This invention relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to a method of displaying multiple pieces of information.
Management of customer information in telecommunication networks often requires the presentation of many pieces of information. For example, information related to billing rates and expected levels of service must be presented to an administrator so that the administrator can obtain current information or can edit information stored in a database. The information may be presented as lines of text, but a graphical user interface allows an administrator to select various items, to more easily view the current state of the selected items, and to more easily change the information related to the selected items.
The flexibility given to the administrator may come at a cost, however. As the administrator selects different views of the information, different aspects of the information presented to the administrator in different windows may become difficult to manage, especially when the administrator starts moving the windows around. For example, the administrator may wish to view information concerning a particular subscriber in a telecommunication network. A Listing window is used to find existing subscribers or to create new ones. Individual subscribers are created or edited in forms specific to the subscriber data. These forms contain many fields, such as category, user identifier, description, a list of subscription identifiers, custom data, and a list of called station identifiers. Each of these called station identifiers contains a large amount of information dealing with Quality of Service (QoS) parameters: defaults, aggregate maximum bit rates, guaranteed bit rates, maximum bit rates for QoS classes, associated AF applications, and custom data. Many of these are lists which open up configuration forms of their own. In addition, there is a separate search facility to find a subscriber by a specific subscription identifier. This is a search window which opens on top of the subscriber list.
U.S. patent application 12/707,865, entitled “Perspective View”, filed on Feb. 18, 2010, and incorporated herein by reference, provides a solution to presenting many pieces of data. Information is presented in portlets organized within areas such that different portlets can be selected easily. The areas form a perspective, such that different areas, and hence different portlets, can be viewed simultaneously.
However, the portlets are not associated in any way. When viewing or configuring data in a portlet, a user must keep track of related data and separately create portlets for that data if it is to be viewed or edited. The number of such portlets and the amount of such data can become overwhelming, making management of the data within a database cumbersome. A method of associating data would make it easier to manage the data, and in particular make it easier for an administrator to manage customer information in a telecommunication network.
According to one aspect, a method is provided for displaying a graphical user interface. A perspective is displayed, along with at least one area within the perspective. Within one of the at least one area, a first portlet is displayed. Within the first portlet, a pick button and a field in association with the pick button are displayed. Upon selection of the pick button, a second portlet is created. In one embodiment, a list of at least one selectable entity is displayed within the second portlet. A set button is also displayed within the second portlet. Upon selection of the set button, the field is set to have a value associated with a selected entity in the list and the second portlet is closed.
In another embodiment, a list of at least one entity is displayed within the first portlet. Upon selection of one of the at least one entity, a third portlet is created which displays properties of the entity.
The methods of the invention may be stored as processing instructions on computer-readable storage media, the instructions being executable by a computer processor.
The invention allows portlets to be strongly associated with other portlets. Various means are provided within portlets for opening further portlets, in particular list portlets and form portlets. These means include pick buttons and lists of selectable entity names. In this way, information about entities on which the main entity relies can be easily seen or modified.
The features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment(s) with reference to the attached figures, wherein:
a is a diagram of a portion of an example portlet according to one embodiment of the invention;
b is a diagram of a portion of the example portlet of
It is noted that in the attached figures, like features bear similar labels.
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Each perspective contains at least one pane, termed an “area”. In the example shown in
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Each portlet presents information specific to that portlet. A portlet can be a list of information or a form presenting current information and allowing the current information to be changed. Portlets can be destroyed in an area and can be added to an area. A portlet can also be moved between areas by clicking and dragging the portlet to a destination area, as long as the type of portlet is allowed in the destination area.
Broadly, a graphic user interface is provided displaying list portlets and form portlets having various widgets. Portlets are associated with other portlets, such that selection of a widget or of a name in one portlet may open another portlet.
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In general, the portlets described above interact in a nested way, in that a portlet may open other portlets related to information contained in the first portlet. This may continue, and several portlets may be opened successively from each other. For example, an initial list portlet may be presented to a user listing entities in a telecommunication network customer database that can be configured by a user. Selection of an entry in the initial list portlet opens a form portlet for configuring that entity. This form portlet includes a 1:1 association and a 1:n association. When a user selects the pick button for the 1:1 association, another list portlet is opened from which the user can select an entity for inclusion in the field associated with the pick button. The user can also see the properties of any entity in this other list item by selecting one of the entities, or can see the properties of the entity in the field associated with the pick button once such an entity is set. Viewing the properties of the entity opens yet another form portlet, which may contain some values that can be configured by the user.
The user can also add an entity to the list in the form portlet representing the 1:n association, or remove an entity from such a list. Selecting the add button for the list opens a list portlet listing entities that can be added to the list in the form portlet.
The above is an example only, and more generally a first portlet may open a second portlet by interaction with a widget of the first portlet or selection of an entity name in the first portlet.
In order to implement the associations between list and form portlets, the definition file of each portlet includes a type definition associated with each widget which can open another portlet. Examples of such widgets are the pick button 54 and the add button 66. For example, when a user selects the pick button 54, the underlying system determines which entity types are specified for the pick button 54 based on the type definition defined in the definition file of the portlet containing the pick button, and opens a list portlet listing entities which match the entity type specified for the pick button 54. A developer of a new portlet need only specify an entity type for any such widget in the portlet, without having to be aware of how the underlying system behaves in response to selection of the widget.
The logic of the methods is preferably in the form of software, and may be stored as instructions on computer-readable storage media. The information presented in the portlets may be information about customers in a telecommunication network, which may be obtained from a database, or may be any other sort of information.
The embodiments presented are exemplary only and persons skilled in the art would appreciate that variations to the embodiments described above may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the various menus, title bars, and icons described above and shown in the figures are examples only, and other text and/or icons can be used. The scope of the invention is solely defined by the appended claims.