Using program code to generate help information, and using help information to generate program code

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9645798-B1
Application number	US-201514842400-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 1, 2015
Priority date	Mar 28, 2014
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A device may determine to provide help information associated with a portion of program code included in a program and provided via a user interface of a programming environment. The device may obtain generic help information, associated with the portion of program code, based on determining to provide the help information. The device may determine a set of rules for modifying the generic help information using the portion of program code. The device may analyze the program, using the set of rules, to identify information, included in the program, to be included in modified help information. The device may modify the generic help information, to generate the modified help information, using the information identified based on analyzing the program. The device may provide the modified help information for display via the user interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
analyzing, by one or more processors, first program code based on receiving the first program code,
the first program code comprising a variable and being provided for display on a user interface,

generating, by the one or more processors, help information for the first program code based on analyzing the first program code,
the help information comprising one or more possible actions to take on the variable,
the one or more possible actions being associated with one or more functions,

providing, by the one or more processors, the help information for display on the user interface with the first program code,
generating, by the one or more processors, second program code for executing at least one of the one or more possible actions on the variable included in the first program code, and
inserting, by the one or more processors, a selected portion of the second program code into the first program code based on receiving a user instruction.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a result for each of the one or more possible actions to take on the variable and providing the result for display on the user interface.

3. The method of claim 2 , where generating the result comprises:
generating the second program code for each of the one or more possible actions to take on the variable and executing the second program code.

4. The method of claim 3 , where inserting the selected portion of the second program code comprises:
selecting the selected portion of the second program code corresponding to a selected result generated from executing the second program code.

5. The method of claim 1 , where inserting the selected portion of the second program code comprises:
inserting the selected portion of the second program code at a predetermined location.

6. The method of claim 5 , where the predetermined location is chosen by a user.

7. The method of claim 1 , where the help information comprises a description of the one or more possible actions, and
generating the second program code comprises:
generating the second program code based on at least part of the description.

8. A device comprising:
one or more processors to:
analyze first program code upon receiving the first program code,
the first program code comprising a variable and being provided for display on a user interface,

generate help information for the first program code based on analyzing the first program code,
the help information comprising one or more possible actions to take on the variable,
the one or more possible actions being associated with one or more functions,

provide the help information for display on the user interface with the first program code,
generate second program code for at least one of the one or more possible actions, and
insert a selected portion of the second program code into the first program code based on receiving a user instruction.

9. The device of claim 8 , where the one or more processors are further to:
generate a result for each of the one or more possible actions to take on the variable and provide the result for display on the user interface.

10. The device of claim 9 , where the one or more processors, when generating the result, are to:
generate the second program code for each of the one or more possible actions to take on the variable and executing the second program code.

11. The device of claim 10 , where the one or more processors, when inserting the selected portion of the second program code, are to:
select the selected portion of the second program code corresponding to a selected result generated from executing the second program code.

12. The device of claim 8 , where the one or more processors, when inserting the selected portion of the second program code, are to:
insert the selected portion of the second program code at a predetermined location.

13. The device of claim 12 , where the predetermined location is chosen by a user.

14. The device of claim 8 , where the help information comprises a description of the one or more possible actions, and
the one or more processors, when generating the second program code, are to:
generate the second program code based on at least part of the description.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
analyze first program code based on receiving the first program code,
the first program code comprising a variable and being provide for display on a user interface,

generate help information for the first program code based on analyzing the first program code,
the help information comprising one or more possible actions to take on the variable,
the one or more possible actions being associated with one or more functions,

provide the help information for display on the user interface with the first program code,
generate second program code for at least one of the one or more possible actions, and
insert a selected portion of the second program code into the first program code based on receiving a user instruction.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
generate a result for each of the one or more possible actions to take on the variable and provide the result for display on the user interface.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to generate the result, further cause the one or more processors to:
generate the second program code for each of the one or more possible actions to take on the variable and executing the second program code.

18. The method of claim 1 , where the one or more functions are capable of using the variable as an input.

19. The device of claim 9 , where the one or more functions are capable of using the variable as an input.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , where the one or more functions are capable of using the variable as an input.

Assignees

• Mathworks Inc

Inventors

• Bienkowski Joseph R
• Wey Claudia G
• Hinkle Benjamin V
• Booker John E
• Macdonald Jared D
• Erickson Michelle D

Classifications

• G06F9/453 Primary

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F8/34 Primary

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title