Method for providing selectable alternate menu views

• US 7,802,203 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2005
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Danninger, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dasgupta; Soumya
• Application Number:
  US11/317,313
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150839A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 715/841, 715/713, 715/793, 715/810, 715/828, 715/829
• US Class Current: 715/841
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

In a method for providing a menu display, in response to a menu item selection, the method may determine whether a menu map selection event or a cascading menu selection has occurred, may display a plurality of menus including those that are of a hierarchical level below and not immediately following the hierarchical level of the menu item upon a condition that the menu map selection event occurred, and may display a plurality of menus including a submenu of the menu item that is of an hierarchical level immediately below and not further below that of the menu item if the cascading menu selection has occurred.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented menu display method, comprising:

in response to a click of a menu item clickable via a first click event and via a second click event;

determining, by a processor, by which of the first click event and the second click event the menu item was clicked, whichever one of the first click event and the second click event occurred thereby being a determined click event; and

selectively associating, by the processor, the click with the menu item that has been clicked to render the menu item a selected menu item; and

in accordance with the association of the click with the menu item and in accordance with the determination, displaying a menu by the processor and in a display device;

wherein;

the display of the menu is (a) in a menu map view where the determined click event is the first click event and (b) in a cascading view where the determined click event is the second click event; and

the first click event is one of a right-click of a mouse and a left-click of the mouse, and the second click event is the other of the right-click of the mouse and the left-click of the mouse.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the first click event has occurred, all submenus of the menu item are displayed in response to the click irrespective of the submenus'"'"' hierarchical levels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, if the first click event has occurred, all menus of a menu category to which the menu item belongs are displayed in response to the click.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, if both the first click event has occurred and another menu category is selected subsequent to the menu display, menus of the other category are displayed instead of the menus of the menu category to which the menu item belongs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination is made in response to a click via the first or second click event conditional upon that the menu item is not selected from a display generated in response to a previous occurrence of the first click event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, if a menu listing is selected from the display generated in response to the previous occurrence of the first click event, the display generated in response to the previous occurrence of the first click event is modified to remove all menus from the display generated in response to the previous occurrence of the first click event, other than (a) a submenu of the menu listing, (b) a menu that includes the menu listing, and (c) a menu that includes a menu item that is a parent of the selected menu item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the first click event has occurred, a submenu displayed in response to the menu item click is displayed immediately following its parent menu item of an immediately preceding hierarchical level, and wherein another menu item of a menu that includes the parent menu item is displayed following the submenu.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a new window for the menu display upon the condition that the first click event has occurred, wherein the menu is otherwise displayed in a window in which the menu item is displayed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the new window remains open until one of selection of a window exit button and a window escape key.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the second click event has occurred, a menu is displayed in response to the click upon a condition that the menu is one of (a) a menu that includes a menu item that is a parent of the selected menu item, (b) a menu that includes the selected menu item, and (c) a submenu of the selected menu item and of a hierarchical level that immediately follows the hierarchical level of the selected menu item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the menu item includes one of a menu category, a menu listing, a portion of a menu bar not assigned to any menu category, and an icon corresponding to a combination of all menu categories of the menu bar, and wherein, if the first click event occurs and the click is of one of the portion of the menu bar and the icon, all menus of all menu categories of the menu bar are displayed in response to the click.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a click of a menu listing from a display generated in response to an occurrence of the first click event and regardless of whether the click of the menu listing is via the first click event or the second click event, removing all menus from the generated display other than (a) a submenu of the menu listing, (b) a menu that includes the menu listing, and (c) a menu that includes a menu item that is a parent of the selected menu item.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to click via the first click event of either of (a) a portion of a menu bar not assigned to any menu category and (b) an icon corresponding to a combination of all menu categories of the menu bar, displaying all menus of all menu categories of the menu bar; and

responsive to click via the first click event of either of (c) a menu category and (d) a menu listing of the menu category, displaying, of all of the menus, only a subset that correspond to the menu category.

14. A hardware computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor, the instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to perform a menu display method, the method comprising:

in response to a click of a menu item clickable via a first click event and via a second click event, wherein the first click event is one of a right-click of a mouse and a left-click of the mouse, and the second click event is the other of the right-click of the mouse and the left-click of the mouse;

determining via which of the first click event and the second click event the menu item was clicked, whichever one of the first click event and the second click event occurred thereby being a determined click event; and

selectively associating the click with the menu item that has been clicked to render the menu item a selected menu item; and

in accordance with the association of the click with the menu item and in accordance with the determination, displaying a menu, wherein the display of the menu is (a) in a menu map view where the determined click event is the first click event and (b) in a cascading view where the determined click event is the second click event.

15. A system for implementing a menu display method, comprising:

a computer processor configured to;

in response to a click of a menu item clickable via a first click event and via a second click event;

determine by which of the first click event and the second click event the menu item was clicked, whichever one of the first click event and the second click event occurred thereby being a determined click event; and

selectively associate the click with the menu item that has been clicked to render the menu item a selected menu item; and

in accordance with the association of the click with the menu item and in accordance with the determination, display a menu in a display device;

wherein;

the display of the menu is (a) in a menu map view where the determined click event is the first click event and (b) in a cascading view where the determined click event is the second click event; and

the first click event is one of a right-click of a mouse and a left-click of the mouse, and the second click event is the other of the right-click of the mouse and the left-click of the mouse.

