Selective rendering of user interface of computer program
View Patent ↗Methods, system and apparatus, including computer program products, for rendering a user interface in a client program. The techniques include detecting multiple changes to a user interface of a computer program, the user interface having multiple user interface elements, each change being a change to one of the multiple user interface elements; generating a rendering request for each change, each rendering request specifying the user interface element that has changed and a type of modification to be performed on the user interface element; and filtering the requests to eliminate redundant requests. The user interface can be rendered based on the filtered requests.
1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program product comprising instructions operable to cause a client apparatus to perform operations comprising:
displaying, by the client apparatus, a user interface to a server computer program running on a server, the user interface including a plurality of user interface elements including a first user interface element, the first user interface element having a plurality of attributes;
receiving, from the server, a server-generated chance to the first user interface element;
receiving a client-generated change to the first user interface element based on a user input to the client apparatus;
receiving a plurality of additional changes to the first user interface element based on additional user inputs to the client apparatus or additional changes received from the server;
generating a server-based rendering request for the server-generated change and a client-based rendering request for the client-generated change, the server-based rendering request and client-based rendering request each specifying the first user interface element and a type of modification to be performed on the first user interface element;
generating additional rendering requests for the additional chances to the first user interface element;
categorizing both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request as redundant because both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request identify subsets of the attributes of the first user interface element also identified by the additional rendering requests for the additional changes;
filtering both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request to eliminate the redundant server-based rendering request and the redundant client-based rendering request; and
rendering the first user input element, the rendering being limited to additional rendering requests and excluding the filtered server-based rendering request and the filtered client-based rendering request.
2. The product of claim 1 , wherein each rendering request is a request to modify a data structure representing the user interface.
3. The product of claim 2 , wherein the data structure is a document object model representation of the user interface.
4. The product of claim 1 , wherein:
at least one of the additional rendering requests is a request for a complete re-rendering of the user interface element.
5. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first user element is a text field, radio button, table, tray, or menu.
6. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the additional rendering requests, the server-based rendering request, or the client-based rendering request specifies a color attribute of the first user interface element.
7. The computer program product according to claim 1 , wherein the first user interface element elements filters its own rendering requests.
8. A client apparatus comprising:
means for displaying a user interface to a server computer program running on a server, the user interface including a plurality of user interface elements including a first user interface element, the first user interface element having a plurality of attributes;
means for receiving, from the server, a server-generated change to the first user interface element;
means for receiving a client-generated change to the first user interface element based on a user input to the client apparatus;
means for receiving a plurality of additional changes to the first user interface element based on additional user inputs to the client apparatus or additional changes received from the server;
means for generating a server-based rendering request for the server-generated change and a client-based rendering request for the client-generated change, the server-based rendering request and client-based rendering request each specifying the first user interface element and a type of modification to be performed on the first user interface element;
means for generating additional rendering requests for the additional changes to the first user interface element;
means for categorizing both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request as redundant because both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request identify subsets of the attributes of the first user interface element also identified by the additional rendering requests for the additional changes;
means for filtering, both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request to eliminate the redundant server-based rendering request and the redundant client-based rendering request;
means for rendering the first user input element, the rendering being limited to additional rendering requests and excluding the filtered server-based rendering request and the filtered client-based rendering request; and
a processor for implementing at least the means for filtering.
9. The client apparatus of claim 8 , wherein each rendering request is a request to modify a data structure representing the user interface.
10. The client apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the data structure is a document object model representation of the user interface.
11. The client apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:
at least one of the additional rendering requests is a request for a complete re-rendering of the user interface element.
12. The client apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the first user interface element filters its own rendering requests.
13. A computer-implemented method comprising:
displaying, by a client apparatus, a user interface to a server computer program running on a server, the user interface including a plurality of user interface elements including a first user interface element, the first user interface element having a plurality of attributes;
receiving, from the server, a server-generated change to the first user interface element;
receiving a client-generated change to the first user interface element based on a user input to the client apparatus;
receiving a plurality of additional changes to the first user interface element based on additional user inputs to the client apparatus or additional changes received from the server;
generating a server-based rendering request for the server-generated change and a client-based rendering request for the client-generated change, the server-based rendering request and client-based rendering request each specifying the first user interface element and a type of modification to be performed on the first user interface element;
generating additional rendering requests for the additional changes to the first user interface element;
categorizing both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request as redundant because both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request identify subsets of the attributes of the first user interface element also identified by the additional rendering requests for the additional changes;
filtering both the server-based rendering request and the client-based rendering request to eliminate the redundant server-based rendering request and the redundant client-based rendering request; and
rendering the first user input element, the rendering being limited to additional rendering requests and excluding the filtered server-based rendering request and the filtered client-based rendering request.
14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 13 , wherein each rendering request is a request to modify a data structure representing the user interface.
15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 13 , wherein the data structure is a document object model representation of the user interface.
16. The computer-implemented method according to claim 13 , wherein at least one of the additional rendering requests is a request for a complete re-rendering of the user interface element.
17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 13 , wherein the first user interface element filters its own rendering requests.