Method and apparatus for supporting context links for application program text
Methods and apparatus are provided for supporting text-based context links for application programs. An embodiment includes a first computer to maintain a database of data objects and a second computer to execute an application program that operates on a file having text elements. In an embodiment, the second computer is to execute a link program to access a data object on the first computer based on a user of the application program having used the application program to select a text element that is related to that data object.
An application program may be used to perform operations on a document that contains textual elements that relate to data objects, such as such as for example an order, business partner, quotation, or invoice. A textual element is a string of characters that is typically delaminated by a separator, such as a space or the end of a field. Some examples of text elements are a word, a number, or a phrase. A data object is an item of data that is associated with one or more functions (i.e., operations) that may be performed with that data. One type of data object is a “business object,” which would concern a commercial matter. In the case of the data object “order,” for example, a user may be able to command a computer system to perform functions with the order such as creating a new order, checking the order status, canceling the order, shipping a product that was ordered, displaying information for an order, displaying a list of data objects that are related to the order, etc.
An application program may include “context links” that associate such text elements within a document with functions related to those text elements so that a user may access the functions by selecting the text elements. For example, a word processor may be used to process a document that contains a plurality of words, and one or more individuals words may by highlighted to indicate that there is a context link for these words. If in this example one of the words is a person's name that is highlighted to indicate the presence of a context link for that name (e.g., because that person is an employee), by clicking on this name a user may cause the display of accessible functions that are associated with that person, such the ability to invoke an email program to create an email that is addressed to the person.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and apparatus for supporting text-based context links for application programs. According to embodiments, data objects and functionality in a back-end system may be used to efficiently create context links in a front-end system. These context links may be used to access the related data objects by, for example, displaying information related to the data object or performing functions on the data object.
As shown in
In an embodiment, and as shown in
Text elements may be associated with one or more types of context links, such as a customer context link and an employee context link, and context link type may correspond to a type of business object. In an embodiment, a business object/context link type may have relationships with other business objects/context link types, and such relationships may be displayed to the user as a separate structure such as, for example, a tree. Thus, a business partner type of object may be related to an invoice or a quotation type of object.
In order to obtain any information regarding associations between text elements and objects/functions, front-end system 110 may send the text element to back-end system 130, which may initiate a query for the text element. Based on the results that are returned from back-end system 130, front-end system 110 may store a record, for example using a Dynamic Link Library, of any associations between the text element and the functions that may be executed for that text element. Such a record may contain the results of the query, and may include the number of times the text element is found for each context link type and a data object identifier. In an embodiment, a single Dynamic Link Library is used to access and support any context links associating data objects with text elements in any application program documents on the front-end system, regardless of the type of text element (e.g., customer name, employee name, phone number, etc.), type of functions, or type of documents (e.g., word processor formatted document, spread sheet, etc.). Such an access may be, for example, initiating a function on the data object or displaying data that is related to the data object. In an embodiment, one Dynamic Link Library is used to support all data object types regardless of whether the data objects are currently known to the front-end system or are later declared in the back-end system. In an embodiment, front-end system 110 buffers records of associations (context links) for those front-end system program text elements that have functions on back-end system 130.
In an embodiment, a single link program on front-end system 110, such as link program 230, may be used to handle all context link related communications with back-end system 130. The configuration information for the dynamic links may be created with each initialization of the link program, as discussed below with reference to
For example, the token “Dave” may be found by the back-end system one hundred times as a “customer” name and fifty times as an “employee” name. In an embodiment, the method discussed above may continue by combining into phrases any tokens that appear consecutively in the document and that each result in more than one hit for a type in the back-end system searches. In this embodiment, a token may result as two hits in a back-end system search if the token is found once in the back-end system as a single word and a second time as part of a phrase that includes that word. In an alternative embodiment, a context link may be created for a phrase if one of the works in the phrase results in a unique hit. As discussed below with reference to
In an embodiment, each user is assigned an authorization level that provides for access to each type of business object that is maintained by the back-end system. For example, a particular user may be in the human resources department and, thus, may not have authorization to read, modify, or create a customer type business object. In a further embodiment, the method of searching in the back-end system database for a token limits searches based on the authorization level of the user. For example, if a set of context links is being created for a particular user who does not have certain authorizations for an object or set of objects, then the system may not search the back-end system for such objects.
