Automatic column resizing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9740676-B2
Application number	US-201414333146-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2014
Priority date	Sep 20, 2013
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

In various embodiments, methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable media are disclosed that allow developers to provide automatic column resizing in spreadsheet software using a desktop integration framework. The width of a column usually can only be set at or to hard-wired widths or manually adjusted to fit (even with a manually triggered auto adjustment function). This feature adds the ability to control column widths in tables at run time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code that when executed by one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems configures the one or more processors for creating documents of desktop applications that act as user interfaces for web-based applications, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:
code for creating contents of a document in a native application format associated with a first native application, wherein the native application is in communication with an application development framework through a plugin of the native application and the plugin is a component of the application development framework;
code for associating a user interface element of the plugin with a portion of the document, wherein the portion of the document is linked with data from data models of a web-based application in communication with the application development framework;
code for mapping the user interface element to one or more of the data models of the web-based application, wherein the user interface element provides at least a portion of information from the one or more data models of the web-based application to a user interface of the native application, wherein the information is associated with a dimension of one or more portions of the document expressed in Expression Language (EL) and determined at runtime, and wherein the information instructs the user interface of the native application on how to resize the one or more portions of the document;
code for generating metadata associated with the document based on the associating of the user interface element with the portion of the contents of the document and the mapping of the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application; and
code for retrieving the document from the web-based application, the document comprising metadata that allows the application development framework to initialize the document in the native application and request the portion of data associated with the one or more data models from the web-based application.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for mapping the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application comprises code for configuring the user interface element to the dimension information based on a type of the one or more portions of the document determined at runtime.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for mapping the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application comprises code for configuring the user interface element with specific functionality allowing the user to interact with the one or more portions of the document based on one or more aspects of the one or more portions of the document determined at runtime.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for mapping the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application comprises code for configuring the user interface element to provide a list of values derived from an entity modeled by the one or more data models at runtime.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for mapping the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application comprises code for configuring the user interface element to provide a search interface enabling a user to search within a list of values derived from an entity modeled by the one or more data models at runtime.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for associating the user interface element with the portion of the document comprises code for associating a text box, label, button, list, table, radio button, checkbox, input widget, or output widget.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for creating the contents of the document in the native application format associated with the native application comprises code for creating a spreadsheet using a spreadsheet desktop application.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the code for creating the contents of the document in the native application format associated with the native application comprises code for creating a word processing document using a desktop publishing application.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising: code for publishing the document and the metadata associated with the document to the web-based application such that the document becomes usable as a user interface to the web-based application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising
code for rendering the document based on the document and the metadata associated with the document at runtime, wherein the user interface element contributes the dimension information to the user interface at runtime.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the code for rendering the document comprises code for generating functionality that displays an interface in response to a user interaction that allows a user to select one or more values determined at runtime and that inputs a selection into the contents of the document.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:
code for receiving a modification to the document in the portion of data contributed by the user interface element; and
code for updating the web-based application using the second application to reflect the modification.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising code for rendering the document in the user interface of the native application at runtime based the metadata associated with the document and the portion of the document linked with data from data models of the web-based application.

14. A method comprising:
creating, by a computer system, contents of a document in a native application format associated with a native application, wherein the native application is in communication with an application development framework through a plugin of the native application and the plugin is a component of the application development framework;
associating, by a computer system, a user interface element of the plugin with a portion of the document, wherein the portion of the document is linked with data from one or more data models of a web-based application in communication with the application development framework;
mapping, by a computer system, the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application, wherein the user interface element provides at least a portion of information from the one or more data models of the web-based application to a user interface of the native application, wherein the information is associated with a dimension of one or more portions of the documented expressed in Expression Language (EL) and determined at runtime, and wherein the information instructs the user interface of the native application on how to resize the one or more portions of the document;
generating, by a computer system, metadata associated with the document based on the associating of the user interface element with the portion of the contents of the document and the mapping of the user interface element to the one or more data models of the web-based application; and
retrieving the document from the web-based application, the document comprising metadata that allows the application development framework to initialize

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Logan Shaun
• Davis Edmund Alexander

Classifications

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06F16/90324

  using system suggestions · CPC title

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• G06F40/18 Primary

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

• G06F16/86

  Mapping to a database · CPC title