Programmable tree viewer graphical user interface with integrated
Contents
1. 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown This invention may however be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodi ments set forth herein rather these embodiments are pro vided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art Like numbers refer to like elements throughout As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art the present invention may be embodied as a method a device a data processing system or a program product Accordingly the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment which combines software and hardware aspects Furthermore the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied in the medium Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including for example hard disks CD ROMs optical storage devices or magnetic storage devices As will also be understood by those of skill in the art the tree view graphical user interfaces of the present invention may be implemented as user interface objects Object ori ented techniques are well known to those of skill in the art and as such these techniques will not be described in detail2. computer display device displaying a tree view display within the display window wherein the tree view display depicts the set of hier archical data in a tree representation having a root level and at least one lower level and wherein each level of the tree representation includes at least one branch containing a portion of the set of hierarchical data selecting from a predefined set of user selectable indicia user selectable indicia for display on a tree view control panel displaying the tree view control panel within the display window adjacent the tree view display such that the tree view display and the tree view control panel appear to the user as a single integrated graphical user interface wherein the tree view control panel includes the selected user selectable indicia accepting user input for selection of one of the user selectable indicia which are displayed on the tree view control panel and activating the one of a plurality of functions correspond ing to the user selectable indicia selected by the user so as to modify the tree view display 17 The method of claim 16 wherein said plurality of functions are exclusively associated with the tree view display US 6 348 935 B1 17 18 The method of claim 17 wherein the tree view control panel comprises a toolbar and wherein the user selectable indicia comprise a plurality of function buttons 19 A computer program product for displaying and manipulating a set
3. computer program products These graphical user interfaces programmable user interface objects and computer program products provide intuitive convenient to use flexible inter face means which can be implemented as an off the shelf product in a wide variety of different computer applications BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a screen capture of a prior art user interface which includes data in a tree representation FIG 2 is a logical diagram of a system utilizing the present invention FIG 3 illustrates hierarchical data presented in a tree representation FIG 4 a is a block diagram of a graphical user interface object according to preferred embodiment of the present invention FIG 4 b illustrates how the tree view display and the tree view control panel may appear on a user s display device FIG 5 is a diagram of a graphical user interface object according to the present invention as it might appear on a user s computer screen FIGS 6 a and 6 b illustrate operation of the subsetting function of the present invention FIG 7 is a diagram illustrating an application program which includes two user interfaces according to the teach ings of the present invention and FIG 8 is a flowchart of one embodiment of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in 10 15 20
4. device 13 on the user s data processing system As shown in FIG 4 a the tree view display 64 may be provided to display device 13 directly via interface 70 or through an application 12 in which user interface object 60 may be embedded Tree view controller 66 includes a plurality of control functions 74 76 78 80 see FIG 4 b which are operably associated with a control panel 68 which is displayed on display device 13 This control panel 68 comprises a plurality of user selectable indicia 84 86 88 90 each of which correspond to one of the plurality of control functions 74 76 78 80 By selecting one of the user selectable indicia 84 86 88 90 displayed in the control panel 68 on display device 13 the user implements the corresponding function 74 76 78 80 associated with tree view controller 66 This function in turn operates on tree viewer object 62 so as to modify the tree view display 64 in some fashion For instance functions may be provided which operate directly on the hierarchical data 72 Ge functions for adding deleting or editing the data which in turn modify the data which is displayed in tree view display 64 Other functions may be provided which modify how the hierarchical data 72 is displayed in the tree view display 64 Oe by expanding or collapsing branches of the tree representation Still other functions may be provided which move a cursor or other selection means 82 within the tree view display 64 which m
5. of hierarchical data on a computer display device comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium said computer readable program code means comprising computer readable program code means for providing a display window on the computer display device computer readable program code means for displaying a tree view display within the display window wherein the tree view display depicts the set of hierarchical data in a tree representation having a root level and at least one lower level and wherein each level of the tree representation includes at least one branch containing a portion of the set of hierarchical data computer readable program code means for selecting from a predefined set of user selectable indicia user selectable indicia for display on a tree view control panel 5 10 15 20 18 computer readable program code means for displaying the tree view control panel within the display window adjacent the tree view display such that the tree view display and the tree view control panel appear to the user as a single integrated graphical user interface wherein the tree view control panel includes the selected user selectable indicia computer readable program code means for accepting user input for selection of one of the user selectable indicia which are displayed on the tree view control panel and computer readable program code means for act
6. platforms through a single interface mechanism Furthermore this composite object is programmable in that the tree view control means may also be customized for a specific application by selecting from a plurality of pre defined control functions Thus the graphical user interface objects of the present invention further provide computer application developers with tree representation means which do not require custom coded control mechanisms yet still provide flexibility in the range of tree view control functions which are made available to users of the application FIG 2 illustrates a data processing system on which user interfaces according to the present invention may be uti lized As seen in FIG 2 a data processor 10 may have an operating system 11 resident in the processor An application US 6 348 935 B1 5 12 may be running on the operating system The processor 10 displays information on a display device 13 The display device 13 has a plurality of picture elements collectively referred to as a screen which may define the appearance of a user interface environment displayed on the display device 13 The contents of the display device 13 and therefore the appearance of the user interface environment may be con trolled or altered by the application 12 or the operating system 11 either individually or in combination For obtaining input from a user the operating system 11 the application 12 or both may utilize user input
