US 8,046,716 B2 · Creating, displaying, and editing a sub-process within a process diagram

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for creating, displaying, and editing a sub-process within a process diagram. A diagramming application provides for the grouping of existing process operations of a process diagram into a sub-process. The sub-process is displayed within the process diagram as a container that may be expanded and collapsed in-place within the diagram to display or hide the corresponding sub-process operations without leaving the context of the process diagram. Similarly, a single process operation within a process diagram may be selected for the creation of an associated sub-process. An expanded container including the newly created sub-process operations and a collapsed container representing the sub-process operations replace the single process operation and are concurrently hidden and displayed according to a user selection of a collapse or expand control.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for creating a sub-process within a process diagram, the method comprising:

receiving a request to define a plurality of process operations within the process diagram as the sub-process;
creating a collapsed container representing the sub-process in a collapsed display state;
creating an expanded container comprising the plurality of process operations;
grouping the plurality of process operations and any associated internal connectors;
hiding the group of process operations and associated internal connectors;
displaying the collapsed container within the process diagram;
determining if a crossing connector is connected to at least one of the group of process operations;
in response to determining that the crossing connector is connected to the at least one of the group of process operations, hiding the crossing connector, displaying an aggregate connector between the collapsed container and a diagram process operation, and displaying an indication of a quantity of crossing connectors the aggregate connector represents;
and
hiding the expanded container.

7 more elements

A method for creating a sub-process within a process diagram, the method comprising:

in response to receiving a request to create a sub-process associated with a process operation of the process diagram, presenting a sub-process creation workspace comprising at least one connector anchor associated with the process operation;
identifying a plurality of sub-process operations connected to the at least one connector anchor;
creating an expanded container comprising the plurality of sub-process operations;
creating a collapsed container that represents the sub-process associated with the process operation;
displaying the collapsed container within the process diagram while hiding the expanded container;
determining if a crossing connector is connected to the at least one connector anchor;
in response to determining that the crossing connector is connected to the at least one connector anchor, hiding the crossing connector and displaying an aggregate connector between the collapsed container and a diagram process operation;
and
displaying an indication of a quantity of crossing connectors for which each aggregate connector represents.

6 more elements

A computer storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

present a sub-process creation workspace comprising at least one connector anchor associated with a process operation of a process diagram, in response to receiving a request to create the a sub-process;
identify a plurality of sub-process operations connected to the at least one connector anchor;
create an expanded container comprising the plurality of sub-process operations;
create a collapsed container that represents the sub-process associated with the process operation;
display the collapsed container within the process diagram while hiding the expanded container;
determine if a crossing connector is connected to the at least one connector anchor;
in response to determining that the crossing connector is connected to the at least one connector anchor, hide the crossing connector and display an aggregate connector between the collapsed container and a diagram process operation;
and
display an indication of a quantity of crossing connectors for which each incoming aggregate connector and outgoing aggregate connector represents.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Creating, displaying, and editing a sub-process within a process diagram

Life of this patent

Creating, displaying, and editing a sub-process within a process diagram

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20