Customization of object property layout for a user interface6925598Abstract A process flow development tool is given a capability of determining the properties corresponding to a particular type of object and allowing a user to decide how and where the properties will be shown in a Properties dialog for individual objects of the particular type. The capability allows the tool to present a dialog that allows the user to customize, for the particular type of object, the layout for the properties in the Properties dialog. This layout may then be stored in an organizer object associated with the particular type of object. Claims 1. A method of providing, to a user, a capability to customize a display property layout for objects of a given type of object, said method comprising: Description FIELD OF THE INVENTION As a result of the extension point, a "Properties" menu item is added to menus associated with nodes that are instances of Flow Types that are specified in the extension point. In a conventional manner, this addition of a menu item to a menu is performed at the time that the menu is invoked. Further, a "Customize Properties" menu item is provided in menus associated with Flow Types that are specified in the extension point. An exemplary Customize Properties dialog 200, populated with properties (attributes) from an associated Flow Type, is illustrated in FIG. 2. The Customize Properties dialog 200 includes a left pane 202 and a right pane 204. In the right pane 204 are three columns, namely an Attribute Name column 206, a Representation column 208 and a Property Editor column 210. The Customize Properties dialog 200 also includes several buttons, in particular, a "Move Up" button 212, a "Move Down" button 214, a "Move To . . . " button 216, a "Create Group . . . " button 218, a "Delete" button 220 and a "Customize Layout . . . " button 222 may all be identified. The value in the Attribute Name column 206, for a given row, is the XMI name of the property to which the given row corresponds. It will be seen in the following that attribute, property and field may be used interchangeably to refer to a component of an object. The property may be a static attribute, which may be, for instance, modeled using Rational Rose™, or a dynamic attribute. Dynamic attributes are not presently very common. However, it is expected that embodiments of the present invention should work with dynamic attributes once dynamic attributes are supported by the underlying tool platform. The XMI name may also be used as a key when referencing the Resource file specified in the extension point above. The value in the Representation column 208, for the given row, is the default representation of the property and is dependent on the type of the property in the Attribute Name column 206. A mouse click in the Representation column 208 of a particular row can provide a user with a "combo box" or drop-down menu of choices for the representation of the associated property. The representation can then be changed by the user to one of a set of supported types listed in the combo box. The Property Editor column 210 is optional. In use, when a cell in the Property Editor column 210 is selected, a list of choices is displayed. In one embodiment of the present invention, the choices listed are the names of classes implementing the available property editor interface, for example, the com.ibm.etools.fcb.properties.FCBPropertyEditor interface or the java.beans.PropertyEditor interface. In order for a name of a property editor interface to be displayed in the list of choices, the property editor is required to be specified in the plugin.xml file. If a particular property editor interface is selected from the property editor list, the particular property editor may be used by a user to specify a representation for the corresponding property and the corresponding cell in the Representation column 208 will be ignored. The information displayed in the Customize Properties dialog 200 may be saved in an Attribute Organizer object in a primitive file of the Flow Type to which the information relates. As will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, the primitive file of a given Flow Type is a file that uniquely relates to the given Flow Type. The information can then be used later to display the properties of any instance of the Flow Type. It may be that the Attribute Organizer object is also accessible from user interface dialogs other than the Customize Properties dialog 200. Such access to the Attribute Organizer object may be implemented using application programming interfaces (APIs) that may allow modification of some object property layouts or allow the addition or deletion of entries in the Attribute Organizer object. The "Move Up" button 212 and the "Move Down" button 214 of the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2 may be used to change the vertical order of presentation for the layout of the properties of a particular group of properties. In particular, the user would first select a property (other than the top property on the list) and click on the "Move Up" button 212. The selected property would then move up the vertical list and displace the property formerly immediately superior to the selected property to a position immediately inferior to the selected property. The "Move To . . . " button 216 may be used to move a particular property from a first group to a second group. This button eliminates the need to delete the particular property from the first group and add it to the second group. Advantageously, some of the settings relating to the particular property (such as layout, Property Editor) will be moved with the particular property. The "Create Group . . . " button 218 may be used to create a group of properties for displaying in a Properties dialog. As will be seen hereinafter, selecting the "Create Group . . . " button 218 may result in the user being presented with a Create Group Attributes dialog 300 (illustrated in FIG. 3). The "Delete" button 220 may be used to remove a property from a particular group. The "Customize Layout . . . " button 222 may be used to invoke a dialog to allow a user to customize the size, spacing and indentation of a selected property. Throughout this invention description, dialogs are invoked for various purposes. Where an embodiment of the present invention is implemented in the Java™ programming language, it should be apparent to a person skilled in the art of Java Programming that extensive use of the Java Abstract Windowing Toolkit may be required. This toolkit provides the user interface features, such as buttons, check boxes and grouping of properties, seen in the dialogs described in conjunction with the following discussion of the figures that include exemplary dialogs. The properties listed in the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2 represent all the properties of a given Flow Type (i.e., class). The display of these properties may be customized for any given instance of this Flow Type by first selecting groups of properties, such that each group of properties will be displayed on the same (display) page. Thus, to customize the Properties dialog of an instance of the Flow Type having the attributes listed in the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2, it is initially necessary to create a grouping of the properties that are to be displayed on a particular page. This grouping is achieved by first selecting the properties that are to be grouped on the particular page and then selecting the "Create Group . . . " button 218 on the Customize Properties dialog 200. As a result, the Create Group Attributes dialog 300 (illustrated in FIG. 3) may be displayed. The selection of the properties can be performed by the user through the use of such peripherals as the keyboard 1112 and the mouse 1114 (FIG. 11A). As is conventional, a left mouse click while a cursor rests over a cell displaying a first property name may select that first property. A further left click, in conjunction with holding down a "Shift" key on the keyboard 1112, while the cursor rests over a cell displaying a second property name may select the second property, and all properties in the range between the first and second properties. An even further left click, in conjunction with holding down a "Ctrl" key on the keyboard 1112, while the cursor rests over a cell displaying a third property name may add the third property to those selected. However, unlike the above mentioned "Shift" key related left click, the "Ctrl" key related left click does not select the range of properties between the third property and the most recently selected property. The Create Group Attributes dialog 300, as shown in FIG. 3, includes a "Group Name" field 302 for receiving from the user a name for the group being created (which group will be displayed on the same page). Also included is a "Group Type" group box 304 that presents to the user a number of possibilities available for the type of the group being created. An Attributes group box 306 includes a properties text area 307, a "Move Up" button 308 and a "Move down" button 310. The properties text area 307 displays the names of the properties selected to be part of the group being created while the "Move Up" button 308 and the "Move down" button 310 allow the user to specify a vertical order for the properties. As is common with such dialogs, an "OK" button 312 and a "Cancel" button are also included. As a result of a user clicking on the "OK" button 312 on the Create Group Attributes dialog 300, a group, whose name is "Page1" and whose type is "Main Page", may be added to the Attribute Organizer object associated with the Flow Type whose properties are listed in the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2. Subsequently, the group "Page1" can be divided into other groupings such as Nested Pages, Group Boxes or Vertical or Horizontal groupings. In FIG. 4, a Customize Properties dialog 200A has a left pane 202A and a right pane 204A. In the left pane 202A, the group, or page, "Page1" has been selected. Accordingly, the right pane 204A shows only those attributes in the group "Page1". The left pane 202A shows that a group box called "Options" has been created, as part of the group "Page1". As will become apparent hereinafter, the group box contains two check boxes. As can be seen in the right pane 204A, the attributes as listed from top to bottom include a "description" property 406 with a textField representation, a "documentation" property 408 with a textField representation, an "Options" property 410 with a groupBox representation and a "program" property 416 with a textField representation. Notably, a "Delete Group" button 420 has become active in the Customize Properties dialog 200A, in a position below the left pane 202A. The "Delete Group" button 420 was not active in the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2 as no groups yet existed. Two further buttons are grouped with the "Delete Group" button 420 for altering the order of display of a number of groups, or pages. As there is only a single group defined in the Customize Properties dialog 200A of FIG. 4, these buttons remain inactive. It should be clear that further groups, or pages, may be added to the left pane 202A through the use of the "Create Group . . . " button 218 on the Customize Properties dialog 200. Once the number of pages number more than one, the use of the "Move To . . . " button 216 should become more apparent. While viewing the properties of a first page on the Customize Properties dialog 200, the user may select a given first page property. The user may then use the mouse to select the "Move To . . . " button 216. In response, the user will be given an opportunity to specify a second page to which of the more than one pages the selected property should be moved. Once the second page has been selected, the property is removed from the first page