Rendering a User Interface
There is provided a user interface which is defined by a plurality of actors and the attributes) that are associated with the actors. A renderer is used to render the user interface in accordance with the attributes of the actors. Changes in actor attributes, for example in response to a keypress, cause the user interface to be updated.
1 . A method of rendering a user interface for a device, the method comprising the steps of
providing a plurality of actors, each of the plurality of actors being associated with a user interface element and comprising one or more attributes defining the respective actor;
providing a renderer to receive one or more attributes from one or more of the plurality of actors; and
rendering the user interface in accordance with the received attributes.
2 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein if an actor attribute is updated, the update is received by the renderer and the user interface is updated accordingly.
3 . A method according to claim 2 , wherein the an actor attribute is updated in response to a user update.
4 . A method according to claim 2 , wherein the updating of an attribute causes the formatting of a user interface element to change.
5 . A method according to claim 2 , wherein the updating of an attribute causes a user interface element to move within the user interface.
6 . A method according to any preceding claim wherein the actor attributes comprise mark-up language and the renderer is a mark-up language renderer.
7 . A data carrier comprising computer executable code for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 6 .
8 . A device comprising
a user interface, the user interface comprising one or more user interface elements;
a plurality of actors, each of the plurality of actors being associated with a user interface element and comprising one or more attributes; and
a renderer, the renderer being configured, in use, to interpret the attributes associated with one or more of the plurality of actors and to render the user interface accordingly.
9 . A device according to claim 8 , wherein the device further comprises display means for displaying the user interface.
10 . A device according to claim 8 or claim 9 , wherein the device further comprises a communications interface for receiving further actors for use in the rendering of the user interface.
11 . A device according to any of claims 8 to 10 , wherein the device further comprises storage means configured to store the plurality of actors.
12 . A device according to any of claims 8 to 11 , wherein the device further comprises processing means configured to operate the renderer.