System and method for maintaining position information for positioned elements in a document, invoking objects to lay out the elements, and displaying the document

A non-transitory computer readable medium having program instructions stored thereon, the instructions capable of execution by a processor and defining the steps of:

• maintaining, by a page object associated with a page of a document, a list indicating positions of respective positioned elements on the page;
• transmitting, by the page object, to a first paragraph object associated with a first paragraph associated with the page, the first paragraph object being subordinate to the page object within a hierarchy, first position information generated based on the list, the first position information indicating a first position of a first positioned element having a position that conflicts with a location of the first paragraph, and invoking, by the page object, the first paragraph object to lay out the first paragraph based on the first position information, to generate first layout data, wherein the first paragraph object is a first programming class comprising a first function for determining whether the location of the first paragraph collides with a position of another positioned element;
• updating, by the page object, the list based on update information received from the first paragraph object, the update information indicating a position of a second positioned element having a position that conflicts with a location of the first paragraph;
• transmitting, by the page object, to a second paragraph object associated with a second paragraph associated with the page, the second paragraph object being different from the first paragraph object and subordinate to the page object within the hierarchy, second position information generated based on the updated list, the second position information comprising an indication of the position of the second positioned element, and invoking, by the page object, the second paragraph object to lay out the second paragraph based on the second position information, to generate second layout data;
• and
• displaying the page based on the first layout data and the second layout data.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing:
• a page object associated with a page of a document;
• a first paragraph object associated with a first paragraph associated with a page, the first paragraph object being configured to lay out the first paragraph, the first paragraph object being subordinate to the page object within a hierarchy;
• and
• a second paragraph object associated with a second paragraph associated with the page, the second paragraph object being configured to lay out the second paragraph, the second paragraph object being subordinate to the page object within the hierarchy;
• the page object being configured to:
• maintain a list indicating positions of respective positioned elements on the page;
• transmit to the first paragraph object first position information generated based on the list, the first position information indicating a first position of a first positioned element having a position that conflicts with a location of the first paragraph, and invoke the first paragraph object to lay out the first paragraph based on the first position information, to generate first layout data, wherein the first paragraph object is a first programming class comprising a first function for determining whether the location of the first paragraph collides with a position of another positioned element;
• update the list based on update information received from the first paragraph object, the update information indicating a position of a second positioned element having a position that conflicts with a location of the first paragraph;
• transmit to the second paragraph object second position information generated based on the updated list, the second position information comprising an indication of the position of the second positioned element, and invoke the second paragraph object to lay out the second paragraph based on the second position information, to generate second layout data;
• and
• display the page based on the first layout data and the second layout data.