Method for synchronously binding an external behavior to a web page element

• US 8,627,198 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Martinsen, Ronald R., Massy, David H., Beda, Joseph S., Gardner, Richard John, Mohan, Bulusu K., Zotov, Alexander J., Harding, John M., Relyea, Robert A., Mielke, Markus W., Cox, Dave, Markel, Kris
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): ORR, HENRY W
• Application Number:
  US12/130,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20080229189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,048 Days
• Field of Search: 715/749, 715/740, 715/760, 715/762, 715/234
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A new form of DHTML behaviors, called ˜Element Behaviors,” wherein a behavior component is bound to an HTML element, and not just attached to the element as with attached behaviors. A special processing instruction is used to import the Element Behavior into a Web page. Upon parsing the Web page, the Element Behavior is initialized as soon as it has been downloaded and parsed. This immediate initialization makes the Element Behavior declaratively available to bind synchronously to the element(s) it is modifying. A viewLink is a feature of Element Behaviors that permits encapsulation of a behavior component file (e.g., an HTC file) so that the structure of the HTC file is transparent to a Web page (˜primary document”) to which the HTC file is linked, but the content of the HTC file may be displayed in the primary document. The viewLink provides a pointer to the content in the encapsulated HTC file, and renders that content in the primary document, without incorporating the elements of the encapsulated HTC file into the primary document structure.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising:

a computer storage media having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions for implementing a method in a computer system, the method comprising;

receiving at a browser application, an HTML page for processing and displaying one or more HTML elements declared therein, the HTML page comprising an import tag, having an import instruction for importing element behavior into a declared namespace that is associated with the import tag, wherein the declared namespace is used to ensure that the element behavior has a unique qualifier;

upon an initial automatic parsing of the import tag within the HTML page, processing the import instruction to subsequently link an implementation of the element behavior with a custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements defined within the body of the HTML page by using the declared namespace as part of a label for the custom element of the one or more elements, wherein the element behavior is a file or binary behavior component separate from the one or more elements within the HTML page and wherein the element behavior encapsulates specific functionality or behavior for the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements defined thereby; and

upon parsing of the import instruction, suspending one or more other threads, activities, or both, until the contents of the element behavior have been downloaded, and allowing the element behavior to be available declaratively to bind synchronously to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements; and

prior to processing the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, producing an instance of the element behavior making the specific functionality immediately and declaratively available;

upon further parsing of the HTML page, determining that the label for the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements comprises the declared namespace; and

based on the determining that the label for the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements comprises the declared namespace, attaching the instance of the element behavior to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, thereby synchronously binding the instance of the element behavior to the custom HTML element of the one or more elements such that;

(i) the instance of the element behavior is permanently bound to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, and (ii) the custom HTML element is processed as if it were a non-custom HTML element.

2. A computer program product as recited in claim 1, wherein the computer storage media comprises system memory of a computing system.

3. In a computer system, a computer program product that uses a markup language with a behavior component that enhances behavior of a custom HTML element, the computer program product for implementing a method for synchronously binding the behavior component to the custom HTML element, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable storage devices and having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer program product to:

receive at a browser application, a page for processing and displaying one or more HTML elements therein;

perform automatic initial processing of the page that includes the one or more HTML elements, by parsing the page and interpreting the page via the browser application, the page further comprising an import instruction to instantiate an element behavior component, which encapsulates specific functionality or behavior on the page for a custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements;

upon the automatic initial processing of the import instruction, and before interpreting the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, instantiate the element behavior component in order to synchronously bind the instantiated instance of the element behavior component to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements by making the specific functionality or behavior immediately and declaratively available, wherein when the instantiated instance of the element behavior component is synchronously bound to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, the instantiated instance of the element behavior component is permanently bound to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements such that the custom HTML element is processed as if it were a non-custom HTML element; and

upon processing of the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, modify the initial behavior of the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements with the instance of the element behavior previously instantiated.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the element behavior component is a document fragment and the import instruction comprises a pointer to the document fragment.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the instantiation of the element behavior component comprises downloading the document fragment and creating an instance thereof prior to applying the functionality or behavior of the element behavior component to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the document fragment comprises content, and wherein the instantiation of the element behavior component, when parsing the page, comprises inserting the content into the page.

7. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements is associated with a namespace in the page.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the element behavior component comprises a name for creating the custom HTML element that may be linked to the behavior component, and wherein a syntax for the custom HTML element comprises a reference to the name.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the syntax for the custom HTML element further comprises a reference to the namespace.

10. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the element behavior component is instantiated in accordance with a thread, and wherein the import instruction causes at least one other thread to cease while instantiating the element behavior component.

11. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the element behavior component comprises content, and wherein instantiating the element behavior component comprises inserting the content into the page.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein automatic initial processing of the page comprises interpreting the page, including creating a document structure, and wherein inserting the content into the page comprises inserting the document fragment into the documents structure.

13. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein automatic initial processing of the page comprises:

interpreting the page, including creating a document structure, and wherein instantiating the element behavior component comprises;

creating a document fragment; and

inserting the document fragment into the document structure.

14. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein automatic initial processing of the page comprises:

interpreting the page, including creating a document structure and wherein instantiating the instance of the element behavior component comprises;

creating a document fragment; and

maintaining the document fragment separate from the document structure.

15. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the custom HTML element comprises a pointer to the document fragment.

16. A method for synchronously binding a behavior component to a custom HTML element, the method comprising:

receiving, at a browser application, a page for processing;

displaying one or more HTML elements therein;

automatically processing the page that includes the one or more HTML elements, by parsing the page and interpreting the page via the browser application, the page further comprising an import instruction to instantiate an element behavior component, which encapsulates specific functionality or behavior on the page for a custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements;

upon the automatic initial processing of the import instruction, and before interpreting the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, instantiating the element behavior component to synchronously bind the instantiated instance of the element behavior component to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements by making the specific functionality or behavior immediately and declaratively available, wherein when the instantiated instance of the element behavior component is synchronously bound to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, the instantiated instance of the element behavior component is permanently bound to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements such that the custom HTML element is processed as if it were a non-custom HTML element; and

upon processing of the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements, modifying the initial behavior of the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements with the instance of the element behavior previously instantiated.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the element behavior component is a document fragment and the import instruction comprises a pointer to the document fragment.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the instantiation of the element behavior component comprises downloading the document fragment and creating an instance thereof prior to applying the functionality or behavior of the element behavior component to the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the document fragment comprises content, and wherein the instantiation of the element behavior component, when parsing the page, comprises inserting the content into the page.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the custom HTML element of the one or more HTML elements is associated with a namespace in the page.