and added to the second page. To invoke the Properties dialog, i.e., to view the property layout, of an instance of a given Flow Type, the user does not have to compose additional code. As is typical, an interaction between the user and a node 1122 on the canvas 1120 (FIG. 11B), say a right mouse click, can provide the user with a menu. When a menu corresponding to the node 1122 is invoked, the node 1122 may be examined to determine whether the Flow Type, of which the node 1122 is an instance, has an Attribute Organizer object declared in the plugin.xml file. If the Flow Type does have a declared Attribute Organizer object, a "Properties" menu item will be included in the menu that is provided responsive to the action of the user. The action corresponding to selecting the "Properties" menu item may be the presentation, by the tool, of a "Properties" dialog that lists the customized pages of the Flow Type object and shows the contents of a selected one of those customized pages. A Properties dialog 500A, illustrated in FIG. 5, is a viewer for the edited properties of FIG. 4. Selected on a left properties pane 502 is the group "Page1". While on a right preferences pane 504A is shown an object property layout arranged according to the layout specified in the Customize Properties dialog 200A of FIG. 4. In particular, a "description" text field 506A is shown, corresponding to the "description" property 406 of FIG. 4. A "documentation" text field 508A is shown, corresponding to the "documentation" property 408. An "Options" group box 510 is shown, corresponding to the "Options" property 410. Further, a "program" text field 516A is shown, corresponding to the "program" property 416. Notably, the "Options" group box 510 includes a "notificationFromPredefinedMembers" check box 512 and a "programActivitiesCanBeCheckedOut" check box 514. In FIG. 6, a Customize Properties dialog 200B has a left pane 202B and a right pane 204B. In the left pane 202B, the group "Page1" has been selected. The right pane 204B shows that the layout of the object properties of the group "Page1" has been altered (customized). In particular, the representation of the "description" property 406 and the "documentation" property 408 has been changed from textField to textArea and the "program" property 416 has been moved from the bottom of the list to the top of the list. A Properties dialog 500B is illustrated in FIG. 7. Selected on a left properties pane 502 is the group "Page1". While on a right properties pane 504B is shown a user interface layout arranged according to the object property layout specified in the Customize Properties dialog 200B of FIG. 6. In the order specified in FIG. 6, the "program" text field 516A is shown at the top of the layout. Next, a "description" text area 506B is shown. A "documentation" text area 508A is then shown. Finally, the "Options" group box 510 is shown. Based on the above layout, the serialized Attribute Organizer object will include the following information: The Size, Spacing, Alignment and Indentation of the properties can also be changed through use of the Customize Properties dialog 200 (seen in FIG. 2), specifically via the Customize Layout . . . button 222, thereby giving more than typical layout control and flexibility to the properties dialog designer, i.e., the user of the tool. To increase control over the representation of a property, the Property Editor column 210 can be used. As an example, a class may be supplied that extends a class FCBPropertyEditor, which is a default property editor that is included with Flow Control Builder, and is called NameFormatter. Furthermore, the class called NameFormatter may be assigned as a property editor for the "program" property 416. A Customize Layout dialog 200C is illustrated in FIG. 8 where this assignment has been made. A Preferences dialog 500C is illustrated in FIG. 9. Selected on a left preferences pane 502 is the group "Page1". While on a right preferences pane 504C is shown a user interface layout arranged according to the object property layout specified in the Customize Properties dialog 200C of FIG. 8. In the order specified in FIG. 8, the "program" text field 516C is shown at the top of the layout, with a representation as edited through use of the class called NameFormatter. Next, the "description" text area 506B is shown, followed vertically downward by the "documentation" text area 508B and the "Options" group box 510. The NameFormatter class has the following exemplary constructor:
FIG. 10 illustrates the relationship between an Attribute Organizer object 1004, a Model 1002 where the properties of a Flow Type are stored, an Attribute Organizer object Editor 1006 and an Attribute Organizer object Viewer 1008. The Attribute Organizer object 1004 receives a set of unassigned properties from the Model 1002. Through interaction with a user, the Attribute Organizer object Editor 1006 determines which of the properties are to be shown and the details of the layout and representation of the properties. The Attribute Organizer object Viewer 1008 may display the properties as specified through use of the Attribute Organizer object Editor 1006. In view of the above, it should be clear that an exemplary representation of the Attribute Organizer object Editor 1006 is the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2 and that an exemplary representation of the Attribute Organizer object Viewer 1008 is the Properties dialog 500A of FIG. 5. Another relation, which is not shown, is the interaction, at run time, between the Attribute Organizer object Viewer 1008 and the Model 1002, from which properties may be read and to which properties may be written. The steps followed by a process flow development tool in allowing a user to customize a layout for object properties is illustrated in FIG. 12. The tool initially receives an indication of a Flow Type of interest (step 1202) from the underlying tool platform. It is then necessary for the tool to