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:
Apr. 06, 2004
Filed:
Oct. 03, 2000
Alan W. Carter, Bellevue, WA (US);
Rajiv Kumar, Redmond, WA (US);
Scott Michael Wiltamuth, Seattle, WA (US);
Mei-Chin Tsai, Bellevue, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
The present system for application independent programming of controls functions to provide a common set of controls across a plurality of application programs, such as those typically included in an office suite installed on a processor, while also enabling users to customize these controls for each application program. This is accomplished by producing an interface in the underlying common programming model which enables the user to access a set of controls, with their standard properties, methods and events, in a consistent manner. The user can then create a user defined control in a particular application program without having to replicate the underlying common programming model on which the customization is based. The user creates an extender file to add to and/or modify the standard properties, methods and events of a control to thereby produce an extended control for use in the selected application program. The system for application independent programming of controls merges, at run time, the standard control and the extender file to create the customized control. This enables users to create customized controls without having to replicate the common programming model and also enables consistency of control implementation. The control can also be uniformly updated across the plurality of application programs by simply updating the underlying control on which the customized instances are based.