Panel configurator engine

• US 9,046,979 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Nack, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Pesin, Boris
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ell, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US12/201,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20140033083A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,468 Days
• Field of Search: 715/771
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/10 Selecting, i.e. obtaining data of one kind from those record carriers which are identifiable by data of a second kind from a mass of ordered or randomly- distributed record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

A method including receiving input identifying a panel associated with a software application, the software application including a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the panel comprising a discrete area of the GUI within which to group software objects to control the software application. Additionally, the method includes processing the input to identify an object of the software objects to be included in the panel. Further, the method includes generating a panel definition including the object and dimensions of the panel, the panel definition to be processed to render the GUI.

Claims

1. A method for sharing panel definitions among a plurality of users, the method comprising:

receiving, at a panel definition server from a first user device via a network, a first panel definition for a panel corresponding with a software application, the software application including a graphical user interface (GUI), the panel comprising an area of the GUI within which to group software objects employable by a user to control the software application, the first panel definition comprising data indicating the software objects included in the panel and positions of the software objects within the panel, the first panel definition configured to be processed by a template file corresponding to the first panel definition, wherein the template file is configured to be executed within the software application to interpret the first panel definition to generate render commands for the panel within the GUI;

storing the first panel definition in a panel definition database comprising a plurality of panel definitions;

receiving, via the network, from the software application executing on a second user device, a request for the first panel definition;

obtaining authorization for the second user device to access the first panel definition in response to exchange of panel definitions from the second user device via the panel definition server;

retrieving, based on the request, the first panel definition from the panel definition database; and

transmitting, in response to retrieving the first panel definition, the first panel definition to the second user device to render the panel within the GUI of the software application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rendering, within the software application executing at the second user device, the panel using the first panel definition.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

retrieving, from a template database, the template file corresponding to the first panel definition; and

executing, within the software application executing at the second user device, the template file to interpret the first panel definition;

wherein the rendering of the panel comprises generating the render commands for the GUI of the software application based on the executing of the template file.

4. The method of claim 3, the template file describing functionality of at least one of the software objects of the first panel definition.

5. The method of claim 3, the retrieving of the template file performed by the panel definition server, the method further comprising transmitting, from the panel definition server to the first user device via the network, the template file.

6. The method of claim 3, the retrieving of the template file performed by the first user device via the network.

7. The method of claim 3, the template file comprising an executable file written in a scripting language.

8. The method of claim 3, the template file comprising at least one of a graphical representation of at least one of the software objects of the first panel definition and a drawing function to render the panel and the at least one of the software objects.

9. The method of claim 2, the rendering of the panel using the first panel definition comprises employing a parameter associated with at least one of the software objects of the panel to position the at least one of the software objects relative to the panel.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the software objects comprise at least one of a tool, a command, and a widget.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, from the panel definition database, predetermined dimensions for the panel based on an identity of the software application; and

storing, in the first panel definition, the predetermined dimensions for the panel.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the first panel definition is initiated by a user of the software application.

12. A panel definition server comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the panel definition server to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a first user device via a network, a first panel definition for a panel corresponding with a software application, the software application including a graphical user interface (GUI), the panel comprising an area of the GUI within which to group software objects employable by a user to control the software application, the first panel definition comprising data indicating the software objects included in the panel and positions of the software objects within the panel, the first panel definition configured to be processed by a template file corresponding to the first panel definition, wherein the template file is configured to be executed within the software application to interpret the first panel definition to generate render commands for the panel within the GUI;

storing the first panel definition in a panel definition database comprising a plurality of panel definitions;

receiving, via the network, from the software application executing on a second user device, a request for the first panel definition;

obtaining authorization for the second user device to access the first panel definition in response to exchange of panel definitions from the second user device via the panel definition server;

retrieving, based on the request, the first panel definition from the panel definition database; and

transmitting, in response to retrieving the first panel definition, the first panel definition to the second user device to render the panel within the GUI of the software application.

13. The panel definition server of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

retrieving, from a template database in response to the request, the template file corresponding to the first panel definition; and

transmitting, to the software application executing at the second user device, the template file for interpreting the first panel definition.

14. The panel definition server of claim 13, the template file describing functionality of at least one of the software objects of the first panel definition.

15. The panel definition server of claim 13, the template file comprising at least one of a graphical representation of at least one of the software objects of the first panel definition and a drawing function to render the panel and the at least one of the software objects.

16. The panel definition server of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

establishing a communication session with a commerce server;

transmitting, to the commerce server, a user identifier for a user of the second user device, and a payment request; and

receiving, from the commerce server, an authorization verifying existence of funds of the user for the payment request;

wherein the transmitting of the first panel definition is performed in response to the receiving of the authorization.

17. The panel definition server of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

receiving, from the first user device via the network, prior to receiving the first panel definition, an indication of the software application corresponding to the first panel definition; and

transmitting, to the first user device via the network, in response to the indication, preset dimensions for the panel based upon the indication of the software application.

18. The panel definition server of claim 17, the operations further comprising retrieving the preset dimensions for the panel from the panel definition database based on the indication.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a machine, cause the machine to operations comprising:

receiving, from a first user device via a network, a first panel definition for a panel corresponding with a software application, the software application including a graphical user interface (GUI), the panel comprising an area of the GUI within which to group software objects employable by a user to control the software application, the first panel definition comprising data indicating the software objects included in the panel and positions of the software objects within the panel, the first panel definition configured to be processed by a template file corresponding to the first panel definition, wherein the template file is configured to be executed within the software application to interpret the first panel definition to generate render commands for the panel within the GUI;

storing the first panel definition in a panel definition database comprising a plurality of panel definitions;

receiving, via the network, from the software application executing on a second user device, a request for the first panel definition;

obtaining authorization for the second user device to access the first panel definition based on a monetary compensation from the second user device via a panel definition server;

retrieving, based on the request, the first panel definition from the panel definition database; and

transmitting, in response to retrieving the first panel definition, the first panel definition to the second user device to render the panel within the GUI of the software application.

21. The media of claim 19, further comprising verifying authorization based on a shared secret transmitted from the panel definition server to a commerce server before establishing a transaction session between the panel sever and the commerce server, wherein the transaction session are for the panel definitions, which include one or more widgets that are stored as binary large objects (blobs).