Shared user interface services framework

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9557880-B2
Application number	US-201313786756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2013
Priority date	Jun 29, 2010
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

This disclosure provides various embodiments for providing UI services. An application-independent, reusable UI framework receives a request from a first application, to perform a first operation on a first set of data relating to presentation of the first set of data on a UI. A subset of the first set of data is received from a data provider independent of the UI framework. At least one first service is identified in response, the first service hosted by the UI framework and adapted to perform the first operation on the first set of data. The first operation is performed on the subset of the first set of data using the at least one identified first service to produce a first processed set of data adapted for presentation on a UI of the first application. The first processed set of data is sent to the first application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a request, at an application-independent, reusable user interface (UI) framework, from a first application, to perform at least one first operation on a first set of data relating to presentation of the first set of data on a UI associated with the first application;
receiving, from a data provider, independent of the UI framework, a subset of the first set of data corresponding to the received request;
identifying, in response to the received request, at least one first service, hosted by the UI framework, adapted to perform the at least one first operation on the first set of data;
performing the at least one first operation on the subset of the first set of data using the identified at least one first service to produce a first processed set of data, wherein the at least one first operation is a conversion, using a centralized service controller of the UI framework to execute the identified at least one first service, of the subset of the first set of data including converting at least some values of data in the subset of the first set of data according to regional preferences of the first application, and wherein the centralized service controller performs the at least one first operation once on the first set of data to make the first processed set of data available for use by other operations performed by at least one other particular service hosted by the UI framework; and
sending the first processed set of data to the first application, the first processed set of data adapted for presentation on the UI associated with the first application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of data includes table data and the at least one first operation includes a table operation.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the table operation is at least one of a sorting, filtering, or grouping operation.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of the first set of data includes all of the first set of data.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of the first set of data includes less than all of the first set of data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising:
identifying a minimum subset of the first set of data that, when processed by the at least one first operation, produces a processed set of data responsive to the received request; and
sending, to the data provider, a request for the minimum subset of the first set of data, wherein the data received from the data provider comprises the minimum subset of the first set of data.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving a second request, at the UI framework, from a second application, to perform at least one second operation on a second set of data relating to presentation of the second set of data on a UI associated with the second application;
receiving, from a second data provider independent of the UI framework, a subset of the second set of data corresponding to the second request;
identifying, in response to the second request, at least one second service, hosted by the UI framework, adapted to perform the at least one second operation on the second set of data;
performing the at least one second operation on the subset of the second set of data using the at least one second service to produce a second processed set of data; and
sending the second processed set of data to the second application, the second processed set of data adapted for presentation on the UI associated with the second application.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of the first set of data is received as a plurality of data segments and the at least one first operation is performed individually on each segment in the plurality of segments.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying that the data provider is capable of performing at least a second operation;
sending a request to the data provider to perform at least the second operation;
wherein:
the request received at UI framework is for performance of at least two operations, including the first operation and the second operation;
the data provider has performed the at least the second operation on the first set of data prior to receiving the first set of data from the data provider; and
the identified at least one first service is used to perform at least the first operation on the subset of the received first set of data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each service hosted by the UI framework has an associated service configuration model defining the function of the service.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving a request to modify a first service configuration model associated with the first service;
modifying the first service configuration model based at least in part on the received request to modify the first service configuration model; and
wherein performance of the first operation is based at least in part on the modified first service configuration model.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a data modification request to the data provider to modify, delete, or add data managed by the data provider.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the data modification request is sent in response to the request from the first application.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein converting the subset of the first set of data includes converting the subset of the first set of data from a first data type to a second data type.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the second data type is adapted for use by the first application.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the second data type is adapted for use by the at least one service.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the request is for performance of a plurality of operations, including the first operation, and a plurality of services hosted by the UI framework are identified in response to the request, each service in the plurality of services adapted to perform at least one of the plurality of operations, wherein the first processed set of data is produced through performance of the plurality of operations on the subset of the first set of data.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a particular order for the performance of the plurality of operations; and
initiating performance of each of the plurality of operations by a corresponding one of the plurality of services according to the identified particular order.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the UI framework provides print-processing support.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a user request through a user interface (UI) presented on a computing device, to perform at least one operation on particular table data, the at least one operation relating to presentation of at least a portion of the particular table data on the UI;
sending a request to perform the at least one operation to the shared UI framework, and wherein the sent request includes an identification of the particular table data and the at least one operation, wherein the particular table data is stored in a memory of a data source independent of the shared UI fr

Assignees

• Vollrath Ivo
• Scherer Klaus-Dieter
• Novak Petr
• Braun Michelle
• Sap Se

Inventors

• Vollrath Ivo
• Scherer Klaus-Dieter
• Novak Petr
• Braun Michelle

Classifications

• G06F9/54 Primary

  Interprogram communication · CPC title

• G06F2209/541

  Client-server · CPC title

• G06F3/0481 Primary

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title