Domain transformation languages

• US 9,158,507 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2011
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Software Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Simonyi, Charles, Clifford, Shane J.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, THU V
• Application Number:
  US13/114,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20110225489A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,603 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/239, 715/249, 715/200, 715/243, 717/144
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/88 Mark-up to mark-up conversion conversion for visualization in web browsing G06F16/9577
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/10 Text processing natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/40 Transformation of program code

Abstract

A method and system for transforming documents from different domains into a common representation for viewing and editing is provided. The system prepares the domain-specific document for visual representation by performing a series of transformations in a pipeline that convert the document from its domain-specific input state to a series of intermediate languages. The intermediate languages share the same syntax regardless of the domain of the document being transformed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable hardware device containing instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

mapping a domain-specific document to an abstract language representation of the document;

receiving at least two notational choices, the receiving comprising;

receiving a first notational choice, the first notational choice specifying how a first type of items are to be formatted when displayed, and

receiving a second notational choice different from the first notational choice, the second notational choice specifying how a second type of items are to be formatted when displayed,

wherein the document includes at least one item of the first type of items and at least one item of the second type of items;

mapping the abstract language representation to a concrete language representation of the document based on the received at least two notational choices;

determining a layout of the concrete language representation;

for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, mapping the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document based on the determined layout; and

displaying the document based on the graphical language representation

wherein the first type of items are trees so that the first notational choice specifies how trees are to be formatted when displayed, and

wherein the second type of items are programming blocks so that the second notational choice specifies how programming blocks are to be formatted when displayed.

2. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting changes to the document and updating a display based on the changes.

3. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting changes to the displayed document and incorporating the changes into the graphical language representation.

4. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 3 wherein the operations further comprise:

reverse mapping the incorporated changes from the graphical language representation to the domain-specific document.

5. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 1 wherein displaying the document includes determining a size of a display area for displaying the document.

6. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting changes to the document and representing the changes using a pending language representation.

7. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 6 wherein the changes include changes that are invalid for the document.

8. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document is mapped to a different element of the graphical language representation of the document.

9. The computer-readable hardware device of claim 1, wherein the receiving at least two notational choices comprises receiving, from the user, an indication of how fractions are to be formatted when displayed and further comprises receiving, from the user, an indication of how trees are to be formatted when displayed.

10. A system having a memory and a processor for representing a document specific to a domain for interaction with a user, comprising:

a domain-to-abstract language component configured to transform a domain language document in a domain language to an abstract language document in an abstract language at least in part by mapping elements of the domain language document to abstract language elements of the abstract language, wherein the domain-to-abstract language component is specific to the domain of the domain language document and wherein the abstract language represents the abstract language document in a set of domain-independent terms;

an abstract-to-concrete language component configured to transform the abstract language document in the abstract language to a concrete language document in a concrete language at least in part by mapping elements of the abstract language document to concrete language elements of the concrete language based on two or more notational choices received from the user, wherein the abstract-to-concrete language component is independent of the domain of the domain language document and wherein the concrete language represents the concrete language document after a specific set of marks has been chosen, and wherein the concrete language document is based on each of the two or more notational choices received from the user; and

a concrete-to-graphical language component configured to transform the concrete language document in the concrete language to a graphical language document in a graphical language at least in part by mapping elements of the concrete language document to graphical language elements of the graphical language based on dimensions of a display area, wherein the concrete-to-graphical language component is independent of the domain of the domain language document,

wherein each notational choice specifies how at least one type of item in the graphical language document is to be formatted when displayed,

wherein a first type of items are programming blocks so that a first notational choice specifies how programming blocks are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the document includes at least one programming block, and

wherein each of the components comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the memory for execution by the system.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the abstract language elements comprise:

data elements that represent data that does not contain semantics that need to be preserved for visual representation;

statements that represent intentions of a document author, wherein the statements are capable of expressing documents having a variety of notations;

operations that represent document elements that have combinational semantics defined by priority; and

