Method for displaying multiple entry data fields on a video screen in an object oriented software program.

This invention relates to a method for displaying data entry fields on a video screen of a computer in an object oriented software program. More specifically, this invention relates to a method for displaying related data entry fields having multiple values in an object oriented software program wherein related data elements in the multiple entry data fields can be added, deleted or changed.

Object oriented programming refers to a computer software programming language that focuses on real-world entities in the domain of the problem being solved and defines those entities as objects. The particular problem is decomposed into subproblems until all objects and subobjects in the problem domain have been identified.

Each object contains (encapsulates) some active data and a set of operations or routines (methods) that can access that data. When displayed on a video screen, an object may include, for example, a title, a single screen of data, instruction lines, data entry areas, menu areas or command lines. This displayed information must all fit within the physical confines of the video screen display, which generally consists of an area totalling 24 lines by 80 columns.

To maximize the amount of information related to a particular object that is displayed on the video screen, while maintaining the legibility of that information, certain display mechanisms (user interface constructs) have been employed, particularly in connection with displaying lists of information or items. In the case of data entry fields, these constructs typically access and display data fields individually; related fields must be accessed and displayed separately.

A basic user interface construct is the single-line entry field, which is a two-part user interface component consisting of text and a rectangular box into which the user enters information that is limited to one line. A related construct is the multiple-line entry field, which differs from the single-line entry field only in that the information inputted by the user consists of more than one line. In both of these constructs, the data fields are stored separately and accessed and displayed separately.

Another construct is the combination box, which is a user interface component that combines the capabilities of an entry field with a list of valid entries. Using a combination box, a user enters information in the entry field area and is provided with a list box containing possible choices to complete the entry field.

A drop-down combination box is a variation of the combination box in which the list box is hidden until the user requests it. An entry field box is displayed and the user is given a visual cue that a list is hidden. If the user requests it, the hidden list box will be displayed.

A drop-down list is similar to a drop-down combination box, but it does not include an entry field for entering text. Instead, the user sees a single selection field with one choice displayed as the default value and a visual cue indicating that a list box is hidden. If the user requests it, the hidden list will be displayed, from which a choice other than the default value may be selected.

As with the more basic constructs, data fields displayed in the list box constructs can only be accessed and displayed individually. Each list box displays a single column of data items with each row containing a single data item. None of these constructs provides a mechanism for accessing and displaying related fields in complete records containing multiple fields.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for displaying data entry fields having multiple values in an object oriented software program.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for displaying multiple entry data entry fields in an object oriented software program in the form of complete records containing multiple fields.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for displaying multiple entry data entry fields in an object oriented software program wherein data elements in the multiple entry data fields can be added, deleted or changed while allowing the user to maintain the contextual relationships of the objects being altered.

These and other objects, features and advantages are achieved by a method for displaying multiple entry data fields on a computer video display in an object oriented software program. In an object, which, for example, may be a screen or panel having multiple entry data fields, the user may select a multiple entry data field by marking and choosing the appropriate entry. A pop-up panel or window, which is a user interface component similar to a drop-down list box, is then displayed listing all of the instances of the data field or element. The user can change or delete the data element or add a new data element by selecting the appropriate function key. The user retains context of the underlying object while working on the multiple entry data fields. Moreover, the underlying object is not changed when additional data elements are added to the multiple entry data field list. <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a panel as displayed on a video display screen having multiple entry data fields;</li><li>Fig. 2 shows a multiple entry data fields pop-up list for the embodiment of Fig. 1;</li><li>Fig. 3 shows a Change pop-up for the embodiment of Fig. 2;</li><li>Fig. 4 shows an Add pop-up for the embodiment of Fig. 2; and</li><li>Fig. 5 illustrates the actions the user performs and the responses made by the system to perform the Change, Add and Delete functions.</li></ul>

In object oriented programming, each object encapsulates some active data and a set of routines that can access that data. Data encapsulation allows access to an object's data only by the routines defined for that object. Users of object oriented software programs have direct access to all of the actions offered by the object and can only access data encapsulated therein by requesting the object to do so by performing one of its actions. The user need not know how these actions are performed. How the object implements its actions and how its internal data is arranged or formatted are encapsulated within a procedural framework that controls all access to the object.

