GENERATING AND DISPLAYING ACTIVE REPORTS

• US 20160048480A1
• Filed: 10/27/2015
• Published: 02/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: CHAN, YUEN SHEUNG, DAGEVILLE, BENOIT, SU, HSIAO-TE, BELKNAP, PETER CLAYTON
• Granted Patent: US 10,482,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention enable the generation and display of active reports. Applications of the present invention include its use in embodiments of a web-based product for managing an Information Technology (IT) infrastructure although the present invention is not limited to such applications. In embodiments, an active report is an active report file comprising report data and a user interface (UI) reference to a network location of code that defines an interactive UI comprising graphical user interface (GUI) components to be rendered when displaying the report data. In embodiments, the interactive UI is defined by UI code (such as an Adobe Flash Small Web Format (SWF) file) that also defines the UI of a rich internet application (RIA). In embodiments, the UI reference may be a link designating a location to the location of the UI code on a network, such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request for a report from a user;

in response to receiving the request, retrieving data from a database and generating a file that (a) contains the data, (b) lacks code that generates graphical features with which the user can interact to cause a device of the user to alter a presentation of the data on a device display, and (c) contains a reference that the device of the user follows to obtain the code over a network; and

sending the file, without the code, to the device of the user.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request through a command line interface.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user lacks access to a particular interface-generating framework that generates the graphical features for applications that interact with the framework.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein sending the file comprises e-mailing the file to the user.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the file is a hypertext markup language (HTML) file that cannot express the graphical features in HTML.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the graphical features include a set of tabs that can be alternatively selected, by the user, to view different aspects of the data.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

accessing the data and causing the data to be displayed to a particular user of an application via an application interactive user interface (UI) defined by a set of software components rendered local to the application.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the data are performance data for a system.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein generating the file comprises:

generating an active report file comprising the data and a user interface (UI) reference, the UI reference designating one of a plurality of network locations of code defining a corresponding second interactive UI to be rendered when displaying at least some of the data to a non-accessor of the application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one of the plurality of network locations is designated by the UI reference based on an identity of the non-accessor of the application.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the device of the user lacks, at a time of the generating of the file, code that generates the graphical features.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code is an Adobe Flash Small Web Format file.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the reference is a uniform resource identifier (URI) that specifies a location, on the network, from which the Small Web Format file can be downloaded.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code defines graphical animation and sound.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code, when processed by the device of the user, causes the device of the user to present the data within a user interface having a look and feel that is identical to a look and feel of an application that accesses the code through a framework that is stored on a same device on which the application executes.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code, when processed by the device of the user, causes the device of the user to present the data within a user interface having a look and feel that is customized based on an identity of the user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code, when processed by the device of the user, causes the device of the user to present the data within a user interface having a look and feel that is identical to a look and feel of an application that provides real-time access to the database.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the device of the user lacks real-time access to the database.

19. A method for providing interactive report functionality, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a report from a user;

in response to receiving the request, retrieving data from a database and generating a file that (a) contains the data, (b) lacks code that generates graphical features with which the user can interact to cause a device of the user to alter a presentation of the data on a device display, and (c) contains a reference that the device of the user follows to obtain the code over a network; and

sending the file, without the code, to the device of the user.

20. A system for providing interactive report functionality, the system comprising:

a computer including memory and one or more microprocessors; and

an active report generator executing on the computer that, in response to receiving a request for a report from a user, retrieves data from a database and generates a file that (a) contains the data, (b) lacks code that generates graphical features with which the user can interact to cause a device of the user to alter a presentation of the data on a device display, and (c) contains a reference that the device of the user follows to obtain the code over a network; and

wherein the active report generator sends the generated file, without the code, to the device of the user.