Method, system, and apparatus for customizing web parts
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsEric B. Vigesaa, Joshua Lindquist, Daniel Simmons, Li Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method, system, and apparatus for customizing web part objects. A web part object 28 that is capable of providing a presentation is accessed. Once the web part object is accessed, a specification file 38 associated with the web part object is also accessed. The specification file contains additional code, such as HTML, JAVA Script, or other code. The additional code is applied to a web part to modify the presentation of the web part. Thus, the presentation of the web part is modified in accordance with the specification file to provide a modified presentation.
Claims20
A method, executing within a computer system having at least one processor, of providing a customized web part, the method comprising:
- accessing a web part assembly which is capable of providing a presentation of a web part;
- accessing a specification file associated with the web part, wherein the specification file comprises data indicating whether the web part should be modified and a pointer to an extensible markup language (XML) map, wherein the XML map is utilized, by the web part, to locate, retrieve, format, and display source data, the source data being stored at any location on a distributed computing network;
- and
- modifying the presentation of the web part in accordance with the specification file and the data indicating whether the web part should be modified to provide a modified presentation as at least a portion of the customized web part.
A system for providing a customized presentation of a web part, the system comprising:
- a storage device adapted to store a web part assembly and a specification file, the web part assembly containing code for a web part presentation, the specification file comprising data indicating whether the web part should be modified and a pointer to an XML map, wherein the XML map is configured to be utilized, by the web part, to locate, retrieve, format, and display source data, the source data being stored at any location on a distributed computing network;
- and
- a processing device responsive to the code in the web part assembly for providing the web part presentation, and responsive to the code and the data indicating whether the web part should be modified in the specification file for modifying the web part presentation.
A server operative to:
- receive a request, from a requesting device, for a web page;
- access a web part assembly which is capable of providing a presentation of a web part;
- access a specification file associated with the web part, wherein the specification file comprises data indicating whether the web part should be modified and a pointer to an XML map, wherein the XML map is configured to be utilized, by the web part, to locate, retrieve, format, and display source data, the source data being stored at any location on a distributed computing network;
- modify the presentation of the web part in accordance with the specification file and the data indicating whether the web part should be modified to provide a modified presentation as at least a portion of a customized web part;
- render a web page representative of the modified presentation;
- and
- send the rendered web page to the requesting device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.