Method and system for a flexible-data column user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9501453-B2
Application number	US-473107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2007
Priority date	Dec 23, 2007
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

In embodiments there are provided techniques for flexibly displaying information into one or more columns. One technique includes the user interface (UI) receiving from an end user a selection of display criteria configured by an administrative user. Data from a dataset may be selected and/or ordered for displaying according to the criterion selected by the end user. Alternative embodiments may provide displaying positive and negative data, sorting, and fixed locations.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of generating data for display by a user system, comprising:
receiving a request for a report from a data source;
generating data for display assembled from the data source responsive to the received request, wherein
the data for display in the report includes a plurality of fixed-data columns retrieved from the data source, at least one flexible-data column, and a control for the flexible-data column retrieved from the data source,
the fixed data columns are part of the report and data fields of the fixed data columns are not user customizable, and
the flexible-data column is user customizable by using the control to select one from a set of enumerated data fields that can alternatively be displayed in the flexible-data column, including at least two data fields having distinct data formats, including a textual format and a graphical format; wherein each of the data fields in the set of enumerated data fields corresponds to a different characteristic of an object represented by a row of the report;

responsive to selection of one of the enumerated data fields of a distinct data format, causing retrieval of data corresponding to a characteristic of the distinct data format specific to each row of the report and display of the retrieved characteristic in
the flexible-data column for each row; and
sending the generated data for display to the user system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating data for display further includes:
the data for display modifies a data display format of the flexible-data column responsive to a data format of the selected data field.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control responds to hovering over one from the set of enumerated data fields by enabling display of selected data field values in the flexible-data column.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control responds to hovering over one from the set of enumerated data fields by enabling display of a graphical representation of selected data field values in the flexible-data column.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating data for display further includes two or more flexible-data columns visible with the fixed-data columns on a single display page.

6. A system that generates data for display by a user system, comprising:
a processor, memory coupled to the processor, and program instructions loaded into the memory that, when executed on the processor, make the system capable of:
receiving a request for a report from a data source;
generating data for display assembled from the data source responsive to the received request, wherein
the data for display in the report includes a plurality of fixed-data columns retrieved from the data source, at least one flexible-data column, and a control for the flexible-data column retrieved from the data source,
the fixed data columns are part of the report and data fields of the fixed data columns are not user customizable, and
the flexible-data column is user customizable by using the control to select one from a set of enumerated data fields that can alternatively be displayed in the flexible-data column, including at least two data fields having distinct data formats, including a textual format and a graphical format; wherein each of the data fields in the set of enumerated data fields corresponds to a different characteristic of an object represented by a row of the report;
responsive to selection of one of the enumerated data fields of a distinct data format, causing retrieval of data corresponding to a characteristic of the distinct data format specific to each row of the report and display of the retrieved characteristic in the flexible-data column for each row; and

sending the generated data for display to the user system.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein generating data for display further includes:
the data for display modifies a data display format of the flexible-data column responsive to a data format of the selected data field.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the control responds to hovering over one from the set of enumerated data fields by enabling display of selected data field values in the flexible-data column.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the control responds to hovering over one from the set of enumerated data fields by enabling display of a graphical representation of selected data field values in the flexible-data column.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein generating data for display further includes two or more flexible-data columns visible with the fixed-data columns on a single display page.

11. A method of accessing data for display by a user system, comprising:
transmitting a request for a report from a data source;
receiving, in response to the request, data for display assembled from the data source, wherein
the data for display in the report includes a plurality of fixed-data columns retrieved from the data source, at least one flexible-data column, and a control for the flexible-data column retrieved from the data source,
the fixed data columns are part of the report and are not user customizable, and
the flexible-data column is user customizable by using the control to select one from a set of enumerated data fields that can alternatively be displayed in the flexible-data column, including at least two data fields having distinct data formats, including a textual format and a graphical format; wherein each of the data fields in the set of enumerated data fields corresponds to a different characteristic of an object represented by a row of the report; and

receiving data representing a user selection of one of the enumerated data fields using the control;
responsive to selection of one of the enumerated data fields of a distinct data format, accessing data corresponding to a characteristic of the distinct data format specific to each row of the report; and
using the accessed data to cause a user system to render a graphical display of the characteristic in the flexible-data column for each row.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data for display modifies a data display format of the flexible-data column responsive to a data format of the selected data field.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the control responds to hovering over one from the set of enumerated data fields by enabling display of selected data field values in the flexible-data column.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the control responds to hovering over one from the set of enumerated data fields by enabling display of a graphical representation of selected data field values in the flexible-data column.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein generating data for display further includes two or more flexible-data columns visible with the fixed-data columns on a single display page.

16. A non-transitory computer readable media storing program instructions that, when executed on a processor of a user system, make the user system capable of:
transmitting a request for a report;
receiving, in response to the request, data for display assembled from a data source, wherein
the data for display in the report includes a plurality of fixed-data columns, at least one flexible-data column, and a control for the flexible-data column,
the fixed data columns are part of the report and are not user customizable, and
the flexible-data column is user customizable by using the control to select one from a set of enumerated data fields that can alternatively be displayed in the flexible-data column, including at least two data fields having distinct data formats, including a textual format a

Assignees

• Gasn Marni Alyse
• Sebata-Dempster Yurika
• Salesforce Com Inc

Inventors

• Gasn Marni Alyse
• Sebata-Dempster Yurika

Classifications

• G06F16/907 Primary

  Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually · CPC title

• G06F40/177

  of tables; using ruled lines · CPC title

• G06F40/18

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

• G06F16/972

  Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation · CPC title

• G06F40/103 Primary

  Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents (automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191) · CPC title