International Business Machines Corporation

Vanessa Donnelly

Raymond Trainer

David John Roberts

David John Clark

Andrew John Smith

Paul Jonathan Englefield

Arthur Thomas Jolin

Ray Trainer

A user interface builder provides support for creation of customized user interfaces, enabling users to associate images, animation, sound clips and other media with specific predefined states of a user interface control. A set of object classes for each control predefined within the user interface builder include a first class defining the functional behavior and a comprehensive state model for the control, and a second class which encapsulates property attributes which may be set by a user to be associated with specific states of the control. In particular, desired graphics images, audio and animation sequences can be associated with a control via simple GUI interaction, avoiding the need for an interface creator to write code for standard interface control functions and so enabling easy creation of interfaces with semantic consistency and customized appearance.

User interface controls for a computer system

A set of object classes provide a framework supporting user modification of user interface properties. The classes include a properties class which is a template for creation of property objects encapsulating property values and the view attributes (GUI information) required for creating views of the property via a user interface. Property objects provide a single mechanism for representing a particular property, allowing a number of different views to be open on the same property. User interactions with different views of a property via the user interface result in messages being sent to the same property object. If a property value is changed, then the chance is propagated back to all associated applications having views for the object and so view concurrency is automatically achieved.

Supporting modification of properties via a computer system's user

A computer system connectable to a display device to display a graphical user interface through which a user can select an action in order to invoke a desired operation, and a method of operation of such a system. The action is selectable by one or more views of that action provided via the graphical user interface, and the system is characterized by means for providing a container object which is displayable via the graphical user interface on the display device, the container object being arranged to respond to user selection by creating a user page for display to the user. Further, the system is characterized by identifying means for identifying when a user selection of the container object has occurred, and for informing the container object of that selection, thereby causing a user page to be created, and view association means for enabling a user to associate views of actions with the user page created upon selection of the container object. Preferably, means are provided for enabling the user to associate a user page created from the container object with a collective view of actions. By such a technique, the user is provided with an easy to use mechanism for grouping actions together as desired, for example so that his/her most commonly used actions are provided in one place.

Grouping of operations in a computer system

The present invention relates to a computer system having a user interface through which a user can select an action in order to invoke a desired operation, and to a method of operation of such a computer system. The action is selectable by one or more views provided via the user interface, and the system comprises generation means for representing an action by an action object, the action object defining, for each available view that can be employed to represent that action, the attributes required to provide that view, and an identifier to identify the operation to be invoked upon selection of the action. Further the system comprises identifying means for identifying when a user selection of a view has occurred, and for informing the associated action object of that selection, and the action object is responsive to the identifying means to employ the unique identifier to generate a command to invoke the desired operation. In preferred embodiments, the computer system is connectable to a display device to display a graphical user interface, and at least one of the views that can be employed to represent the action is a visual view displayable via the graphical user interface, the attributes defined in the action object for said at least one of the views including data required to produce the visual view. The computer system achieves single event generation from multiple views, and therefore the application does not need to concern itself with how the user generated the call. The action views query the attributes of the action object directly, all the necessary data is held in one place, and with automatic view concurrency, the application developer no longer has to worry about keeping action views synchronised with each other.

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Coventry, United Kingdom

Vanessa Donnelly