Sets of objects that have similar, though not identical, characteristics and behave in the same way are called object classes. An object's class is a module that encapsulates everything known about an object and controls access to its data. An object's class defines the types and meanings of the object's data and the action requests that the object will honor.

Object classes can be defined to be subclasses of other classes. Subclasses inherit all of the data characteristics and routines of the parent class. Subclasses can, however, add additional data and routines and can redefine any data elements or routines of the parent class.

Each object in a class is characterized by a collection of common features that describe the data encapsulated in the class and the routines that can operate on the data. Class features are the attributes that make up each object of the class and the methods that can legitimately act on those attributes.

An attribute is a data element that stores a specified data type, such as a string, integer, or Boolean, and a method is a routine (action) that either acts on attributes or returns the value of an attribute. Each object in a class has the same attributes but these attributes have different values. An object that can be distinguished from others of the same class is an instance of that class. An instance is an individual object containing data (attributes) that can be acted on by an application or system.

Methods in an object-oriented system usually accomplish only one task. A class method only acts on class attributes and can return a result without using the instance attributes. An instance method, on the other hand, can act on both class and instance attributes.

A class attribute is a data element that has a constant value for all instances of the class. Class attributes consist of simple data types, such as integer, string or Boolean. An instance attribute is a data element with a value that can change for each instance of the class.

In object oriented systems, values of instance attributes are either simple data entry fields or object references. An object reference is an attribute with a value that is a reference to another object. An object reference can be the object's system ID or its memory address, depending on how the system is designed.

In certain applications, however, an instance attribute may comprise multiple data entry fields, rather than a single data entry field. Such multiple data entry fields, sometimes referred to as accordion fields, can be generally described as a list of simple data elements. Accordion fields are an intermediate method of displaying information in an object oriented software program, allowing the user to access and display records containing multiple fields, rather than individual fields, without being a full object or sub-object itself, thereby avoiding the additional programming and memory allocation requirements associated with objects.

Referring to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, an application program panel as displayed on a video display screen is shown including a series of single data entry fields 12 in the upper portion of the panel and a list of accordion fields 14 in the lower portion of the panel. In the panel shown, Products affected 16, Item.Ecs affected 18, Planned change numbers 20 and Reason codes 22 are accordion fields 14. Each of the accordion fields may represent a list of single-column or multi-column values.

To display the list of data values for an accordion field, the user selects one of the accordion fields 14 and then opens it by selecting the appropriate entry from the File 24 pull-down list (not shown) invoked from the action bar 26. For example, in Fig. 2, the user selects the Products Affected 16 accordion field and opens it by choosing File.Open from the action bar 26. The accordion field pop-up list 30 shown in Fig. 2 is displayed on the video screen, listing all related data entries 32, such as "B67895 B. Smith OK" 34, that are included in the selected Products Affected 16 accordion field. The pop-up list 30 also has function keys 34 that allow the user to Change 36, Add 38 to or Delete 40 from this list 30.

If the user chooses to change a data entry in the pop-up list 30 of Fig. 2, the entry to be modified is selected and then the Change function key 36 is selected. A Change pop-up 50, as shown in Fig. 3, is then displayed in which the selected data entry, "B67895 B. Smith OK" 34, is shown. The user can then type over the data entry 34 to correct the data. The user can then return to the pop-up list 30 of Fig 2., which will show the data entry 34 as modified.

If the user chooses to add a data entry to the pop-up list 30 of Fig. 2, the user first selects the location in the pop-up list 30 for the added entry by selecting an existing data entry. The user then selects the Add Function key 38 and the new data entry is inserted after the selected entry. If no data entry is-selected before the Add Function key 38 is selected, the new data entry is located at the top of the existing list of data entries. Once the Add Function key 38 is chosen, an Add pop-up 60 as shown in Fig. 4 is displayed and the user can enter the new data entry on the prompt line 62. The user can then return to the pop-up list 30 of Fig 2., which will be refreshed to show the data entry list 32 as modified.