determine a set of properties for the Flow Type (step 1204). Where the Flow Type is a Java class, the process flow development tool may communicate with the underlying tool platform using an API, for instance, a Meta Object Facility (MOF) API. As will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, for Java objects there exists reflective APIs that will provide a list of the properties of a specified class. Once the set of properties for a particular Flow Type (class) have been determined, a dialog may be opened to display to the user, say, on the display monitor 1110 of FIG. 11A, the set of properties in a dialog like the Customize Properties dialog 200 of FIG. 2 (step 1206). Using the Customize Properties dialog 200, the user may then indicate a desire to create a group, say, by selecting the "Create Group . . . " button 218 (FIG. 2). Responsive to receiving this group creation indication (step 1208), the tool may present a dialog like the Create Group Attributes dialog 300 of FIG. 3 (step 1210). It is through such a dialog that the tool may receive an indication which of properties to group (step 1212). Responsive to the Create Group Attributes dialog 300 being closed, say, though the selection of the "OK" button 312 (FIG. 3), an object property layout may be stored (step 1214) in an Attribute Organizer object associated with the particular Flow Type, including information about the properties grouped in step 1212. The association of an Attribute Organizer object with a Flow Type may be accomplished by specifying the Attribute Organizer object in a field of the Flow Type. Alternatively, the Attribute Organizer object can be stored and referenced by a plug-in file associated with the Flow Type. As discussed above, the user of the tool will select a Flow Type and create an instance, i.e., an object, of the selected Flow Type on the canvas 1120 (FIG. 11B). If the user has already customized the property layout for the selected Flow Type, a new Attribute Organizer object (a copy of the Attribute Organizer object associated with the Flow Type) is associated with the Flow Type object. If the user has not customized the property layout for the selected Flow Type, the Flow Type object is created without an associated Attribute Organizer object. Once a Flow Type object is on the canvas 1120, it is represented by a node 1122 (FIG. 11B). A user may wish to review the properties of the Flow Type object. This wish may be indicated, for example, by directing a cursor, through the use of the mouse 1114 (FIG. 11A), to a position over the node 1122. A right mouse click may act as a request to view a menu related to the node 1122. From the perspective of the tool and in view of FIG. 13, the tool receives the request from the user to present a menu in respect of the Flow Type object (step 1302). The tool then determines whether the Flow Type object has an associated Attribute Organizer object (step 1304). If the Flow Type object has an associated organizer object, the tool presents the node-specific menu including a "Properties" menu item (step 1306). The tool may then receive an indication from the user of a selection of the "Properties" menu item (1308) and, in response to receiving the indication, the tool may display a Properties dialog with a layout specified by the associated Attribute Organizer object (step 1310). In the case where the node 1122 does not have an associated Attribute Organizer object, the node-specific menu presented to the user does not include a "Properties" menu item (step 1312). Should the user select an action from this menu, the tool reacts accordingly (step 1314). As will be apparent from the foregoing, after extraction of properties of a Flow Type (class), a property editor may be used to select properties and organize selected properties for display. This selection and organization is stored in an Attribute Organization object associated with the Flow Type (class). Then, when an object of the Flow Type is instantiated, properties of the instantiated Flow Type object will be displayed as dictated by the Attribute Organization object. Advantageously, where the underlying tool platform supports the creation, at runtime, of compounds of objects, i.e., an object made up of several objects of different Flow Types, embodiments of the present invention maintain the ability to allow the customization of the layout of the properties of the compound object. This ability to work with compound objects is feasible because embodiments of the present invention can function with any object whose type is declared in an extension point in a plugin.xml file. The layout of those runtime created objects can be set via APIs which save a desired layout into an Attribute Organizer object with or without user input, dependent upon the manner in which the new (compound) object is created. Another advantage of the present invention is an ability to change the property layout of a Flow Type object at runtime without having to rewrite the Properties dialog of the Flow Type. This can be achieved by updating the Attribute Organizer of the Flow Type to reflect a desired change in the property layout. Consequently, any instances of the Flow Type, which, naturally, have an association with the Attribute Organizer of the Flow Type, are affected by the change. Examples of changes to the property layout include property addition, property deletion, movement of properties from one page (group) to another and new page creation. As will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, the structure of the Properties dialog need not necessarily be as illustrated herein. A departure from the left pane illustrated structure may include the well-known use of "tabs" protruding from the top of each page to identify the page and allow the selection of other pages. Other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and, therefore, the invention is defined in the claims.
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