Dynamically composed user interface help
View Patent ↗A user interface help dialog for a computer system is provided in which the computer system has a plurality of system parameters and the user interface includes a plurality of command options that may be enabled or disabled. A cursor for indicating one of the command options is also provided. To generate the help dialog the identity of a disabled command option to which the cursor indicates is first identified. The status of a subset of the system parameters is then evaluated, the system parameters subset being determined in dependence on the identified command option. A help dialog to be displayed to the user is then generated, the content of which is dependent on the status of the evaluated system parameters.
1. A method of generating a user interface help dialog for a computer system, the computer system having a plurality of system parameters, the plurality of system parameters including the state of the computer system hardware, the user interface including a plurality of command options that may be enabled or disabled and a cursor for indicating one of the command options, the method comprising:
determining the identity of a single disabled command option to which the cursor indicates, each command option having an associated help routine specifying a subset of the system parameters that relate to the associated command option, wherein a status of the subset of system parameters contributes to whether the command option is enabled or disabled;
in response to determining the identity of the single disabled command option, directly determining the status of each of the system parameters within the subset of the system parameters, and
generating a help dialog to be displayed to the user the content of which is dependent on the status of the evaluated system parameters.
2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the subset of system parameters is selected from a number of predefined subsets, each subset of system parameters being associated with a command option.
3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the system parameters include at least one of the presence of a specified file and the status of at least one of the system parameters.
4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the help dialog includes selecting at least one predetermined dialog segment.
5. A method according to claim 4 , wherein the predetermined dialog segment is selected in accordance to the value of at least one of the system parameters in the system parameter subset.
6. A method according to claim 4 , wherein the step of generating the help dialog further includes inserting the value of at least one of the evaluated system parameters into the selected dialog segment.
7. A computer program comprising a plurality of computer readable instructions that when executed by a computer system cause the computer system to perform the steps of:
determining the identity of an indicated disabled command option, the command option having an associated help routine specifying a subset of system parameters that relates to the command option, wherein a status of the subset of system parameters contributes to whether the command option is enabled or disabled, and wherein the computer system has a plurality of system parameters, the system parameters including the state of the computer system hardware;
in response to determining the identity of the single disabled command option, directly determining the status of each of the system parameters within the subset of parameters of the computer system; and
generating a help dialog to be displayed to the user the content of which is dependent on the status of the evaluated system parameters.
8. A computer system comprising:
a display device;
a cursor control for controlling the position of a cursor displayed on the display device; and
a data processor, the data processor being arranged to:
cause a user interface to be displayed on the display device, the user interface having a plurality of command options;
determine the identity of a single disabled command option to which the cursor indicates, the command option having an associated help routine specifying a subset of the system parameters that relates to the command option, wherein a status of the subset of system parameters contributes to whether the command option is enabled or disabled, and wherein the computer system has a plurality of system parameters, the system parameters including the state of the computer system hardware;
in response to determining the identity of the single disabled command option, directly determine the status of each of the system parameters within the subset of a plurality of system parameters of the computing system; and
generate a help dialog to be displayed on the display device, the help dialog having a content dependent on the status of the evaluated system parameters.
9. A computing system according to claim 8 , wherein a plurality of predefined system parameter subsets are stored on a data storage medium and each subset is associated with a command option.
10. A computing system according to claim 9 , wherein the data processor is further arranged to retrieve the system parameter subset associated with the identified command option from the data storage medium prior to evaluating the system parameters.
11. A computing system according to claim 8 , wherein a plurality of help dialog segments are stored on a further data storage medium and the data processor is arranged to retrieve at least one of the help dialog segments from the data storage medium in accordance with the value of the evaluated system parameters.
12. A computing system according to claim 9 , wherein the data processor is arranged to insert at least one of the system parameter values into the help dialog.