Authoring arbitrary XML documents using DHTML and XSLT

• US 7,900,134 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2006
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jha, Rajesh K., Paoli, Jean D., Mooney, Stephen J., Raman, Suryanarayanan V., Sikchi, Prakash, Ardeleanu, Adriana
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Quoc A
• Application Number:
  US11/557,931
• Publication Number:
  US 20070074106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,574 Days
• Field of Search: 715/241, 715234-239
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

Methods and systems of authoring XML using DHTML views and XSLT are described. Various user interfaces can be automatically or semi-automatically provided in a DHTML view that enable a user to interact with the DHTML view. The interfaces, some of which are termed “in document” interfaces, permit a user to interact with a DHTML view and have those interactions automatically made to a corresponding XML document that describes data that is associated with the DHTML view.

Claims

1. A method of providing a user interface (UI) comprising:

rendering a DHTML document from an XML document using a crystal, the crystal containing one or more behaviors and at least one XSLT transformation (XSL-T);

presenting a user interface based, at least in part, on the XSL-T that was used to render the DHTML document;

receiving, via the user interface, user interactions with the DHTML document; and

mapping, via the one or more behaviors, the user interactions to the XML document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises automatically presenting the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a context block.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises an in-document user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises an accelerator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises one or more of the following:

a context block, an in-document user interface, and an accelerator.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises deciding which user interface to present from a number of user interfaces.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein deciding comprises:

ascertaining a user'"'"'s actions within a document; and

presenting a user interface based on the ascertained user'"'"'s actions.

9. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, implement the method of claim 1.

10. A method of providing a user interface comprising:

considering multiple parameters one of which includes an XSL-T file; and

based upon the considered parameters, rendering a user interface sufficient to enable a user to interact with a DHTML view that has been rendered from an XML document using a crystal, the crystal containing one or more behaviors and at least one XSL-T file; and

receiving, via the user interface, a user interaction with the DHTML view; and

mapping, via the one or more behaviors, the user interaction to the XML document.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein one parameter comprises a user location within a particular document.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein one parameter comprises a portion of an XML schema that corresponds to a user'"'"'s selection.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein one parameter comprises one or more UI types that would be desirable to generate.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the parameters comprise:

a user location within a particular document;

a portion of an XML schema that corresponds to a user'"'"'s selection; and

one or more UI types that would be desirable to generate.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the considering of the multiple parameters comprises considering one or more constructs within an XSL-T file.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the considering of the multiple parameters comprises identifying from multiple user interfaces which user interfaces are more suited to have their functionalities provided by an in-document user interface.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising modifying structure of the XML document based upon the user engaging the user interface.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the user interface comprises an in-document user interface.

19. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, implement the method of claim 10.

20. A method of providing a user interface comprising:

rendering a DHTML view from an XML document using a crystal, the crystal containing one or more behaviors and at least one XSL-T file;

making a selection in the DHTML view;

determining, based upon the selection, a corresponding selection in the XML document;

determining, based upon the corresponding selection in the XML document, a corresponding portion of an XML schema;

determining, based upon the XML schema portion, one or more types of action that can be undertaken;

producing one or more operations that can be undertaken for various determined action types; and

determining, from the XSL-T file that rendered the DHTML view, a user interface type that can be displayed for a user and used to implement the one or more operations.