Configurable toolbar

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9760381-B2
Application number	US-36351709-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2009
Priority date	Jan 30, 2009
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that render a configurable toolbar. At runtime, a toolbar configuration file is loaded including a toolbar definition and at least one button definition. A rendering module renders a toolbar based on the toolbar configuration file. The toolbar configuration file is editable by an end-user, thus allowing the end-user to configure properties of the toolbar and buttons without knowledge of computer code or recompilation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for rendering a configurable toolbar including at least one button, the method comprising:
executing an application that implements a user interface for a personalized content delivery (PCD) system, the application presenting digital content to a viewer in the form of one or more messages;
loading, by a rendering module of the PCD system, a toolbar configuration file from a global repository, the toolbar configuration file including a toolbar definition and a button definition, the toolbar definition including a pair of toolbar tags surrounding text that defines one or more properties of the configurable toolbar, and the button definition including a pair of button tags surrounding text that defines one or more properties of the button, the button definition including a markup button definition to highlight or mark areas in the message;
storing, by the rendering module, the toolbar definition in a toolbar object of the application and the button definition in a button object of the application;
rendering, by the rendering module, the configurable toolbar and the button in the application based on the toolbar definition and the button definition of the toolbar configuration file, including:
calling a button method that accepts the button definition as input and maps the button properties to member variables of the button method, and
calling a toolbar method that accepts the toolbar definition as input and maps the toolbar properties to member variables of the toolbar method; and

after the toolbar configuration file is modified by an end-user to change one or more properties of the toolbar or the button by changing the text located between the toolbar tags or the text located between the button tags in the toolbar configuration file, to remove the button from the toolbar by removing the button tags and the text therebetween from the toolbar configuration file, or to add a new button to the toolbar by adding button tags and text therebetween to the toolbar configuration file, and without recompilation of the application:
loading, by the rendering module, the modified toolbar configuration file,
storing, by the rendering module, the toolbar definition of the modified toolbar configuration file in the toolbar object of the application and the button definition of the modified toolbar configuration file in the button object of the application, and
rendering, by the rendering module, a modified configurable toolbar in the application based on the toolbar definition and the button definition of the modified toolbar configuration file.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application comprises a Flex application user interface (“UI”).

3. The method claim 1 , wherein the toolbar configuration file is in eXtensible Markup Language (“XML”) format.

4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the properties of the button include at least one of:
a height and width of the button;
a shape for corners of the button;
a tooltip of the button;
a label for the button;
an icon for the button;
a shortcut key for the button;
an action to perform upon selection of the button; and
a disabled state for the button, and

wherein the button definition further includes at least one of:
a questionnaire button definition to display a questionnaire related to the message,
a detailed message button definition to display messages giving further details on the message being presented, and
a related messages button definition to display a list of messages related to the message being presented.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the toolbar configuration file is reusable by a plurality of applications with access to the global repository.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein changes to the toolbar configuration file are stored in the global repository.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the properties of the toolbar include which buttons are included in the toolbar.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
execute an application that implements a user interface for a personalized content delivery (PCD) system, the application presenting digital content to a viewer in the form of one or more messages; and
execute a rendering module of the PCD system that:
loads a toolbar configuration file from a global repository, the toolbar configuration file including a toolbar definition and a button definition, the toolbar definition including a pair of toolbar tags surrounding text that defines one or more properties of the configurable toolbar, and the button definition including a pair of button tags surrounding text that defines one or more properties of the button, the button definition including a markup button definition to highlight or mark areas in the message,
stores the toolbar definition in a toolbar object of the application and the button definition in a button object of the application,
renders the configurable toolbar and the button in the application based on the toolbar definition and the button definition of the toolbar configuration file, including:
calls a button method that accepts the button definition as input and maps the button properties to member variables of the button method, and
calls a toolbar method that accepts the toolbar definition as input and maps the toolbar properties to member variables of the toolbar method, and

after the toolbar configuration file is modified by an end-user to change one or more properties of the toolbar or the button by changing the text located between the toolbar tags or the text located between the button tags in the toolbar configuration file, to remove the button from the toolbar by removing the button tags and the text therebetween from the toolbar configuration file, or to add a new button to the toolbar by adding button tags and text therebetween to the toolbar configuration file, and without recompilation of the application:
loads the modified toolbar configuration file,
stores the toolbar definition of the modified toolbar configuration file in the toolbar object of the application and the button definition of the modified toolbar configuration file in the button object of the application, and
renders a modified configurable toolbar in the application based on the toolbar definition and the button definition of the modified toolbar configuration file.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the application comprises a Flex application user interface (“UI”).

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium claim 8 , the toolbar configuration file is in eXtensible Markup Language (“XML”) format.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 ,
wherein the properties of the button include at least one of:
a height and width of the button;
a shape for corners of the button;
a tooltip of the button;
a label for the button;
an icon for the button;
a shortcut key for the button;
an action to perform upon selection of the button; or
a disabled state for the button, and

wherein the button definition further includes at least one of:
a questionnaire button definition to display a questionnaire related to the message,
a detailed message button definition to display messages giving further details on the message being presented, and
a related messages button definition to display a list of messages related to the message being presented.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the toolbar configuration file is reusable by a plurality of applications with access to the global repository.

13.

Assignees

• Kumar Darshan
• Sudhi Ambili
• Achar Govindraja
• Jhaveri Pankesh
• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Kumar Darshan
• Sudhi Ambili
• Achar Govindraja
• Jhaveri Pankesh

Classifications

• G06F8/38 Primary

  for implementing user interfaces · CPC title

• G06F9/4443 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F8/67

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F9/451 Primary

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title