Development system with methods for improved visual programming with hierarchical object explorer

• US 6,014,138 A
• Filed: 08/16/1996
• Issued: 01/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Borland Software Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Inprise Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Omiya, Elliot, Cain, Ronald Allen, Phipps, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US08/699,009
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 345/333, 345/335, 345/339, 345/340, 345/348, 345/352, 345/356, 345/326, 395/701, 395/702, 395/703
• US Class Current: 715/826
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A system of the present invention includes a relational database management system (RDBMS), having an object-based, interactive visual-programming language providing programming by "visual inheritance." A user places screen objects (e.g., boxes, screen buttons, table objects, and the like) on an on-screen window or "form," visually attaches selected "properties" and "methods" to the screen objects, and then establishes an containership-based event model that dictates how and when these properties and methods will be invoked. An object inherits (derives) properties and methods from other (parent) objects via its visual containership. In this manner, the task of creating and maintaining application programs is greatly simplified. An alternative embodiment providing an "Object Explorer" is also described. The Explorer collapses object inspector and object tree functionality into a single UI (user interface) element. This allows the user to avoid switching back and forth between an inspector/property sheet user interface element on the one hand and an object tree user interface element on the other. Additionally, the imporved interface consumes less screen surface area.

Claims

1. In a computer system, a method for assisting a user with creating an application program, the method comprising:

(a) providing a set of screen objects, each object having a set of properties and methods, said set of objects including some objects which may be contained within other objects of the set;

(b) displaying a form for placement of objects;

(c) placing desired ones of said objects at desired locations on the form;

(d) if at least one object is placed within visual boundaries of another object, establishing an object hierarchy specifying a container relationship between the objects, said container relationship specifying which objects may access methods and properties of other objects;

(e) displaying an outline view comprising nodes representing container relationships existing among objects; and

(f) in response to user selection of a particular one of said objects,

(i) highlighting a node of the outline view corresponding to the particular user-selected object, and

(ii) responsive to said highlighting step, displaying a sheet listing properties and methods corresponding to the particular user-selected object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said objects include user interface objects selected from screen buttons, box objects, and text objects.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

moving an object from within the boundaries of a first object to within the boundaries of a second object; and

responsive to said moving step, destroying the container relationship between the moved object and the first object and establishing a new container relationship between the moved object and the second object and updating said outline view to illustrate the new container relationship.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a first node representing a first object which is contained within a second object, said first node being represented in the outline view as a node which depends from a second node which represents said second object, said first and second nodes indicating a container relationship between the first and second objects;

receiving a request for moving the first node to a node position in the outline view which depends from a third node which represents a third object; and

responsive to said request, destroying the container relationship between said first and second objects and establishing a new container relationship between said first and third objects.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input for selecting different nodes in the outline view; and

as each different node is selected, indicating to the user each object on the form which is associated with the selected node.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input for selecting different objects; and

as each different object is selected, highlighting in the outline view each node which is associated with the selected object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the boundaries of each object comprises visual boundaries manifested by each object displayed on screen.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said form comprises a window object displayed on a screen device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) includes:

displaying a set of objects which can be placed on the form;

receiving first input for selecting one object from the set;

receiving second input for selecting a position on a screen device, said position specifying a particular location on the form; and

in response to said first and second inputs, placing the selected object on the form at the particular location.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether the particular location is positioned within the boundaries of an existing object; and

if the particular location lies within an existing object which can contain the selected object, establishing a container relationship between the objects upon placement of the selected object on the form at the particular location.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

updating the outline view to indicate that the existing object now contains the selected object which has been placed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises:

for each at least one object placed within boundaries of another object, testing whether the object is compatible with the other object; and

establishing a container relationship between the objects only when they are compatible.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(g) for each at least one object placed within boundaries of another object, testing whether the object is too large for the other object; and

(h) automatically resizing the other object so that said each at least one object can be contained within the boundaries of the other object.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said properties include selected ones of size, position, and color.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said container relationship specifies that an object can access the methods and properties of objects it is contained within.