16. A computer-implemented menu display method, comprising:

in response to a selection of a menu item selectable via a first selection event and via a second selection event;

determining, by a processor, by which of the first selection event and the second selection event the menu item was selected, whichever one of the first selection event and the second selection event occurred thereby being a determined selection event; and

displaying a menu by the processor and in a display device;

wherein;

the display of the menu is (a) in a menu map view where the determined selection event is the first selection event and (b) in a cascading view where the determined selection event is the second selection event; and

if the first selection event has occurred;

all submenus of the selected menu item are displayed in response to the selection irrespective of the submenus'"'"' hierarchical levels; and

a menu, that is not a submenu of the selected menu item and that includes menu items other than the selected menu item that are of the same or a higher hierarchical level as that of the selected menu item, is displayed, the display of said menu that is not a submenu of the menu item being conditional upon that said menu that is not a submenu of the menu item one of (a) includes the selected menu item, and (b) includes a menu item that is a parent of the selected menu item.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first selection event occurs via one of a right-click and a left-click of a mouse and the second selection event occurs via the other of the right-click and the left-click of the mouse.

18. A hardware computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor, the instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to perform a menu display method, the method comprising:

in response to a selection of a menu item selectable via a first selection event and via a second selection event;

determining by which of the first selection event and the second selection event the menu item was selected, whichever one of the first selection event and the second selection event occurred thereby being a determined selection event; and

displaying a menu in a display device;

wherein;

the display of the menu is (a) in a menu map view where the determined selection event is the first selection event and (b) in a cascading view where the determined selection event is the second selection event; and

if the first selection event has occurred;

all submenus of the selected menu item are displayed in response to the selection irrespective of the submenus'"'"' hierarchical levels; and

a menu, that is not a submenu of the selected menu item and that includes menu items other than the selected menu item that are of the same or a higher hierarchical level as that of the selected menu item, is displayed, the display of said menu that is not a submenu of the menu item being conditional upon that said menu that is not a submenu of the menu item one of (a) includes the selected menu item, and (b) includes a menu item that is a parent of the selected menu item.

19. A system for implementing a menu display method, comprising:

a computer processor configured to, in response to a selection of a menu item selectable via a first selection event and via a second selection event;

determine by which of the first selection event and the second selection event the menu item was selected, whichever one of the first selection event and the second selection event occurred thereby being a determined selection event; and

display a menu in a display device;

wherein;

the display of the menu is (a) in a menu map view where the determined selection event is the first selection event and (b) in a cascading view where the determined selection event is the second selection event; and

if the first selection event has occurred;

all submenus of the selected menu item are displayed in response to the selection irrespective of the submenus'"'"' hierarchical levels; and

a menu, that is not a submenu of the selected menu item and that includes menu items other than the selected menu item that are of the same or a higher hierarchical level as that of the selected menu item, is displayed, the display of said menu that is not a submenu of the menu item being conditional upon that said menu that is not a submenu of the menu item one of (a) includes the selected menu item, and (b) includes a menu item that is a parent of the selected menu item.

20. A computer-implemented menu display method, comprising:

in response to a click of a menu item clickable via a first click input and via a second click input, selectively associating, by the processor, the click with the menu item that has been clicked to render the menu item a selected menu item; and

in accordance with the association of the click with the menu item;

if the click is via the first click input;

determining, by the processor, a distance between a hierarchical level of a menu and a hierarchical level of the menu item;

based on the distance determination, determining, by the processor, whether to display the menu; and

if it is determined that the menu is to be displayed, displaying the menu, by the processor and in a display device; and

if the click is via the second click input, displaying the menu, by the processor and in the display device, in accordance with the association and without consideration of the distance between the hierarchical level of the menu and the hierarchical level of the menu item;

wherein the first click input is one of a right-click of a mouse and a left-click of the mouse, and the second click input is the other of the right-click of the mouse and the left-click of the mouse.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein:

the menu item has a plurality of submenus of different hierarchical levels;

if the click of the menu item is via the first click input, of the plurality of submenus, only a submenu that is of a hierarchical level immediately below a hierarchical level of the menu item is displayed; and

if the click of the menu item is via the second click input, all of the plurality of submenus are displayed.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein:

the submenu displayed if the click of the menu item is via the first click input is subsequently removed from display in response to a movement of a pointer away from all of the following;

(a) all displayed submenus of the menu item and (b) the menu item; and

the submenus displayed if the click of the menu item is via the second click input are not removed from display in response to the movement of the pointer away from (a) and (b).

23. A hardware computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor, the instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to perform a menu display method, the method comprising:

in response to a click of a menu item clickable via a first click input and via a second click input, selectively associating the click with the menu item that has been clicked to render the menu item a selected menu item; and

in accordance with the association of the click with the menu item;

if the click is via the first click input;

determining a distance between a hierarchical level of a menu and a hierarchical level of the menu item;

based on the distance determination, determining whether to display the menu; and

if it is determined that the menu is to be displayed, displaying the menu in a display device; and

if the click is via the second click input, displaying the menu in the display device in accordance with the association and without consideration of the distance between the hierarchical level of the menu and the hierarchical level of the menu item;

wherein the first click input is one of a right-click of a mouse and a left-click of the mouse, and the second click input is the other of the right-click of the mouse and the left-click of the mouse.

24. A system for implementing a menu display method, comprising:

a computer processor configured to;

in response to a click of a menu item clickable via a first click input and via a second click input, selectively associate the click with the menu item that has been clicked to render the menu item a selected menu item; and

in accordance with the association of the click with the menu item;

if the click is via the first click input;

determine a distance between a hierarchical level of a menu and a hierarchical level of the menu item;

based on the distance determination, determine whether to display the menu; and

if it is determined that the menu is to be displayed, display the menu in a display device; and

if the click is via the second click input, display the menu in the display device, in accordance with the association and without consideration of the distance between the hierarchical level of the menu and the hierarchical level of the menu item;

wherein the first click input is one of a right-click of a mouse and a left-click of the mouse, and the second click input is the other of the right-click of the mouse and the left-click of the mouse.