7. provided within the tree view controller and which may be exclusively directed to control of the tree viewer object In this manner a new user interface object for displaying and manipulating hierarchical data in a tree representation is provided which is more intuitive easier to use and more functional than traditional tree viewer user interfaces and which may be readily incorporated into a wide variety of computer applications as an off the shelf composite object In one embodiment of the present invention composite graphical user interfaces are provided for representing and manipulating a set of hierarchical data on a computer display device These composite graphical user interfaces include a display window which is disposed on a computer display device a tree view display which is disposed within the display window and a tree view control panel disposed within the display window adjacent the tree view display US 6 348 935 B1 3 which includes a plurality of user selectable indicia that select a corresponding one of a plurality of functions which modify the tree view display The plurality of user selectable indicia are selectable from a predefined set of user selectable indicia thereby allowing an application developer or user to customize the control functions made available on the tree view control panel In these composite graphical user interfaces the tree view display depicts the set of hierarchi cal data in a tree represen
8. tree representation 20 As shown in FIG 3 the tree representation 20 extends horizontally from the left of the page with the data arranged in a series of levels 30 40 50 which are physically offset from each other along the horizontal axis In the tree representation 20 of FIG 3 level 30 is the lowest or root level and level 50 is the highest level As illustrated in FIG 3 each level of the tree representation 20 includes one or more branches Herein the term branch refers to the one or more data entries which are displayed at a particular level in tree representation 20 Thus for example level 40 of tree representation 20 includes branches 41 42 43 and level 50 includes branches 51 52 53 54 55 56 Tree representation 20 may further include various other graphical indicia which aid in inter preting the data such as lines 22 24 26 which aid in delineating the various levels of the tree As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art tree representations are particularly useful in displaying hierar chical data The levels of the tree representation visually depict the location of each piece of data in a way that quickly and intuitively conveys to a user both the location of the data within the hierarchy and the relationship of that data to other data in the hierarchy Moreover the hierarchical structure may allow users to more quickly and efficiently peruse the data such as by reviewing the entries at the
9. tree viewer object 62 and the hierarchical data 72 Once selected the function may for example modify the hierarchical data 72 or instruct tree viewer object 62 to modify the tree view display 64 in some manner examples of which are set forth below As is illustrated in both FIG 4 a and FIG 4 b the user interfaces of the present invention may be operably associ ated with a data selector 82 This data selector 82 is provided to facilitate selecting some or all of the hierarchical data 72 displayed in the tree view display 64 for purposes of modifying or otherwise manipulating that data As is well known in the art data selector 82 may modify the appear ance of the data which is selected and or display a separate icon to indicate to the user what data was selected Thus for instance the selected data may be highlighted by a rectan gular border and or the font color of the data may be modified to indicate selection of the data In a preferred embodiment data selector 82 comprise a pointing device 15 such as a computer mouse which is used to select data However it will be understood that any of a variety of mechanisms for selecting objects within a computer window and or on a desktop display may be utilized such as for example commands which are entered via the keyboard 16 or audio commands which are recognized and acted upon by voice recognition software hardware FIG 5 illustrates how the user interface associated with a repre
10. 60 and a tree view display 64 is then displayed within this display window 69 block 162 The user or the application developer may then select from a predefined set of user selectable indicia specific user selectable indicia which will be displayed on the tree view control panel 68 block 164 Once the user selectable indicia have been selected the tree view control panel is displayed within the display window adjacent the tree view display such that the 10 15 20 25 35 45 50 55 60 65 14 tree view display and the tree view control panel appear to the user as a single integrated graphical user interface block 166 Then upon receiving input from a user in the form of the selection of one of the user selectable indicia on the control panel block 168 the function which corresponds to the user selectable indicia which was selected by the user is activated so as to modify the tree view display block 170 In the drawings and specification there have been dis closed typical preferred embodiments of the invention and although specific terms are employed they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims That which is claimed is 1 Acomposite graphical user interface for representing and manipulating a set of hierarchical data on a computer display device the composite graphical user interface co
11. IG 1 failed to provide tree view control function inter faces which were either physically grouped with the tree view or which were exclusively directed to tree view con trol Thus these prior art user interfaces were less intuitive and functional than the composite graphical user interface objects discussed herein FIG 4 a is a block diagram illustrating an object oriented implementation of the present invention As illus trated in FIG 4 a a graphical user interface object 60 is provided that comprises a tree viewer object 62 a tree view controller 66 and an interface mechanism 70 which inter faces both tree viewer object 62 and tree view controller 66 with an application 12 User interface object 60 is operably associated with a set of hierarchical data 72 which may or may not comprise part of user interface object 60 and which may or may not comprise a part of application 12 Thus in FIG 4 a hierarchical data 72 is illustrated as being inde pendent of both user interface object 60 and application 12 However it will be understood that hierarchical data 72 could comprise part of application 12 or be provided to user interface object 60 via application 12 or alternatively could be imbedded within user interface object 60 As shown in FIG 4 a tree viewer object 62 includes a tree view display 64 which is provided to display the US 6 348 935 B1 7 hierarchical data 72 to a user in a tree representation via the display
12. Smalltalk d 92 05 VisualAge for Java Interface Development 353 Documentation 06 Development Manual 107 User s Manual Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 108 Warranty 109 Sales Aids U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 7 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 6 A Documentation User s Manual Development Manual interface Development Sales Aids Warranty A Warranty B Warranty C 64 Sales Aids Warranty A Warranty B Warranty C US 6 348 935 B1 Sheet 8 of 9 Feb 19 2002 U S Patent Soujsoe4 Spl sajes 1u uudoJj8A dq 95noeld 1yu uidol A q Spuet geuosi q enuen u tudol A q jenueyy su sn uol u uunooG det upa ally ZL Old U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 9 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 8 Provide Display Window 160 Display Tree View Display in Window 162 Select Functions and Function Buttons 164 Display Tree View Control Panel in Window 166 implement Function 170 US 6 348 935 B1 1 PROGRAMMABLE TREE VIEWER GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE WITH INTEGRATED CONTROL PANEL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to user interfaces for computer systems More particularly the present inven tion relates to tree view user interfaces for representing and manipulating hierarchical data in computer applications and systems BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Over the last two decades significant increases in per s