first organizers that represent organizational information that affects the visual representation of the document.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the concrete language elements comprise:

transparent frames that represent a box with one or more layout rules;

controls that change a state of a display of the document through one or more layout rules, wherein the controls comprise a first control configured to set tabification rules for a block of text;

control organizers that each defines a scope associated with a control; and

first marks that represent data within the document, wherein each of a plurality of first marks has an associated formatting choice specified by the user.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the graphical language elements comprise:

canvases that define an area of a display with specific dimensions; and

second marks that represent a part of a displayed image relative to an associated canvas, each second mark having an associated reference position relative to the associated canvas,

such that the graphical language describes a layout of elements of the graphical language document.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the concrete language further comprises:

a second control specifying a continuation string to be placed at each line where a break occurs; and

a first control organizer that defines a scope associated with the second control.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the concrete-to-graphical language component is further configured to perform a reverse transformation to transform a graphical language document to a concrete language document, wherein the abstract-to-concrete language component is further configured to perform a reverse transformation to transform a concrete language document to an abstract language document, and wherein the domain-to-abstract language component is further configured to perform a reverse transformation to transform an abstract language document to a domain language document.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the domain language document is source code for a computer program.

17. The system of claim 10 including a pending language component that represents intermediate changes to the document that are invalid for the domain and cannot be stored in the domain language.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the concrete language represents formatting and styles applied to the document.

19. The system of claim 10 including a hit-testing component configured to detect graphical language elements selected by the user based on a displayed representation of the document.

20. The system of claim 10 wherein each element of the abstract language document is mapped to a different concrete language element.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language document is mapped to a different graphical language element.

22. A computer-readable hardware device containing instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations for preparing a document, the operations comprising:

mapping the document to an abstract language representation of the document;

receiving a first notational choice, the first notational choice specifying how a first type of items are to be formatted when displayed;

receiving a second notational choice different from the first notational choice, the second notational choice specifying how a second type of items are to be formatted when displayed;

receiving a third notational choice different from the first notational choice and different from the second notational choice, the third notational choice specifying how a third type of items are to be formatted when displayed;

mapping the abstract language representation of the document to a concrete language representation of the document based on the received notational choices, wherein the mapping comprises,

for a first item of the first type of the abstract language representation of the document, using the first notational choice to map the first item of the abstract language representation of the document to a first concrete language element,

for a second item of the second type of the abstract language representation of the document, using the second notational choice to map the second item of the abstract language representation of the document to a second concrete language element, and

for a third item of the third type of the abstract language representation of the document, using the third notational choice to map the third item of the abstract language representation of the document to a third concrete language element;

determining a layout of the concrete language representation; and

for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, mapping the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document based on the determined layout,

wherein the first type of items are fractions so that the first notational choice specifies how fractions are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the second type of items are trees so that the second notational choice specifies how trees are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the third type of items are programming blocks so that the third notational choice specifies how programming blocks are to be formatted when displayed, and wherein the document includes at least one item of the first type of items, at least one item of the second type of items, and at least one item of the third type of items.

23. A method, comprising:

mapping a document in a first domain to an abstract language representation of the document;

receiving at least two notational choices, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed;

mapping the abstract language representation to a concrete language representation of the document based on the received at least two notational choices;

determining a layout of the concrete language representation; and

for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, mapping the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document based on the determined layout,

wherein the receiving at least two notational choices, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item is to be formatted when displayed, comprises receiving a first notational choice, the first notational choice specifying how a first type of items are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the first type of items are trees so that the first notational choice specifies how trees are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the document includes at least one tree.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

reverse-mapping an abstract language representation of the document to a domain language representation of the document that contains editing changes made to a displayed representation of the document.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the document is a word processing document that does not contain source code.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the document contains source code.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the receiving at least two notational choices comprises receiving a first notational choice corresponding to how programming blocks of the document are to be formatted.

