Interface for creating a plan artifact

• US 10,862,745 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 12/08/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Carlozzi, Christopher Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Ell, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US14/759,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,840 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

Embodiments are the creating of a plan artifact. A location, with respect to a virtual canvas, of each of a plurality of user interactions is identified. A plurality of noes are caused to be displayed on the virtual canvas wherein each node is displayed at a position corresponding to a location of one of the plurality of user interactions. Links between selected pairs of the displayed nodes are identified based on at least one of a user defined virtual canvas path and relative proximities between the displayed nodes. A connection is caused to be displayed between each pair of nodes identified as linked. A plan artifact defined at least in part by the displayed nodes and identified links is created.

Claims

1. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that when executed cause a system to:

identify, with respect to a virtual canvas displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI), a location of each of a plurality of user interactions;

cause a display of a plurality of nodes on the virtual canvas, wherein each respective node of the plurality of nodes is displayed at a position corresponding to a location of a respective user interaction of the plurality of user interactions;

determine relative proximities between the displayed plurality of nodes as positioned on the virtual canvas displayed in the GUI;

identify links between pairs of the displayed plurality of nodes based on the determined relative proximities between the displayed plurality of nodes as positioned on the virtual canvas displayed in the GUI;

cause a display of a connection between each pair of the displayed plurality of nodes identified as linked by the links;

create a plan artifact defined at least in part by the displayed plurality of nodes and based on the links; and

instantiate an architecture comprising infrastructure components based on the plan artifact.

2. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to, for each user interaction of the plurality of user interactions, cause a display of a pinwheel user interface control having a plurality of node buttons positioned around a center point, wherein the center point defines a position for placing a selected node on the virtual canvas, the selected node being a node associated with a user selected one of the node buttons.

3. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 1, wherein:

the displayed plurality of nodes represent different object types, and

the instructions when executed cause the system to;

examine the different object types to identify link compatibilities between the displayed plurality of nodes; and

identify the links between the pairs of the displayed plurality of nodes based on the identified link compatibilities and the relative proximities between the displayed plurality of nodes, wherein each respective link of the identified links is based on a determination that a connection compatibility between object types represented by displayed nodes interconnected by the respective link is not violated.

4. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 1, wherein:

each respective node of the displayed plurality of nodes functions as a control that when selected allows a user to modify node parameters associated with the respective node, and each respective connection functions as a control that when selected allows the user to modify links parameters associated with a corresponding link of the respective connection, and

the instructions when executed cause the system to create the plan artifact defined by the displayed plurality of nodes, the links, the modified node parameters, and the modified link parameters.

5. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to further:

responsive to activation of an edit control in the GUI, receive a user selected path across the virtual canvas that includes the displayed connections, the user selected path passing through a subset of the displayed plurality of nodes; and

modify the links among the displayed plurality of nodes in response to the user selected path,

wherein the plan artifact is defined further by the modified links.

6. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 5, wherein the user selected path is defined by a user swipe across the virtual canvas based on a user touching a display.

7. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 1, wherein the infrastructure components of the architecture instantiated based on the plan artifact comprise a server and an application.

8. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plan artifact comprises an executable module.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to;

cause a display of a virtual canvas in a graphical user interface (GUI) and a control for selecting from among a plurality of available nodes, and in response to user interactions with the control, cause a display of user selected nodes positioned on the virtual canvas according to the user interactions with the control;

determine relative proximities between the displayed user selected nodes as positioned on the virtual canvas displayed in the GUI;

identify links between pairs of the displayed user selected nodes based on the determined relative proximities between the displayed user selected nodes as positioned on the virtual canvas in the GUI;

cause a display of a connection between each pair of the displayed user selected nodes based on the identified links;

create a plan artifact defined at least in part by the displayed user selected nodes and based on the identified links; and

instantiate an architecture comprising infrastructure components based on the plan artifact.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to:

upon user interaction with the virtual canvas at a user selected position, cause a display of the control, the control including a plurality of node buttons positioned in a circular fashion around the user selected position; and

cause a selected one of the plurality of available nodes to be displayed at the user selected position according to a user interaction with one of the plurality of node buttons.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein:

each respective displayed user selected node functions as a control that when selected allows a user to select parameters associated with an object represented by the respective displayed user selected node, and each respective connection represents a link that when selected allows a user to select parameters associated with the link represented by the respective connection, and

the instructions are executable on the processor to create the plan artifact specifying the identified links, objects represented by the displayed user selected nodes, the parameters associated with the object, and the parameters associated with the link.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the architecture instantiated based on the plan artifact comprises a cloud architecture.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to further:

responsive to activation of an edit control in the GUI, receive a user selected path across the virtual canvas that includes the displayed connections, the user selected path passing through a subset of the displayed user selected nodes; and

modify the links among the displayed user selected nodes in response to the user selected path,

wherein the plan artifact is defined further by the modified links.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the user selected path is defined by a user swipe across the virtual canvas based on a user touching a display.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the displayed user selected nodes represent objects of different types, and wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to:

examine the objects of the different types to identify link compatibilities between the objects,

wherein identifying the links is according to the identified link compatibilities where each respective link of the identified links is based on a determination that a connection compatibility between object types represented by displayed user selected nodes interconnected by the respective link is not violated.

16. A method executed by a system comprising a computer processor, comprising:

causing a display of a virtual canvas in a graphical user interface (GUI);

in response to a plurality of user interactions with the virtual canvas, causing a display of user selected nodes at positions on the virtual canvas corresponding to locations of the plurality of user interactions;

determining relative proximities between the displayed user selected nodes as positioned on the virtual canvas in the GUI;

identifying links between pairs of the displayed user selected nodes, the pairs selected according to the determined relative proximities of the displayed user selected nodes as positioned on the virtual canvas displayed in the GUI;

causing a display of a connection between each of the pairs of the displayed user selected nodes, each connection representing a corresponding link of the links;

responsive to activation of an edit control in the GUI, receiving a user selected path across the virtual canvas that includes the displayed connections, the user selected path passing through a subset of the displayed user selected nodes;

modifying the links among the displayed user selected nodes in response to the user selected path;

creating a plan artifact defined at least in part by the displayed user selected nodes and the modified links; and

instantiating an architecture comprising infrastructure components based on the plan artifact.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the displayed user selected nodes represent objects of different types, the method comprising:

examining the objects of the different types to identify link compatibilities between the objects,

wherein identifying the links is according to the identified link compatibilities where each respective link of the identified links is based on a determination that a connection compatibility between object types represented by displayed user selected nodes interconnected by the respective link is not violated.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein for each respective user interaction of the plurality of user interactions with the virtual canvas, the method further comprises:

causing a display of a pin wheel interface control having a plurality of node buttons positioned around a center point having a position on the virtual canvas corresponding to the respective user interaction; and

causing a display of a respective user selected node corresponding to a user interaction with a selected one of the plurality of node buttons, the respective user selected node being positioned at the center point.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein:

each respective displayed user selected node functions as a control that when selected allows a user to select a parameter for an object represented by the respective displayed user selected node, and each respective displayed connection functions as a control that when selected allows a user to select a parameter for a link represented by the respective displayed connection, and

the method comprises creating the plan artifact defining objects represented by the displayed user selected nodes, the modified links, the parameter for the object, and the parameter for the link.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the user selected path is defined by a user swipe across the virtual canvas based on a user touching a display.