Secure isolation of scripting from native graphic rendering of animated data visualizations

• US 9,905,034 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2015
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Prophete, Didier, Chen, Yenan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hajnik, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/857,662
• Publication Number:
  US 20170076091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/033 Test or assess software
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

The disclosed technology includes systems and methods for secure isolation of scripting from graphical representations in a unified charting framework. The technology disclosed relates to a platform for ultra-fast, ad-hoc data exploration and faceted navigation on integrated, heterogeneous data sets. The disclosed apparatus and methods for secure isolation of scripting from graphics make it possible to securely share live data as rendered on a live dashboard, for both desktop and mobile application environments, without saving a new state on a server when time data and dashboard elements are updated. The disclosed unified charting framework makes it possible to target multiple platforms—generating data visualization representations that can be displayed when rendered natively on both desktop and mobile devices, and when rendered in a browser window.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of isolating scripting from native graphic engine rendering of animated data visualizations, including:

receiving at a run time script processing tool, messages comprising;

first output comprising first selected data to be visualized in a body of a first scene, first chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in the first scene, and a first static visualization script that produces a first data visualization of the first selected data; and

second output comprising second selected data to be visualized in a body of a second scene, second chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in the second scene, and a second static visualization script that produces a second data visualization of the second selected data;

operating the run time script processing tool, comprising;

running the first static visualization script against the first data and first chart parameters in the first output to generate a serialized first data set that describes the first data visualization as shapes that represent data regions of the chart and other chart components;

running the second static visualization script against the second data and second chart parameters in the second output to generate a serialized second data set that describes the second data visualization as shapes that represent data regions of the chart and other chart components;

automatically calculating tweening parameters to animate transition between the first data visualization and the second data visualization; and

causing display of the first data visualization and then of an animated transition from the first data visualization to the second data visualization by successively passing to a run time native rendering tool the serialized first data set and the serialized second data set together with the tweening parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, further including, in the run time native rendering tool, receiving a data set or reference to the data set, marshalling the data set into the first data visualization and the second data visualization, and executing the tweening between the first data visualization and the second data visualization.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a visualization of the data set includes multiple charts concurrently visible, further including:

each chart, into which an associated data set returned by an associated query, is translated by an associated visualization widget into a scene; and

a plurality of the charts set a facet property, wherein the facet property links operation of data filtering controls among the charts, wherein selection of a data filter control in one chart causes the selected data filter control to be applied to additional charts that have the facet property set.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data visualization script executes in an iFrame.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native desktop application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native mobile device application.

7. A computer implemented method of isolating scripting from native graphic engine rendering of animated data visualizations, including:

receiving at a run time script processing tool, messages comprising;

representation of animated data visualizations in an object hierarchy that includes at least one scene, multiple cells per scene, one or more layers per cell and shapes in the cells, wherein the cells subdivide the scene into areas holding different components of a data visualization to be animated cell-wise;

first output comprising first selected data to be visualized in a body cell, first chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in chart cells, and a first static visualization script identifier that invokes a first static visualization script to produce a first data visualization of the first selected data;

second output comprising second selected data to be visualized in a body cell, second chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in chart cells, and a second static visualization script identifier that invokes the static visualization to produce a second data visualization of the second selected data; and

the first and second static visualization scripts;

operating the run time script processing tool, comprising;

running the first static visualization script against the first data and first parameters in the first output;

generating a serialized first data set that describes the first data visualization in a first data;

running the second static visualization script against the second data and second parameters in the second output;

generating a serialized second data set that describes the second data visualization in a second data;

automatically calculating tweening parameters to animate cell-wise transition from the body and visualization chart elements cells in the first data visualization to the body and visualization chart elements cells in the second data visualization; and

causing display of the first data visualization and then of an animated transition from the first data visualization to the second data visualization by successively passing to a run time native rendering tool the serialized first data set and the serialized second data set together with the tweening parameters.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a scene includes a key string identifier, two numbers that represent a size of a rectangle for the scene, two numbers that represent a position of the rectangle for the scene, and a number that represents a size for scene content.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a cell includes a key string identifier, two numbers that represent a relative position of the cell, an index count of a cell that sets a layer order, a set of four numbers that represent coordinates for a rectangle for the cell, a settable Boolean flag for enabling scrolling in an x direction, and a settable Boolean flag for enabling scrolling in a Y direction.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a layer include a key string identifier, two numbers that represent a width and height of the cell, two numbers that represent a translation of a location of a cell origin, a settable Boolean flag for enabling staggering of the animation between the shapes in the layer, and a set of three numbers that represent coordinates for scaling applied to the shapes in the layer.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first data visualization script executes in an iFrame.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native desktop application.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native mobile device application.