28. A system, having a memory and a processor, comprising:

a component configured to receive notational choices related to an abstract language representation of a document, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed;

a component configured to map an abstract language representation of the document to a concrete language representation of the document based on two or more received notational choices related to an abstract language representation of the document;

a component configured to, for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, map the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document that does not contain source code based on a determined layout;

a component configured to incorporate detected changes to the document into the graphical language representation of the document, wherein a first detected change is invalid for the document;

a component configured to represent the first detected change using a pending language representation;

a component configured to reverse-map the incorporated changes from the graphical language representation to the document; and

a component configured to detect graphical language elements selected by a user based on a displayed representation of the document,

wherein the component configured to receive notational choices related to an abstract language representation of the document, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed, is configured to receive a first notational choice specifying how a first type of items are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the first type of items are programming blocks so that the first notational choice specifies how programming blocks are to be formatted when displayed, and wherein the document includes at least one programming block, and

wherein each of the components comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the memory for execution by the system.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

a domain-to-domain transform component configured to reduce domain concepts of the document prior to converting the document to the abstract language representation of the document.

30. A system, having a memory and a processor, comprising:

a component configured to receive notational choices related to an abstract language representation of a document, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed;

a component configured to map an abstract language representation of the document to a concrete language representation of the document based on two or more received notational choices related to an abstract language representation of the document;

a component configured to, for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, map the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document that does not contain source code based on a determined layout;

a component configured to incorporate detected changes to the document into the graphical language representation of the document, wherein a first detected change is invalid for the document;

a component configured to represent the first detected change using a pending language representation;

a component configured to reverse-map the incorporated changes from the graphical language representation to the document; and

a component configured to detect graphical language elements selected by a user based on a displayed representation of the document,

wherein the component configured to receive notational choices related to an abstract language representation of the document, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed, is configured to receive a first notational choice, the first notational choice specifying how a first type of items are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the first type of items are trees so that the first notational choice specifies how trees are to be formatted when displayed, and wherein the document includes at least one tree.

31. A method, comprising:

mapping a document in a first domain to an abstract language representation of the document;

receiving at least two notational choices, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed;

mapping the abstract language representation to a concrete language representation of the document based on the received at least two notational choices;

determining a layout of the concrete language representation; and

for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, mapping the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document based on the determined layout,

wherein receiving at least two notational choices, each notational choice specifying how at least one type of item in the document is to be formatted when displayed comprises receiving a first notational choice specifying how a first type of items are to be formatted when displayed, wherein the first type of items are programming blocks so that the first notational choice specifies how programming blocks are to be formatted when displayed, and wherein the document includes at least one programming block.

32. A computer-readable hardware device containing instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations for preparing a document, the operations comprising:

mapping the document to an abstract language representation of the document;

receiving a first notational choice, the first notational choice specifying how a first type of items in the document are to be formatted when displayed,

wherein the first type of items are programming blocks so that the first notational choice specifies how programming blocks are to be formatted when displayed, and

wherein the document includes at least one programming block;

receiving a second notational choice different from the first notational choice, the second notational choice specifying how a second type of items in the document are to be formatted when displayed;

receiving a third notational choice different from the first notational choice and different from the second notational choice, the third notational choice specifying how a third type of items in the document are to be formatted when displayed;

mapping the abstract language representation of the document to a concrete language representation of the document based on the received notational choices, wherein the mapping comprises,

for a first item of the first type of the abstract language representation of the document, using the first notational choice to map the first item of the abstract language representation of the document to a first concrete language element,

for a second item of the second type of the abstract language representation of the document, using the second notational choice to map the second item of the abstract language representation of the document to a second concrete language element, and

for a third item of the third type of the abstract language representation of the document, using the third notational choice to map the third item of the abstract language representation of the document to a third concrete language element;

determining a layout of the concrete language representation; and

for each of a plurality of elements of the concrete language representation of the document, mapping the element of the concrete language representation to an element of a graphical language representation of the document based on the determined layout.