13. US006348935B1 a United States Patent Malacinski et al 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 348 935 B1 Feb 19 2002 54 PROGRAMMABLE TREE VIEWER GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE WITH INTEGRATED CONTROL PANEL 75 Inventors Andrei S Malacinski Cary NC US Michael D Rahn Rochester MN US 73 Assignee International Business Machines Corporation Armonk NY US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days 21 Appl No 09 200 618 22 Filed Nov 30 1998 GI Ipt CE geio G06F 3 14 52 U S Ch we 345 853 345 855 345 840 58 Field of Search 345 853 855 345 840 854 835 779 781 784 804 825 841 866 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 675 753 A 10 1997 Hansen et al 345 781 X 5 689 609 A 11 1997 Lynch et al 345 854 X 5 706 456 A 1 1998 Dupper et al 345 841 X 6 020 888 A 2 2000 Ho 345 835 6 078 327 A 6 2000 Liman etal lt 345 854 6 151 024 A 11 2000 Alimpich et al 345 854 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Blaha C Tree List a Dialog Object for Viewing Assigning Values to and Creating Hierarchical Data Structures JBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin V 37 03 pp 399 402 Mar 1994 Austen R F Graphical User Interface for the Distributed System Namespace IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin V 35
14. ay for example be used as a method for a user to scroll up or down tree view display 64 Functions may also be provided which modify other aspects of the appearance of the tree view display 64 Note that these functions 74 76 78 80 may modify the tree view display either by changing the display itself e g by expanding a branch of the tree or scrolling down the tree or by changing the hierarchical data which is displayed in the tree in some fashion As is also indicated in FIG 4 a an interface 70 is provided which interfaces both the tree viewer object 62 and the tree view controller 66 with an application 12 and or a display device 13 A common interface 70 may be used as pursuant to the teachings of the present invention composite graphical user interface objects are provided which imple ment both the tree viewer object and the tree view controller 66 as a single integrated object which may conveniently be integrated into any of a wide variety of application programs 12 As will be understood by those of skill in the art in light of the present disclosure interface mechanism 70 may define how the hierarchical data 72 is formatted and other aspects of the interface between user interface object 60 and an application 12 such that an application developer may incorporate user interface object into an application Preferably interface 70 is implemented using industry stan dard interface formats so as to allow integration of user inte
15. devices 14 User input devices 14 may include a pointing device 15 and a keyboard 16 or other peripheral input devices known to those of skill in the art User input devices 14 may be used to designate areas of the screen or locations on the screen such as the border of a workspace or the corner of the borders of the workspace Furthermore once designated the user interface may display a separate icon to indicate that selection of that location of the screen may translate the feature of the workspace or the workspace itself to a different location As is well known to those of skill in the art multiple windows may be displayed on the screen of a computer display device simultaneously in what is often referred to as a desktop display Windows within a desktop are defined by a border which surrounds the window and may also include a title bar and in some cases a series of menu choices which may manage the appearance and con tents of the window In combination with a pointing device windows may typically be independently moved and resized by dragging a border to a new location although as used herein the term window encompasses bordered work spaces regardless of whether or not they may be indepen dently moved and or resized In a variety of different applications it may be desirable to represent or display data in what is known as a tree repre sentation FIG 3 illustrates a representative example of data displayed in such a
16. dingly neither custom coding nor external controls are required for the control of tree viewer object 62 greatly simplifying an application developer s integration of the user interface object 60 into a computer application 12 This composite object is re useable in the sense that it is designed to easily interface with any of a wide variety of application programs providing an off the shelf object which displays data in tree representation and further includes a wide variety of functions for controlling the tree representation and the data therein This composite object implementation is also advantageous because once inte grated into an application program it is easier to manage and support as compared to multiple objects and or custom coding Moreover in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the user interface objects 60 of the present inven tion are programmable Specifically user interface object 60 may be created with a wide variety of predefined built in functions 74 76 78 80 which in a preferred embodiment will include a large number of the functions described herein and other tree view control functions known to those of skill in the art User interface object 60 can then be customized for use in a particular application 12 in that the predefined functions most relevant to that application 12 can be pro US 6 348 935 B1 13 vided in the control panel 68 where the user gains access to them This prog
17. e flowchart can be implemented by computer program instructions These program instructions may be provided to a processor such that the instructions which execute on the processor create means for implement ing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks The computer program instructions may be executed by a processor to cause a series of operational steps to be per formed by the processor to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the processor provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks Accordingly blocks of the flowchart illustrations support combinations of means for performing the specified functions combinations of steps for performing the speci fied functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions It will also be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations can be implemented by special purpose hardware based systems which perform the specified functions or steps or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions As illustrated in FIG 8 pursuant to the teachings of the present invention methods are provided for displaying and manipulating a set of hierarchical data on a computer display device As shown in the figure a display window 69 is provided which is provided on the user s display device 13 block 1
