The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 11, 2001
Filed:
May. 12, 1998
Aaron Goodisman, Watertown, MA (US);
Silverstream Software, Inc., Billerica, MA (US);
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention comprise a method and apparatus for synchronizing interface objects of an application's graphic user interface (GUI) with underlying data. A design tool is used in embodiments of the invention to specify an interface object's binding properties. Data binding properties can define an association between an interface object and underlying data for synchronization purposes. In addition, a validation binding can be specified for an interface object that can be used to validate the data entered via the interface object. An expression binding associates an interface object to a plurality of interface objects and/or underlying data sources that contain data used in evaluating an expression the result of which is displayed in the interface object. A query expression binding associates a plurality of interface objects and/or underlying data sources and to an evaluatable expression the result of which is used in a query to retrieve a data source's data. A binding manager manages the bindings (e.g., data, expression and validation bindings) defined at design time or at run time. Further, the binding manager registers with the program code (e.g., instances of object classes) that manages the bound interface objects and underlying data. The binding manager is notified, when a change occurs to an interface object or the underlying data. The binding manager processes the change request to ensure that bound interface objects and/or data sources remain synchronized.