Support mechanisms for improved group policy management user interface

• US 7,783,672 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2003
• Issued: 08/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tanner, Carey, Whalen, William J., Wetmore, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewis; Alicia M
• Application Number:
  US10/410,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20040215627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,694 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/802
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

Provided are support mechanisms for a user interface mechanism that performs group policy management. The support mechanisms include a context menu map that provides a consistent and efficient way to generate interactive context menus for nodes using only straightforward declarations. The declarations are processed to invoke code with corresponding parameters that in turn generates a data structure corresponding to a context menu that is to be displayed. The data structure is processed into another data structure, from which data is extracted to meet the requirements of a hosting management application. An intermediary communications object is provided to separate the user interface into multiple components which each exchange data. A progress dialog is also provided to update the user as to the progress of lengthy operations performed on various managed objects, and to drive those operations. Refresh logic replicates changes made at one location in the user interface to other nodes.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of managing group policy related data comprising:

providing one or more interfaces to manage group policy related data, the interfaces including two or more selectable group policy objects, the group policy objects comprising at least one of;

a collection of files, an object or an attribute located in a network;

providing, from a unified view, the ability to view, manage, and search across one or more sites and to copy and import data to the group policy objects;

receiving a selection of one of the group policy objects;

providing a custom context menu of items related to the selected group policy object, wherein the custom context menu of items is customized based on context for the selected group policy object;

receiving a selection of one of the menu items;

accessing structured context menu data in a data structure in response to the selection of one of the menu items;

providing a custom context menu of commands for the selected one of the menu items based on the structured context menu data, wherein at least one of the commands in the custom context menu of commands is a snap-in supplied command;

receiving from the snap-in tool one or more flags for the context menu of commands, wherein at least one of the flags indicates how to display one of the commands in the context menu of commands; and

receiving data for one or more items of the context menu of commands from the snap-in tool in a customized result pane area,

wherein at least one of the providing the custom context menu of items or the providing the custom context menu of commands comprises;

processing a context menu map into a static data structure, the context menu map including macro declarations, the macros declarations including definitions of methods; and

calling methods in a base class to operate on the static data structure to generate at least one of the context menu of items or the context menu of commands, for a specific node type, the methods in the base class being generic to a plurality of node types include the specific node type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selectable group policy objects are presented in a treeview area of one of the interfaces.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving a selection of one of the group policy objects comprises receiving a selection of one of the group policy objects in the treeview area.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving an indication of a right-click in the treeview area.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing the context menu of commands in response to the indication of a right-click in the treeview area.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a shortcut activation to the context menu of commands.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the snap-in tool one or more command codes for one or more commands of the context menu of commands.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the snap-in tool location information indicating where a command in the context menu of commands is to be displayed relative to another command in the context menu of commands.

9. One or more processor-accessible storage media including processor-executable instructions comprising managing group policy related data, executed by a computing device to cause the computing device to perform actions comprising:

providing, from a unified view, the ability to view, manage, and search across one or more sites and to copy and import data to the group policy objects;

receiving a selection of one of the group policy objects;

providing a custom context menu of items related to the selected group policy object, wherein the custom context menu of items is customized based on context for the selected group policy object;

receiving a selection of one of the menu items;

accessing structured context menu data in a data structure in response to the selection of one of the menu items;

providing a custom context menu of commands for the selected one of the menu items based on the structured context menu data, wherein at least one of the commands in the custom context menu of commands is a snap-in supplied command;

receiving from the snap-in tool one or more flags for the context menu of commands, wherein at least one of the flags indicates how to display one of the commands in the context menu of commands; and

receiving data for one or more items of the context menu of commands from the snap-in tool in a customized result pane area,

wherein at least one of the providing the custom context menu of items or the providing the custom context menu of commands comprises;

processing a context menu map into a static data structure, the context menu map including macro declarations, the macros declarations including definitions of methods; and

calling methods in a base class to operate on the static data structure to generate at least one of the context menu of items or the context menu of commands, for a specific node type, the methods in the base class being generic to a plurality of node types include the specific node type.

10. The processor-accessible storage media of claim 9, the actions further comprising receiving from the snap-in tool one or more command codes for one or more commands of the context menu of commands.