18. e than prior art tree representations Thus the graphical user inter faces of the present invention are more functional more intuitive and easier to use than prior tree representation graphical user interfaces One particular application in which the user interfaces of the present invention may be particularly useful is depicted in FIG 7 As shown in FIG 7 the application window 138 which is depicted on the desktop display includes two user interfaces 140 150 according to the present invention As illustrated in FIG 7 the inclusion of a control panel 144 154 within the window associated with each user interface 140 150 avoids any confusion regarding which tree view display 142 152 is controlled by each of the control panels 144 154 In contrast the prior art control panel depicted in FIG 1 is not clearly associated with either of the underlying representations and hence would not be well suited for an application such as the application displayed in FIG 7 which has two tree representations opened simultaneously In addition to providing an interface which is more intuitive and less confusing than prior art tree view user interfaces via the teachings of the present invention com posite graphical user interface are provided which combine a tree viewer object 62 and a tree view controller 66 in a single object which includes a common interface for inter facing with an application program 12 in which the object is to be used Accor
19. e user in tree representation With this increas 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 ing complexity it has become more important that computer users are provided control mechanisms for manipulating the hierarchical data set and for customizing how the hierarchi cal data appears on their computer screen Moreover as computer memory and processing capabilities have expanded users are now opening up more and more appli cation at the same time resulting in desktop displays that typically have numerous windows open simultaneously in what may be a confusing layered display of icons windows and the like This increasingly complex display environment has similarly made it important that the control mechanisms available to a user are clearly linked to the icons windows or other desktop display items with which they are associ ated Despite these needs prior tree representations have often provided only limited capabilities for performing manipulating hierarchical data or customizing how it is displayed on their computer display device and the ease of accessing such control capabilities and their methods of implementation have been less than ideal Accordingly there is a need for improvements in graphical user interfaces for representing and manipulating hierarchical data SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above limitations associated with existing tree view graphical user interfaces it is an
20. elect the form of the expand collapse graphical images 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 For example a function button could allow the use to toggle between the standard US 6 348 935 B1 11 graphical expand collapse images and the V p graphical expand collapse images used in other applications such as Lotus Notes Pursuant to the teachings of the present invention a new function which subsets the tree view display 64 may be provided As illustrated in FIGS 6 a and 6 b such sub setting of the tree effectively creates a new root at the selected subset point Such subsetting of the tree view display 64 can simplify a user s navigation and viewing of the hierarchical data as it may be used to effectively collapse portions of the tree which are not currently of interest to the user which may otherwise not be collapsible via traditional collapse functions As shown in FIGS 6 a and 6 b the subset function may be initiated by selecting a branch of the tree depicted in the tree view display 64 and selecting the appropriate user selectable indicia in this case button 91 When selected the tree view display hides all the data in the tree at levels lower than the currently selected branch and at all other branches of the tree at the same level as the currently selected branch Other implementation of the subset function may also be envisioned such as an implementation where the user selects via da
21. erface of claim 3 further comprising selection means operably associated with the tree view display for selecting at least one branch of the tree representation and wherein a first of the plurality of functions corresponding to the function buttons modifies the hierarchical data displayed in the tree representation and wherein a second of the plurality of functions corresponding to the function buttons modifies how the hierarchical data in the tree representation is displayed 6 The composite graphical user interface of claim 5 wherein said first of the plurality of functions is selected from the set of deleting the portion of the hierarchical data selected by the selection means inserting hierarchical data adjacent the branch selected by the selection means US 6 348 935 B1 15 changing the color of at least one branch changing the font of at least one branch changing the font size of at least one branch 7 The composite graphical user interface of claim 5 wherein said second of the plurality of functions is selected from the set of sorting the hierarchical data displayed in the tree repre sentation based on a selected criteria filtering the hierarchical data displayed in the tree repre sentation based on a selected criteria expanding the tree representation to display all branches on all levels expanding the tree representation to display all branches one level below the currently selected branch expanding the
22. her information are stored Similarly organizer applications allow a user to establish task listings which once again are often hierarchical in nature With the advent and expanded use of graphical user interfaces such hierarchical informa tion or data is often displayed to the user in a tree repre sentation These tree representations visually indicate the level in the hierarchy where each item of data resides and may allow a user to expand or collapse the tree at various points i e displaying or hiding information in the lower levels to facilitate a users viewing of the hierarchical data Both custom programs as well as tree viewer objects are known in the prior art for providing a tree view graphical user interface to the user For example FIG 1 is a screen capture of a prior art application Microsoft Cor poration s Windows Explorer that includes a first display area containing hierarchical data displayed in a tree repre sentation and a second display area adjacent the first display area containing data associated with the hierarchical data displayed in the first display area America On Line s Instant Messenger Version 1 75 is another example of an existing application which includes hierarchical data in a tree representation While the use of tree viewer objects and custom tree viewer programs has expanded in recent years so has the complexity of many of the hierarchical data sets that are provided to th
23. herein However various preferred embodiments of the graphical user interfaces of the present invention are described herein in terms of programming objects and it will be understood that these references to objects should be interpreted in light of the understanding in the art regarding object oriented techniques The present invention provides graphical user interfaces and related objects methods and computer program products for displaying hierarchical data in tree represen tation These user interfaces and user interface objects implement within a single window in a desktop display both a tree view display and an associated tree view control panel which is adjacent the tree view display and which provides the user access to functions that modify the manner in which the tree view display represents the hierarchical data By implementing the tree view display and the tree view control panel adjacent each other within a single window users of the graphical user interfaces of the present invention are provided with an intuitive easy to use tree view display window that reinforces the relationship between the tree view display and the tree view control panel Moreover the graphical user interface objects of the present invention are composite objects in that they include in a single off the shelf package both a tree viewer object and means for controlling the tree viewer object which interface to application programs operating systems and
