US 8,548,967 B1Granted

System for visual query and manipulation of configuration management records

AssigneeAccuRev, Inc.

InventorDamon B. Poole

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems and processes for enabling querying of one or more data stores of CM applications using a graphical user interface (GUI) by which a user (e.g., a developer, supervisor, or project team leader) may select search terms. The GUI may offer one or more types of categories of search terms illustrated at a high level, such that a user may select search terms without knowledge of the underlying data structure of the data store(s). In some embodiments of the invention, when search results are presented to the user issuing a query, the search results are presented in a GUI that permits the users to make edits to the data without opening other windows to make the changes. For example, in some embodiments of the invention, the user may be permitted to select one or more results and “drag” the results, using the GUI, to another element of the GUI to make a change to the data, or may perform any other graphical operation with the results.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method for querying a data store of information regarding at least one software development effort, the method comprising:

A) displaying to a user a graphical interface comprising at least one graphical element, each graphical element of the at least one graphical element being associated with at least one field of a record stored in the data store, the record being associated with the at least one software development effort, at least one first graphical element being associated with at least one software component related to the at least one software development effort and/or with at least one developer related to the at least one software development effort, and at least one second graphical element being associated with a workflow stage of a workflow related to the at least one software development effort;
B) detecting a selection by the user of at least one selected graphical element, the selection indicating a desired search to be performed;
C) assembling, from a set of one or more previously-identified query elements, a search query to be carried out, based at least in part on the user's selection of graphical elements;
D) querying the data store of information regarding the at least one software development effort based on the search query;
and
E) presenting results of the querying to the user,
whereby a user, without having knowledge of the fields of records stored in the data store, graphically defines a search of the data store regarding one or more issues related to the at least one software development effort, the records that can be searched comprising information regarding at least one attribute from a group of attributes consisting of one or more developers assigned to the issue, a target release for the issue, and a workflow stage of the issue.

4 more elements

A computer-implemented method for manipulating a data store of information regarding at least one software development effort, the method comprising:

A) presenting to a user at least one result of a query of the data store via a graphical interface, the graphical interface comprising at least one graphical element, each graphical element of the at least one graphical element being associated with at least one field of a record stored in the data store, the record being associated with the software development effort, each graphical element being associated with at least one change that may be made to the data store when a particular graphical operation is performed involving the graphical element;
B) detecting a selection of at least one selected result of the at least one result;
C) detecting a graphical operation performed by the user with regard to the at least one selected result and a graphical element of the at least one graphical element;
D) determining an edit to be made to the at least one record based on the graphical operation by identifying, for the graphical element of the graphical operation, the at least one change associated with the graphical element;
and
E) editing the at least one record in the data store corresponding to the at least one selected result according to the at least one change.

3 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

an output device to display a graphical interface to a user, the graphical interface comprising at least one graphical element, at least one first graphical element being associated with at least one software component related to at least one software development effort and/or with at least one developer related to the at least one software development effort and at least one second graphical element being associated with a workflow stage of a workflow related to the at least one software development effort, wherein the graphical interface enables the user, without having knowledge of fields of records stored in a data store, to graphically define a search of the data store regarding one or more issues related to the at least one software development effort, the records that can be searched comprising information regarding at least one attribute from a group of attributes consisting of one or more developers assigned to an issue, a target release for the issue, and a workflow stage of the issue;
an input device with which the user can interact with the graphical interface;
a data store of information regarding the at least one software development effort;
and
at least one processor adapted to
operate the output device to display the graphical interface,
detect a selection of one or more graphical elements of the graphical interface by the user, the selection indicating a desired query,
in response to the selection by the user, query the data store to determine one or more fields and/or values associated with the plurality of selected graphical elements,
construct a search query based at least in part on the fields and/or values determined in said querying,
perform a search of the data store using said search query, and
present results of the search to the user via the graphical interface.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.