If the user chooses to delete a data entry from the pop-up list 30 of Fig. 2, the user selects the data entry in the pop-up list 30 to be deleted and then selects the Delete function key 40. The selected data entry will be deleted from the pop-up list 30 of Fig. 2, which will be refreshed to show the data entry list as modified.

Once the user has completed all of the desired actions on the selected accordion field, the user can then remove the pop-up list 30 of Fig. 2 from the video display screen and return to the base panel (object) shown in Fig. 1. When the user saves the panel from which the pop-up list 30 originated, the update to the accordion field pop-up 30 is saved.

Fig. 5 shows a programming transition diagram of the Change, Add and Delete functional operations effected by the program instructions. The operation sequence begins with a display of a panel 70 including a list of multiple entry data fields 72. The user selects an accordion field, such as Customer 74, causing a pop-up list 76 of all data entries for the selected accordion field to be created and displayed. The user can then select a data entry, such as "AAA and Co. 123 Oak Lane Atlanta, GA 30300" 77, from pop-up list 76 and choose a function key 78 to perform an action on the selected data entry. By selecting the Change function key 80, a Change pop-up 82 is displayed containing the selected data entry "AAA and Co. 123 Oak Lane Atlanta, GA 30300" 77, which the user can modify and then return to pop-up list 76. By selecting the Add function key 84, an Add pop-up 86 is displayed in which the user enters the new data entry and then returns to pop-up list 76. By selecting the Delete function key 82, the selected data entry is deleted and the user is then returned to pop-up list 76. After completing all actions on the selected accordion field, pop-up list 76 is removed from the video display screen and the user is returned to panel 70.

The following is class specification source code shown in a dialect of ADA for the accordion field class "BAUPACCF" that controls the creation of accordion fields. Referring again to Fig. 5, when the user selects an accordion field from the multiple entry data fields list 72 of panel 70, the pop-up list 76 is created by initiating the Create routine beginning on line 194. The parameters for the Create routine include a list of the data entries for the selected accordion field. Once a data entry is selected and a function key is depressed, the Handle routine is invoked beginning on line 436, with the command name being the name of the function key chosen. If the Delete function key 88 is selected, the routine proceeds from line 504. The Fcancel routine beginning on line 400 removes the pop-up list 76 from the video display once the user completes all actions on the selected accordion field.<img file="EP0483040A2_D0001.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0002.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0003.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0004.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0005.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0006.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0007.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0008.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0009.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0010.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0011.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0012.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0013.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0014.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0015.tif" />

The following is the class specification source code shown in a dialect of ADA for the accordion add pop-up "BAUPADDP" that is invoked when the user selects the Add function key 84. Once the user depresses the Add function key 80, the Add routine from "BAUPACCF" proceeds from line 484 and creates "BAUPADDP". The Add pop-up 86 is created by initiating the Create routine beginning on line 171 of "BAUPADDP". Once the user enters an addition to the pop-up list 76, the validate routine beginning on line 349 validates the data entered and inserts it into the pop-up list 76.<img file="EP0483040A2_D0016.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0017.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0018.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0019.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0020.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0021.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0022.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0023.tif" />

The following is the class specification source code shown in a dialect of ADA for the accordion change pop-up "BAUPCHGP" that is invoked when the user selects the Change function key 80. Once the use r depresses the Change function key 80, the Change routine from "BAUPACCF" proceeds from line 627 and creates "BAUPCHGP". The Change pop-up 82 is created by initiating the Create routine beginning on line 170. Once the user modifies the selected data entry, the validate routine beginning on line 371 validates the data entered and updates the pop-up list 76.<img file="EP0483040A2_D0024.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0025.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0026.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0027.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0028.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0029.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0030.tif" /><img file="EP0483040A2_D0031.tif" />

From the foregoing description of a preferred embodiiment of this invention, it will be apparent that there has been provided a novel method for displaying multiple entry data fields on a computer video display in an object oriented software program. While described in connection with the preferred embodiments referred to herein, it is clear that the use of this method in connection with other applications will be apparent to those skilled in the art.