Prototyping graphical user interfaces

• US 20040001092A1
• Filed: 06/27/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rothwein, Thomas M., Lei, Shu, Coker, John L., Hastings, Mark Curtis, Rashid, Fuad, Jindal, Bharat
• Granted Patent: US 7,594,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described for creating a prototype GUI for conversion into an actual GUI whose appearance when displayed matches the appearance of the prototype GUI. In some situations, multiple personnel may participate in the process, such as a non-technical GUI designer that specifies the prototype GUI appearance information and a technical GUI developer that specifies various non-appearance information for a corresponding actual GUI. A prototype GUI is first created based on layout and other appearance information specified for various GUI elements, and corresponding proxy GUI objects are generated that store appearance information but not various non-appearance information used as part of an actual GUI. Proxy GUI objects for a prototype GUI can then be converted into actual GUI objects for use with an actual GUI, and various non-appearance information can be specified for the actual GUI objects in various ways.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for creating a prototype graphical user interface (GUI) for conversion to an actual GUI, the method comprising:

receiving indications of GUI elements of a prototype GUI;

representing the indicated GUI elements with proxy GUI objects that include appearance information for the GUI elements; and

converting the proxy GUI objects for the prototype GUI into actual GUI objects for use in displaying an actual GUI, the actual GUI objects including the appearance information from the proxy GUI objects.

2. A method in a computing system for generating a graphical user interface (GUI) by converting a prototype GUI into an actual GUI in an automated manner, the prototype GUI simulating a visual appearance of the actual GUI, the method comprising:

under control of a GUI designer,

receiving an indication of a new prototype GUI to be generated;

displaying a visual representation of the prototype GUI; and

generating the prototype GUI by, repeatedly,

receiving information from the GUI designer about a visual appearance of a GUI element to be added to the prototype GUI, the GUI element of a type that displays data from an external data source when in an actual GUI;

creating a proxy GUI object to represent the GUI element, the created proxy GUI object including the visual appearance information but lacking a specification of an external data source for the GUI element; and

updating the displayed visual representation of the prototype GUI to include a visual representation of the GUI element that is based on the visual appearance information from the created proxy GUI object and that includes one or more placeholders for data from an external data source;

converting the prototype GUI into an actual GUI in an automated manner by, for each of the proxy GUI objects, generating a corresponding actual GUI object for the actual GUI that includes the visual appearance information from the proxy GUI object;

under control of a GUI developer, modifying each of the actual GUI objects to include a specification of an external data source; and

displaying the actual GUI in such a manner as to include displayed GUI elements corresponding to the actual GUI objects, each displayed GUI element based on the visual appearance information from the corresponding actual GUI object and including data from the external data source specified for that actual GUI object,

so that the displayed actual GUI has the same visual appearance as the updated displayed visual representation of the prototype GUI and includes actual data from external data sources.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the generating of the prototype GUI further includes receiving information from the GUI designer about a layout of the GUI elements added to the prototype GUI and modifying the proxy GUI objects representing the GUI elements to include the layout information, and wherein the actual GUI objects generated during the converting of the prototype GUI into the actual GUI further include the layout information from the proxy GUI objects.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the generating of the prototype GUI further includes receiving information from the GUI designer about a GUI template for the prototype GUI that includes location placeholders for holding GUI elements, and wherein the information about the layout of the GUI elements from the GUI designer includes assigning GUI elements to the location placeholders.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the generating of the prototype GUI further includes receiving information from the GUI designer about visual appearances of GUI elements to be added to the prototype GUI that are of types that do not display data from external data sources when in an actual GUI and creating proxy GUI objects representing those GUI elements that include that visual appearance information.

6. The method of claim 2 including, under the control of the GUI developer, modifying at least some of the actual GUI objects to include specifications of software routines to provide functionality to corresponding displayed GUI elements in an actual GUI.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the actual GUI objects generated during the converting of the prototype GUI into the actual GUI are distinct objects from the corresponding proxy GUI objects, and wherein the generating of the actual GUI objects includes copying information from the corresponding proxy GUI objects.

8. The method of claim 2 including, after the displaying of the actual GUI, modifying the actual GUI by:

receiving information from the GUI designer to modify one or more of the GUI elements for the prototype GUI;

modifying the proxy GUI objects that represent those GUI elements to reflect the received modification information;

modifying the actual GUI objects that correspond to the modified proxy GUI objects to reflect the modifications to those proxy GUI objects; and

displaying an updated version of the actual GUI that includes modified displayed GUI elements corresponding to the modified actual GUI objects, the modified displayed GUI elements reflecting the received modification information from the GUI designer.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein the GUI designer is a non-technical user, and wherein the GUI developer is a distinct technical user.

10. A computer-implemented method for creating a prototype graphical user interface (GUI) for conversion to an actual GUI, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a prototype GUI to be created;

receiving indications from a GUI designer of appearance information for GUI elements of the prototype GUI;

creating proxy GUI objects representing the GUI elements that store the indicated appearance information but that lack information needed for corresponding GUI elements when part of an actual GUI;

displaying to the GUI designer a visual representation of the prototype GUI that includes visual representations of the GUI elements based on the stored appearance information from the proxy GUI objects; and

automatically converting the proxy GUI objects for the prototype GUI into actual GUI objects for an actual GUI, the actual GUI objects including the appearance information for the GUI elements from the proxy GUI objects, so that the actual GUI objects can be used to display GUI elements in the actual GUI whose appearance matches that of the GUI elements of the prototype GUI but that are able to function as part of the actual GUI.

