Multi-act creation user interface element

• US 9,672,276 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2014
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Danton, Stephen Michael, Francisco, Jesse David, Staples, William J., Joshi, Vishal R., Welicki, Leon Ezequiel, Dias, Alvaro Rahul, Kumaraguru, Guru, Armas, Federico Silva, Alexander, Brendyn, Olenick, Brad, Birck, Andrew, Anson, David, Guopil, Jean-Sebastien, Joshi, Madhur, Abdelhamed, Adam, Sterling, Jonah Bush, Anand, Karandeep Singh, Totten, Nathan J., Yuen, Wai Man, Millington, Bradley D., Harris, Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOI, DAVID E
• Application Number:
  US14/231,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20150095813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,162 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

A multi-act creation user interface element that is displayed when a user instructs a computing system to initiate creation of a resource that has multiple associated creation processing acts. For each of some or all of the creation processing acts, the multi-act creation user interface element causes a set of one or more controls to appear, which the user may then enter creation information into. The multi-step creation user interface element persists creation information so entered so that the creation information is available for further creation processing acts.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising one or more computer hardware storage media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to operate using an architecture which governs creation of a complex resource, and wherein the architecture of the computing system comprises three tiers of user interface (UI) elements, comprising:

a first tier that comprises a provisioning UI element that receives an instruction to initiate creation of a complex resource and wherein the provisioning UI element creates an edit scope used to persist data that represents a set of creation processing acts for the complex resource;

a second tier that comprises a wizard UI element instantiated by a signal from the provisioning UI element in response to the received instruction;

a third tier that comprises a creation processing act UI element used to generate a creation processing act form for each creation processing act in the set of creation processing acts for a given complex resource; and

wherein the wizard UI element of the second tier is configured to perform the following;

causes a first set of one or more creation input controls to be displayed during initiation of a first creation processing act of the set of multiple creation processing acts;

saves a configuration input for the first creation processing act using the first set of one or more creation input controls;

based on dependency relationships between creation processing acts in the set, determines when the first creation processing act has proceeded to a point where another creation processing act may begin;

wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is displayed as a first form created in the creation processing act UI element of the third tier, wherein some fields in the first form are populated using data from the edit scope, and wherein the first form receives and collects some user information to populate other fields in the first form;

validates the user information based on a first set of persisted validation rules;

once the corresponding form is completed, persists the corresponding form at the edit scope;

repeats the foregoing process until all creation processing acts of the set of multiple creation processing acts are completed for the complex resource; and

wherein a corresponding form for each creation processing act is added to an extendable canvas when each creation processing act is initiated, and the corresponding form is removed from the extendable canvas when the corresponding creation processing act is completed; and

replacing the provisioning UI element of the first tier with a resource created status UI element that is thereafter used to select any complex resource created.

2. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein each creation processing act of the set of multiple creation processing acts is associated with a corresponding indicator that is emphasized when a corresponding creation processing act is initiated.

3. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a first application running in a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a second application running in the system.

4. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by an application running in the system.

5. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by the system itself.

6. The computer program product in accordance with claim 3, wherein:

the first set of one or more creation input controls performs validation checking based on a first set of persisted validation rules; and

the at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls performs validation checking based on a second set of persisted validation rules.

7. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls performs the first resource creation processing act upon successful validation of the first form.

8. A computer-implemented method which governs creation of a complex resource, the computer-implemented method being performed by one or more processors executing computer-executable instructions for the method, and wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

at a first user interface (UI) tier instantiating a provisioning UI element that;

receives an instruction to initiate creation of a complex resource, wherein the complex resource requires a set of multiple creation processing acts provided by different applications and that requires orchestration of the set of multiple creation processing acts among client and server side interactions; and

creates an edit scope used to persist data that represents the set of creation processing acts;

at a second UI tier, instantiating a wizard UI element in response to the received instruction;

at a third UI tier, instantiating a creation processing act UI element used to generate a creation processing act form for each creation processing act in the set of creation processing acts for a given complex resource; and

