Patent Application
20120159325
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Web-based software applications enable users to retrieve, view and edit electronic documents which may be stored in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet, in a web browser on a local client computer. With some electronic documents, long running processes are required in order to retrieve them for viewing in a web browser. As a result, it may be difficult for an end user to know when an operation (such as the loading of an electronic document in the user's web browser) will finish, or even obtain a current status of the operation with respect to completion. For example, an electronic document that is particularly long or complex may require an extended time period to load before it is ready to be viewed and or edited in a user's browser. However, with no feedback provided to the user during the loading process, the user may prematurely stop or restart the loading process before it has reached completion. Furthermore, viewing and editing certain long or complex electronic documents in a web browser may not provide an optimal experience for some users. For example, long or complex electronic documents which require application functionality not available in a browser or which require long performing operations may diminish the general user experience. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the present invention have been made.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Embodiments are provided for delaying the display of a progress meter during the loading of an electronic document. A user interface may be provided which includes a control surface and a browser window for displaying the electronic document. In the user interface, a request to load the electronic document in the browser window may be received. In response to the request, the loading of the requested electronic document may be initiated. A loading indicator associated with the requested electronic document may be displayed in the browser window. After a predetermined delay, the loading indicator may be replaced with a progress meter in the browser window. The progress meter may indicate a current loading percentage of the requested electronic document.
In another embodiment, the display of a progress meter during a long running operation in an electronic document may be delayed. A user interface may be provided which includes a browser window for displaying the electronic document. In the user interface, a request to initiate the long running operation in the electronic document may be received. In response to the request, the long running operation in the electronic document may be initiated. After a predetermined delay, a progress meter may be displayed in the browser window. The progress meter may indicate a current completion percentage of the long running operation in the electronic document.
In yet another embodiment, a method of switching from a web application to a client application during the loading of an electronic document may be provided. A user interface may be provided which includes a ribbon and a browser window of a web application for displaying the electronic document. In the user interface, a request to load the electronic document in the browser window of the web application may be received. In response to the request, the loading of the requested electronic document in the browser window of the web application may be initiated. A determination may be made that the requested electronic document is a long or complex document based on an elapsed time period for loading the requested electronic document reaching a predetermined threshold. Upon determining that the electronic document is a long or complex document, an alert bar may be displayed in the user interface. The alert bar may include a user control to open the requested electronic document in the client application instead of the browser window.
These and other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are illustrative only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.
Embodiments are provided for delaying the display of a progress meter during the loading of an electronic document. A user interface may be provided which includes a control surface and a browser window for displaying the electronic document. In the user interface, a request to load the electronic document in the browser window may be received. In response to the request, the loading of the requested electronic document may be initiated. A loading indicator associated with the requested electronic document may be displayed in the browser window. After a predetermined delay, the loading indicator may be replaced with a progress meter in the browser window. The progress meter may indicate a current loading percentage of the requested electronic document.
In another embodiment, the display of a progress meter during a long running operation in an electronic document may be delayed. A user interface may be provided which includes a browser window for displaying the electronic document. In the user interface, a request to initiate the long running operation in the electronic document may be received. In response to the request, the long running operation in the electronic document may be initiated. After a predetermined delay, a progress meter may be displayed in the browser window. The progress meter may indicate a current completion percentage of the long running operation in the electronic document.
In yet another embodiment, a method of switching from a web application to a client application during the loading of an electronic document may be provided. A user interface may be provided which includes a ribbon and a browser window of a web application for displaying the electronic document. In the user interface, a request to load the electronic document in the browser window of the web application may be received. In response to the request, the loading of the requested electronic document in the browser window of the web application may be initiated. A determination may be made that the requested electronic document is a long or complex document based on an elapsed time period for loading the requested electronic document reaching a predetermined threshold. Upon determining that the electronic document is a long or complex document, an alert bar may be displayed in the user interface. The alert bar may include a user control to open the requested electronic document in the client application instead of the browser window.
The browser 30 may comprise a web browser software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources provided by the server computer 70 (or other computers) over various networks which may include, without limitation, the Internet, private networks, or file systems. The information resources may include web pages, images, video, or other pieces of content. In accordance with an embodiment, the browser 30 may be configured to display a user interface generated by web applications 72 (executing on the server 70) for retrieving, viewing and editing electronic documents 76.
The client application 40 may comprise a rich client software application for retrieving, viewing, and editing the electronic documents 76 without use of the web applications 72. In accordance with an embodiment, the client application 40 may provide additional functionality not provided by the web applications 72 or, alternatively, provide a more optimized editing experience for certain large and/or and complex electronic documents. In accordance with an embodiment, the client application 40 may comprise one or more productivity application programs including, but not limited to, a word processing application programs, spreadsheet application programs, presentation application programs, and collaboration, file sharing and web publishing application programs which are used in the creation and editing of electronic documents. Illustrative productivity application programs may include, but are not limited to, the WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, and SHAREPOINT application programs from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. It should be appreciated, however, that productivity application programs from other manufacturers may also be utilized in accordance with the various embodiments described herein.