In an embodiment, a function associated with a text element in a document may require one or more parameters. For example, where the text element is an employee name type of object, after a user selects (e.g., click on) that name, the front-end system may display menu of functions/actions for that context link, which may include sending an email to the employee. The parameter for these functions may be different from, although based upon, the text element associated the context link. In the example above, the employee name may be “John Smith,” and the parameter “JohnSmith@ourcompany.com” may be passed to the back-end system along with the function send an email. In an embodiment, such parameters are not binded against a specific object at runtime in that is not known in advance what object will be identified as a context link. In an embodiment, during an initiation process the front-end system will retrieve configuration data about menus and other related items from the backend system, such as supported context link types and the menu and actions related to these types.
In an embodiment, a general interface is used to send a request for configuration data from the front-end system to the back-end system in that the same backend-method is always called to retrieve the initialization data/configuration data. When a new document is opened, the document may be parsed for tokens and context links may be identified and recorded as discussed above. In an embodiment, the tokens, phrases and their hits are stored in the buffer at the front-end system until the last application program is closed or the system is shut down. In a further embodiment, a context link cache is kept in memory at the front-end system so long an application is open for which context link supports is being provided, and the context link information itself may be stored in the document. Thus, even if a document is closed and then opened again, the document will not have to be parsed a second time for context links. In this case, when a document is opened a second time, the user will see each previously recognized context links.
If a user selects (e.g., clicks on) text having a context link, which will active a menu that is displayed for this context link, the front-end system may determine if there are parameters to convert as menu text or menu-action (e.g., a “url”) for any of the menu items that are to be display. If there any parameters to be converted, than the back-end systems may be called to lookup the parameter (or a synonym attribute) for the recognized object. For example, in the configuration data, a menu text may be “Send an email to &FirstName& &LastName& . . . ” and a menu action may be “mailto:&EmailAddress&”. If the text “John Smith” is recognized as an employee-object (which supports context links) then the text in the menu may appear at runtime as “Send an email to John Smith” and the Action “Url” may appear as mailto:John.Smith@ourcompany.com.
In an embodiment, the front-end system also provides attachment services such that a document may be stored on the back-end system and a logical relationship may be created between that document and the data object. For example, a letter that was written to a customer using a word processor may be attached to a context link in another document format, such that when a user of the other document selects that context link, the letter will be opened in the word processor so that the user can operate the word processor on that letter.
As shown in
In an embodiment, the front-end system may construct the menu 810 as follows. First, the front-end system may add a menu entry “relations” in addition to the normal menu entries for each data object type. Next, the front-end system may retrieve a dynamic list of linkable data object types. For each type, a list may be generated. Next, the front-end system may generate a fix list of dummy item menus, as shown in structure 820. When the appropriate context link is activated, the back-end attachment service may be called for relations. Finally, the front-end system may repaste the menu entries and actions for the specific data object type for each dummy entry.
The above is a detailed discussion of the certain embodiments. It may be understood that the examples discussed are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the configuration to that shown. For example, the order of the steps discussed may be varied as appropriate without departing from the scope of the invention. It is of course intended that the scope of the claims may cover other embodiments than those described above and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A system comprising:
- a first computer to maintain a database of data objects; and
- a second computer to execute an application program that operates on a document having text elements, wherein the second computer is to execute a link program to access a data object on the first computer if a user of the application program uses the application program to select a text element that is related to that data object.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computer is a back-end system and the second computer is a front-end system.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein a single link program located on the second computer supports any accesses by application programs on the second computer to data objects on the first computer.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the single link program is a single dynamic link library file.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the access to the data object on the first computer comprises the initiation of a function that is performed by the first computer on the data object.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein any software instructions that perform the function on the data object are located on the first computer.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second computer is to display data that is stored on the first computer and that relates to a data object selected by the application program executing on the second computer.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second computer displays the data as a menu structure that allows a user to display additional data related to the data object based on the relationship between the additional data and the text element.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein an application program executing on the first computer may only access a data object on the second computer if a user of the application program has authorization on the second computer to access that data object.
