Drag and drop browser extension

• US 8,209,622 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Selig, Roy A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien
• Assistant Examiner(s): WENG, PEI YONG
• Application Number:
  US11/978,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20080184148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,701 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/104, 707/200, 715/751
• US Class Current: 715/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

Methods and other embodiments associated with a browser extension are described. One example browser extension includes a drag logic to identity an item to be uploaded from a local source to a remote destination. The browser extension may also include a drop logic to identify the remote destination. The browser extension may also include an upload logic to control the upload from the local source to the remote destination in response to the local item being dragged from a first graphical user interface (GUI) element associated with the browser and dropped on a second GUI element associated with the browser. The second GUI element may be managed, at least in part, by the browser extension.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions of a browser extension, comprising:

a drag logic configured to identify a local item to be uploaded to a remote destination, the local item being stored on a local computing device running a browser to which the browser extension is operably connected, the local item being identified in response to being dragged from a first graphical user interface (GUI) element associated with the browser;

a drop logic configured to identify the remote destination to which the local item is to be uploaded, the remote destination being on a remote computing device with which the browser is in data communication, the remote destination being identified in response to the local item being dropped on a second GUI element associated with the browser, where the drag logic is configured to acquire a global identifier for the local item in response to the local item being dropped on the second GUI element, and where the global identifier is unique between a group of devices that includes the local computing device and the remote destination;

an upload logic configured to control the transfer of the local item to the remote destination in response to the local item being dragged from the first GUI element and dropped on the second GUI element in a single user gesture involving the browser and where the upload logic is configured to process multiple asynchronous uploads that are initiated in separate drag and drop requests while at least one previous upload is in progress, where the upload logic is configured to control the browser to display a status bar that provides information concerning progress of the transfer of the local item; and

a GUI menu configured to provide actions to perform on the local item on completion of the transfer of the local item to the remote destination, where the actions include actions configured to cause an enterprise application on the remote destination to process the local item.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the browser extension is implemented in executable software stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium and incorporated into the browser and where the drag logic is configured to use the global identifier to prevent file handle conflicts.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the remote destination is located on a server machine running an enterprise application that generates an output and wherein the browser is configured to display the output.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the second GUI element is a window pane managed, at least in part, by the browser extension.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, where the window pane is associated with a sidebar that is managed, at least in part, by the browser extension.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, where the browser extension is configured to cause the window pane to display a hierarchical tree structure of available storage locations on the remote computing device.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, where the browser extension is configured to cause the window pane to be refreshed in response to a change in the available storage locations on the remote computing device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the upload logic controls the transfer of the local item to the remote destination automatically in response to the local item being dropped on the second GUI element.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the drop logic is configured to acquire uniquely identifying information about the remote destination in response to the local item being dropped on the second GUI element.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the upload logic is configured to control a transfer logic to upload the local item to the remote computing device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, where the upload logic is configured to control the transfer logic to upload a copy of the local item to a temporary location on the remote computing device, and, upon determining that the upload has completed successfully, to transfer the copy of the local item to the remote destination.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the upload logic being configured to process multiple asynchronous uploads includes being configured to initiate a second upload while a first upload is in progress in response to a second item being dropped on the second GUI element, and being configured to process multiple upload requests asynchronously.

13. A computing device with at least one processor, the computing device comprising:

non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising;

identifying an item to be uploaded from a first computing device running a browser that is operably connected to a browser extension where identifying the item includes identifying a global identifier for the item that is unique between a group of devices that includes the first computing device and a second computing device, where the item is identified in response to being dragged from a first graphical user interface (GUI) element associated with the browser;

identifying an upload destination for the item, the upload destination being on the second computing device that is in data communication with the browser, where the upload destination is identified in response to the item being dropped on a second GUI element associated with the browser;

automatically uploading the item from the first computing device to the upload destination on the second computing device in response to a single user gesture involving the browser, where the single user gesture causes a signal and data to be provided to the browser extension, where the data describes the item to be uploaded and the upload destination, and where the uploading includes processing multiple asynchronous uploads that are initiated in separate drag and drop requests while at least one previous upload is in progress;

providing a GUI menu of actions on completion of the transfer of the item to the second computing device, and where the GUI menu of actions include actions to cause an enterprise application on the second computing device to process the item; and

displaying a status bar that provides information concerning progress of each item being uploaded.

14. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

acquiring in a browser extension a first set of information that uniquely identifies a first item stored on a first computing device, the first set of information being acquired in response to the first item being dragged from a first graphical user interface (GUI) element associated with a browser running on the first computing device, the browser being operably connected to the browser extension and where the first set of information includes a global identifier that is unique between a group of devices that includes the first computing device and a second computing device;

acquiring in the browser extension a second set of information that uniquely identifies a desired upload location associated with the second computing device, the second set of information being acquired in response to the first item being dropped on a second GUI element that represents the desired upload location, the second GUI element being managed, at least in part, by the browser extension;

causing the first item to be automatically uploaded to the desired upload location by controlling the browser extension to provide the first set of information, the second set of information, and a control signal, to an upload process residing on the second computing device in response to a single user gesture involving the browser;

providing a GUI menu of actions to perform on the first item including a retry option for restarting upload of the first item when an error occurs, where the retry option uses at least the first set of information to restart uploading, where providing the GUI menu of actions includes providing additional actions on completion of the transfer of the first item to the second computing device, and where the additional actions include actions to cause an enterprise application on the second computing device to process the first item; and

displaying a status bar that provides information concerning progress of the automatic upload of the first item.

15. The method of claim 14, where the first GUI element is a window that displays a set of items available to be uploaded, the window being managed, at least in part, by the browser.

16. The method of claim 15, where the second GUI element is a window pane that displays a set of available upload locations.

17. The method of claim 16, including displaying a GUI element status bar that provides information concerning the progress of an upload.

18. The method of claim 14, where the GUI menu of actions provides different options based, at least in part, on a status of the upload.

19. The method of claim 14, where a copy of the first item is to be uploaded to a temporary location on the second computing device and, upon determining that the copy of the first item has been uploaded successfully, the copy of the first item is then to be transferred to the desired upload location.