24. higher levels to locate particular branches which are most likely to contain the information of interest As will also be understood by those of skill in the art the hierarchical data presented in a tree representation may in some instances comprise all relevant data wherein in other instances the data displayed in the tree representation serves 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 as an index or summary of underlying information which a user may wish to access For instance family genealogy information is often displayed using a tree representation and the information so displayed in many cases may com prise the full listing of hierarchical data Computer directory structures also comprise data that is often displayed in a tree representation however in this instance the user typically uses the tree representation as a means of locating and accessing underlying computer files Thus it will be under stood that the graphical user interface objects of the present invention are applicable to either type of hierarchical data set or a combination of the two The use of tree representations to display hierarchical data is particularly useful in a number of computer applications Custom coded tree viewer applications as well as tree viewer objects for providing such tree representations are known in the art A tree viewer object refers to a system or more typically a computer program product wh
25. ich is designed to interface with other software programs in a manner similar to a program subroutine and which is capable of displaying data or information in a tree repre sentation Custom coded tree viewer applications refer to software applications which include custom program code that displays data in a tree representation In both prior art tree viewer objects and custom coded tree viewer applications users have in some instances been provided at least some capability for manipulating the data in the tree representation or modifying how the data is displayed For instance as noted above FIG 1 is a screen capture of a user interface provided in the Windows 95 Windows Explorer application which includes a first display field containing a tree representation on the left hand side of the figure that is linked to a second display field on the right hand side of the figure Both of the aforementioned display fields are enclosed within a single application window which also includes various pull down menus and a control panel which contains functions relating to each of the first and second display fields or to the application program in general However these prior art user interfaces typically provided the tree view control functions through custom coding or external controls as opposed to via the cohesive composite user interface objects of the present invention Moreover these prior art user interfaces such as the user interface of F
26. ion of the hierarchical data 72 may be viewed at any one time Examples of such functions include functions which scroll up or down the tree representation from a selected branch to the next branch at the same level Similarly functions may be provided which scroll directly to the closest branch at the root level or any other level of the tree Functions 74 76 78 80 may also be implemented which modify how the hierarchical data 72 is displayed in the tree view display 64 For instance functions may be provided which expand the tree view display 64 to display additional levels of the tree representation or parts thereof Such expand functions might include for example expanding the tree representation to display all branches on all levels expanding the tree representation to display all branches one level below the currently selected branch expanding the tree representation to display all branches below the currently selected branch and or expanding all branches of the tree 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 representation that are at the same level as the currently selected branch to display all branches one level down Similarly functions may also be provided which collapse portions of the tree representation by hiding certain branches and or levels of the tree Such collapse functions might include for example collapsing the tree representation to only display branches at the
27. ivating the one of a plurality of functions corresponding to the user selectable indicia selected by the user so as to modify the tree view display 20 The computer program product according to claim 19 wherein said plurality of functions are exclusively associ ated with the tree view display 21 The computer program product according to claim 20 wherein the tree view control panel comprises a toolbar and wherein the user selectable indicia comprise a plurality of function buttons
28. m prising a display window on the computer display device a tree view display disposed within the display window wherein the tree view display depicts the set of hier archical data in a tree representation having a root level and at least one lower level and wherein each level of the tree representation includes at least one branch containing a portion of the set of hierarchical data and a tree view control panel disposed within the display window adjacent the tree view display wherein the tree view control panel comprises a plurality of user select able indicia which select a corresponding one of a plurality of functions which modify the tree view display and wherein the plurality of user selectable indicia are selectable from a predefined set of user selectable indicia and wherein the tree view display and the tree view control panel appear to the user as a single integrated graphical user interface 2 The composite graphical user interface of claim 1 wherein said plurality of functions are exclusively associ ated with the tree view display 3 The composite graphical user interface of claim 2 wherein the tree view control panel comprises a toolbar and wherein the user selectable indicia comprise a plurality of function buttons 4 The composite graphical user interface of claim 3 wherein one of the plurality of functions sub sets the tree representation at a branch below the root level 5 The composite graphical user int
29. n2 pp 335 336 Jul 1992 Hakiel S R and Murphy A S Selected Object Filter on Pop Up Menu IBM Technical Disclosuer Bulletin V 39 n9 pp 157 162 Sep 1996 Screen Capture from Microsoft Windows Explorer undated Screen Capture from America On Line s Instant Messenger Version 1 75 Copyrights 1996 1998 undated Screen Captures from Lotus Notes undated cited by examiner Primary Examiner Raymond J Bayerl 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Myers Bigel Sibley amp Sajovec 57 ABSTRACT Composite graphical user interfaces and associated methods and computer program products are provided for represent ing and manipulating a set of hierarchical data on a computer display device These composite graphical user interfaces include a display window which is disposed on a computer display device a tree view display which is disposed within the display window and a tree view control panel disposed within the display window adjacent the tree view display which includes a plurality of user selectable indicia that select a corresponding one of a plurality of functions which modify the tree view display The plurality of user selectable indicia are selectable from a predefined set of user selectable indicia thereby allowing an application developer or user to customize the control functions made available on the tree view control panel In these composite graphical user interfaces the tree view display depicts the set