16. A visual development system for creating an application program, the system comprising:

a computer system having a processor and a memory;

means for displaying a set of screen objects, each object having a set of properties and methods responsive to events, said set of objects including some objects which may be contained within other objects of the set;

means for displaying a form for placement of objects;

input means for placing desired ones of said objects at desired locations on the form;

means for establishing an object hierarchy specifying a containership relation between the objects if at least one object is placed within visual boundaries of another object, said containership relation specifying which objects may access methods and properties of other objects; and

means for displaying an outline view comprising nodes representing said containership relation between the objects as a hierarchical set of nodes, each node corresponding to a particular object, said outline view remaining synchronized such that user selection of a given object causes highlighting of a corresponding node for that object.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said objects include selected ones of screen buttons, box objects, and text objects.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said events comprise user input events.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said user input events include selected ones of keyboard input events and pointing device input events.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein said input means includes:

means for displaying a menu of objects;

means for receiving first input for selecting one object from said menu of objects;

means for receiving second input for selecting a position on a screen device, said position specifying a particular location on the form; and

means, responsive to said first and second inputs, for placing the selected object on the form at the particular location.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein said establishing means comprises:

means for testing, for each at least one object place within boundaries of another object, whether the object is compatible with the other object; and

means for establishing a containership relation between the objects only when they are compatible.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein said objects include user-supplied names, and wherein objects contained within the boundaries of the same object at an equivalent containership level have unique names.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein said outline view represents a first object contained within a second object as first and second nodes, respectively, wherein the containership relation between the objects is indicated by displaying the first node as a dependent node of the second node.

24. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

means for altering containership relations between objects by modifying nodes in the outline view.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said means for altering containership relations includes:

means for cutting and pasting each node from one location to another in the outline view.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein said means for altering containership relations includes:

means for dragging each node from one location in the outline view and dropping the node in another location in the outline view.

27. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

input means for selecting different nodes in the outline view; and

means for indicating which object on the form is associated with the selected node, as each different node is selected.

28. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

input means for selecting objects; and

means for highlighting in the outline view each node which is associated with a selected object, as each different object is selected.

29. The system of claim 16, wherein said input means for placing desired ones of said objects at desired locations on the form includes:

means for determining whether a particular desired location is positioned within boundaries of an existing object; and

means for establishing a container relationship between the objects upon placement of a selected object on the form at the particular location, if the particular location lies within an existing object which can contain the selected object.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

means for updating the outline view to indicate that the existing object now contains the selected object which has just been placed.

31. In a visual development system, a method for aiding a user with creating an application, the method comprising:

providing a set of screen objects for creating the application, each object having a set of properties and methods, said set of objects including some objects which may be contained within other objects of the set;

displaying a form for placement of objects, said form comprising a main window of the application;

displaying an object outline comprising a hierarchical representation of the application being created, wherein a first object which is contained visually within a second object is represented in the object outline as respective first and second nodes, wherein the first node is a child node of the second node;

placing desired ones of said objects at desired locations on the form; and

as each object is placed on the form, updating the object outline for illustrating to the user which objects are contained within other objects, said object outline indicating a currently-selected object by highlighting a corresponding node for that object.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein objects in the system can be contained within other objects to an arbitrary level of nesting.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein an object in the system can be contained by another object which is, in turn, contained by yet another object.

34. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

receiving input for selecting different nodes in the object outline; and

as each different node is selected, indicating which object on the form is associated with the selected node.

35. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

receiving input for selecting objects on the form; and

as each different object is selected on the form, highlighting in the object outline each node which is associated with the selected object.

36. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

collapsing a selected node on the object outline by temporarily ceasing display of any children nodes which depend from the selected node.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

expanding the selected node on the object outline by again displaying any children nodes which depend from the selected node.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

displaying user feedback for indicating that the selected node contains one or more children nodes which are temporarily hidden from display.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein said user feedback comprises a "+" sign displayed with the selected node for indicating that the selected node contains one or more children nodes which are temporarily hidden from display.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said expanding step includes:

receiving user input for selecting the "+" sign, whereupon the system expands the selected node on the object outline by again displaying any children nodes which depend from the selected node.

41. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

displaying user feedback for indicating that a given node contains one or more children nodes which are presently displayed on screen.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein said user feedback comprises a "-" sign displayed with the given node for indicating that the node contains one or more children nodes which are presently displayed on screen.

43. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

modifying which objects a particular object is contained within by cutting and pasting the node associated with the particular object from one location to another in the object outline.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

testing whether the particular object is compatible with other objects as its associated node is pasted to a new location in the object outline.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

if the particular object is not compatible with other objects at the new location, preventing pasting of the associated node at that new location.