Systems and methods for creating multi-state content
View Patent ↗Methods and systems for creating multi-state content using state information are disclosed. The state information may specify, for example, that a subcomponent is included in one state and excluded from another state. As another example, the state information may specify that an attribute of the object will have a first value in one state and a different value in another state. Certain embodiments allow a developer to use declarative statements to specify different states for an object. These declarative statements may directly specify the appearance attributes or subcomponents of the object. Certain embodiments allow a developer to specify state-specific appearance attributes and sub-components within the general specification of the object and without having to specify appearance attributes or subcomponents in terms of changes to a base state or any other state.
1. A computer implemented method comprising:
receiving a portion of code for a multi-state object, the portion of code comprising a plurality of statements specifying any subcomponents and attributes of the multi-state object, a statement of the plurality of statements specifying that a first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
determining that the multi-state object includes the first subcomponent when in the first state based on the statement specifying that the first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
determining that the multi-state object excludes the first subcomponent when in a second state; and
providing a piece of content comprising the multi-state object, wherein in the first state, the multi-state object comprises the first subcomponent and, in the second state, the multi-state object does not comprise the first subcomponent.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statement of the plurality of statements comprises a declarative statement.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the statement of the plurality of statements is an include-in statement comprising an identification of the first state, an identification of the first subcomponent, and specifying that the first subcomponent is to be included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in the first state.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the identification of the first state comprises an identification of a state group, the state group comprising the first state and a third state.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising receiving one or more declarative statements specifying that the state group comprises the first state and the third state.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of statements further comprise an exclude-from statement comprising an identification of the second state, an identification of the first subcomponent, and specifying that the first subcomponent is to be excluded from the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in the second state.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the identification of the second state comprises an identification of a state group, the state group comprising the second state and a third state.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising receiving one or more declarative statements specifying that the state group comprises the second state and the third state.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-state object is an entire piece of content.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-state object is a component of a piece of content.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of code for the multi-state object is received from a graphical development engine interpreting the use of the first subcomponent in one or more graphical representations of the multi-state object.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein interpreting the use of the first subcomponent in one or more graphical representations of the multi-state object comprises:
recognizing whether the first subcomponent is used in the first state of the multi-state object; and
creating a declarative statement identifying the first subcomponent, the first state, and that the first subcomponent is used in the first state; and
wherein the declarative statement provides the state information.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the piece of content comprises compiling the portion of the code as compiled output and storing the compiled output.
14. A computer implemented method comprising:
receiving a portion of code for a multi-state object, the portion of code comprising a plurality of statements specifying any subcomponents and attributes of the multi-state object, a statement of the plurality of statements specifying that a first value is used for a first attribute of the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
determining that the first attribute of the multi-state object has the first value when the multi-state object is in the first state based on the statement specifying that the first value is used for the first attribute of the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in the first state;
determining that the first attribute of the multi-state object has a second value when the multi-state object is in a second state, the second value different from the first value; and
providing a piece of content comprising the multi-state object, wherein in the first state, the multi-state object comprises the first attribute having the first value and, in the second state, the multi-state object comprises the first attribute having the second value.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the statement of the plurality of statements comprises a declarative statement.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the declarative statement comprises a dot notation comprising an identification of the first state and an identification of the first attribute.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the identification of the first state comprises an identification of a state group, the state group comprising the first state and a third state.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving one or more declarative statements specifying that the state group comprises the first state and the third state.
19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the multi-state object is an entire piece of content.
20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the multi-state object is a component of a piece of content.
21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the portion of code for the multi-state object is received from a graphical development engine interpreting the use of the first attribute in one or more graphical representations of the multi-state object.
22. The method of claim 21 , wherein interpreting the use of the first attribute in one or more graphical representations of the multi-state object comprises:
recognizing the first value of the first attribute of the multi-state object as used in a state of the graphical representation of the state of the multi-state object; and
creating a declarative statement identifying the first attribute, the first state, and the first value; and
wherein the declarative statement provides the state information.
23. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second value is a default value.
24. A system comprising:
a processor executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to provide an interpretation engine to provide steps comprising:
receiving a portion of code for a multi-state object, the portion of code comprising a plurality of statements specifying any subcomponents and attributes of the multi-state object, a statement of the plurality of statements specifying that a first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
determining that the multi-state object includes the first subcomponent when in the first state based on the statement specifying that the first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state; and
determining that the multi-state object excludes the first subcomponent when in a second state; and
a content generating engine for providing a piece of content comprising the multi-state object, wherein in the first state, the multi-state object comprises the first subcomponent and, in the second state, the multi-state object does not comprise the first subcomponent.
25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising:
program code for receiving a portion of code for a multi-state object, the portion of code comprising a plurality of statements specifying any subcomponents and attributes of the multi-state object, a statement of the plurality of statements specifying that a first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
program code for determining that the multi-state object includes the first subcomponent when in the first state based on the statement specifying that the first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
program code for determining that the multi-state object excludes the first subcomponent when in a second state; and
program code for providing a piece of content comprising the multi-state object, wherein in the first state, the multi-state object comprises the first subcomponent and, in the second state, the multi-state object does not comprise the first subcomponent.
26. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising:
program code for receiving a portion of code for a multi-state object, the portion of code comprising a plurality of statements specifying any subcomponents and attributes of the multi-state object, a statement of the plurality of statements specifying that a first value is used for a first attribute of the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in a first state;
program code for determining that the first attribute of the multi-state object has the first value when the multi-state object is in the first state based on the statement specifying that the first value is used for the first attribute of the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in the first state;
program code for determining that the first attribute of the multi-state object has a second value when the multi-state object is in a second state, the second value different from the first value; and
program code for providing a piece of content comprising the multi-state object, wherein in the first state, the multi-state object comprises the first attribute having the first value and, in the second state, the multi-state object comprises the first attribute having the second value.
27. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the statement specifying that the first subcomponent is included in the multi-state object when the multi-state object is in the first state is inline with respect to another statement specifying that the multi-state object excludes the second component when the multi-state object is in the second state.
28. The method of claim 2 , wherein the declarative statement identifies a state group and a subcomponent that is associated with the state group, wherein the state group includes one or more states.
29. The method of claim 28 , wherein a particular subcomponent included in the first state is enabled to be included in one or more other states.
30. The method of claim 1 , wherein state differences are not specified in terms of changes to any other state of the object.