wherein the wizard UI element of the second tier performs the following;

causes a first set of one or more creation input controls to be displayed during initiation of a first creation processing act of the set of multiple creation processing acts;

saves a configuration input for the first creation processing act using the first set of one or more creation input controls;

based on dependency relationships between creation processing acts in the set, determines when the first creation processing act has proceeded to a point where another creation processing act may begin;

wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is displayed as a first form created in the creation processing act UI element of the third tier, wherein some fields in the first form are populated using data from the edit scope, and wherein the first form receives and collects some user information to populate other fields in the first form;

validates the user information based on a first set of persisted validation rules;

once the corresponding form is completed, persists the corresponding form at the edit scope;

repeats the foregoing process until all creation processing acts of the set of multiple creation processing acts are completed for the complex resource; and

wherein a corresponding form for each creation processing act is added to an extendable canvas when each creation processing act is initiated, and the corresponding form is removed from the extendable canvas when the corresponding creation processing act is completed.

9. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 8, wherein each creation processing act of the set of multiple creation processing acts is associated with a corresponding indicator that is emphasized when a corresponding creation processing act is initiated.

10. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a first application running in a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a second application running in the system.

11. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by an application running in the system.

19. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by the system itself.

20. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 8, wherein:

the first set of one or more creation input controls performs validation checking based on a first set of persisted validation rules; and

the at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls performs validation checking based on a second set of persisted validation rules.

21. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls performs the first resource creation processing act upon successful validation of the first form.

12. A computer system comprising:

memory for storing computer-executable instructions; and

one or more processors which, when executing the computer-executable instructions, cause the computing system to operate using an architecture which governs creation of a complex resource, and wherein the architecture of the computing system comprises three tiers of user interface (UI) elements, comprising;

a first tier that comprises a provisioning UI element that receives an instruction to initiate creation of a complex resource and wherein the provisioning UI element creates an edit scope used to persist data that represents a set of creation processing acts for the complex resource;

a second tier that comprises a wizard UI element instantiated by a signal from the provisioning UI element in response to the received instruction;

a third tier that comprises a creation processing act UI element used to generate a creation processing act form for each creation processing act in the set of creation processing acts for a given complex resource; and

wherein the wizard UI element of the second tier is configured to perform the following;

causes a first set of one or more creation input controls to be displayed during initiation of a first creation processing act of the set of multiple creation processing acts;

saves a configuration input for the first creation processing act using the first set of one or more creation input controls;

based on dependency relationships between creation processing acts in the set, determines when the first creation processing act has proceeded to a point where another creation processing act may begin;

wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is displayed as a first form created in the creation processing act UI element of the third tier, wherein some fields in the first form are populated using data from the edit scope, and wherein the first form receives and collects some user information to populate other fields in the first form;

validates the user information based on a first set of persisted validation rules;

once the corresponding form is completed, persists the corresponding form at the edit scope;

repeats the foregoing process until all creation processing acts of the set of multiple creation processing acts are completed for the complex resource; and

wherein a corresponding form for each creation processing act is added to an extendable canvas when each creation processing act is initiated, and the corresponding form is removed from the extendable canvas when the corresponding creation processing act is completed.

13. The computer system in accordance with claim 12, wherein each creation processing act of the set of multiple creation processing acts is associated with a corresponding indicator that is emphasized when a corresponding creation processing act is initiated.

14. The computer system in accordance with claim 12, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a first application running in a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a second application running in the system.

15. The computer system in accordance with claim 14, wherein:

the first set of one or more creation input controls performs validation checking based on a first set of persisted validation rules; and

the at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls performs validation checking based on a second set of persisted validation rules.

16. The computer system in accordance with claim 12, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by an application running in the system.

17. The computer system in accordance with claim 12, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls is provided by a system, and at least one other additional set of one or more creation input controls is provided by the system itself.

18. The computer system in accordance with claim 12, wherein the first set of one or more creation input controls performs the first resource creation processing act upon successful validation of the first form.