User interface method and system for application programs implemented with component architectures
View Patent ↗A method and system for providing a graphical user interface for application programs implemented with component architectures such as COM (Component Object Model), DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model), CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and the like. The invention allows a graphical user interface to be implemented with a renderer such as a DHTML browser and allows new components to be added to an application program without requiring rewriting of the graphical user interface.
1. A computer implemented system for providing a graphical user interface for a component based application program, comprising:
a plurality of user interface components;
a document viewer for displaying a document or modifying the document within a component based application program, the document viewer having a user interface requirements specification referencing at least one of said plurality of user interface components; and
a renderer to render a graphical user interface for the component based application program according to said document viewer user interface requirements specification, when said document viewer is added as a component of the component based application program, without a need to recompile or reinstall the component based application program.
2. The computer implemented system of claim 1 further comprising a workflow manager for registering user interface components associated with said user interface requirements specification.
3. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of user interface components is a button.
4. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of user interface components is a slider.
5. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of user interface components is an edit box.
6. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of user interface components is implemented as an ActiveX control.
7. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of user interface components is implemented as a Java applet.
8. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of user interface components is implemented using Javascript.
9. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein said document viewer is implemented as a COM object.
10. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein said document viewer is implemented as a DCOM object.
11. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein said document viewer is implemented as a CORBA object.
12. The computer implemented system of claim 1 wherein said renderer is a DHTML browser.
13. A method for providing a graphical user interface for a component based application program, comprising;
providing a user interface requirements specification for a document viewer, the document viewer being used to display a document or to modify the document within a component based application program, and the user interface requirements specification referencing at least one of a plurality of user interface components; and
rendering a graphical user interface for the component based application program according to the document viewer user interface requirements specification, when the document viewer is added as a component of the component based application program, without recompiling or reinstalling the component based application program.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprising registering user interface components associated with the user interface requirements specification, with a workflow manager.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising; adding a new user interface requirements specification to the component based application program; and
registering user interface components associated with the new user interface requirements specification, with the workflow manager.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising;
providing a modified user interface requirements specification; and
registering user interface components associated with the modified user interface requirements specification, with the workflow manager.
17. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the plurality of user interface components is a button.
18. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the plurality of user interface components is a slider.
19. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the plurality of user interface components is an edit box.
20. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the plurality of user interface components is implemented as an ActiveX control.
21. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the plurality of user interface components is implemented as a Java applet.
22. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the plurality of user interface components is implemented using Javascript.
23. The method of claim 13 wherein the document viewer is implemented as a COM object.
24. The method of claim 13 wherein the document viewer is implemented as a DCOM object.
25. The method of claim 13 wherein the document viewer is implemented as a CORBA object.
26. The method of claim 13 wherein said rendering is performed by a DHTML browser.
27. A computer implemented system for providing a graphical user interface for a component based application program, comprising;
at least one user interface component;
a document viewer for displaying a document or modifying the document within a component based application program, the document viewer having a user interface requirements specification referencing at least one of said at least one user interface component, the document viewer having at least one predefined user interface layout defining an arrangement of said at least one user interface component;
a renderer to render a graphical user interface according to said at least one predefined user interface layout and a present context for said component based application program; and
an application proxy to manage communication between said renderer, said document viewer, and said at least one user interface component such that said graphical user interface is rendered upon a change in said present context.
28. The computer implemented system claimed in claim 27 wherein said renderer comprises a DHTML browser.
29. The computer implemented system claimed in claim 28 wherein said predefined user interface layout is a browser page defined in DHTML.
30. The computer implemented system according to claim 29 wherein said DHTML includes at least one object to communicate with said application proxy.
31. The computer implemented system according to claim 30 wherein said at least one object is a Javascript object.
32. The computer implemented system according to claim 28 wherein said at least one user interface component is an ActiveX control.
33. The computer implemented system according to claim 28 wherein said at least one user interface component is a Java applet.
34. A method for creating a graphical user interface for an application program implemented with a component architecture, comprising:
providing at least one document viewer for displaying a document or modifying the document within a component based application program, the document viewer having a user interface requirements specification referencing at least one user interface component, said at least one user interface component to be displayed in said graphical user interface in at least one context for said application program;
defining a graphical user interface layout for at least said at least one application program component, said graphical user interface layout defining a position and an arrangement for said at least one user interface component in said at least one context;
instantiating said at least one user interface component and associating it with said at least one application program component;
determining a present context of said application program and rendering said graphical user interface in accordance with said graphical user interface layout defined for said present context; and
rerendering said graphical user interface each time said present context of said application program changes.