Method of displaying local and remote data objects and of interacting with same
View Patent ↗A method for display of and interaction with local and remote data objects in a distributed data processing system is disclosed. In an embodiment, given sufficient information or “meta data” (i.e. data about data) for a local system and a remote system, a data object viewer may combine both local and remote data objects in a single view. In an embodiment, a user may interact with these local and remote data objects in a context sensitive manner such that, in dependence on the selected data object, either a local action, a remote action, or both local and remote actions may be performed on the selected data object.
1. A method of interacting with locally and remotely stored data objects in a distributed data processing system, comprising:
determining whether a data object is stored on both a remote system in the distributed data processing system and a local system;
displaying on the local system, if it is determined that the data object is stored on both the local system and the remote system in the distributed data processing system, the data object as a hybrid data object, the hybrid data object representing both the data object stored on the local system and the data object stored on the remote system;
enabling a user on the local system to perform an action on the hybrid data object by first selecting the hybrid data object;
prompting the user, in response to the user selecting the hybrid data object, to indicate whether the action is to be performed on the data object stored on the local system, the data object stored on the remote system, or both the data object stored on the local system and the data object stored on the remote system; and
performing the action as indicated by the user.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein locally stored data objects and remotely stored data objects are displayed in conjunction with the hybrid data object.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein in response to the user selecting a data object on which to perform an action, a list of actions is displayed, the list of actions including all actions that can be performed on the selected data object.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein when the data object selected is a locally stored data object, the list of actions displayed is a list of local actions.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein when the data object selected is a remotely stored data object, the list of actions displayed is a list of remote actions.
6. The method of claim 3 wherein when the data object selected is the hybrid data object, the list of actions displayed is a list of both local and remote actions.
7. A method of enabling a user on a local system to interact with shared data objects in a distributed data processing system, comprising:
determining whether each shared data object is stored on the local system, a remote system or both the local system and the remote system in the distributed data processing system;
displaying on the local system the shared data objects, each shared data object being displayed as a local data object if it is determined that the data object is stored on the local system, a remote data object if it is determined that the shared data object is stored on the remote system or a hybrid data object if it is determined that the data object is stored on both the local system and the remote system;
enabling the user to perform an action on a shared data object by first selecting a displayed data object representing the shared data object;
prompting the user, if the displayed data object selected is a hybrid data object, to indicate whether the action is to be performed on the data object stored on the local system, the data object stored on the remote system, or both the data object stored on the local system and the data object stored on the remote system;
displaying a list of actions that can be performed on the selected data object after the user selects the displayed data object or after the user indicates whether the action is to be performed on the data object stored on the local system, the data object stored on the remote system, or both the data object stored on the local system and the data object stored on the remote system if the selected data object is a hybrid data object; and
performing the action as indicated by the user.