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the XML template defining at least one column defines at least a first column of the Gantt chart and a second column of the Gantt chart.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the XML basic layout includes control data for inserting the XML code defining at least one column into an appropriate part of the XML basic layout; and

the inserting includes inserting the XML code defining at least one column into the appropriate part of the XML basic layout based on the control data included in the XML basic layout.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row includes non-XML code including functionality to add the row by double clicking on a specified row.

8. A computer-implemented method of producing a Gantt chart, comprising:

providing an XML template defining at least one column of the Gantt chart and including a non-XML code instruction including functionality to add a row;

inserting the definition of the at least one column and the non-XML code instruction to add the row into an XML basic layout, the XML basic layout containing information regarding a layout of the Gantt chart;

calling a method to perform the non-XML code instruction to add the row to the Gantt chart, the method including at least one type of information associated with a task corresponding to the row to be included in the Gantt chart;

generating XML coding for adding the row to the Gantt chart based on the non-XML code instruction and the called method;

adding the XML coding for adding the row to a ROW-XML document, the ROW-XML document including control data; and

removing the control data from the ROW-XML document to produce an XML output document.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use with an electronic device, the computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which are configured to cause the electronic device to perform at least:

providing an XML template defining at least one column of a Gantt chart and including a non-XML code instruction including functionality to add a row;

inserting the definition of the at least one column and the non-XML code instruction to add the row into an XML basic layout;

calling a method to perform the non-XML code instruction to add the row to the Gantt chart, the row representing a first task to be included in the Gantt chart;

generating XML coding for adding the row representing the first task to the Gantt chart based on the received non-XML code instruction and the called method;

adding the XML coding for adding the row to a ROW-XML document, the ROW-XML document including control data; and

removing the control data from the ROW-XML document to produce an XML output document.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein:

the control data includes a definition of the XML template.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the electronic device to modify existing lines of XML code in the ROW-XML document based on the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row to the Gantt chart.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row includes date information associated with the first task.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row includes date and time information associated with the first task.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row includes task name information associated with the first task.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the non-XML code instruction including functionality to add the row includes instructions to display information associated with the first task in a first column and information associated with the first task in a second column.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the electronic device to replace at least one variable in the XML basic layout with a customized value.