Customizable, dual-format presentation of information about an object in an interactive programming enviornment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9665348-B1
Application number	US-201213489948-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 6, 2012
Priority date	Jun 7, 2011
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

A device may provide an interface for an interactive programming environment and may receive a command to display information about an object. The device may provide, based on the command, the information about the object, using: a first display interface that presents the information about the object in a first format that is applicable to users of the object. A second display interface, for the object, may present the information about the object in a second format, different from the first format, the second format including information about the object that is applicable to authors of the class or to authors of subclasses corresponding to the object. The first and second display interface may present the information, about the object, based on a state of the object and/or based on a display section of the information (e.g., certain information may be presented in a header section of the display).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving a command to display information about an object associated with a technical computing environment,
the receiving the command being performed by the device,
the object being an instance of a class, and
the class being defined as a programming construct that is used to generate the instance of the class in the technical computing environment;

determining whether the command is associated with a set of informal display routines or a set of formal display routines based on an identifier associated with the command,
the determining whether the command is associated with the set of informal display routines or the set of formal display routines being performed by the device,
the command being associated with the set of informal display routines when a first identifier is associated with the command, and
the command being associated with the set of formal display routines when a second identifier is associated with the command;

providing the information about the object, for display via an interface using the set of informal display routines, when the command is associated with the set of informal display routines,
the information provided using the set of informal display routines being provided for a first user with respect to the object,
the set of informal display routines causing the information about the object to be displayed, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, in a first plurality of visual formats depending on a state of the object,
the set of informal display routings including one of:
a first display routine that provides the information about the object for display, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, when the object is a scalar object,
a second display routine that provides the information about the object for display, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, when the object is not a scalar object, or
a third display routine that provides the information about the object for display, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, when the object is an empty object array,

the set of informal display routines being overrideable by one or more customized display routines,
selection of the first display routine, the second display routine, or the third display routine, or overriding the set of informal display routines, for displaying the object, being based on the state of the object to be displayed, and
the providing the information about the object via the interface using the set of informal display routines being performed by the device; and

providing the information about the object, for display via an interface using the set of formal display routines, when the command is associated with the set of formal display routines,
the information provided using the set of formal display routines being provided for a second user with respect to the object,
the set of formal display routines causing the information about the object to be displayed, via the interface using the set of formal display routines, in a second plurality of visual formats depending on the state of the object, and
the providing the information about the object via the interface using the set of formal display routines being performed by the device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the command is associated with the set of formal display routines when the command includes a name of the object and a reference to a name of a display method,
the command including the name of the object and the reference to the name of the display method corresponding to the second identifier; or

determining that the command is associated with the set of informal display routines when the command includes only the name of the object,
the command including only the name of the object corresponds to the first identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the first user comprises a user that uses the object to perform a technical task in the technical computing environment.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the information about the object, via the interface using the set of formal display routines, for the first user that creates the class for the object.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the information about the object, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, for the first user that uses the object for a technical task.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a customizable display class that, when included in the object, overrides the set of informal display routines to provide a customizable display interface.

7. The method of claim 6 , where the customizable display interface includes:
a first set of customizable routines that are called based on the state associated with the object, and
a second set of customizable routines that are called based on display sections associated with providing the information about the object for display.

8. The method of claim 7 , where the display sections include one or more of:
a header display section,
a property display section, or
a footer display section.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a command to display information about an object associated with a programming environment,
the object being generated as an instance of a class,
the class being defined as a programming construct that is used to generate the instance of the class in the programming environment;

determine whether the command is associated with a set of informal display routines or a set of formal display routines based on an identifier of the command,
the command being associated with the set of informal display routines when a first identifier is associated with the command, and
the command being associated with the set of formal display routines when a second identifier is associated with the command;

provide the information about the object, for display via an interface using the set of informal display routines, when the command is associated with the set of informal display routines,
the information provided using the set of informal display routines being provided for a first user with respect to the object,
the set of informal display routines causing the information about the object to be displayed, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, in a first plurality of visual formats depending on a stat of the object,
the set of informal display routings including one of:
a first display routine that provides the information about the object for display, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, when the object is a scalar object,
a second display routine that provides the information about the object for display, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, when the object is not a scalar object, or
a third display routine that provides the information about the object for display, via the interface using the set of informal display routines, when the object is an empty object array,

the set of informal display routines being overrideable by one or more customized display routines,
selection of the first display routine, the second display routine, or the third display routine, or overriding the set of informal display routines, for displaying the object, being based on the state of the object to be displayed, and
the set of informal display routines being customizable through the pro

Assignees

• Black Jennifer Anne
• Hirsch Michelle T
• Foti David A
• Mathworks Inc

Inventors

• Black Jennifer Anne
• Hirsch Michelle T
• Foti David A

Classifications

• G06F8/22

  Procedural · CPC title

• G06F40/106

  Display of layout of documents; Previewing · CPC title

• G06F8/34

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06F8/33 Primary

  Intelligent editors · CPC title

• G06F9/54

  Interprogram communication · CPC title