Hierarchy nodes derived based on parent/child foreign key and/or range values on parent node

• US 9,400,814 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Martinsson, Lars E., Dumay, Mikhail
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Shew-Fen
• Application Number:
  US12/844,743
• Publication Number:
  US 20110022639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,191 Days
• Field of Search: 707/601, 707/706, 707/713, 707/726, 707/759, 707/767, 707777-782, 707785-788, 707797-811
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures

Abstract

Nodes of a tree are dynamically generated. A user may specify that a node should have a separate child node for each unique value that occurs in a particular column of a relational table. A user may specify that a node should have a separate child node for each range of values in a user-specified set of ranges. Child nodes of a particular node may be dynamically determined and displayed by querying one or more relational tables for records that satisfy all of the criteria that are implied by that particular node and that particular node'"'"'s parents. As a result of the foregoing techniques, users are not forced to create a tree node-by-node; instead, users can specify criteria based on which a whole level of nodes should be created, and a whole level of nodes may be added to a tree based on those criteria.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising steps of:

receiving user-specified criteria comprising a first column of a first database table stored in a database, and a set of user-specified ranges comprising two or more user-specified ranges for values of the first column;

in response to receiving the user-specified criteria, adding, to a tree structure, a first new subtree comprising a first set of nodes, wherein each node in the first set of nodes corresponds to a particular user-specified range of the set of user-specified ranges for the first column;

displaying the tree structure with the first new subtree;

after displaying the tree structure with the first new subtree, receiving additional user input identifying a user-selected node of the first set of nodes that corresponds to a particular range of the set of user-specified ranges;

in response to receiving the additional user input identifying the user-selected node after displaying the tree structure with the first new subtree, identifying records in the database that match the particular range corresponding to the user-selected node, generating a second set of nodes based on a set of second field values for a second column of the identified records, and adding, to the tree structure, a second new subtree that descends from the user-selected node, the second new subtree comprising the second set of nodes;

after adding the second new subtree to the tree structure, displaying, in the tree structure, the second new subtree;

wherein the hierarchical parent-child relationship between the second set of nodes and the user-selected node of the first set of nodes is not generated or stored before the additional user input identifying the user-selected node is received;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adding, to the tree structure, the second new subtree comprising the second set of nodes comprises adding a separate node to the second set of nodes for each record that matches the particular range of the user-selected node.

3. The method of claim 1:

wherein the first set of nodes are at a first hierarchical level of the tree structure; and

wherein the second set of nodes are at a second hierarchical level of the tree structure.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining nodes at a third level of the tree structure based at least in part on values that occur in a third field of a third database table.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding two or more nodes to a first level of the tree structure;

associating a second user-selected node of the set of the first set of nodes with a different column than the second column associated with the user-selected node;

adding, to the tree structure, a third new subtree that descends from the second user-selected node such that the third new subtree is at a same hierarchical level as the second new subtree descending from the user-selected node;

displaying the tree structure with the third new subtree.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at a first time, the second set of nodes of the second new subtree based at least in part on contents of the first database table and the second database table at the first time;

wherein the tree structure to which the second new subtree has been added is displayed at the first time;

determining, at a second time that occurs after the first time, and based at least in part on contents of the first database table and the second database table at the second time, an updated second new subtree comprising an updated second set of nodes; and

displaying the updated second new subtree at the second time;

wherein the second set of nodes determined at the first time differs from the updated second set of nodes determined at the second time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding two or more nodes simultaneously to a first level of the tree structure in response to receiving user input that specifies criteria for generating the two or more nodes; and

adding, to each node in the first level of the tree structure, simultaneously, two or more child nodes in response to receiving user input that specifies criteria for generating all of the child nodes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second column is a column of a second database table stored in the database that is related to the first database table by a foreign key column.

9. A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform certain steps comprising:

receiving user-specified criteria comprising a first column of a first database table stored in a database, and a set of user-specified ranges comprising two or more user-specified ranges for values of the first column;

in response to receiving the user-specified criteria, adding to a tree structure, a first new subtree comprising a first set of nodes, wherein each node in the first set of nodes corresponds to a particular user-specified range of the set of user-specified ranges for the first column;

displaying the tree structure with the first new subtree;

after displaying the tree structure with the first new subtree, receiving additional user input identifying a user-selected node of the first set of nodes that corresponds to a particular range of the set of user-specified ranges;

in response to receiving the additional user input identifying the user-selected node after displaying the tree structure with the first new subtree, identifying records in the database that match the particular range corresponding to the user-selected node, generating a second set of nodes based on a set of second field values for a second column of the identified records, and adding, to the tree structure, a second new subtree that descends from the user-selected node, the second new subtree comprising the second set of nodes;

after adding the second new subtree to the tree structure, displaying, in the tree structure, the second new subtree;

wherein the hierarchical parent-child relationship between the second set of nodes and the user-selected node of the first set of nodes is not generated or stored before the additional user input identifying the user-selected node is received.

10. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 9, wherein adding, to the tree structure, the second new subtree comprising the second set of nodes comprises adding a separate node to the second set of nodes for each record that matches the particular range of the user-selected node.

11. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 9, wherein:

wherein the first set of nodes are at a first hierarchical level of the tree structure; and

wherein the second set of nodes are at a second hierarchical level of the tree structure.

12. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein the steps further comprise:

determining nodes at a third level of the tree structure based at least in part on values that occur in a third field of a third database table.

13. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 9, wherein the steps further comprise:

adding two or more nodes to a first level of the tree structure;

associating a second user-selected node of the set of the first set of nodes with a different column than the second column associated with the user-selected node;

adding, to the tree structure, a third new subtree that descends from the second user-selected node such that the third new subtree is at a same hierarchical level as the second new subtree descending from the user-selected node;

displaying the tree structure with the third new subtree.

14. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 9, wherein the steps further comprise:

determining, at a first time, the second set of nodes of the second new subtree based at least in part on contents of the first database table and the second database table at the first time;

wherein the tree structure to which the second new subtree has been added is displayed at the first time;

determining, at a second time that occurs after the first time, and based at least in part on contents of the first database table and the second database table at the second time, an updated second new subtree comprising an updated second set of nodes; and

displaying the updated second new subtree at the second time;

wherein the second set of nodes determined at the first time differs from the updated second set of nodes determined at the second time.

15. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 9, wherein the steps further comprise:

adding two or more nodes simultaneously to a first level of the tree structure in response to receiving user input that specifies criteria for generating the two or more nodes; and

adding, to each node in the first level of the tree structure, simultaneously, two or more child nodes in response to receiving user input that specifies criteria for generating all of the child nodes.

16. The machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 9, wherein the second column is a column of a second database table stored in the database that is related to the first database table by a foreign key column.