Widget behavior customization via cascaded style sheets

• US 8,522,132 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2010
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Caceres, Barry M
• Primary Examiner(s): RIES, LAURIE ANNE
• Application Number:
  US12/880,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20120066585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,079 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/235, 715/236, 715/237
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

A computer program product includes a computer readable storage medium to store a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform operations for customizing behavior of a JavaScript widget on a web page via a presentation definition language. The operations include: creating a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Document Object Model (DOM) element; assigning a CSS class from the presentation definition language to the DOM element; obtaining a computed style for the DOM element, wherein the computed style is computed based on the CSS class assigned to the DOM element; extracting a styling property from the computed style; parsing the styling property to determine an option to be applied to the widget; and applying the option to the widget.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium to store a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform operations for customizing behavior of a JavaScript widget on a web page via Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), the operations comprising;

creating a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Document Object Model (DOM) element;

assigning a CSS class from the presentation definition language to the DOM element;

obtaining a computed style for the DOM element, wherein the computed style is computed based on the CSS class assigned to the DOM element;

extracting a CSS styling property from the computed style;

parsing the CSS styling property to determine a widget-level option contained within the CSS styling property to be applied to the widget; and

applying the widget-level option to the widget.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the option is stored in a file named in the styling property.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the styling property comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the option is located in a query-string portion of the URL.

5. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the URL comprises a pointer to a dummy image,

wherein the computer program product, when executed on the computer, causes the computer to perform additional operations, comprising:

discarding the dummy image after parsing the URL.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product, when executed on the computer, causes the computer to perform additional operations, comprising:

destroying the DOM element after extracting the styling property from the computed style.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product, when executed on the computer, causes the computer to perform additional operations, comprising:

checking a formatting validity of the styling property and the option, wherein the formatting validity is defined by a predefined standard in accordance with the widget; and

implementing a default option within the widget in response to a determination that either the styling property or the option is invalid.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the DOM element comprises a hidden DOM element,

wherein the computer program product, when executed on the computer, causes the computer to perform additional operations, comprising:

reusing the hidden DOM element for each subsequent customization of widget behavior on the web page instead of creating a new DOM element.

9. A method for customizing behavior of a JavaScript widget on a web page, the method comprising:

creating a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Document Object Model (DOM) element;

assigning a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) class to the DOM element;

obtaining a computed style for the DOM element, wherein the computed style is computed based on the CSS class assigned to the DOM element;

extracting a CSS styling property from the computed style;

parsing the CSS styling property to determine a widget-level option contained within the CSS styling property to be applied to the widget; and

applying the widget-level option to the widget.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the option is stored in a file named in the styling property.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the styling property comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the option is located in a query-string portion of the URL.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the URL comprises a pointer to a dummy image,

wherein the method further comprises:

discarding the dummy image after parsing the URL.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

destroying the DOM element after extracting the styling property from the computed style.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

checking a formatting validity of the styling property and the option, wherein the formatting validity is defined by a predefined standard in accordance with the widget; and

implementing a default option within the widget in response to a determination that either the styling property or the option is invalid.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the DOM element is a hidden DOM element to be reused each time the widget presentation is customized via CSS.

17. A system for customizing behavior of a JavaScript widget on a web page, the system comprising:

a computer readable storage medium comprising a code repository to store code for a web page, the code defining an implementation of a widget, and

a processor configured to perform operations, the operations comprising;

creating a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Document Object Model (DOM) element;

assigning a CSS class from the presentation definition language to the DOM element;

obtaining a computed style for the DOM element, wherein the computed style is computed based on the CSS class assigned to the DOM element;

extracting a CSS styling property from the computed style;

parsing the CSS styling property to determine a widget-level option contained within the CSS styling property to be applied to the widget; and

applying the widget-level option to the widget.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to perform additional operations, comprising:

checking a formatting validity of the styling property and the option, wherein the formatting validity is defined by a predefined standard in accordance with the widget; and

implementing a default option within the widget in response to a determination that either the styling property or the option is invalid.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to perform additional operations, comprising:

destroying the DOM element after the styling property is extracted from the computed style.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the option is stored in a file named in the styling property.