Conveying hierarchical elements of a user interface

• US 8,694,918 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2012
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mandelstein, Dan J., Milman, Ivan M., Oberhofer, Martin A., Pandit, Sushain
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOWDHURY, RAYEEZ R
• Application Number:
  US13/366,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20130205252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 792 Days
• Field of Search: 715/810
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for generating a view of a data flow model. One or more groupings of data flow objects in the data flow model is determined, based on an ontology. At least a first one of the groupings is collapsed in the view. The view is output for display in a user interface configured to selectively expand and collapse the first group based on user input.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a view of a data flow model, comprising:

receiving the data flow model, wherein the data flow model includes a plurality of data flow objects;

determining, one or more groupings of the plurality of data flow objects and by operation of one or more computer processors, each grouping containing a respective plurality of data flow objects wherein the one or more groupings are determined based on at least three grouping factors selected from;

(i) an ontology; and

(ii) an object type specification for the data flow objects;

(iii) counts of edges of the data flow objects; and

(iv) one or more user annotations of the data flow objects;

each of the at least three grouping factors having a respective weight determined based on one or more weighting rules and with which a grouping conflict is resolved in favor of the grouping factor having the highest weight;

collapsing at least a first one of the groupings in the view, such that the first grouping is visible in the view while any data flow object in the first grouping is not visible; and

outputting the view for display in a user interface configured to selectively expand and collapse the first grouping based on user input.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein expanding the first grouping comprises rendering the first grouping and any data flow object in the first grouping visible in the view.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the object type specification for the data flow objects.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the counts of edges of each the data flow objects.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the one or more user annotations of the data flow objects.

6. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable memory having computer-readable program code embodied therewith for generating a view of a data flow model, the computer-readable program code comprising;

computer-readable program code configured to receive the data flow model, wherein the data flow model includes a plurality of data flow objects,

computer-readable program code configured to determine, one or more groupings of the plurality of data flow objects and by operation of one or more computer processors, each grouping containing a respective plurality of data flow objects, wherein the one or more groupings are determined based on at least three grouping factors selected from;

(i) an ontology; and

(ii) an object type specification for the data flow objects;

(iii) counts of edges of the data flow objects; and

(iv) one or more user annotations of the data flow objects;

each of the at least three grouping factors having a respective weight determined based on one or more weighting rules and with which to resolve a grouping conflict in favor of the grouping factor having the highest weight;

computer-readable program code configured to collapse at least a first one of the groupings in the view, such that the first grouping is visible in the view while any data flow object in the first grouping is not visible; and

computer-readable program code configured to output the view for display in a user interface configured to selectively expand and collapse the first grouping based on user input.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein expanding the first grouping comprises rendering the first grouping and any data flow object in the first grouping visible in the view.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the object type specification for the data flow objects.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the counts of edges of the data flow objects.

10. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the one or more user annotations of the data flow objects.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors;

a memory containing a program, which when executed by the one or more computer processors is configured to perform an operation for generating a view of a data flow model, the operation comprising;

receiving the data flow model, wherein the data flow model includes a plurality of data flow objects;

determining, one or more groupings of the plurality of data flow objects, each grouping containing a respective plurality of data flow objects, wherein the one or more groupings are determined based on at least three grouping factors selected from;

(i) an ontology; and

(ii) an object type specification for the data flow objects;

(iii) counts of edges of the data flow objects; and

(iv) one or more user annotations of the data flow objects;

each of the at least three grouping factors having a respective weight determined based on one or more weighting rules and with which to resolve a grouping conflict in favor of the grouping factor having the highest weight;

collapsing at least a first one of the groupings in the view, such that the first grouping is visible in the view while any data flow object in the first grouping is not visible; and

outputting the view for display in a user interface configured to selectively expand and collapse the first grouping based on user input.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein expanding the first grouping comprises rendering the first grouping and any data flow object in the first grouping visible in the view.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the object type specification for the data flow objects.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein, the one or more groupings are determined based on the counts of edges of the data flow objects.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the ontology characterizes associations between terms retrieved from a predefined hierarchy of terms, wherein the ontology includes the hierarchy of terms, wherein the ontology is usable in order to determine a semantic distance between terms, wherein the semantic distance is measured in terms of a count of associations between terms.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the object type specification describes a set of data flow object types and associated attributes, wherein the attributes comprise granularity, edge frequency, valid parent nodes, and valid child nodes, wherein the object types are organized via an object type hierarchy, wherein the object type hierarchy is included in the object type specification.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the granularity characterizes a depth of an object type in the object type hierarchy, wherein the edge frequency characterizes an expected count of edges that a data flow object of an object type.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more groupings comprise a plurality of groupings, wherein the one or more user annotations are generated based at least in part on input received from a user, wherein the one or more user annotations comprise a plurality of user annotations including:

a first user annotation specifying to group a given data flow object;

a second user annotation specifying to collapse a first grouping of the plurality of groupings; and

a third user annotation specifying to expand a second grouping of the plurality of groupings.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more weighting rules comprise a plurality of weighting rules including:

a first weighting rule specifying to determine a weight based on a measure of completeness of the ontology;

a second weighting rule specifying to determine a weight commensurate with a depth of the object type in the object type hierarchy;

a third weighting rule specifying to determine a weight based on one or more attributes associated with the data flow model; and

a fourth weighting rule specifying to determine a weight based on a user role associated with the user;

wherein each grouping factor has an associated, distinct set of one or more weighting rules.