Resolving information in a multitenant database environment

• US 8,775,946 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2011
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Jensen-Horne, Nathan, Burki, Dileep, Harley, Walter Sims, Small, Matthew, Scott, Kenneth Douglas, Brooks, David Andrew, Peddada, Prasad, Patel, Hemang, Chawla, Gaurav, Vietvu, Theresa, Gurram, Shriman
• Primary Examiner(s): ITURRALDE, ENRIQUE W
• Application Number:
  US13/094,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20110276892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 Days
• Field of Search: 715/744
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/783 Distributed allocation of resources, e.g. bandwidth brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Disclosed herein are techniques for providing a user interface component. In some implementations, a request for the user interface component may be received at a computing device. The user interface component may have a default visual presentation. A branding override may be selected from a plurality of available branding overrides. The branding override may define a modification to the default visual presentation of the user interface component. The branding override may be selected based on one or more contextual variables associated with the request for the user interface component. The user interface component may be modified in accordance with the selected branding override. The user interface component may be displayed on a display device.

Claims

1. A method of providing a user interface component, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a request for the user interface component, the user interface component having a default visual presentation;

identifying a branding override from a plurality of available branding overrides, each available branding override defining a respective modification to the default visual presentation of the user interface component, the identified branding override being selected based on one or more contextual variables associated with the request for the user interface component;

causing a first modified user interface component to be generated by modifying the user interface component in accordance with the identified branding override, the first modified user interface component being different from a second modified user interface component generated by modifying the user interface component in accordance with a different one of the available branding overrides; and

providing the first modified user interface component, the first modified user interface component configured to be displayed on a display device.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the request is received from a client machine in communication with the computing device, and providing the first modified user interface component comprises:

transmitting the first modified user interface component from the computing device to the client machine.

3. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the client machine is associated with a first entity of a plurality of entities in communication with the computing device, and wherein the identified branding override reflects one or more preferences or settings associated with the first entity.

4. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining prioritization information for the plurality of available branding overrides, the prioritization information including one or more objectives for selecting the branding override, wherein the branding override is selected based on the prioritization information.

5. The method recited in claim 4, wherein the prioritization information includes two or more objectives for selecting the branding override, and wherein the objectives are each associated with a respective importance ranking providing a measure of relative importance for the objectives.

6. The method recited in claim 5, wherein none of the available branding overrides satisfies all of the objectives, and wherein the branding override is selected based at least in part on the respective importance rankings associated with the objectives.

7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the user interface component is provided via an on-demand service environment configured to provide on-demand computing services to a plurality of organizations in communication with the on-demand computing services environment.

8. The method recited in claim 7, wherein the branding overrides are stored in a multitenant database accessible to two or more of the organizations via the on-demand computing services environment.

9. The method recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the requested user interface component is capable of being modified by a branding override; and

identifying the contextual variables in response to a determination that the requested user interface component is capable of being modified by a branding override.

10. The method recited in claim 9, the method further comprising:

determining whether any branding overrides are available for the requested user interface component in response to a determination that the requested user interface component is capable of being modified by a branding override, wherein the contextual variables are identified further in response to a determination that one or more branding overrides are available for the requested user interface component.

11. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the user interface component is created based on source code implemented in a computer programming language, wherein the source code is associated with a namespace, and wherein the contextual variables comprise one or more variables identifying a namespace.

12. A computing system comprising:

one or more processors configured to cause a computing device to;

receive a request for a user interface component, the user interface component having a default visual presentation;

identify a branding override from a plurality of available branding overrides, each available branding override defining a respective modification to the default visual presentation of the user interface component, the identified branding override being selected based on one or more contextual variables associated with the request for the user interface component;

cause a first modified user interface component to be generated by modifying the user interface component in accordance with the selected identified branding override, the first modified user interface component being different from a second modified user interface component generated by modifying the user interface component in accordance with a different one of the available branding overrides; and

provide the first modified user interface component, the first modified user interface component configured to be displayed on a display device.

13. The computing system recited in claim 12, wherein the request is received from a client machine, and providing the first modified user interface component comprises:

transmitting the user interface component to the client machine.

14. The computing system recited in claim 13, wherein the client machine is associated with a first entity of a plurality of entities in communication with the computing device, and wherein the identified branding override reflects one or more preferences or settings associated with the first entity.

15. The computing system recited in claim 12, the one or more processors being configured to cause a computing device to:

determine prioritization information for the plurality of available branding overrides, the prioritization information including one or more objectives for selecting the branding override, wherein the branding override is selected based on the prioritization information.

16. The computing system recited in claim 15, wherein the prioritization information includes two or more objectives for selecting the branding override, and wherein the objectives are each associated with a respective importance ranking providing a measure of relative importance for the objectives.

17. The computing system recited in claim 16, wherein none of the available branding overrides satisfies all of the objectives, and wherein the branding override is selected based at least in part on the respective importance rankings associated with the objectives.

18. The computing system recited in claim 12, wherein the user interface component is provided via an on-demand service environment configured to provide on-demand computing services to a plurality of organizations in communication with the on-demand computing services environment.

19. The computing system recited in claim 17, wherein the branding overrides are stored in a multitenant database accessible to two or more of the organizations via the on-demand computing services environment.

20. The computing system recited in claim 12, the one or more processors being configured to cause a computing device to:

determine whether the requested user interface component is capable of being modified by a branding override; and

identify the contextual variables in response to a determination that the requested user interface component is capable of being modified by a branding override.

21. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon configured to cause a method of providing a user interface component to be performed, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a request for the user interface component, the user interface component having a default visual presentation;

identifying a branding override from a plurality of available branding overrides, each available branding override defining a respective modification to the default visual presentation of the user interface component, the identified branding override being selected based on one or more contextual variables associated with the request for the user interface component;

causing a first modified user interface component to be generated by modifying the user interface component in accordance with the selected identified branding override, the first modified user interface component being different from a second modified user interface component generated by modifying the user interface component in accordance with a different one of the available branding overrides; and

providing the first modified user interface component, the first modified user interface component configured to be displayed on a display device.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 21, wherein the request is received from a client machine in communication with the computing device, and providing the first modified user interface component comprises:

transmitting the first modified user interface component from the computing device to the client machine.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 22, wherein the client machine is associated with a first entity of a plurality of entities in communication with the computing device, and wherein the identified branding override reflects one or more preferences or settings associated with the first entity.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 21, the method further comprising:

determining prioritization information for the plurality of available branding overrides, the

prioritization information including one or more objectives for selecting the branding override, wherein the branding override is selected based on the prioritization information.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 24, wherein the prioritization information includes two or more objectives for selecting the branding override, and wherein the objectives are each associated with a respective importance ranking providing a measure of relative importance for the objectives.

26. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media recited in claim 25, wherein none of the available branding overrides satisfies all of the objectives, and wherein the branding override is selected based at least in part on the respective importance rankings associated with the objectives.