14. A system of routing of isolating scripting from native graphic engine rendering of animated data visualizations, the system including:

a processor, memory coupled to the processor, and computer instructions loaded into the memory that, when executed, cause the processor to implement a process that includes;

receiving at a run time script processing tool, messages comprising;

first output comprising first selected data to be visualized in a body of a first scene, first chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in the first scene, and a first static visualization script that produces a first data visualization of the first selected data; and

second output comprising second selected data to be visualized in a body of a second scene, second chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in the second scene, and a second static visualization script that produces a second data visualization of the second selected data;

operating the run time script processing tool, comprising;

running the first static visualization script against the first data and first chart parameters in the first output to generate a serialized first data set that describes the first data visualization as shapes that represent data regions of the chart and other chart components;

running the second static visualization script against the second data and second chart parameters in the second output to generate a serialized second data set that describes the second data visualization as shapes that represent data regions of the chart and other chart components;

automatically calculating tweening parameters to animate transition between the first data visualization and the second data visualization; and

causing display of the first data visualization and then of an animated transition from the first data visualization to the second data visualization by successively passing to a run time native rendering tool the serialized first data set and then the serialized second data set together with the tweening parameters.

15. The system of claim 14, further including, in the run time native rendering tool, receiving a data set or reference to the data set, marshalling the data set into the first data visualization and the second data visualization, and executing the tweening between the first data visualization and the second data visualization.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein a visualization of the data set includes multiple charts concurrently visible, further including:

each chart, into which an associated data set returned by an associated query, is translated by an associated visualization widget into a scene; and

a plurality of the charts set a facet property, wherein the facet property links operation of data filtering controls among the charts, wherein selection of a data filter control in one chart causes the selected data filter control to be applied to additional charts that have the facet property set.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first data visualization script executes in an iFrame.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native desktop application.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native mobile device application.

20. A tangible computer readable storage medium loaded with computer instructions that, when executed, cause a computer system to perform actions that isolate scripting from native graphic engine rendering of animated data visualizations, the actions including:

receiving at a run time script processing tool, messages comprising;

first output comprising first selected data to be visualized in a body of a first scene, first chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in the first scene, and a first static visualization script that produces a first data visualization of the first selected data; and

second output comprising second selected data to be visualized in a body of a second scene, second chart parameters defining visualization chart elements in the second scene, and a second static visualization script that produces a second data visualization of the second selected data;

operating the run time script processing tool, comprising;

running the first static visualization script against the first data and first chart parameters in the first output to generate a serialized first data set that describes the first data visualization as shapes that represent data regions of the chart and other chart components;

running the second static visualization script against the second data and second chart parameters in the second output to generate a serialized second data set that describes the second data visualization as shapes that represent data regions of the chart and other chart components;

automatically calculating tweening parameters to animate transition between the first data visualization and the second data visualization; and

causing display of the first data visualization and then of an animated transition from the first data visualization to the second data visualization by successively passing to a run time native rendering tool the serialized first data set and then the serialized second data set together with the tweening parameters.

21. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 20, further including, in the run time native rendering tool, receiving a data set or reference to the data set, marshalling the data set into the first data visualization and the second data visualization, and executing the tweening between the first data visualization and the second data visualization.

22. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein a visualization of the data set includes multiple charts concurrently visible, further including:

each chart, into which an associated data set returned by an associated query, is translated by an associated visualization widget into a scene; and

a plurality of the charts set a facet property, wherein the facet property links operation of data filtering controls among the charts, wherein selection of a data filter control in one chart causes the selected data filter control to be applied to additional charts that have the facet property set.

23. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the first data visualization script executes in an iFrame.

24. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native desktop application.

25. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the run time native rendering tool is implemented, across multiple platforms that have different operating systems, as a native mobile device application.