Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1996-01-19
2001-06-12
Sax, Steven (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246410
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to facilitating access to information content of user applications. More specifically, this invention relates to a method and system for copying or moving information content between a database and a user application without opening the database at the time of the move or copy.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computer systems in general are well known. A typical system comprises a computer, keyboard, mouse, and a monitor. Further, the computer might comprise a CPU, and RAM and allow various software programs to used. Software programs which might be used include, among others, databases, word processors, and spreadsheets. These software programs can be referred to as user applications. When a user of a computer system is using a user application so that it can be displayed on the monitor, that application is said to be open on the user's desktop.
Databases are also well known and will not be described in detail. Briefly, a database is a group of related information. Typically the related information is organized into records or rows. In some environments, such as Lotus Notes®, the term document is used. For simplicity, the term row is used hereinafter. Each row may include one or many fields, each field containing information content in a particular data format. That is, the term information content, as used herein, refers to raw information which is not in any format. Whereas the term data refer to information in a particular format, such as, ASCII text. Information content is entered into the fields of a database using a form. A form defines parameters for each field in a particular row in the database, for instance, whether the field accepts numbers letters or both. A database may contain rows originating from a number of different forms. A database has a natural representation for its data which may be different for different databases. In a relational database, for instance, the natural representation for the data is a table with each row of the table representing a different row of the database and each column a different field of the row. In other databases, for instance, those databases compatible with Lotus Notes®, the contents may be examined in a number of different “views.” A view sorts the rows within a database based on the information content of a particular field within the form with which the row was created. Further, a view may present fields from more than one form and need not present all fields within a form.
FIG. 14
is one example of how a view may be used to show a subset of the fields within a database.
FIG. 14
shows a view of a database including a name field and a city field from each row. The data shown in
FIG. 14
, however, may have been entered using a form which also included a field for telephone number and post office address or any other information.
It is often desired to access information content within multiple user applications. The term access, as used herein, refers to operations such as moving and copying information content between user applications. For instance, it may be desired to move or copy the information content of a first field of a row of a database, to a second field of a row within a receiving database or to move or copy certain information content from a word processor to a field of a row of a receiving database. Typically, moving and copying operations (hereinafter referred to as move/copy operations) require either opening the database which is to receive the information content and manually entering the desired information into the desired field, or opening both databases (in the first case) or both the word processor and the database (in the second case) and performing a move/copy operation in a known manner. Both of these approaches have drawbacks. Manual entry, among other things, is time consuming, and susceptible to human error. Performing a move/copy uses a large amount of memory because two applications must be open, and requires the user to enter into and navigate within the application from which the information is to be obtained. For large databases this can be quite time consuming. Moreover, in some cases, move/copy operations between nonadjacent fields or rows can require multiple move/copy operations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one object of the present invention to resolve these and other drawbacks.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for facilitating accessing the contents of a database or other user application.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention enable the information content of a database or other user application to be accessed without that user application being open. Access to an unopened user application, for instance a database, is enabled by a graphical user interface (GUI) with specialized functionality. The GUI may be, for instance, a data palette comprising data controls and a tool bar. The data palette takes up only a small portion of a display screen of a computer and thus does not obscure any user applications which may be open on the computer. The data controls are represented by icons and correspond to user selectable fields within a database of interest. The data controls accept drag and drop data objects and pass the information content from those data objects or the data objects themselves, for example, OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) embedded objects to the database. By using the drag and drop gestures in conjunction with a data control, a field of the database of interest corresponding to the data control may be searched (for example, to make a determination of whether the field contains the information content of the data object) and/or accessed (for example, the information content of the data object may be moved or copied to the database) depending on a subsequent selection from the tool bar. That is, the tool bar, among other things, controls the functionality of the data controls. For instance, when a data object is dropped on a data control, the information content of the data object will be added to the database if the user selects the add button from the tool bar after performing the drop. If, however, the search button is selected after a data object is dropped on a data control, then the database is searched for the corresponding information content. The data controls are also used to view the information content of the database of interest through the use of, for example, a pop up window or data grid. Further, methods and systems for database access according to preferred embodiments of the present invention are bidirectional. That is, the data controls also generate data objects and provide a user application with the information content from the data objects or the data objects themselves thus allowing information content from a database to be used within a user application.
In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a system for accessing information content of a row in an unopened database. The system preferably comprises an OLE enabled user application running on a general purpose computer and a GUI displayed on a display of the computer. The GUI enables information content of the unopened database to be searched and accessed from the OLE enabled user application. The GUI further enables the information content of the unopened database to be displayed on the computer display and permits a user to control how the information content is displayed. The computer may be a stand alone computer or may operate within a network comprising a plurality of fileservers, each of the fileservers comprising a plurality of databases. The unopened database may reside in local RAM of the computer or on one of the plurality of fileservers of the network.
In another embodiment, the present invention comprises a method of accessing the information content of an unopened database. The method comprises an initial step of selecting a database which it is desired to access. Once a desired database is selected, a GUI is created on a display. Using drag and drop gestures
Bergeron Louise M.
Klein Mark P.
Orsillo Paul H.
Hunton & Williams
International Business Machines Corp.
Sax Steven
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