30. object of the present invention to provide improved graphical user inter faces for representing and manipulating hierarchical data It is another further object of the present invention to provide such improved graphical user interfaces in generic systems or computer program products which can be readily and inexpensively modified to customize the graphical user interface for a specific application or operating system It is still a further object of the present invention to provide expanded sets of control functions associated with tree viewer objects Other objects features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and appended claims and upon reference to the accompanying drawings The above mentioned objects of the present invention are provided by new composite graphical user interface objects which group together a tree viewer object and control functions for manipulating the format and contents of the tree viewer object in a single object This composite object provides a graphical user interface with a tree view display and a tree view control panel which are implemented within a single computer window within a desktop display This new user interface object simplifies manipulation of hierar chical data displayed in its associated tree view display and permits users or application developers to readily choose from a library of potential manipulation functions which are
31. of hierarchi cal data in a tree representation having a root level and at least one lower level and each level of the tree representa tion includes at least one branch containing a portion of the set of hierarchical data The tree view display and the tree view control panel are disposed within the display window so as to appear to the user as a single integrated graphical user interface 21 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets OOOO Ga zz o 68 104 102 103 108 VADC Installable Products ZN 100 107 Application Development VisualAge for Smalltalk pre 92 VisualAge for Java Interface Development Documentation 106 Development Manual S07 User s Manual Chapter 1 96 Chapter 2 s Chapter 3 Warranty 109 Sales Aids 69 64 lt I US 6 348 935 B1 Sheet 1 of 9 Feb 19 2002 U S Patent ggz coeds eau el GWZb Z uappiy OL snid s sp lqo Wd 22 2 t6 Z 9 g SOQ SW gy IEqP pop y m Wd 9S 6 P 0l wO gy9 uuoojSu yeW m Wd DEG 68 LZ MOS gyz cOp ezejdwey Wd ELE 96 rZ S St deu geng djynyoeyo Wd LEZL 96 9 Si d H OCL diu eyo uo Wd PL S6 0L 0L eld gp PIPISN lt A weieng Wd POL S6 0L 0L ald gp Een cA deg WdELE t6 0 LL ald aye YOIPXO lt Wd Wd FCL S6 OL OL alld OO Sum lt A Sjuo4 Wd FCL 96 04 04 Sat 8310 ljpleO ca Jasmosg Wd OE S 68 LZ r Sa pMa GS pMp ajejdwe a X Npy Wd DEG 68 LZ r a4 EMG Ge Cup emedue a Jope
32. onal computer processing capability and equally significant decreases in the cost of such computers has led to the proliferation of personal computers in all aspects of society Thus today personal computers are heavily utilized in schools homes and in business One factor fueling this proliferation of computers throughout numerous aspects of life has been the introduction and expanded use of graphical user interfaces which have greatly simplified and made more intuitive both computer operating systems and appli cations This simplification has allowed less sophisticated computer users to readily use computers for many applica tions Today the vast majority of personal computer operating systems and application programs are accessed by users via a graphical user interface Examples of such operating systems are IBM OS 2 Apple System 7 and Microsoft Windows and example applications include Microsoft Windows Explorer Lotus Notes and Word Perfect These operating systems and applications all provide a window like workspace for providing users access to applications and information A wide variety of operating systems and computer appli cation programs incorporate display and or perform opera tions on data or information which is hierarchical in nature For example most computer operating systems provide users access to a hierarchy of directories and sub directories where documents programs e mail messages and ot
33. play and associated control panel and a common interface mechanism for associating the tree viewer object and the tree view control object with the computer application 13 The user interface object of claim 12 wherein the plurality of functions are exclusively associated with the tree view display and wherein the plurality of user selectable control indicia are selectable from a predefined set of user selectable indicia 14 The user interface object of claim 13 wherein the tree view control panel comprises a toolbar and wherein the user selectable indicia comprise a plurality of function buttons 15 The user interface object of claim 14 further com prising selection means operably associated with the tree viewer object for selecting at least one branch of the tree view display and wherein a first of the plurality of functions corresponding to the function buttons modifies the hierar chical data displayed in the tree view display a second of the plurality of functions corresponding to the function buttons modifies how the hierarchical data in the tree view display is displayed and a third of the plurality of functions corre sponding to the function buttons moves the selection means from a currently selected branch to a different branch in the tree view display 16 A method for displaying and manipulating a set of hierarchical data on a computer display device the method comprising the steps of providing a display window on the
34. provided which modify any symbols and or graphical images provided as part of the tree view display 64 A variety of different symbols and or graphical indicia or images may be provided such as vertical lines 92 94 96 98 which connect branches in the same level of the tree making it easier for a user to quickly determine the relationship between various branches of the tree graphical indicia such as the folders in FIG 3 which provide the user information regarding the contents of certain data contained in the tree representation and or graphical images which provide a user access to functions which operate on the currently selected branch of the tree By way of example functions could be provided which change tree wide configurable settings such as whether or not lines 92 94 96 98 see FIG 5 are provided which demarcate the various levels included in tree view display 64 Other functions could be provided which allow the user to select the background to the tree view display 64 portion of window 69 or which change the appearance or the location of the control panel 68 Other functions could allow a user to change the indicators if any used to identify individual branches in the tree and or to provide means such as graphical images 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 in FIG 5 for collapsing and or expanding branches of the tree depicted in tree view display 64 A function may also be provided for allowing the user to s
35. ramming of user interface object 60 to select from amongst predefined functions may be performed either by an application developer or by the user thus providing a simple and convenient method for customizing the user interface objects 60 of the present invention for a particular application 12 These features facilitate use of the user interface objects 60 in a wide variety of applications as a programmable user interface object As discussed above the tree view display 64 and the tree view control panel 68 associated with object 60 are imple mented within a single window 69 so as to appear as an integrated display Moreover in a preferred embodiment the buttons or other user selectable indicia 84 86 88 90 provided in control panel 68 and their corresponding func tions 74 76 78 80 are exclusively directed to control of the tree viewer object 62 or the hierarchical data 72 depicted therein This implementation further reinforces to a user the relationship between the tree view control panel 68 and the tree view display 64 and avoids confusion which may arise were additional functions provided which related to other windows in the desktop display or application wide func tions The present invention will now be described with respect to FIG 8 which is a flowchart illustrating a method for displaying hierarchical data in a display window It will be understood that each block in the flowchart and combina tions of blocks in th
