Page object model

• US 7,284,193 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1998
• Issued: 10/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shewchuk, John P., Johnson, David C., Millet, Stephen J., Lindhorst, Gregory S., Buehler, John M.
• Primary Examiner(s): BASHORE, WILLIAM L
• Application Number:
  US09/223,774
• Time in Patent Office: 3,211 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707100-102, 345/752, 717/100, 717/1, 715/513, 715/501.1
• US Class Current: 715/234
• 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 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

An environment for developing clientside/serverside code is disclosed. The environment allows the treatment of pages as objects as well as the access of objects contained within pages by other pages. Pages may be accessed through the use of a page object control stored in each page where the page object control specifies how other pages may use the page as an object.

Claims

1. A system for allowing manipulation of pages as objects for exchange between a client and server, the system comprising:

at least one storage facility; and

at least one processor, said at least one processor handling;

a first page object control on a first page, wherein the first page references a second page;

a second page object control on the second page, said second page object control including script, the execution of which creates an object that is stored on the second page, the second page object control having additional script for accessing at least one of a method and a property associated with the object stored on said second page;

wherein said first page instantiates said second page object control onto the first page and accesses a first method associated with the object stored on the second page via said second page object control responsive to the instantiation of said second page object control, and wherein said first page references the first method associated with the object stored on the second page to support script in said first page without referencing a second method associated with the object stored on the second page.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one of a method and a property associated with said first page comprise values settable by a developer.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the first page is on a client.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the first page is on a server.

5. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure comprising:

a first page including an object with an associated at least one of a method and a property;

a first page object control on the first page, wherein the first page object control scans the first page to create a list of the at least one of a method and a property associated with the object present on said first page when the data structure is processed by a data processing device,

a second page distinct from the first page;

a second page object control on the second page, said second page object control creating a reference to said first page object control on said first page,

wherein creating the reference to said first page object control includes the second page object control locating said first page object control on said first page, instantiating said first page object control on said second page via said second page object control, receiving information from said first page object control, said information including said list of at least one of a method and a property present on said first page, and referring to said at least one of a method and a property of the object on the first page on said second page without referring to at least a second method or property of the object on the first page.

6. The computer-readable medium according to claim 5, wherein the at least one of said method and said property includes values settable by a developer.

7. A computer-implemented method for creating a first page having a first page object control capable of referencing a second page object control on a second page, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving input for editing said first page;

the first page object control on the first page referencing said second page object control on said second page responsive to receiving the input, the second page object control including a list of objects and associated methods or properties on the second page;

referencing at least one of a method or property of an object on the list of objects on said second page from said first page without transferring said at least one of a method or property from said second page to said first page and without referencing at least a second method or property of the object, said at least one of a method or property being located on said second page; and

storing said first page.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:

creating the second page including adding a page object control to said second page, said page object control specifying at least one method or property stored on said second page.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of modifying the page object control.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:

creating the second page including adding a page object control to said second page, said page object control specifying at least one method or property related to said second page.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of modifying the page object control.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure comprising:

a first page and a second page, the second page being distinct from the first page;

a set of instructions stored on the first page;

a first page object control on the first page and referencing the set of instructions stored on the first page;

a second page object control distinct from the first page object control and stored on the second page; and

a programming user interface for receiving an input and for displaying the set of instructions stored on the first page,

wherein the second page object control on the second page, responsive to the input received at the programming user interface and when the data structure is processed by a data processing device, locates the first page object control on the first page and wherein the second page object control instantiates the first page object control onto the second page responsive to locating the first page object control, wherein the second page references a first method located on the first page using the first page object control without referencing a second method of the first page, and wherein the second page is displayed.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein the set of instructions stored on the first page includes values settable by a developer.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein after the second page object control instantiates the first page object control onto the second page, the set of instructions stored on the first page is accessible at the second page.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the set of instructions remains stored on the first page.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of instructions is not stored on the second page.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein execution of the set of instructions causes composition of the first page.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein execution of the set of instructions causes composition of the second page without composing the first page.

19. A computer-implemented method for composing a page by execution of a set of instructions associated with another page, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a first page including a first page object control and at least one set of instructions associated with the first page, wherein execution of the at least one set of instructions is capable of causing composition of the first page, wherein the first page object control references the at least one set of instructions associated with the first page;

displaying a programming user interface including a list of all sets of instructions associated with the first page;

providing a second page, the second page being distinct from the first page and including a second page object control, the second page object control being distinct from the first page object control;

receiving an input via the programming user interface;

the second page object control on the second page, responsive to the input received via the programming user interface, instantiating the first page object control on the second page;

the second page object control of the second page referencing a first method associated with an object stored on the first page without referencing a second method associated with the object;

the second page executing the at least one set of instructions associated with the first page object control on the second page based on the first page object control instantiated on the second page; and

composing the second page responsive to the executing of the at least one set of instructions associated with the first page object control.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

creating the second page including adding the second page object control to the second page, the second page object control specifying at least one set of instructions associated with the second page.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of executing the at least one set of instructions associated with the first page object control on the second page includes executing the at least one set of instructions from the second page, the at least one set of instructions being stored on the first page.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the instantiating step comprises:

the second page object control on the second page examining the contents of the first page;

the second page object control locating the first page object control on the first page based on the examining; and

instantiating the first page object control on the second page.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising the second page object control retrieving a list of object model elements from the first page object control.

24. A computer-implemented method for creating a first page having a first page object control capable of referencing a second page object control on a second page, the method comprising the steps of:

at a server, receiving input for editing said first page from a remote client;

referencing, by the first page object control on the first page, said second page object control on said second page responsive to receiving the input, the second page object control including a list of objects and associated methods or properties on the second page;

referencing at least one of a method or property of an object on the list of objects on said second page from said first page without transferring said at least one of a method or property from said second page to said first page, said at least one of a method or property being located on said second page,

wherein said referencing of the at least one of a method or property of the object is performed without referencing at least a second method or property of the object; and

storing said first page on the server.

25. A computer-implemented method for creating a first page having a first page object control capable of referencing a second page object control on a second page, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting input for editing said first page from a client to a remote server, wherein said input corresponds to a reference from the first page object control on the first page to said second page object control on said second page, the second page object control including a list of objects and associated methods or properties on the second page,

wherein said input further includes instructions for referencing at least one of a method or property of an object on the list of objects on said second page from said first page without transferring said at least one of a method or property from said second page to said first page and without referencing at least a second method or property of the object, said at least one of a method or property being located on said second page; and

requesting storage of said first page on the server.