10. A method comprising:
- receiving an indication in an application program executing on a front-end system that a user has selected a context link to a text element in a document that is being operated on by the application program;
- displaying a list of actions relating to the context link in the application program on the front-end system;
- receiving the selection of one of the listed actions in the application program on the front-end system; and
- sending a request to a back-end system to perform an action on a data object that is related to the selected text element.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein all context links on the front-end system are supported by a single dynamic link library file.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein any software instructions to perform actions on data objects on the back-end system are located on the back-end system.
13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:
- receiving an indication that the user has entered an additional text element into the application program document;
- determining whether the additional text element is related to a data object in the back-end system; and
- creating a context link at the front-end system if the additional text element is related to a data object in the back-end system.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the additional text element is related to a data object in the back-end system comprises:
- searching a buffer in the front-end system for the additional text element;
- if the text element was not found in the buffer, requesting that the back-end system search for the additional text element; and
- deciding that the additional text element is related to a data object in the back-end system if the additional text element was found in the buffer or in the back-end system.
15. A method comprising:
- parsing a new application program document at a first computer into a plurality of text elements;
- determining if one of the text elements is related to a data object in a second computer; and
- if the text element is related to a data object in the second computer, creating and storing in a buffer at the first computer a record of a context link associating the text element to a data object in the second computer.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first computer is a front-end system and the second computer is a back-end system.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein prior to parsing the new application program into text elements, the method comprises receiving a list of data object types at the first computer from the second computer, wherein the list contains the data object types that are supported by the second computer.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein in addition to the list of data object types the first computer also receives a menu structure to be populated with information from documents stored on the first computer based on a parameter conversion.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the menu structure is received if textual information to be displayed with the menu is not available at that time.
20. The method of claim 15, wherein determining whether the text element is related to a data object in the second computer comprises:
- searching a buffer in the first computer for the text element;
- if the text element was not found in the buffer, requesting that the second computer search for the text element; and
- deciding that the text element is related to a data object in the second computer if the text element was found in the buffer or in the second computer.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein if a text element was found more than once for a data object type, then determining if the text element is part of a phrase that is related to a data object in the second computer.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein determining if the text element that was found more than once for a data object type is part of a phrase comprises:
- placing the text element on a list of text elements for that type; and
- determining if a phase consisting of that text element and one or more text elements previous to the text element on the list is found either in the second computer or in a buffer at the first computer.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein a phrase on the list is considered to be related to a data object on the second computer if that phrase was found only once for a data object type.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein a previous text element is on this list if that previous text element was found more than once for that data object type and if any text elements between that previous text element and the text element just added to the list were found more than once for that data object type.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein a text element is removed from the list for that data object type if the text element it is not part of a phase that is found more than once for that data object type.
26. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
- receiving an indication in an application program executing on a front-end system that a user has selected a context link to a text element in a document that is being operated on by the application program;
- displaying a list of actions relating to the context link in the application program on the front-end system;
- receiving the selection of one of the listed actions in the application program on the front-end system; and
- sending a request to a back-end system to perform an action on a data object that is related to the selected text element.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 23, 2004
Publication Date: Jan 19, 2006
Inventors: Juergen Sattler (Wiesloch), Hilmar Demant (Karlsdorf), Joachim Gaffga (Wiesloch)
Application Number: 10/896,971
International Classification: G06F 17/00 (20060101);