36. re intuitive to use when its association with tree view display 64 is made clear by their adjacent position and their con tainment within a window dedicated to the tree representa tion In FIG 4 6 the tree view control panel 68 is located adjacent to and directly above the tree view display 64 It will be appreciated however that tree view control panel 68 may be located anywhere within window 69 although preferably it is located immediately adjacent tree view display 64 along one of the edges of window 69 In a preferred embodiment one of the plurality of functions 74 76 78 80 associated with tree view controller 66 establishes where the control panel appears within window 69 Such a function for example could have four settings which allow the user to place the control panel along any edge of window 69 and could additionally via a fifth setting allow the user to hide the control panel 68 As discussed above and illustrated in FIG 4 b the tree view control panel 68 comprises a plurality of user select able indicia 84 86 88 90 which allow a user to access one or more of the functions 74 76 78 80 As will be under stood by those of skill in the art these user selectable indicia may comprise control buttons pull down menus graphical images or the like When one of the user selectable indicia 84 86 88 90 is selected a corresponding one of the functions 74 76 78 80 is implemented which is operably associated with
37. rface object 60 into an application 12 with the need for little or no custom programming steps FIG 4 b conceptually depicts how a preferred embodi ment of the user interfaces of the present invention appear to a user via a display device 13 As shown in FIG 4 b a window 69 is provided on the display device 13 As will be understood by those of skill in the art window 69 may be the only window which appears on display device 13 or it may be one of a plurality of windows which are part of a desktop display In the embodiment of FIG 4 5 the window 69 is divided into two area one which includes the tree view display 64 associated with tree viewer object 62 and the other which includes the tree view control panel 68 associ ated with tree view controller 66 In a preferred embodiment of the present invention tree view display 64 and tree view 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 control panel 68 are implemented in a visually distinct manner such as by coloring the background of the areas differently as shown in FIG 4 5 or by separating the areas by lines or the like However these distinctions should not disrupt the appearance of the tree view display 64 and the tree view control panel 68 as a single integrated presentation which are contained within their own window 69 as pur suant to the teachings of the present invention it is realized that a user will find the control panel 68 easier and mo
38. root level collapsing the tree representation to hide all branches below the currently selected branch and or collapsing the tree representation to hide all branches below the currently selected branch and all branches below the branches at the same level as the currently selected branch Additionally functions 74 76 78 80 could be provided for sorting the data which is displayed in the tree view display 64 Such sort functions would for example sort the data based on date name size type etc Moreover sort functions could be provided that sorted the entire tree as well as sort functions which only operated on specified branches or levels Filtering functions could also be provided which would display tree items by user defined variables such as type date of creation or key words specified by a user Functions 74 76 78 80 may also be implemented which modify the hierarchical data that is displayed in the tree view display 64 For instance a function may be provided which deletes the data selected by the selection means 82 Similarly a function may be provided which allows a user to insert data adjacent the currently selected branch in the tree view display 64 Other functions could be provided for modifying how the data is displayed in the tree view display 64 such as functions which change the color font or size of the data in some or all the branches of the tree representa tion Functions 74 76 78 80 may also be
39. sentative user interface object 60 according to the present invention would appear on a user s display device 13 As shown in FIG 5 the tree viewer control panel 68 may conveniently be implemented as a shaded toolbar containing a plurality of buttons 84 86 88 90 which in this embodiment is located at the top of window 69 adjacent and US 6 348 935 B1 9 above tree view display 64 The tree view display 64 encompasses the remainder of window 69 As illustrated in FIG 5 the tree view display 64 comprises hierarchical data 72 arranged in a tree representation 20 along with associ ated symbols 92 94 96 98 and graphical images 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 which facilitate a user s viewing of the data displayed in a tree representation 20 and or manipulation of how the hierarchical data 72 contained therein is displayed Window 69 is rectangular and may be resized or scaled by dragging a side border to scale in one dimension or corner to scale in two dimensions of the window to a new location As is also shown in FIG 5 window 69 may optionally include a horizontal scroll bar 65 and or a vertical scroll bar 67 As illustrated in FIG 5 various controls 120 122 124 relating to window 69 such as controls for closing 120 or resizing 124 window 69 may also be included within window 69 either adjacent the tree viewer control panel 68 such as along the rightmost portion of the shaded area as sho
40. sy Wd DES 68 LZ P al4VOd JAL eop ayejdway a EG Wd POL 6 6 opgemBijuoS gY jurswwoof J sddedweg Wd 2 76 6Z 9 onemBjuoO gg uppoo D De Sec Wd FGL 6 P 0l uoyeciddy gu r sexe jIPOpeY M 5 eaeggjomy Wd 69 1 96 LL 9 uojeolddy goe Del Addold Z B i i Wd Gb 2 96 LL 9 uoyeaiddy gyzig axe yoyeyD a seyndwog N E dote 4 UMYJ JO s u uoO SJSP O IV Wl ORCI det siol we 17 ad uwopeuo Bulioidxg e QV oa T OJA U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 2 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 2 Display Device 13 Application 12 Operating System 11 User Input Devices 14 Pointing Device Keyboard 15 16 U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 3 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 3 30 40 50 TI VADC Installable Products 31 Application Development 41 VisualAge for Smalltalk 57 IA VisualAge for Java 52 22 Interface Development 42 Documentation 43 Development Manual 53 fy User s Manual 54 20 Warranty 55 Aal Sales Aids 56 26 U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 4 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 4 A Hierachical Data 72 Interface 70 Tree View Display 64 Tree Viewer Object 62 Data Selector 82 Application 12 Display 13 U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 5 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 4 B U S Patent Feb 19 2002 Sheet 6 of 9 US 6 348 935 B1 FIG 5 V VADC Installable Products 100 101 Application Development 104 VisualAge for
