Abstract: Gadgets integrate with spreadsheets and the spreadsheet calculation engine. A gadget is bound to a range of cells (one or more) within a sheet. When one or more of the cells of the bound range is accessed (e.g. selected, hovered over, edited, deleted, added), the gadget is notified. The gadget may use this information for updating a display rendered by the gadget and/or performing some other action. The gadget uses an Application Programming Interface (API) to create the binding, communicate with the spreadsheet, and perform actions in the spreadsheet. The gadget is a Named Item object within the spreadsheet such that the gadget may be viewed/displayed differently from other objects. Out of date requests from the gadget are attempted to be detected and prevented from being processed such that the gadget is not acting on the latest data.

Abstract: Data formatting rules to convert data from one form to another form are automatically determined based on a user's edits. A machine learning heuristic is applied to a user's edits to determine a data formatting rule that may be applied to data. For example, a user may make edits that add/remove characters from data, concatenate data, extract data, rename data, and the like. The machine learning heuristic may be automatically triggered in response to an event (e.g. after a predetermined number of edits are made to a same type of data) or manually triggered (e.g. selecting a user interface option). The data formatting rule may be applied to other data and the results of the formatting reviewable by the user. Based on further edits/reviews, the data formatting rule may be updated. The data formatting rules may be stored for later use.

Abstract: A web page behavior control (WPBC) menu is provided on a rendered web page for enabling a user to perform actions on a portion of the web page content such as customizing, editing, sharing, analyzing, exporting, and/or annotating the content. The user may automatically activate the menu by performing a unique gesture on the rendered web page and/or by selecting a portion of the web page content. The WPBC menu may provide a list of applications which may be selected for modifying and managing the portion of selected web page content. The application may provide full functionality for managing the web page content in a separate user interface and/or directly on the rendered web page. Furthermore, manipulation of data presentation on the rendered web page such as table properties of a spreadsheet may be enabled through natural gestures.

Abstract: A user interface that when selected triggers the automatic sharing of a spreadsheet object in a spreadsheet with a chosen network service (e.g. social network, blog, or some other network location). For example, cells, tables, charts and other objects of the spreadsheet may be selected to be shared using the user interface. When a spreadsheet object is selected and indicated to be shared using the user interface, the spreadsheet is automatically saved to a network share, permissions are set for the spreadsheet to share the spreadsheet object, and the spreadsheet object is shared with the network service. Changes made to the spreadsheet after the spreadsheet object is shared are reflected in the spreadsheet object on the network service.

Abstract: A web page behavior enhancement (WPBE) control element is provided on a rendered web page enabling a user to perform actions on at least a portion of the web page content such as customizing, editing, sharing, analyzing, exporting, and/or annotating the content. The processed content may be presented on the original web page, on a locally stored version of the web page, or archived for subsequent use, where any changes to the original web page content may be tracked and the user notified about the changes. The WPBE control element(s) may be embedded into the web page at the source web application or at the local browser based on factors like web application capabilities, browser capabilities, user preferences, usage pattern, and comparable ones.

Abstract: For standalone spreadsheet applications and/or Web-based spreadsheet services, the ability to designate, discover and set parameters for spreadsheet documents is provided. When creating a spreadsheet document, the ability to designate certain cells or ranges of cells as parameters to a spreadsheet is enabled. Furthermore, whether viewed in a standalone spreadsheet application or via a Web service, the ability to discover these parameters through the user interface or object model is provided. The ability to set or change these parameters one at a time or in bulk and drive the changes into the calculation model is also provided. Accordingly, whether viewed in a standalone spreadsheet application or via a Web rendering service, the effect of the parameters entered by the user can be calculated and viewed at once. The ability to suspend recalculation of a workbook until all relevant values, such as a current set of parameters, are obtained is also enabled.

Abstract: A named object view of a report is generated from an electronic data file. Objects in the file to be published are identified in the file. A named object view of the report associated with the file is generated by displaying published identified objects according to associated viewing rights. A viewer at a client is presented with the named object view of the report, according to the viewing rights, such that the viewer's attention is focused on the published objects.

Abstract: For standalone spreadsheet applications and/or Web-based spreadsheet services, the ability to designate, discover and set parameters for spreadsheet documents is provided. When creating a spreadsheet document, the ability to designate certain cells or ranges of cells as parameters to a spreadsheet is enabled. Furthermore, whether viewed in a standalone spreadsheet application or via a Web service, the ability to discover these parameters through the user interface or object model is provided. The ability to set or change these parameters one at a time or in bulk and drive the changes into the calculation model is also provided. Accordingly, whether viewed in a standalone spreadsheet application or via a Web rendering service, the effect of the parameters entered by the user can be calculated and viewed at once. The ability to suspend recalculation of a workbook until all relevant values, such as a current set of parameters, are obtained is also enabled.

