Hybrid tree for mixed user interface elements and sequential data

A computer-readable medium comprising a hybrid tree data structure representing a document, the data structure comprising:

• a simple tree, wherein a plurality of nodes in the simple tree represent user interface elements of the document, wherein nodes in the simple tree comprise a pointer to a parent, if any, a pointer to a previous sibling, if any, a pointer to a next sibling, if any, and a pointer to a first child, if any;
• a sequential tree, the sequential tree comprising a text data store storing text of the document, a plurality of nodes representing formatting directives for formatting spans of the text of the document, and a splay tree linking the formatting directives to the text of the document;
• and
• one or more proxy nodes combining the simple tree and the sequential tree into a single, navigable data structure.

A computer-readable medium comprising a hybrid tree data structure representing a document, the data structure comprising:

• a simple tree, wherein a plurality of user interface representing means in the simple tree represent user interface elements of the document, wherein user interface representing means in the simple tree comprise a means for referring to a parent, if any, a means for referring to a previous sibling, if any, a means for referring to a next sibling, if any, and a means for referring to a first child, if any;
• a sequential tree, the sequential tree comprising a text data storage means for storing text of the document, a plurality of formatting directive representing means representing formatting directives for formatting spans of the text of the document, and a linking means for linking the formatting directive representing means to the text of the document;
• and
• one or more combining means combining the simple tree and the sequential tree into a single, navigable data structure.

A computer-readable medium comprising a data structure comprising:

• one or more simple tree nodes;
• one or more sequential tree nodes;
• and
• one or more proxy nodes combining the simple tree nodes and the sequential tree nodes into a hierarchically-arranged tree.

A computer-readable medium comprising a hierarchical data structure representing a document, the data structure comprising:

• a sequential data store comprising contents of the document;
• one or more splay tree nodes comprising references to locations within the sequential data store;
• one or more element nodes associated, via the splay tree nodes, with one or more contiguous portions of the sequential data store, wherein the contiguous portions are thereby associated with elements associated with the element nodes;
• one or more simple tree nodes associated with navigable features of the document, wherein the nodes comprise pointers to adjacent nodes, if any, a first child node, if any, and a parent node, if any;
• and
• one or more proxy nodes placing a set of one or more of the element nodes within a tree comprising one or more of the simple tree nodes.

A computer-readable medium comprising a data structure comprising the following:

• one or more trees of a first type comprising a plurality of nodes representing hierarchically-arranged elements for display in a user interface;
• one or more trees of a second type comprising at least one node representing elements arranged sequentially for display in the user interface and a plurality of hierarchically-arranged nodes controlling display of the elements arranged sequentially for display;
• and
• in at least one of the trees of a type, at least one proxy node serving as an indication of a location whereat one of the trees of a different type resides.

A computer-readable medium having thereon a data structure comprising the following:

• a tree of a simple type;
• a tree of a sequential type;
• and
• a proxy node by which one of the trees of one type is placed in another of the trees of another type.

A computer-implemented method for storing a hybrid tree, the method comprising:

• storing nodes representing a simple tree;
• storing nodes representing a sequential tree;
• and
• storing at least one proxy node by which the simple tree and the sequential tree are combined into a single, navigable hybrid data structure.

A method of embedding a tree of a first type into a tree of a second type, the method comprising:

• creating a proxy node as a root of the tree of the first type;
• placing the proxy node into the tree of the second type;
• and
• adding tree elements of the second type under the proxy node.