41. ta selector 82 the branches of the tree which are to remain after subsetting In the embodiment of FIG 5 the user selectable indicia are implemented as buttons 84 86 88 90 In this embodiment button 84 is associated with a function for expanding all the levels of the tree depicted in tree view display 64 while button 86 collapses all the levels of the tree Button 88 scrolls down the tree from a currently selected branch to the next branch which is at the same level as the currently selected branch while button 90 similarly scrolls up the tree from the currently selected branch to the next branch at the same level It will be understood that numerous other control functions may be provided on con trol panel 68 such as the functions described above and or output functions such as a print button As will be understood by those of skill in the art function buttons such as the buttons depicted in FIG 5 have button behavior which is generally associated with them which separates them from other graphical images which may be associated with various functions For example when selected by a user the appearance of the button icon changes so that the button appears depressed thereby indicating to a user that the function is currently selected Additionally function buttons generally automatically become disabled when their selection is no longer appropriate e g the expand button would become disabled when the tree repre sen
42. tation having a root level and at least one lower level and each level of the tree representa tion includes at least one branch containing a portion of the set of hierarchical data Moreover the tree view display and the tree view control panel are disposed within the display window so as to appear to the user as a single integrated graphical user interface In another embodiment of the present invention selection means operably associated with the tree view display are provided for selecting at least one branch of the tree repre sentation In this embodiment the composite graphical user interfaces may include only functions that are exclusively associated with the tree view display The tree view control panel may comprise a toolbar and the user selectable indicia may comprise a plurality of function buttons One of the plurality of functions may sub set the tree representation at a branch below the root level Other functions may be provided which modify the hierarchical data displayed in the tree representation which modify how the hierarchical data in the tree representation is displayed and which move the selection means from a currently selected branch to a different branch in the tree representation In still another embodiment of the present invention the graphical user interface may be implemented by a program mable user interface object Methods are also provided for displaying and manipulating a set of hierarchical data as are
43. tation is fully expanded The buttons may also be designed so that a fly over message a short message which explains to the user the function associated with the particular button appears adjacent the button on the display device 13 when the selection means are maneuvered onto the button Thus as used herein the term button refers to graphical objects which display typical button behavior as opposed to graphical images such as the expand collapse images which do not display typical button behav ior While prior art tree representations have provided users access to menus and or buttons providing limited control over the tree representation both the functions provided and 10 15 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 their relationship to the tree representation were inadequate For one thing as data hierarchies have become increasingly complex the control options provided by prior art tree representations are inadequate Moreover these functions have generally not been provided within a single window as a single entity which reinforces the relationship between the tree and the tree controller Furthermore it is becoming increasingly common that tree representations are used to browse a hierarchy independent of the underlying data Such browsing is greatly facilitated by providing the browse control functions directly adjacent the data which is to be browsed making the browsing easier and more intuitiv
44. tree representation to display all branches below the currently selected branch expanding all branches of the tree representation that are at the same level as the currently selected branch to display all branches one level down collapsing the tree representation to only display branches at the root level collapsing the tree representation to hide all branches below the currently selected branch collapsing the tree representation to hide all branches below the currently selected branch and all branches below the branches at the same level as the currently selected branch sub setting the tree representation at the level of the currently selected branch 8 The composite graphical user interface of claim 5 wherein a third of the plurality of functions corresponding to the function buttons moves the selection means from a currently selected branch to a different branch in the tree representation 9 The composite graphical user interface of claim 8 wherein said third of the plurality of functions is selected from the set of scrolls down the tree representation to the next branch of the same level scrolls up the tree representation to the next branch of the same level 10 The composite graphical user interface of claim 8 wherein the tree representation further comprises graphical indicia which reflect information regarding the tree representation and wherein a fourth of the plurality of functions corresponding to the function bu
45. ttons modifies the graphical indicia 11 The composite graphical user interface of claim 3 wherein the computer display window further comprises a horizontal scroll bar and a vertical scroll bar and wherein the computer display window is horizontally and vertically extendable and retractable 12 Aprogrammable user interface object for representing and manipulating a set of hierarchical data associated with a computer application the programmable user interface object comprising a tree viewer object for depicting the set of hierarchical data within a display window in a tree view display having a root level and at least one lower level wherein each level of the tree view display includes at least one branch containing a portion of the set of hierarchical data 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 a tree view control object integrated with the tree viewer object such that the tree viewer object and the tree view control object comprise a composite user interface object wherein the tree view control object comprises a plurality of functions for modifying the tree view display and a plurality of user selectable indicia which are displayed in a control panel within the display window and which select a corresponding one of the plurality of functions and wherein the control panel is displayed adjacent the tree view display within the display window so as to appear to the user as an integrated tree view dis
46. wn in FIG 5 or in the tree view display area Alternatively controls 120 122 124 may be provided in a separate area of window 69 such as a second toolbar or control area which for example could be located at the top of the window above tree viewer control panel 68 In a preferred embodiment controls 120 122 124 comprise a button 120 for closing window 69 a button 124 for resizing window 69 and a button 122 for minimizing window 69 As discussed above each of the user selectable indicia 84 86 88 90 may be associated with a function 74 76 78 80 These functions may for example modify how the hierar chical data 72 is displayed within the tree view display 64 or directly modify the hierarchical data Additional functions and associated user selectable indicia 84 86 88 90 may also be provided for moving a cursor or data selector 82 within the tree view display 64 or for changing the appear ance of the symbols or graphic images associated with the tree representation displayed by tree view display 64 A wide variety of different functions 74 76 78 80 may be implemented For instance a number of different func tions could be implemented which facilitate a user s efforts to scroll through or view the hierarchical data 72 Such functions may be particularly useful in situations where the hierarchical data set 72 is long or complex and or in cases where window 69 is necessarily small so that only a limited port
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