The server 70 may include the web applications 72 and a document store 74 which stores the electronic documents 76. In accordance with an embodiment, the web applications 72 may comprise web-based versions of one or more productivity application programs for generating and accessing electronic documents directly from anywhere within a web browser as well as to share files and collaborate with other users in an online environment. For example, the web applications 72 may include web-based versions of word processing application programs, spreadsheet application programs, presentation application programs, and collaboration, file sharing and web publishing application programs for generating word processing documents, spreadsheet documents and presentation electronic documents. In accordance with an embodiment, the web applications 72 may comprise a suite of productivity application programs such as the OFFICE WEB APPS suite of web-based productivity programs from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. It should be appreciated, however, that web applications from other manufacturers may also be utilized in accordance with the various embodiments described herein.
The document store 74 may comprise a file storage and sharing service for storing electronic documents uploaded by client computer users for remote access by client computer based web browsers and/or rich client application programs. In accordance with an embodiment, the document store 74 may comprise the WINDOWS LIVE SKYDRIVE online file storage and sharing service from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. It should be appreciated, however, that file storage and sharing services from other manufacturers may also be utilized in accordance with the various embodiments described herein.
In accordance with an embodiment, the web applications 72 may be configured with program code to delay the generation of a progress meter during the loading of an electronic document in a user interface generated by the web applications 72. In accordance with another embodiment, the web applications 72 may further be configured to enable switching to a client application during the loading of an electronic document in a user interface. In accordance with yet another embodiment, the web applications 72 may be further configured to delay the generation of a progress meter during a long running operation in an electronic document in a user interface. The aforementioned embodiments will be described in greater detail with respect to
Referring now to
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various embodiments may be practiced with a number of computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The various embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
The server 70 further includes a mass storage device 14 for storing an operating system 32, the web applications 72, the document store 74 and the electronic documents 76. In accordance with various embodiments, the operating system 32 may be suitable for controlling the operation of a networked computer, such as the WINDOWS operating systems from MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. The mass storage device 14 is connected to the CPU 8 through a mass storage controller (not shown) connected to the bus 10. The mass storage device 14 and its associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage for the server 70. The term computer-readable media as used herein may include computer storage media. Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the server 70. Any such computer storage media may be part of the server 70.
The term computer-readable media as used herein may also include communication media. Communication media may be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may describe a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.
According to various embodiments, the server 70 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to remote computers through the network 4 which may comprise, for example, a local network or a wide area network (e.g., the Internet). The server 70 may connect to the network 4 through a network interface unit 16 connected to the bus 10. It should be appreciated that the network interface unit 16 may also be utilized to connect to other types of networks and remote computing systems. The server 70 may also include an input/output controller 22 for receiving and processing input from a number of input types, including a keyboard, mouse, pen, stylus, finger, and/or other means. Similarly, an input/output controller 22 may provide output to a display device, a printer, or other type of output device. Additionally, a touch screen can serve as an input and an output mechanism. It should be appreciated that the client computer 2, shown in
The ribbon 305 may contain user controls for retrieving (i.e., loading), viewing and editing the electronic documents 76 which are displayed in the browser window 307. The user controls in the ribbon 305 may include a number of tabs, such File tab 310, galleries, such as Clipboard gallery 311, Font gallery 312, Paragraph gallery 314 and Styles gallery 315, and other user controls, such as Spelling user control 320 and Office user control 325. The Office user control 325 may be utilized to open a retrieved electronic document 76 in the client application 40. The browser window 307 may contain an editing surface into which the electronic documents 76 are loaded for viewing and editing. The user interface 300 also may display a Loading indicator 330 in the browser window 307. The Loading indicator 330 may be displayed in response to a request to load an electronic document 76.
The routine 700 begins at operation 705, where the web applications 72 executing on the server 70 display a user interface in the browser 30 of the client computer 2. In particular, a user of the client computer 2 may utilize the browser 30 to communicate with the server 70 over the network 4 to access and execute the web applications 72. An illustrative user interface which may be displayed in the browser 30 is shown in
From operation 705, the routine 700 continues to operation 710, where the web applications 72 receive a request to load an electronic document 76 on the client computer 2. For example, a user of the client computer 2 may utilize the File tab 310 in the user interface 300 of
From operation 710, the routine 700 continues to operation 715, where the web applications 72 may initiate the loading of an electronic document 76 in the browser 30 of the client computer 2.
