Slicer elements for filtering tabular data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9411797-B2
Application number	US-201113286125-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2011
Priority date	Oct 31, 2011
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

Slicers are configured to filter tabular data arranged in columns. A user may use the slicers to filter tabular data from a client application and/or a server based application/service. Slicers may be created for one or more columns and for all/portion of the tabular data within a column. Selection of a slicer element filters the associated tabular data and updates a display of the other slicers. Interaction with the slicers may also update other user interface controls that filter the tabular data (e.g. selecting a slicer element changes a value of a filtering setting in a drop down menu and/or selecting the filtering setting in the drop down menu changes a state of a slicer element). A slicer element may be associated with other objects in the spreadsheet and/or included within one or more functions of a spreadsheet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
automatically generating slicers including one or more slicer elements associated with corresponding slicers and tabular data, wherein the tabular data does not include a pivot table;
determining a slicer to display that is associated with the tabular data;
displaying slicer elements for the slicer that are associated with unique values in the tabular data;
receiving a touch input associated with a selection of a slicer element, wherein the receiving of the touch input comprises moving an edge of the slicer element a predetermined distance resulting in the slicer element being selected or not moving the edge of the slicer element the predetermined distance resulting in the slicer element not being selected;
updating a display based on the selection; and
updating a display of the slicer elements in response to the selection of the slicer element.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the display by hiding one or more rows of displayed tabular data based on selection of a slicer element.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the slicer elements comprises displaying each slicer and associated slicer elements separately from one another.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the selection of the slicer element occurs at a client computing device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically updating a display of the slicer elements in response to at least one of: a change to the tabular data and a change to another filtering control.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising defining the slicer as an object within the spreadsheet that is referenced by a user-defined function.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering the tabular data in response to the selection of the slicer element, wherein the filtering is configurable to filter hidden tabular data within a spreadsheet; non-hidden data within the spreadsheet; and a query associated with the filter.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the display of the slicer elements in response to the selection of the slicer element comprises at least one of: hiding a display of another displayed slicer element and changing a display characteristic of another displayed slicer element.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising turning off filtering that is performed in response to the slicer elements being selected.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the selection of a slicer element comprises receiving the touch input and determining when the touch input slides an end of the slicer element a predetermined distance, wherein the slicer element is selected after dragging the edge of the slicer the predetermined distance.

11. A system comprising:
a display;
a touch surface that is configured to receive touch input;
a processor and a computer-readable medium;
an operating environment stored on the computer-readable medium and executing on the processor; and
a process configured to perform actions, comprising:
automatically generating slicers including one or more slicer elements associated with corresponding slicers and tabular data, wherein the tabular data does not include a pivot table;
determining slicers to display that are each associated with different columns of tabular data;
displaying slicer elements for each of the slicers that are associated with unique values in each of the different columns of the tabular data;
receiving a touch input associated with a selection of a slicer element, wherein the receiving of the touch input comprises moving an edge of the slicer element a predetermined distance resulting in the slicer element being selected or not moving the edge of the slicer element the predetermined distance resulting in the slicer element not being selected;
filtering the tabular data based on the selection of the slicer element;
updating a display based on the selection;
automatically updating a display of the slicer elements in response to the selection of the slicer element such that slicer elements that are selectable are displayed differently from slicer elements that are not selectable; and
automatically turning off the automatic updating of the display of the slicer elements when updating the display of the slicer elements exceeds a predetermined period of time.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising automatically updating a display of the slicer elements in response to at least one of: a change to the tabular data and a change to another filtering control and wherein filtering the tabular data comprises filtering at least one of: hidden tabular data within a spreadsheet; non-hidden data within the spreadsheet and a query associated with the filter.

13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising determining when the slicer is referenced by a user-defined function within a cell of the spreadsheet.

14. A system comprising at least one processor operatively coupled to at least one computer storage device, the computer storage device having computer-executable instructions configured for:
automatically generating slicers including one or more slicer elements associated with corresponding slicers and tabular data, wherein the tabular data does not include a pivot table;
determining slicers to display that are each associated with different columns of tabular data;
displaying slicer elements for each of the slicers that are associated with unique values in each of the different columns of the tabular data;
receiving a touch input associated with a selection of a slicer element, wherein the receiving of the touch input comprises moving an edge of the slicer element a predetermined distance resulting in the slicer element being selected or not moving the edge of the slicer element the predetermined distance resulting in the slicer element not being selected;
filtering the tabular data based on the selection of the slicer element;
updating a display based on the selection; and
updating a display of the slicer elements in response to the selection of the slicer element such that slicer elements that are not associated with data are displayed differently from slicer elements that are associated with data relating to the selection.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein displaying the slicer elements comprises displaying each slicer and associated slicer elements separately from one another and determining when the updating of the display of the slicer elements is turned off.

16. The system of claim 14 , further comprising automatically updating a display of the slicer elements in response to at least one of:
a change to the tabular data and a change to another filtering control.

17. The system of claim 14 , further comprising defining the slicer as an object within the spreadsheet that is referenced by a user-defined function.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein filtering the tabular data comprises filtering at least one of: hidden tabular data within a spreadsheet, non-hidden data within the spreadsheet and a query associated with the filter.

19. The system of claim 14 , further comprising turning off a filtering that is performed in response to the slicer elements being selected.

20. The application of claim 14 , wherein receiving the selection of a slicer element comprises receiving a touch input and determining when the touch input slides an end of the slicer element a predetermined distance towards a middle portion of the slicer element.

Assignees

• Campbell Johnny Sterling
• Monroe Jenefer
• Tupaj Konrad
• Grewal Amarinder Singh
• Hawking Robert George
• Folting Allan
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Campbell Johnny Sterling
• Monroe Jenefer
• Tupaj Konrad
• Grewal Amarinder Singh
• Hawking Robert George
• Folting Allan

Classifications

• G06F40/18

  of spreadsheets (form-filling G06F40/174) · CPC title

• G06F40/177 Primary

  of tables; using ruled lines · CPC title

• G06F9/451

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title

• G06F3/04886

  by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus · CPC title

• G06F3/0483 Primary

  Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor · CPC title