11. The method of claim 10 including receiving an indication from a GUI developer of non-appearance information for one of the actual GUI objects that is needed for a corresponding GUI element when displayed in the actual GUI and that was lacking in one or more proxy GUI objects from which the one actual GUI object was converted, and modifying the one actual GUI object to include the indicated non-appearance information.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the non-appearance information for the one actual GUI object includes static data to be displayed in the actual GUI by the GUI element corresponding to the one actual GUI object.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the non-appearance information for the one actual GUI object includes an indication of a data source from which data will be obtained for display in the actual GUI by the GUI element corresponding to the one actual GUI object.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the non-appearance information for the one actual GUI object includes an indication of a software routine that when invoked will provide functionality for the displayed GUI element corresponding to the one actual GUI object.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the non-appearance information for the one actual GUI object includes an indication of a relationship of the displayed GUI element corresponding to the one actual GUI object to another displayed GUI element corresponding to another of the actual GUI objects.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the modifying of the one actual GUI object is performed as part of the automatic converting of one or more of the proxy GUI objects into the one actual GUI object.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the proxy GUI objects include stubs for the lacked information needed for corresponding GUI elements that are part of an actual GUI.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the one actual GUI object is a modified proxy GUI object.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the one actual GUI object is a distinct object from the one or more proxy GUI objects from which the one actual GUI object was converted, and wherein the automatic converting of those proxy GUI objects into the one actual GUI object includes copying information from those proxy GUI objects to the one actual GUI object.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the GUI developer is distinct from the GUI designer.

21. The method of claim 10 including generating the actual UI based on the actual GUI objects.

22. The method of claim 10 including displaying the actual UI so as to include GUI elements that correspond to the proxy GUI objects and that have appearances matching those of the GUI elements of the prototype GUI.

23. The method of claim 10 wherein the indicated appearance information for the GUI elements includes layout information for those GUI elements.

24. The method of claim 23 includes receiving an indication of a GUI template for the prototype GUI that includes location placeholders for GUI elements, and wherein the indicated layout information includes associating GUI elements to the location placeholders.

25. The method of claim 10 wherein indicated appearance information for each of GUI elements includes an indication of one of multiple types of GUI elements that each have a distinct visual representation.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein each of the proxy GUI objects are created to represent one of the GUI elements, and wherein each of the created proxy GUI objects is of one of multiple distinct types that is based at least in part on the type of the represented GUI element.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein each of the proxy GUI object types are able to store distinct types of information.

28. The method of claim 10 wherein the prototype GUI corresponds to an existing actual GUI, and wherein the received indications of the appearance information for the GUI elements reflect modifications to the existing actual GUI.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the converting of the proxy GUI object into the actual GUI objects includes modifying existing actual GUI objects for the existing actual GUI.

30. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing device to create a prototype graphical user interface (GUI) for conversion to an actual GUI, by performing a method comprising:

receiving indications from a user of appearance information for GUI elements of a prototype GUI;

creating proxy GUI objects that include the indicated appearance information to represent the GUI elements; and

converting the proxy GUI objects for the prototype GUI into actual GUI objects for an actual GUI, the actual GUI objects including the appearance information for the GUI elements from the proxy GUI objects.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the method includes displaying a visual representation of the prototype GUI that includes visual representations of the GUI elements based on the appearance information from the proxy GUI objects.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the method includes displaying the actual GUI in such a manner as to include GUI elements that are based on the actual GUI objects and whose appearance matches the indicated appearance information for the GUI elements of the prototype GUI.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of a computing device.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the computer-readable medium is a data transmission medium transmitting a generated data signal containing the contents.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform the method.

36. A computing system for creating prototype graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for conversion to actual GUIs, comprising:

a GUI prototyper component that is capable of receiving indications from a user of appearance information for GUI elements of a prototype GUI and of creating proxy GUI objects that include the indicated appearance information to represent the GUI elements; and

a GUI converter component that is capable of converting the proxy GUI objects for the prototype GUI into actual GUI objects for an actual GUI such that the actual GUI objects include the appearance information for the GUI elements from the proxy GUI objects.

37. The computing system of claim 36 further comprising a GUI mapper component that is capable of receiving indications from a user of non-appearance information for actual GUI objects and of modifying the actual GUI objects to include the indicated non-appearance information.

38. A computer system for creating prototype graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for conversion to actual GUIs, comprising:

means for receiving indications from a user of appearance information for GUI elements of a prototype GUI and for creating proxy GUI objects that include the indicated appearance information to represent the GUI elements; and

means for converting the proxy GUI objects for the prototype GUI into actual GUI objects for an actual GUI such that the actual GUI objects include the appearance information for the GUI elements from the proxy GUI objects.

39. A computer-implemented method for creating an actual graphical user interface (GUI) by converting a prototype GUI, the method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple proxy GUI objects for a prototype GUI that include appearance information for corresponding GUI elements;

converting the proxy GUI objects for the prototype GUI into actual GUI objects that include the appearance information from the proxy GUI objects; and

generating an actual GUI that includes GUI elements based at least in part on the actual GUI objects.

40. The method of claim 39 including, before the generating of the actual GUI, modifying the actual GUI objects to include non-appearance information for the GUI elements of the actual GUI.