From operation 715, the routine 700 continues to operation 720, where the web applications 72 may display a loading indicator for an electronic document 76 in the browser 30 of the client computer 2. An illustrative loading indicator is shown in the user interface 300 of
From operation 720, the routine 700 continues to operation 725, where the web applications 72 may replace the loading indicator with a progress meter to indicate a current loading percentage for an electronic document 76, after a predetermined delay. In particular, the web applications 72 may be configured to determine whether a delay threshold has been reached and whether a current loading percentage of an electronic document 76 is greater than zero, prior to replacing the loading indicator with the progress meter. An illustrative progress meter is shown in the user interfaces 400 and 500 in
From operation 725, the routine 700 continues to operation 730, where the web applications 72 may emphasize some user controls (which may be contained in a user interface ribbon), display non-editable content, and update the progress meter in a user interface generated by the web applications 72 during the continued loading of an electronic document 76. Illustrative user interfaces (i.e., user interfaces 400 and 500) displaying the aforementioned features are shown in
From operation 730, the routine 700 continues to operation 735, where the web applications 72 may emphasize additional user controls and insert new user gallery controls (the user and gallery controls may be contained in a user interface ribbon), display an alert bar and display an editable version of an electronic document 76 in a user interface generated by the web applications 72 upon the completion of loading of an electronic document 76. An illustrative user interface (i.e., user interface 600) displaying the aforementioned feature is shown in
From operation 805, the routine 800 continues to operation 810, where the web applications 72 receive a request to initiate a long running operation in an electronic document 76 currently displayed in a user interface in the browser 30 of the client computer 2. For example, a user of the client computer 2, who is currently editing a displayed electronic document 76, may wish to perform a global formatting change on electronic document text or perform a complex mathematical operation on electronic document data. Either of the aforementioned examples may comprise a long running operation in accordance with the various embodiments described herein. It should be appreciated that the aforementioned operations may place a significant demand on computer resources (e.g., processor and memory resources) and may further take longer than to perform than other, less complex operations.
From operation 810, the routine 800 continues to operation 815, where the web applications 72 may initiate a long running operation in an electronic document 76 in the browser 30 of the client computer 2.
From operation 815, the routine 800 continues to operation 820, where the web applications 72 may display a progress meter to indicate a current completion percentage for the long running operation initiated at operation 810, after a predetermined delay. In particular, the web applications 72 may be configured to determine whether a delay threshold has been reached prior to displaying the progress meter. In accordance with an embodiment, the progress meter may be displayed when two conditions have been met. The first condition is that a predetermined time threshold has to be exceeded. The second condition is that the current completion percentage for the long running operation (i.e., the number of objects parsed in the electronic document for completing the long running operation) must exceed zero percent.
From operation 820, the routine 800 continues to operation 825, where the web applications 72 may update the progress meter in a user interface generated by the web applications 72 by increasing the current completion percentage of the long running operation. From operation 825, the routine 800 then ends.
From operation 905, the routine 900 continues to operation 910, where the web applications 72 receive a request to load an electronic document 76 on the client computer 2. For example, a user of the client computer 2 may utilize the File tab 310 in the user interface 300 of
From operation 910, the routine 900 continues to operation 915, where the web applications 72 may initiate the loading of an electronic document 76 in the browser 30 of the client computer 2.
From operation 915, the routine 900 continues to operation 920, where the web applications 72 may determine an electronic document 76 currently being loaded is long or complex based on a predetermined loading time threshold. It should be understood that a long or complex document may comprise an electronic document having either a large file size, a file having complex contents (e.g., the electronic document may contain tables, images, formatted text, etc.), or both In accordance with an embodiment, a timer may be initiated during the loading of an electronic document 76. In particular, a timer may be started at the point when a document map representing an electronic document 76 begins being built into the memory of the client computer 2 and thus does not include any network transfer time. The electronic document 76 is then determined to be long or complex when the timer reaches the predetermined loading time threshold and the electronic document has not been fully rendered in user interface browser window generated by the web applications 72. For example, the web applications 72 may determined that an electronic document 76 currently being loaded is long and/or complex once the timer reaches ten seconds and the electronic document has still not finished rendering in the user interface browser window.
From operation 920, the routine 900 continues to operation 925, where the web applications 72 may display an alert bar having a user control for opening an electronic document 76 in the client application 40. In particular, upon determining that an electronic document is long and/or complex, the web applications may display an alert bar in a user interface generated by the web applications 72. An illustrative user interface displaying an alert bar is shown in
From operation 925, the routine 900 continues to operation 930, where the web applications 72, upon receiving a selection of the user control in the alert bar, may discontinue the loading of an electronic document 76 in the user interface and initiate the loading of the electronic document 76 in the client application 40. From operation 930, the routine 900 then ends.
Although the invention has been described in connection with various illustrative embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that many modifications can be made thereto within the scope of the claims that follow. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of the invention in any way be limited by the above description, but instead be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.
