Lifecycle stable user interface adaptations

• US 8,555,249 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2010
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Demant, Hilmar, Droll, Sebastian, Fitzer, Joachim, Grammatikakis, Ioannis, Heiler, Jan, Sattler, Juergen, Schertel, Frank, Specht, Juergen, Viol, Markus, Weber, Thorsten
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang, Ben C
• Application Number:
  US12/965,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20120151439A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and methods for lifecycle stable user interface adaptations are described herein. All adaptations done by partners/key users/end users to a user interface of a computer software application are preserved during the lifecycle of the application. In one aspect, the adaptations are persisted as additional metadata used for the generation of the user interface. In another aspect, the lifecycle stability is achieved by attaching the adaptations to semantically coherent set of fields placed in the UI that reappear in future releases of the computer software application.

Claims

1. A computerized method for lifecycle stable user interface (UI) adaptations, a computer including at least one processor for executing program code and memory, the method comprising:

receiving at least one user interface (UI) adaptation to a default UI;

saving the at least one UI adaptation as a reference field to a specific entity in a repository behind the UI;

saving the position in the UI of the at least one UI adaptation;

reconstructing the at least one UI adaptation by combining the saved at least one UI adaptation and the position in the UI of the at least one UI adaptation to the default UI; and

reconstructing the at least one UI adaptation to a following release of the default UI by using one or more stable anchors as extension points to attach the at least one UI adaptation, wherein the at least one UI adaptation is selected at runtime from a UI panel comprising a first selection list with one or more screen areas on which the at least one UI adaptation is performed, and a second selection list with a set of changes applicable for the one or more screen areas, and wherein the one or more stable anchors are semantically coherent set of fields in the default UI remaining in the following release of the default UI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of changes is semantically coherent to the one or more screen areas on which the at least one UI adaptation is performed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first extensible markup language (XML) file is used for saving the at least one UI adaptation and its position in the UI.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a second XML file is used for generation of the default UI.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein reconstructing the at least one UI adaptation further comprises merging the first XML file used for saving the at least one UI adaptation together with the second XML file used for generation of the default UI.

6. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to tangibly store instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to;

receive one or more user interface (UI) adaptations to a default UI;

save the one or more UI adaptations in a metadata file maintained for storing the one or more UI adaptations;

reconstruct the one or more UI adaptations by combining the metadata file together with a data file used for generation of the default UI; and

reconstruct the one or more UI adaptations to a following release of the default UI by using one or more stable anchors as extension points to attach the one or more UI adaptations, wherein the one or more UI adaptations are selected at runtime from a UI panel comprising a first selection list with one or more screen areas on which the one or more UI adaptations are performed, and a second selection list with a set of changes applicable for the one or more screen areas, and wherein the one or more stable anchors are semantically coherent set of fields in the default UI remaining in the following release of the default UI.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the set of changes is semantically coherent to the one or more screen areas, on which the one or more UI adaptations are performed.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the metadata file is an extensible markup language (XML) file.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the data file used for generation of the default UI is an XML file.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the instructions to reconstruct the one or more UI adaptations by combining the metadata file together with a data file used for generation of the default UI further cause the computer to merge the metadata file with the data file used for generation of the default UI.

11. A computer system for lifecycle stable user interface (UI) adaptations including at least one processor for executing program code and memory, the system comprising:

a display to visualize a UI;

an input device to receive user'"'"'s UI adaptations;

a file system repository to persist information for the generation of the UI;

an extractor module within the memory to store the user'"'"'s UI adaptations to the file system repository as a secondary source of information for UI generation, wherein the user'"'"'s UI adaptations are attached to one or more stable anchors as extension points, and wherein the user'"'"'s UI adaptations are selected at runtime from a UI panel comprising a first selection list with one or more screen areas on which the user'"'"'s UI adaptations are performed, and a second selection list with a set of changes applicable for the one or more screen areas, and wherein the one or more stable anchors are semantically coherent set of fields in a default version of the UI remaining in a following release of the UI; and

a UI generator module within the memory to generate the UI by combining a default source of information for UI generation and the secondary source of information for UI generation.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the user'"'"'s UI adaptations are selected from a set of allowed changes to the UI.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the secondary source of information for UI generation is an XML file comprising the user'"'"'s UI adaptations.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the default source of information comprises default elements and organization of the UI before the user'"'"'s UI adaptations.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the default source of information for UI generation is an XML file.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the default source of information is updated periodically by a UI provider.