Abstract: A named object view of a report is generated from an electronic data file. Objects in the file to be published are identified in the file. A named object view of the report associated with the file is generated by publishing the identified objects. A viewer at a client is presented with the named object view of the report such that the viewer's attention is focused on the published objects.

Abstract: A snapshot of electronic data is generated to provide information about a file at a specific point in time. The snapshot may be shared between several users. The snapshot is generated based on the type of snapshot that is requested. The snapshot types include a static snapshot, a published item snapshot and an interactive snapshot. Each type of snapshot may hide a portion of the file data from requesting users such that sensitive information is not made available to the users. The static snapshot is generated by saving only static data associated with the file. The interactive snapshot is generated by saving static data associated with the file, but any links or references to dynamic file data are maintained. The published item snapshot includes specific file objects and static data associated with the specified objects.

Abstract: A system and method for optimizing server resources while providing interaction with documents accessible through the server. The system allows a user to open and interact with a document without opening a session. Aspects of the present invention relate to a computer-implemented method having steps for determining whether a document is static in response to a request to open the document, and opening the document in a sessionless mode when the document is static. Other aspects of the present invention relate to a computer-implemented method having steps for determining whether a trigger has occurred and transitioning to a session mode for the document when a trigger has occurred.

Abstract: Data is obtained from one or more data sources. The data sources may be real time data sources and non-real time data sources. Calculations may be performed on the data before delivering the data to one or more applications. A direct connection may be established between a first computing device and a second computing device. The direct connection may be used to deliver the data. The data may be broadcast to one or more applications. For example, the broadcast may be to a different subnets within one or more networks.

Abstract: A progress UI is displayed within a user's web page for long-running requests. For each long-running request, a progress UI is displayed to the user indicating that the long-running request is being processed until the long-running request has been processed. The progress UI may be a progress indicator showing the user the status of the processing, or the status message could be some other message to the user indicating that the long-running request is still being processed. While the long-running request is being processed, data is sent from the server to the user's browser at a rate such that the server performing the long-running request does not time out. The current state of a web page may be maintained such that when a long running request is made the web page that contains the control that issued the long-running request is not automatically refreshed when the long running request takes place.

Abstract: A system and method for restricting a client's access to sensitive material in a network document. The system includes a document storage component for storing documents having an associated level of access. The system also includes a server component for receiving a document request from a user, associating the document request with the level of access of the requested document, and sending a server request if the level of access is limited. The system further includes a document governor component for receiving the server request, sending a governor request to the document storage component, receiving an unrestricted document from the document storage component, processing the unrestricted document to limit rights according to the level of access, and sending a limited document to the server in order to allow a user accessibility to the restricted document.

Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus are provided for exposing and utilizing workbooks as server data sources. The system includes a client computer capable of executing a spreadsheet application program for creating a workbook including one or more worksheets. The workbook may be published to a server computer where the contents of the workbook are exposed as a multi-dimensional data source. The server computer allows client applications to discover and connect to the workbook as a multi-dimensional, data source, such as a cube.

Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus for discovering and connecting to data sources are provided. A system is provided that includes a server computer operative to maintain a centrally managed repository of data connection definitions. A client computer is also provided including an application program capable of consuming data from a data source. When a request is received by the application to connect to a data source, a list of available sources is retrieved from the server computer. If one of the data sources in the list is selected, a data connection file is retrieved and utilized to connect to the data source. If a report is opened by the application that includes a reference to a data source, the repository is utilized to confirm the connection to the data source.

Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus are provided for exposing and utilizing workbook ranges as server data sources. The system includes a client computer capable of executing a spreadsheet application program for creating a workbook including a range that includes data objects. The workbook may be published to a server computer where the specified data objects are exposed as server data sources. The server computer allows client applications to discover and connect to the data objects contained within the workbook as server data sources.

Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus are provided for enabling a spreadsheet to be viewed and modified within the context of a Web browser application program. According to a method, a request is received to view a spreadsheet document in the Web browser application program. In response to the request, a representation of the spreadsheet document capable of being rendered by the Web browser application program is generated. The representation of the spreadsheet document is then transmitted to the Web browser application program. The Web browser application program then provides a viewable version of the spreadsheet document by rendering the representation of the spreadsheet document. Scripts may be included with the representation of the spreadsheet document to allow interactivity with the spreadsheet from within the Web browser.