US 6,278,450 B1Granted

System and method for customizing controls on a toolbar

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsMichael P. Arcuri, Christopher Michael McBride, Martijn E. van Tilburg

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Abstract

Customizing a presentation of a set of control elements, such as toolbar, by using a graphical user interface element representing the toolbar control elements, such as a quick customize (QC) menu. This customization approach allows a user to access the QC menu to select which control elements are to be displayed on the toolbar. The controls presented by the QC menu are typically associated with the control items of a particular toolbar or a corresponding set of commands. For convenient user access, the QC menu can be exposed on the toolbar via a special control or an entry point and typically lists the control elements available for the toolbar in order of appearance on the toolbar. For example, the QC menu can present the toolbar's default commands or controls, controls that are “top” or frequently used candidates for the toolbar, and any controls currently on the toolbar. Each control presented by the QC menu has a corresponding selection indicator, such as a checkbox, for easily adding to or removing a control element from the associated toolbar.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A system for creating a quick customize (QC) menu associated with a current toolbar comprising:

a system memory for storing an original toolbar comprising a plurality of default controls in a first sequence;
a display device for displaying the current toolbar comprising a plurality of current controls in a second sequence;
and
a processor functionally coupled to the system memory and the display device, operable for executing computer-executable instructions for:
creating the QC menu including a plurality of selection indicators presented in order of the second sequence, each selection indicator corresponding to one of the current controls and indicating that the corresponding current control is located on the current toolbar,
in the QC menu, setting an index before a first selection indicator,
selecting a first default control from the plurality of default controls,
determining whether the QC menu includes a default control matching selection indicator corresponding to one of the current controls and also to the first default control,
if the QC menu includes the default control matching selection indicator, resetting the index at the default control matching selection indicator, and
if the QC menu does not include the default control matching selection indicator, placing on the QC menu a default control selection indicator corresponding to the first default control, the default control selection indicator being placed on the QC menu after the index so as to maintain the relative orders of the first sequence and the second sequence.

7 more elements

A system for inserting a selected control on the toolbar comprising:

a system memory for storing a toolbar comprising a plurality of controls and an associated quick customize (QC) menu comprising a plurality of selection indicators, each of the selection indicators of the QC menu corresponding to one of the controls in the toolbar;
an input device for generating an input signal;
a display device for displaying the toolbar and the associated QC menu;
and
a processor functionally coupled to the system memory, the input device and the display device, operable for executing computer-executable instructions for:
receiving the input signal indicating that a selection indicator corresponding to the selected control is selected in the QC menu;
in the QC menu, locating a next selection indicator indicating that a corresponding next control is displayed on the toolbar;
in the toolbar, determining an index associated with the next control;
in the toolbar, inserting the selected control before the index;
in response to inserting the selected control in the toolbar, providing an indication in the QC menu that the selected control is displayed on the toolbar;
and
reconciling any separators for separating groups of controls on the toolbar comprising:
determining that the selected control begins a group of controls,
determining that the next control on the toolbar has a first associated separator,
determining that the next selection indicator in the QC menu has a second associated separator, and
in response to determining that the next selection indicator has the second associated separator, adding a third separator to the selected control on the toolbar.

13 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.