EFFICIENT AND INTUITIVE DATABINDING FOR MOBILE APPLICATIONS

• US 20160092176A1
• Filed: 09/25/2015
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Straub, Christian David, Liu, Peter Tehchuan, Broadbent, Liza Lyons
• Granted Patent: US 10,073,679 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for allowing end users to intuitively databind functional components to backend services through visual affordances. Each UI component can advertise which sections of the UI can be independently databound to individual properties coming from data of backend services. When the user wishes to databind a UI component, the sections of the UI that can be databound now transforms to show relevant text describing the function of that particular section. The user can be presented with a databinding interface that consistent of all the possible pieces of data that the user can bind to as well as visual slots that map to the slots in the visual preview. To databind a component, a user can drag and drop the particular piece of data from the available list, and drop that into the slot they want that data to apply to.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computer, a first gesture made by a user of an application development framework binding a data source to a user interface of a mobile application being developed with the application development framework;

determining, by the computer, a set of data points available at the data source;

determining, by the computer, a set of data bindable areas of the user interface based on information provided by the user interface;

receiving, at the computer, a second gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a data point available at the data source to a data bindable area of the user interface; and

modifying, by the computer, a predetermined expression of the data bindable area with a reference to the data point available at the data source.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, at the computer, the first gesture made by the user of the application development framework comprise receiving information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data source from a catalog of services on to a visual representation of the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining, by the computer, the set of data points available at the data source comprises accessing a REST or SOAP definition.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining, by the computer, the set of data points available at the data source comprises receiving information from a harvester that introspects deployed services and creates API assets representing services discovered in one or more cloud-based projects.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining, by the computer, the set of data bindable areas of the user interface based on the information provided by the user interface comprises:

identifying a template associated with the user interface; and

determining a set of user interface elements based on the template that correspond to the set of data bindable areas.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, at the computer, the second gesture made by the user of the application development framework comprises receiving information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point available at the data source from a visual representation of the set of data points available at the data source on to a visual representation of the data bindable area.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying, by the computer, the predetermined expression of the data bindable area with the reference to the data point available at the data source comprises updating a reference to first data used when previewing the user interface without databinding with the reference to the data point available at the data source.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the computer, a set of parameters required to request data from the data source;

determining, by the computer, a set of parameter sources based on the information provided by the user interface; and

receiving, at the computer, a third gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a parameter to a parameter source.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer-program product which when executed by a processor of a computer causes the processor to:

receive a first gesture made by a user of an application development framework binding a data source to a user interface of a mobile application being developed with the application development framework;

determine a set of data points available at the data source;

determine a set of data bindable areas of the user interface based on information provided by the user interface;

receive a second gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a data point available at the data source to a data bindable area of the user interface; and

modify a predetermined expression of the data bindable area with a reference to the data point available at the data source.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein to receive the first gesture made by the user of the application development framework the computer program product causes the processor to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data source from a catalog of services on to a visual representation of the user interface.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein to determine the set of data points available at the data source the computer program product causes the processor to access a REST or SOAP definition.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein to determine the set of data points available at the data source the computer program product causes the processor to receive information from a harvester that introspects deployed services and creates API assets representing services discovered in one or more cloud-based projects.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein to determine the set of data bindable areas of the user interface based on the information provided by the user interface the computer program product causes the processor to:

identify a template associated with the user interface; and

determine a set of user interface elements based on the template that correspond to the set of data bindable areas.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein to receive the second gesture made by the user of the application development framework the computer program product causes the processor to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point available at the data source from a visual representation of the set of data points available at the data source on to a visual representation of the data bindable area.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein to modify the predetermined expression of the data bindable area with the reference to the data point available at the data source the computer program product causes the processor to update a reference to first data used when previewing the user interface without databinding with the reference to the data point available at the data source.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the computer program product further causes the processor to:

determine a set of parameters required to request data from the data source;

determine a set of parameter sources based on the information provided by the user interface; and

receive a third gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a parameter to a parameter source.

17. A system comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a memory storing a set of instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a first gesture made by a user of an application development framework binding a data source to a user interface of a mobile application being developed with the application development framework;

determine a set of data points available at the data source;

determine a set of data bindable areas of the user interface based on information provided by the user interface;

receive a second gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a data point available at the data source to a data bindable area of the user interface; and

modify a predetermined expression of the data bindable area with a reference to the data point available at the data source.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein to receive the first gesture made by the user of the application development framework the processor is caused to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data source from a catalog of services on to a visual representation of the user interface.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein to determine the set of data points available at the data source the processor is caused to access a REST or SOAP definition.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein to determine the set of data points available at the data source the processor is caused to receive information from a harvester that introspects deployed services and creates API assets representing services discovered in one or more cloud-based projects.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein to determine the set of data bindable areas of the user interface based on the information provided by the user interface the processor is further caused to:

identify a template associated with the user interface; and

determine a set of user interface elements based on the template that correspond to the set of data bindable areas.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein to receive the second gesture made by the user of the application development framework the processor is caused to receive information indicative of the user dragging a visual representation of the data point available at the data source from a visual representation of the set of data points available at the data source on to a visual representation of the data bindable area.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein to modify the predetermined expression of the data bindable area with the reference to the data point available at the data source the processor is caused to update a reference to first data used when previewing the user interface without databinding with the reference to the data point available at the data source.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein the processor is further caused to:

determine a set of parameters required to request data from the data source;

determine a set of parameter sources based on the information provided by the user interface; and

receive a third gesture made by the user of the application development framework linking a parameter to a parameter source.