Linking visual properties of charts to cells within tables

• US 9,558,172 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Rampson, Benjamin Edward, Ruble, Scott, Sklar, Benjamin, Garg, Anupam
• Primary Examiner(s): TAPP, AMELIA L
• Application Number:
  US12/047,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20090235152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,247 Days
• Field of Search: 715/212
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

Tools and techniques are described for linking visual properties of charts to cells within tables. Methods provided by these tools enable users to select visual properties that are associated with graphical displays of chart data, and to link these visual properties to respective cells within the tables. User interfaces provided by these tools may provide representations of visual properties associated with the graphical displays of chart data, with these representations of the visual properties being responsive to user input to link the cells in the tables to the visual properties. These user interfaces may also include representations of the cells that are associated with the representations of the visual properties.

Claims

1. At least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

present a user interface element comprising representations of a plurality of visual formatting properties of a chart display of data contained within a table and representations of a plurality of cells in the table;

receive through the user interface element a command for linking individual visual formatting properties of the plurality of visual formatting properties to contents of selected individual cells of the plurality of cells;

in response to receiving the command, link the individual visual formatting properties to the contents of the selected individual cells such that changes to the contents of one of the selected individual cells influences a corresponding one of the visual formatting properties; and

wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells comprises a formula that calculates the corresponding one of the visual formatting properties and indicates whether to present the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties in connection with a logarithmic scale.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the chart display is presented within a spreadsheet application.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the individual visual formatting properties comprises a maximum or minimum value presented on at least one axis within the chart display.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the individual visual formatting properties comprises a trendline included within the chart display.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells includes a custom name for the trendline.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the individual visual formatting properties comprises a trendline represented as a polynomial curve within the chart display, and wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells indicates an order of the polynomial curve.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the formula depends on at least one value specified within another cell of the plurality of cells.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells specifies a base for a logarithmic scale for presenting the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells specifies display units for axes included within the chart display.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells specifies where to align at least one tick mark relative to axes included within the chart display.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the apparatus to

present a user interface element comprising representations of a plurality of visual formatting properties of a chart display of data contained with a table and representations of a plurality of cells in the table,

receive through the user interface element a command for linking individual visual formatting properties of the plurality of visual formatting properties to contents of selected individual cells of the plurality of cells,

in response to receiving the command, link the individual visual formatting properties to the contents of the selected individual cells such that changes to the contents of one of the selected individual cells influences a corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties, and

wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells comprises a formula that calculates the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties and indicates whether to present the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties in connection with a logarithmic scale.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the formula depends on at least one value specified within another cell of the plurality of cells.

13. A computer-implemented method for linking visual properties of charts to cells within tables comprising:

displaying a user interface element comprising representations of a plurality of visual formatting properties of a chart display of data contained within a table and representations of a plurality of cells within the table;

receiving, through the user interface element a command for linking individual visual formatting properties of the plurality of visual formatting properties to contents of selected individual cells of the plurality of cells within the table;

in response to receiving the command, linking the individual visual formatting properties to the contents of the selected individual cells such that changes to the contents of one of the selected individual cells influences a corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties; and

wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells comprises a formula that calculates the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties and indicates whether to present the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties in connection with a logarithmic scale.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising instructions for enabling a user to create the formula within the selected one of the individual cells.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising instructions for presenting the chart display to the user.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the user interface element comprises a dialog box.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the contents of the one of the selected individual cells specifies a base for a logarithmic scale for presenting the corresponding one of the individual visual formatting properties.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the chart display is presented within a spreadsheet application.