Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-15
2002-11-26
Bayerl, Raymond J. (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000, C717S113000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06486893
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of graphical and non-graphical software controls, and more particularly to a property browser that displays and allows editing of properties of sub-objects in an Active X control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphical software controls or components have become commonplace in the field of user interfaces to computer programs, particularly software applications which make use of a graphical user interface (GUI). Examples of controls are list boxes, option buttons, scroll bars, check boxes, text boxes, picture boxes, command boxes, meters, gauges, charts, spread sheet displays, etc. The controls are commonly an integral part of the user interface to “Microsoft Windows” software applications, for example. The controls are used to receive user input and to display output. Additionally, controls can be created for non-user interface components such as timers, interfaces to hardware, data acquisition, and other software implementable functions.
Controls are used in a plethora of software applications. An example of an area in which software applications use controls is in the field of software controlled a instrumentation systems. It is common in the field of instrumentation systems for users to interact with instruments via software front panel interfaces rather than through hardware front panels. The instrumentation software programs commonly employ graphical controls such as switches, buttons, knobs, dials, meters, graphs, slider controls, slider indicators, etc. similar to those found on hardware front panels.
Programming systems such as “Visual Basic” provide an environment for software application developers to create user interfaces including controls. Typically, programming environments provide a set of standard controls.
FIG. 1
is a screen shot of a Visual Basic 6.0 screen. Visual Basic 6.0 provides a toolbox of standard controls.
ActiveX Controls, also referred to as Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Controls, are software components that conform to the Component Object Model (COM), a standard defined by “Microsoft”. In many ways, ActiveX controls are similar to traditional libraries. However, since the standard is well defined, there are many applications that can use any ActiveX control simply by providing support for the ActiveX standard.
Applications or programming environments which support ActiveX controls, i.e., which may incorporate and use ActiveX controls, are commonly referred to as “ActiveX Control Containers” or simply “containers”. Broadly speaking, a container is a software entity which “holds” or incorporates software components. Examples of containers are Microsoft's “Excel” spreadsheet product, “Word” word processor, “Access” database product, and Visual Basic programming environment. The ActiveX standard affords software application developers the opportunity to develop modular ActiveX controls to add into and use in their software applications.
Controls are typically objects or have some aspects of objects. Therefore, each control may have its own set of methods, events and properties. A method is a function which acts on a particular control. For example, a control may possess a “move” method to move the control around on a display screen. An event is an action recognized by a control, such as clicking a mouse or pressing a key. A control has associated code which executes in response to an event recognized by the control. Properties are the control's data (settings or attributes), such as color, shape or size. The properties of a control may be edited, i.e., changed to create the desired user interface.
Controls may have custom properties that are specific to the control. For example, a gauge may have the properties StartAngle and EndAngle describing the range in which the needle may be positioned. A button may have the properties OnColor, and OffColor for two different states. The ability to have custom properties, which the ActiveX standard provides, is generally more desirable than a standard which restricts properties on a component to a predefined set such as minimum, maximum, and color. However, this ability also presents a challenge to development systems that use the controls. Since each control may have its own unique properties, it is difficult for containers to present the custom properties of the controls to the user for configuration. This is where other attempts at control standards, such as the .VBX standard, have not been as successful as the ActiveX control standard.
Some properties of objects are themselves objects, referred to as sub-objects, which have their own properties. These properties of sub-objects may themselves be sub-objects that have their own properties, and so on.
ActiveX controls include a type library which specifies the interface of the control. The type library provides information about the components in the file (exe or dll) in which they are packaged. The type library is a compiled binary form of the idl (Interface Definition Language) file that defines the types (interfaces and controls) implemented.
FIG. 2
is a screen shot that shows an instance of a slider control which has been dragged from the toolbox and dropped onto the Form
1
. The commonly used term “drop” is meant to encompass the placing of the control on the form, typically by clicking a mouse on the icon of the control in a toolbox, dragging the control from the toolbox to the form via the mouse and then releasing the mouse button to “drop” the control on the form. However, the present invention is not intended to be limited with respect to other manners of placing the control.
The slider has associated properties, which are listed in the Properties window. The developer changes the properties by selecting a property field, such as “Max” (which is set to
10
in FIG.
2
), and changing the value. The control reflects the change when the developer enters the change into the Properties window.
FIG. 3
is a screen shot that shows a Slider Control Properties page dialog in which the developer changes the properties of the slider.
FIG. 4
shows the Max tick value property changed from 10 to 20, which is reflected in the slider now having 20 tick marks, rather than 10.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, a control developer may implement property pages in the control. However they may not be implemented in every control. Hence the only guaranteed way to edit the properties in a control is by using the property browser provided by the development environment. However, the property browser for ActiveX controls on present ActiveX containers in the market are unable to display properties of sub-objects of ActiveX controls.
Some environments have a property browser which can be used to view and set properties of sub-objects. However, these methods rely on examination of the source code of the component to allow this function. These methods could not work for ActiveX controls, since the source code of an ActiveX control is not available. No property browser currently exists which is able to display the sub-objects of ActiveX controls. This is because ActiveX controls typically do not expose their source code, but rather include type libraries that expose the interface of the control. Current property browsers do not access the interface description of an object in the type library and therefore cannot enumerate all the properties implemented by the object, in particular, property browsers cannot access properties of sub-objects of the object. In addition, numerous difficulties are presented in implementing such a property browser.
Hence, a system and method is desired for allowing a user to view and manipulate properties of sub-objects in a property browser for an ActiveX control.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention comprises a novel system and method for enabling a property browser to display properties of sub-objects of a control, such as an ActiveX control, which utilizes a type library or other similar mechanism for specifying the interface o
Ramchandani Mahesh
Washington Jeffrey D.
Bayerl Raymond J.
Conley Rose & Tayon PC
Hood Jeffrey C.
National Instruments Corporation
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