Method and system for naming and binding objects

Details Method and system for naming and binding objects Method and system for naming and binding objects

2001-05-29

2003-02-11

Heckler, Thomas M. (Department: 2185)

Data processing: software development, installation, and managem

Software program development tool

Managing software components

C709S217000, C709S241000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06519764

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to a computer method and system for referencing objects and, more specifically, to a method and system for naming objects and binding to objects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Current document processing computer systems allow a user to prepare compound documents. A compound document is a document that contains information in various formats. For example, a compound document may contain data in text format, chart format, numerical format, etc.
FIG. 1
is an example of a compound document. In this example, the compound document
101
is generated as a report for a certain manufacturing project. The compound document
101
contains scheduling data
102
, which is presented in chart format; budgeting data
103
, which is presented in spreadsheet format; and explanatory data
104
, which is presented in text format. In typical prior systems, a user generates the scheduling data
102
using a project management computer program and the budgeting data
103
using a spreadsheet computer program. After this data has been generated, the user creates the compound document
101
, enters the explanatory data
104
, and incorporates the scheduling data
102
and budgeting data
103
using a word processing computer program.
FIG. 2
shows a method for incorporating the scheduling data, budgeting data, and explanatory data into the compound document. A user generates scheduling data using the project management program
201
and then stores the data in the clipboard
203
. The user also generates budgeting data using the spreadsheet program
204
and then stores the data in the clipboard
203
. The clipboard
203
is an area of storage (disk or memory) that is typically accessible by any program and is used to transfer data between programs. The project management program
201
and he spreadsheet program
204
typically store the data into the clipboard in a presentation format. A presentation format is a format in which the data is easily displayed on an output device. For example, the presentation format may be a bitmap that can be displayed with a standard bitmap block transfer operation (BitBlt). The storing of data into a clipboard is referred to as “copying” to the clipboard.
After data has been copied to the clipboard
203
, the user starts up the word processing program
206
to create the compound document
101
. The user enters the explanatory data
104
and specifies the locations in the compound document
101
to which the scheduling data and budgeting data that are in the clipboard
203
are to be copied. The copying of data from a clipboard to a document is referred to as “pasting” from the clipboard. The word processing program
206
then copies the scheduling data
102
and the budgeting data
103
from the clipboard
203
into the compound document
101
at the specified locations. Data that is copied from the clipboard into a compound document is referred to as “embedded” data. The word processing program
206
treats the embedded data as simple bitmaps that it displays with a BitBlt operation when rendering the compound document
101
on an output device. In some prior systems, a clipboard may only be able to store data for one copy command at a time. In such a system, the scheduling data can be copied to the clipboard and then pasted into the compound document. Then, the budgeting data can be copied to the clipboard and then pasted into the compound document.
Since word processors typically process only text data, users of the word processing program can move or delete embedded data, but cannot modify embedded data, unless the data is in text format. Thus, if a user wants to modify, for example, the budgeting data
103
that is in the compound document
101
, the user must start up the spreadsheet program
204
, load in the budgeting data
103
from a file, make the modifications, copy the modifications to the clipboard
203
, start up the word processing program
206
, load in the compound document
101
, and paste the modified clipboard data into the compound document
101
.
Some prior systems store links to the data to be included in the compound document rather than actually embedding the data. When a word processing program pastes the data from a clipboard into a compound document, a link is stored in the compound document. The link points to the data (typically residing in a file) to be included. These prior systems typically provide links to data in a format that the word processing program recognizes or treats as presentation format. For example, when the word processing program
206
is directed by a user to paste the scheduling data and budgeting data into the compound document by linking, rather than embedding, the names of files in which the scheduling data and budgeting data reside in presentation format are inserted into the document. Several compound documents can contain links to the same data to allow one copy of the data to be shared by several compound documents.
A link is conceptually a path name to the data. Some prior systems store two-level links. A two-level link identifies both a file and an area within the file. For example, the two-level link “\BUDGET.XLS\R2C2:R7C4” identifies a spreadsheet file “\BUDGET.XLS” and the range of cells “R2C2:R7C4.” The use of two-level links limits the source of the links to data that is nested one level within a file. If a file contains multiple spreadsheets, then a two-level link could identify the file and a spreadsheet, but could not identify a range within the spreadsheet. It would be desirable to have a method and system of supporting links to an arbitrary level.
Since the present invention is described below using object-oriented programming, an overview of well-known object-oriented programming techniques is provided. Two common characteristics of object-oriented programming languages are support for data encapsulation and data type inheritance. Data encapsulation refers to the binding of functions and data. Inheritance refers to the ability to declare a data type in terms of other data types.
In the C++ language, object-oriented techniques are supported through the use of classes. A class is a user-defined type. A class declaration describes the data members and function members of the class. For example, the following declaration defines data members and a function member of a class named CIRCLE.
class CIRCLE
{public:
int x, y;
int radius;
void draw( );
};
Variables x and y specify the center location of a circle and variable radius specifies the radius of the circle. These variables are referred to as data members of the class CIRCLE. The function draw is a user-defined function that draws the circle of the specified radius at the specified location. The function draw is referred to as a function member of class CIRCLE. The data members and function members of a class are bound together in that the function operates on an instance of the class. An instance of a class is also called an object of the class.
In the syntax of C++, the following statement declares the objects a and b to be of type class CIRCLE.
CIRCLE a, b;
This declaration causes the allocation of memory for the objects a and b. The following statements assign data to the data members of objects a and b.
a.x=2;
a.y=2;
a.radius=1;
b.x=4;
b.y=5;
b.radius=2;
The following statements are used to draw the circles defined by objects a and b.
a.draw( );
b.draw( );
A derived class is a class that inherits the characteristics—data members and function members—of its base classes. For example, the following derived class CIRCLE_FILL inherits the characteristics of the base class CIRCLE.
class CIRCLE_FILL: CIRCLE
{public:
int pattern;
void fill( );
};
This declaration specifies that class CIRCLE_FILL includes all the data and function members that are in class CIRCLE in addition to those data and function members introduced in the declaration of class CIRCLE_FILL, that is, data member pattern and function memb

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