Interaction between web gadgets and spreadsheets
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- at least one processor; and
memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method for integrating a gadget with a spreadsheet, the method comprisingproviding an Application Programming Interface (API) for the gadget to communicate with the spreadsheet;
receiving a selection of a range of cells of the spreadsheet to bind to the gadget, wherein the selected range of cells comprises one or more cells of the spreadsheet;
determining a binding between the selected range of cells of the spreadsheet and the gadget;
determining an interaction with the selected range of cells;
automatically providing a first notification to the gadget in response to the interaction;
receiving a call from the gadget using the API;
performing an operation involving the spreadsheet that relates to the received call;
after performing the operation, receiving input to change the selected range of cells to adjust the binding to include the changed selected range of cells; and
automatically providing a second notification to the gadget in response to the input.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Gadgets integrate with spreadsheets and the spreadsheet calculation engine. A gadget is bound to a range of cells (one or more) within a sheet. When one or more of the cells of the bound range is accessed (e.g. selected, hovered over, edited, deleted, added), the gadget is notified. The gadget may use this information for updating a display rendered by the gadget and/or performing some other action. The gadget uses an Application Programming Interface (API) to create the binding, communicate with the spreadsheet, and perform actions in the spreadsheet. The gadget is a Named Item object within the spreadsheet such that the gadget may be viewed/displayed differently from other objects. Out of date requests from the gadget are attempted to be detected and prevented from being processed such that the gadget is not acting on the latest data.
205 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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at least one processor; and memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method for integrating a gadget with a spreadsheet, the method comprising providing an Application Programming Interface (API) for the gadget to communicate with the spreadsheet; receiving a selection of a range of cells of the spreadsheet to bind to the gadget, wherein the selected range of cells comprises one or more cells of the spreadsheet; determining a binding between the selected range of cells of the spreadsheet and the gadget; determining an interaction with the selected range of cells; automatically providing a first notification to the gadget in response to the interaction; receiving a call from the gadget using the API; performing an operation involving the spreadsheet that relates to the received call; after performing the operation, receiving input to change the selected range of cells to adjust the binding to include the changed selected range of cells; and automatically providing a second notification to the gadget in response to the input. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17)
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11. A method for integrating a gadget with a spreadsheet, comprising:
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providing an Application Programming Interface (API) for the gadget to communicate with the spreadsheet; receiving a selection of a range of cells of the spreadsheet to bind to the gadget, wherein the selected range of cells comprises one or more cells of the spreadsheet; determining a binding between the selected range of cells of the spreadsheet and the gadget; determining an interaction with the selected range of cells; automatically providing a first notification to the gadget in response to the interaction; receiving a call from the gadget using the API; performing an operation involving the spreadsheet that relates to the received call; after performing the operation, receiving input to change the selected range of cells to adjust the binding to include the changed selected range of cells; and automatically providing a second notification to the gadget in response to the input. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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18. A system comprising
at least one processor; - and
memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising providing an Application Programming Interface (API) for a gadget to communicate with a spreadsheet; receiving a selection of a range of cells of the spreadsheet to bind to the gadget, wherein the selected range of cells comprises one or more cells of the spreadsheet; establishing a binding between the selected range of cells of the spreadsheet and the gadget; receiving input to change the selected range of cells to adjust the binding to include the changed selected range of cells; and automatically providing a notification to the gadget in response to the input. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification