Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jeffrey Lawrence Bogdan

Michael John Hillberg

Robert A Relyea

Namita Gupta

Chee Heng Chew

Sundaram Ramani

Mark James Finocchio

Peter Francis Ostertag

Mark A Malamud

Christopher J Guzak

Joseph D Belfiore

Ian Michael Ellison-Taylor

George H Pitt, Iii

Roger F Grambihler

Daniel P Oran

Kent D Sullivan

Adam M Smith

Christopher L Anderson

Alex Mogilevsky

Lee Dicks Clark

Samuel Watkins Bent

Jeffrey Cheng-Yao Fong

Nicholas M Kramer

Christopher Ralph Brown

David Jakob Jenni

Jeff G Arnold

Jude Jacob Kavalam

Arthur E Blume

Pritesh Bodalia

Mohamed Abdel Hamid Hassanin

Shawna Rae Sandeno

Mohammed Abdel Hamid Hassanin

A user interface is described that temporarily displays portions of a page that reside outside of the viewable area of the screen. An animated transition creates a brief preview of at least one user interface feature. Additionally, the user interface feature is then animated out of the viewable area in a way to suggest a location of the feature. In one embodiment, a target page that is being opened controls the transition and animates features into and out of the viewable area to create the temporary preview. In another embodiment, the target page includes user interface elements that can asynchronously control the preview animation independent from the main content of the target page. In yet another embodiment, a transition coordinator can coordinate the timing between animating out a foreground application while animating in a target application.

User interface with preview transitions

Described is a system and method for declaring a resource element in markup that is intended to be instantiated lazily only upon use at run-time rather than always at markup load time. In one embodiment, the invention provides a parent resources tag that encloses resource elements that may be any type of markup element. On compile, a specially prepared compiler/parser identifies the Resource tag and creates definitional information sufficient to describe the resource elements in such a manner that the resource elements are defined but not created at run-time when the markup is first loaded, and are created only upon use at run-time. A resource may be defined to be shared or non-shared. If shared, the resource is instantiated only once and that same instance is handed out each time the resource is accessed. If non-shared, a new instance of the resource is always created and handed out on each access of the resource.

System and method for declaring a resource within a markup document

An inheritance context is created for a graphics primitive object that is a property of a visual element. The inheritance context can be used to make some element information (e.g., information in resource dictionaries, name dictionaries, and inheritable properties that reside in the element tree containing the visual element) available to the graphics primitive object.

Inheritance context for graphics primitives

The present invention is directed to a method and system for compiling a markup language file into an executable application or library dll. The system may also compile a code-behind file associated with the markup language file. The compiling system may include a parser for parsing the markup language file and providing the compiling system with detailed token information to the compiling system. This token information could be user code snippets or non-code token information such as tags, properties or events in the markup. The compiling system may also include a binary file generator for generating a binary file from the non-code token information, wherein the binary file contains one record for each non-code token. Additionally, the system may include a code generator for generating a language-independent tree of code expressions based on the token information, wherein the code expressions represent the markup language file as a class. A compiler may compile the binary files and code files to create an executable application.

System and method for compiling markup files

An improved system and method for styling content in a graphical user interface control is provided. An application may define a user interface control having a data object of any type of singular content, including another user interface control. An application may include style declarations that may associate a style resource with the user interface control and a style resource may be dynamically selected for presenting the data object of the user interface control. The style resources may define property values that may be selectively applied to specify a visual representation for the user interface control and data object, such as a visual subtree. A visual representation of the user interface control with the data object may be generated and then a display representation may be rendered for presentation on a user interface display.

System and method for styling content in a graphical user interface control

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to generating and propagating commands. In aspects, elements of a graphical user interface may include an input binding which associates a gesture with a command. When a gesture is received, the command is generated depending on which element has focus. In addition, elements of the graphic user interface may also define methods to call when commands are received. When an event or a command is received, a hierarchical data structure of elements representable on the graphical user interface may be traversed to respond to the event or command.

