Hierarchical data navigation tool populated by a web service
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsAbhijit Kundu, Brian Burdick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of navigating data associated with a plurality of nodes in a hierarchy stored in a database. The nodes are organized in a plurality of levels of the hierarchy where each node has a label. Software of the invention requests and receives a set of labels associated with one or more nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database. The software displays a visual representation of the hierarchy to a user including the received labels. A user select a plurality of the displayed labels from any level in the hierarchy to process data associated with the nodes corresponding to the selected labels.
Claims30
A computer-implemented method of navigating data, said data associated with a plurality of nodes in a hierarchy stored in a database, said nodes organized in a plurality of levels of the hierarchy, each of said nodes having a label, said method comprising:
- requesting a set of labels associated with a plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database including a property value for at least one property associated with the hierarchy,
- receiving the requested set of labels from the database in accordance with the received property value;
- displaying to a user a visual representation of the hierarchy comprising two or more of the labels from the received set of labels in accordance with the received property value;
- receiving, from the user, a selection of a first plurality of the displayed labels within a first level and a second plurality of the displayed labels within a second level, each and every of said labels within the first and second levels being selectable separately by the user in the displayed visual representation of the hierarchy;
- and
- receiving, from the user, a single request to process and retrieve data associated with the plurality of nodes corresponding to only the selected, displayed labels within the first and second levels and wherein the requesting, the receiving the requested set of labels, and the displaying occur in accordance with the property value to inhibit large amounts of data from being requested or displayed at once, wherein the property value identifies one or more of the following:
- a location of a web service for retrieving the data associated with the plurality of nodes;
- a maximum quantity of labels to request, a maximum quantity of labels to display, or both;
- one or more labels to exclude from requesting or displaying or both;
- an intermediate level to display between other levels within the hierarchy;
- and
- a quantity of levels to request when requesting a set of labels associated with the plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database.
In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a user interface selection device, a method of navigating data, said data associated with a plurality of nodes in a hierarchy stored in a database, said nodes organized in a plurality of levels of the hierarchy, each of said nodes having a label, said method comprising:
- requesting a set of labels associated with a plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database including a value for at least one property associated with the hierarchy;
- receiving the requested set of labels from the database in accordance with the received property value;
- receiving an activation request from a user via the user interface selection device to display the received set of labels as a hierarchy;
- displaying to a user a visual representation of the hierarchy on the display in response to the received activation request in accordance with the received property value, said displayed hierarchy comprising two or more of the labels from the received set of labels;
- receiving, from the user, a selection of a first plurality of the displayed labels within a first level and a second plurality of the displayed labels within a second level, each and every of said labels within the first and second levels being selectable separately by the user in the displayed visual representation of the hierarchy via the user interface selection device;
- and
- receiving, from the user, a single request to process and retrieve data associated with the plurality of nodes corresponding to only the selected, displayed labels within the first and second levels and wherein the requesting, the receiving the requested set of labels, and the displaying occur in accordance with the property value to inhibit large amounts of data from being requested or displayed at once, wherein the property value identifies one or more of the following:
- a location of a web service for retrieving the data associated with the plurality of nodes;
- a maximum quantity of labels to request a maximum quantity of labels to display, or both;
- one or more labels to exclude from requesting or displaying or both;
- an intermediate level to display between other levels within the hierarchy;
- and
- a quantity of levels to request when requesting a set of labels associated with the plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database.
A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable components for navigating data, said data associated with a plurality of nodes in a hierarchy stored in a database, said nodes organized in a plurality of levels of the hierarchy, each of said nodes having a label, said components comprising:
- a service component for requesting and receiving a set of labels associated with a plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database, said requests including a value for at least one property associated with the hierarchy;
- a user interface component for displaying to a user a visual representation of the hierarchy comprising two or more of the labels from the received set of labels requested and received by the service component;
- and
- a list component for allowing the user to individually select each and every of a first plurality of the displayed labels within a first level and of a second plurality of the displayed labels within a second level in the visual representation of the hierarchy displayed with the user interface component, wherein the user interface component further receives a single request from the user to process and retrieve data associated with the plurality of nodes corresponding to only the selected, displayed labels within the first and second levels, and wherein the requesting, receiving, and displaying occur in accordance with the received value to prevent large amounts of data from being requested or displayed at once, wherein the property identifies one or more of the following:
- a location of a web service for retrieving the data associated with the plurality of nodes;
- a maximum quantity of labels to request a maximum quantity of labels to display, or both;
- one or more labels to exclude from requesting or displaying or both;
- an intermediate level to display between other levels within the hierarchy;
- and
- a quantity of levels to request when requesting a set of labels associated with the plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database.
A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a data structure for navigating data, said data associated with a plurality of nodes in a hierarchy stored in a database, said nodes organized in a plurality of levels of the hierarchy, each of said nodes having a label, said data structure comprising:
- a service field storing a set of labels representing a plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy, said set of labels received from the database in response to a request including a value for at least one property associated with the hierarchy;
- a user interface field storing two or more of the labels from the set of labels stored in the service field, said two or more of the labels displayed to the user in a visual representation of the hierarchy in accordance with the received property value;
- and
- a list field storing a first plurality and a second plurality of the two or more labels stored in the user interface field, said first plurality being within a first level and said second plurality being within a second level, each and every of said first plurality and said second plurality of labels being selected separately by the user in the visual representation of the hierarchy, said first plurality and said second plurality of the labels being processed responsive to a single request from the user to retrieve data associated with the plurality of nodes corresponding to only the selected labels within the first and second levels and wherein requesting, receiving, and displaying occur in accordance with the received value to prevent large amounts of data from being requested or displayed at once, wherein the property identifies one or more of the following:
- a location of a web service for retrieving the data associated with the plurality of nodes;
- a maximum quantity of labels to request, a maximum quantity of labels to display, or both;
- one or more labels to exclude from requesting or displaying or both;
- an intermediate level to display between other levels within the hierarchy;
- and
- a quantity of levels to request when requesting a set of labels associated with the plurality of nodes in one or more levels in the hierarchy from the database.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.