Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Gregory Alexander Lett

Chaitanya Dev Sareen

Tony Edward Schreiner

Helen Elizabeth Drislane

Dmitry Titov

Henry David Hahn

Oleg V Ovetchkine

Tabs or other display elements that do not comply with traditional 'window' requirements can be individually presented to a user when the window containing such tabs or other display elements is hidden or obscured. The user can be enabled to perform tab-specific actions, such as closing a particular tab, or viewing a specific tab without interacting with the containing window. Executing processes utilizing such tabs can register them and provide order and display information. Subsequent tab-specific actions can be received and directed to such executing processes. Additional requests, such as for thumbnails and bitmaps, can be directed to such executing processes in order to implement the tab presentation mechanisms and to provide for the tab-specific actions.

Child window surfacing and management

Described is a layout system and process for user interface elements of computer programs. The layout system generally refers to a protocol and associated API that enables sizes and positions to be allotted, in which user interface elements are rendered. The layout system may be split between a core layout system and a framework layout system. The core provides minimal policy/rules that are imposed to allow flexibility for a given framework implementation. The framework adds support for user-specified sizing, positioning, margins, minimum sizes, maximum sizes and specific layout elements. Parent elements (e.g., containers) direct measure calls and arrange calls to child elements. The layout system essentially intercepts those calls and depending on policy may manipulate the properties of those calls for sizing, positioning, alignment and the like to ensure uniform and consistent layout results.

Layout system for consistent user interface results

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Gregory Alexander Lett