Command binding determination and implementation

The application programming interfaces described herein are directed at property management mechanisms that operate within an on-demand property system. The property management mechanisms support the caching of property values on an as needed basis, allow a plurality of object instances to utilize the same property via attached properties, overriding default information associated with a property on a per type basis, obtaining values for a property from an external source, and the like. In addition, the on-demand property system provides validation and control for each property instance. The property management mechanisms minimize the storage requirements and provide flexibility without requiring additional code from the developers.

Application programming interfaces for an on-demand property system

A method and system for mapping a tag in a markup language (ML) document to a class using namespaces is described. A parser in a computing system analyzes the tag in the ML document. A definition file location attribute related to the tag is referenced in the ML document. A definition file associated with definition file location attribute is retrieved. A namespace related to the tag is referenced within the definition file to determine the class associated with the tag. The class is located in an assembly such that the tag is mapped to the class.

Method and system for mapping tags to classes using namespaces

The techniques and mechanisms described herein are directed at property management mechanisms that operate within an on-demand property system. The property management mechanisms support the caching of property values on an as needed basis, allow a plurality of object instances to utilize the same property via attached properties, overriding default information associated with a property on a per type basis, obtaining values for a property from an external source, and the like. In addition, the on-demand property system provides validation and control for each property instance. The property management mechanisms minimize the storage requirements and provide flexibility without requiring additional code from the developers.

Property management mechanisms for properties in an on-demand property system

An improved system and method for displaying a user interface object using an associated style is provided. To this end, an application may include style declarations that may associate a style resource with a user interface object. The style resource may define property values that may be selectively applied to a user interface object, may specify a visual representation for the user interface object, such as a visual subtree, and may specify additional property values to be conditionally applied to a user interface object. A styling engine may be provided for applying a style resource to a user interface object. A visual representation of the user interface objects with the applied property values may be generated and then a display representation may be rendered for presentation on a user interface display.

System and method for displaying a user interface object using an associated style

A hybrid tree data structure is suitable for use in scenarios involving intermingled text and user interface elements. Trees of two different types can be combined via one or more proxy nodes. For example, one type can be efficient at processing user interface elements and another can be efficient at processing text. Operations suitable for user interface elements can be efficiently performed on portions of the hybrid tree having user interface elements, and operations suitable for sequential data can be efficiently performed on portions of the hybrid tree having sequential data. The structure is thus suited for representing documents or graphical user interfaces. A hypertext document can be represented via the hybrid tree to enable more efficient searching, navigation, rendering, or editing of the document. Hybrid tree services can be provided by an operating system service.

Hybrid tree for mixed user interface elements and sequential data

Described is a system, method, and data structure that enables an executable assembly associated with a subclass to be generated from a subclass definition within a markup document. In accordance with the invention, the subclass definition is written based on a schema. The schema may be XML-based. The schema includes a subclass tag for defining a name for the subclass. The name is associated with a type for an object that is instantiated when the executable assembly executes. The schema further includes one or more hints, such as for specifying a programming language to compile the subclass definition, for specifying a superclass from which the subclass derives, for specifying actions to perform when the object becomes instantiated, for creating an event definition and event handler for the subclass, and for specifying a property that becomes a member within the object when the object is instantiated.

System and method for defining and using subclasses declaratively within markup

A system and method for user interface mirroring are provided. User interface objects are defined according to an object hierarchy that defines a logical relationship between a root element and one or more child elements. Additionally, the root element includes a directional property that is inherited by the child elements. A layout manager obtains the logical relationship and the specified directional property and correlates a set of physical coordinates for each display object according to the directional property, while maintaining the logical relationship. A renderer renders each of the display objects according to the specified directional property, while maintaining a truth table for graphical resources that could be rendered in one or more directions.

Growing community of inventors

Redmond, WA, United States of America

Jeffrey Lawrence Bogdan