Just in time component mapping

• US 8,856,741 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Maurice, Gilles, Ward, Trevor H., McLellan, Keith, Leask, Jim, Helleman, Ben
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Luna, Roberto E
• Application Number:
  US13/250,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20130198720A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 717/122
• US Class Current: 717/122
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/64 Retargetable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

One embodiment involves a system comprising a network, a server, and a requesting device. The server and requesting device are connected with the network. The server comprises a processor configured to receive a request from the requesting device and determine information about the requesting device based at least in part on the request. The processor is further configured to determine an abstract representation of an application and at least one mapping from a plurality of mappings based at least in part on the information about the device. The abstract representation comprises a plurality of components. Each mapping comprises an attribute for at least one of the plurality of components. The processor is further configured to generate a version of the application on-the-fly based at least in part on the abstract representation and the at least one mapping and send the version of the application to the requesting device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a request from a device for an application;

determining, by a processor, information about the device based at least in part on the request;

determining, by a processor, a version of the application by at least;

determining an abstract representation of the application, the abstract representation comprising a plurality of components for a user interface for the application; and

determining a mapping from a plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device, the mapping comprising a plurality of attributes corresponding with one or more components of the abstract representation and defining a look for the user interface;

dynamically generating, by a processor and in response to receiving the request, the version of the application by at least generating the user interface having the look based at least in part on the plurality of attributes in the determined mapping and the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation, wherein generating the user interface comprises determining a location in the user interface for a component from the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation based on an attribute for the component from the plurality of attributes in the determined mapping, wherein the generated user interface comprises the component at the determined location; and

sending, by a processor, the version of the application to the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the user interface comprises:

determining a color for a component from the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation based on an attribute for the component from the plurality of attributes in the determined mapping, wherein the generated user interface comprises the component having the determined color.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the version of the application is based at least in part on a second mapping.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping comprises at least one declarative language.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device comprises at least one of:

a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a WiFi-capable computer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining information about the device comprises;

determining a hardware specification associated with the device, the hardware specification comprising at least one of a number of graphics cards, an amount of memory, an amount of cache, or a number of processors; and

determining the mapping from the plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device comprises;

determining the mapping based at least in part on the hardware specification.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining information about the device comprises;

determining a display size of a display for the device; and

determining the mapping from the plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device comprises;

determining the mapping based at least in part on the display size of the display.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a second request to the device, the second request indicating that additional information about the device is needed; and

receiving a response from the device, the response providing at least a portion of the additional information about the device,

wherein determining the mapping from the plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device comprises determining the mapping based at least in part on the portion of the additional information about the device.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein a first mapping from the plurality of available mappings comprises a first attribute comprising a first type of form field for a component from the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation and a second mapping from the plurality of available mappings comprises a second attribute comprising a second type of form field different than the first type of form field for the component.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a first mapping from the plurality of available mappings is configured for a first device comprising a first display;

a second mapping from the plurality of available mappings is configured for a second device comprising a second display smaller in size than the first display; and

determining the mapping from the plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device comprises selecting between the first mapping and the second mapping based on a display size of the requesting device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein:

a third mapping from the plurality of available mappings is configured for a third device comprising a touchscreen, and

determining the mapping from the plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device comprises selecting the third mapping if the requesting device comprises the touchscreen.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein:

a third mapping from the plurality of available mappings is configured for a first language,

a fourth mapping from the plurality of available mappings is configured for a second language, and

determining the mapping from the plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device comprises selecting the third mapping if the information about the device indicates that the first language should be used and selecting the fourth mapping if the information about the device indicates that the second language should be used.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined mapping comprises at least a first mapping and a second mapping.

25. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the determined mapping comprises a first attribute for a component from the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation and the second mapping comprises a second attribute for the component;

the generated version of the application comprises either the first attribute or the second attribute, but not both, based on a hierarchy between the determined mapping and the second mapping.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the first attribute comprises a first color and the second attribute comprises a second color different than the first color.

9. A method, comprising:

in response to receiving a first input, creating, by a processor, an abstract representation of an application, the abstract representation comprising a plurality of components for a user interface for the application;

in response to receiving a second input, creating, by a processor, a plurality of mappings, each of the plurality of mappings comprising at least one attribute corresponding with at least one of the plurality of components of the abstract representation and defining a respective look for the user interface; and

generating, by a processor, a version of the application based on the abstract representation and at least one mapping from the plurality of mappings by generating the user interface having a look based at least in part on the plurality of attributes in the at least one mapping, wherein generating the user interface comprises determining a color for a component from the plurality of components in the abstract representation based on an attribute for the component from the plurality of attributes in the at least one mapping, wherein the generated user interface comprises the component having the determined color.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each of the plurality of mappings represents at least one version of the application.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the abstract representation and at least one of the plurality of mappings are created in an application development environment (ADE).

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the abstract representation comprises at least one declarative language.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein at least one of the plurality of mappings comprises at least one declarative language.

27. The method of claim 12 wherein the abstract representation comprises at least one procedural language.

14. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising capable of;

connecting to a network; and

communicating with a requesting device through the network; and

the processor configured to;

receive a request from the requesting device for an application;

determine information about the requesting device based at least in part on the request;

determine a version of the application by at least determining an abstract representation of the application and at least one mapping from a plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the requesting device, the abstract representation comprising a plurality of components for a user interface for the application, the at least one mapping comprising a plurality of attributes corresponding with one or more components of the abstract representation and defining a look for the user interface;

generate the version of the application on-the-fly by at least generating the user interface having the look based at least in part on the plurality of attributes in the determined mapping and the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation, wherein generating the user interface comprises determining a location in the user interface for a component from the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation based on an attribute for the component from the plurality of attributes in the determined mapping, wherein the generated user interface comprises the component at the determined location; and

send the generated version of the application to the requesting device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the information about the requesting device comprises an operating system installed on the requesting device;

the at least one mapping from the plurality of available mappings is determined based on the operating system installed on the requesting device; and

the generated version of the application is configured to executable by the operating system installed on the requesting device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the information about the requesting device comprises information usable to determine a geographic location of the requesting device;

the at least one mapping from the plurality of available mappings is determined based at least in part on the geographic location of the requesting device; and

the generated version of the application is configured for the geographic location of the requesting device.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the information about the requesting device comprises a browser running on the requesting device and whether a plug-in for the browser is installed or enabled on the requesting device, wherein the at least one mapping from the plurality of available mappings is determined based at least in part on the browser running on the requesting device and whether the plug-in for the browser is installed or enabled on the requesting device; and

the generated version of the application is configured to be compatible with the browser and the plug-in if the plug-in is installed and enabled on the requesting device, and compatible with the browser and operable without the plug-in if the plug-in is not installed or is not enabled on the requesting device.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the abstract representation comprises at least one declarative language.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code stored thereon, that when executed by a computer, causes the computer to:

receive a request from a device for an application;

determine information about the device based at least in part on the request;

determine a version of the application by at least;

determining an abstract representation of the application, the abstract representation comprising a plurality of components for a user interface for the application; and

determining a mapping from a plurality of available mappings based at least in part on the information about the device, the mapping comprising a plurality of attributes corresponding with one or more components of the abstract representation and defining a look for the user interface;

dynamically generate the version of the application on-the-fly by at least generating the user interface having the look based at least in part on the plurality of attributes in the determined mapping and the plurality of components in the determined abstract representation, wherein generating the user interface comprises determining a color for a component from the plurality of components in the abstract representation based on an attribute for the component from the plurality of attributes in the at least one mapping, wherein the generated user interface comprises the component having the determined color; and

send the version of the application to the device.