Omniportlet-declaratively publish data in a portal without code

• US 8,612,852 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Burns, Stephen, Fisher, Robin
• Primary Examiner(s): Queler, Adam M
• Application Number:
  US10/676,829
• Publication Number:
  US 20050055634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,731 Days
• Field of Search: 715/517, 715/523, 715/513, 715/742, 715/744, 715/234, 715/235, 715/236, 715/243, 715/255, 715/201, 715/204, 715/246, 715/747, 717/109, 709/217, 709/218, 709/227
• US Class Current: 715/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

Techniques for generating a page from a declarative specification are provided. An interface is provided that enables a user to declaratively specify a data source. Also, an interface is provided that allows a user to declaratively specify layout information for data from the data source. A page is then generated based on the declarative specification for the data source and the layout information.

Claims

1. A method for generating a portal page having a plurality of portlets, at least one of the plurality of portlets is declaratively defined by an end-user of the portal page to display data from a data source, the method comprising:

receiving, from the end-use via a user interface, a selection of a data source type from a plurality of data source types supported by a portlet;

receiving, from the end-use via the user interface, access information required to access a data source based upon the selected data source type;

receiving, from the end-use via the user interface, layout information including at least a layout style supported by the portlet;

determining, with a computer system, a data source specification for the portlet based on the selected data source type and the access information associated with the data source;

determining, with the computer system, a layout specification for the portlet based on the layout information;

retrieving data from the data source using the determined data source specification;

determining, with the computer system, a layout within the portlet for the data retrieved from the data source using the determined layout specification;

generating the portlet to display the retrieved data using the determined layout within the portlet; and

generating, with the computer system, the portal page using the generated portlet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source types at least one of a spreadsheet data source type, XML data source type, SQL data source type, web service data source type, and a web page data source type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the data source specification for the portlet based on the selected data source type and the access information associated with the data source comprises determining a path to the data source.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the path comprises determining a URL.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the data source specification for the portlet based on the selected data source type and the access information associated with the data source comprises determining a filtering specification for the portlet based on filter information received from the end-user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the layout styles includes at least one of a tabular layout, chart layout, news layout, form layout, and bullet layouts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the layout within the portlet for the data retrieved from the data source comprises formatting the data retrieved from the data source according to the selected layout style.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the portal page comprises a web-based page.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the portal page comprises a non web-based page.

10. A method for generating a user-customizable graphical user interface (GUI), the method comprising:

receiving a data source type selected by a user via one or more GUIs from a plurality of data source types supported by an object to be included on the user-customizable GUI;

receiving access information identifying a data source for the object of the data source type selected by the user via the one or more GUIs;

determining a declarative specification for the object, using a computer system, based on the selected data source type and the access information associated with the data source;

retrieving, using the computer system, data for the data source using the access information in the declarative specification for the object;

receiving layout information for the data obtained from the data source, the layout information including at least a layout style from a plurality of layout styles presented by the one or more GUIs that are supported by the object;

determining a layout specification for the object using the computer system based on the layout information; and

generating, using the computer system, the object based on the declarative specification, the data obtained from the data source, and the layout specification, the generated object being first code to be included on the user-customizable GUI and configured to generate second code creating a graphical display when included on the user-customizable GUI.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of data source types comprise at least two of a spreadsheet data source type, XML data source type, SQL data source type, web service data source type, and a web page data source type.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the access information comprises a URL.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving filtering options provided by the user via the one or more GUIs for the retrieved data;

and

wherein generating, using the computer system, the object based on the declarative specification, the data obtained from the data source, and the layout specification further includes generated the object based one the filtering options.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected layout type comprises at least one of a tabular layout, chart layout, news layout, form layout, and bullet layout.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving information specifying how the object should be laid out in the user-customizable GUI.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the user-customizable GUI comprises a web-based page.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the object of the user-customizable GUI comprises a portlet.

18. A method for declaratively generating a page using a computer interface provided for an end-user to define objects that generate display code for data when associated with the page, the method comprising:

receiving first input from the end-user during one or more interactive sessions between the end-user and the interface, the first input indicative of a data source type selected from a plurality of data source supported by an object;

receiving second input from the end-user during one or more interactive sessions between the end-user and the interface, the second input indicative of access information identifying a data source for the object of the data source type selected by the end-user;

retrieving, using a computer system, data from the data source using the access information;

receiving third input from the end-user during one or more interactive sessions between the end-user and the interface, the third input indicative of layout information including at least a layout style from a plurality of layout styles supported by the object;

generating software coding representing the object, using a computer system, based on the selected data source type, the access information, and the layout information; and

generating the page using the generated software coding representing the object, the object creating display code for the retrieved data when included on the generated page.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving a declarative specification of the data source type for the data source.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the access information comprises a path to the data source.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the path comprises a URL.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the first input or the second input further comprises receiving a filtering specification that filters the data retrieved from the data source.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the page comprises a web-based page.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the object on the page comprises a portlet.