Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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MEANS TO PERMIT END USERS TO CUSTOMIZE USER INTERFACES
The present invention relates to the field of user interface controls, and in
5 particular provides a mechanism for tailoring the features displayed to the user.
The invention is particularly useful for users who wish to reduce unnecessary
complexity in their screen presentations, providing, in one aspect, a simple method
for presenting only a subset of total choices at any one time and, in another aspect,
means for replacing titles and keywords in on-screen user interface elements with
user-selected contextual terminology.
In an effort to meet the present and expanding needs of a multiplicity of
users, many computer operating systems are being offered with numerous options
to users. Iconic representations in window displays, symbols placed in window
frames and title bars, and pop-up and pull-down menus are all user interface options
currently available to users for selecting actions. The goal of using attractive visual
formats is, of course, to make the programs "user friendly" and to encourage even
the "computer novice" to use such programs.
However, this very proliferation of symbolic presentations can be
overwh~lming, particularly if some of the options or actions represented are not2 0 appropriate to the specific system use, or if the symbols and keywords displayed are
generic and have no significance, or are misle~tling, for use of a particular
application. The use of many window components, even specially-designed as "userfriendly" from the manufacturer, can make the user interface appear more complexand more difficult to use because of the visual noise.
One example of this is a general use terminal in a central office setting to be
used for selected activities only. Users become confused when confronted with a
proliferation of symbolic options and actions provided in a standard operating system
program, many of which will not be needed for using the particular terminal.
Also, where the prompts for actions are generic (as is usual with off-the-shelf
software) the occasional user will tend to forget which action is activated by each
prompt, and work time will be lost either through trial and error, or in looking this
information up in a manual.
In addition to the foregoing, the proliferation of unwanted symbols also
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reduces the usability of the on-screen workspace. Window components such as title
bars and scroll bars take up valuable space. Removing unnecessary items would
help to provide enough room on the screen to display all the information the user
needs, in order to have minimAl scrolling or other window manipulations.
The need to deal with complexity in user interface presentations was
recognized and discussed in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Volume 34, No. 9,February 1992, entitled "User Interface Design to Hide Complexity in Dialogs" byFlemming and Torres. This paper discusses the standard approach to the prior artand a new approach for permitting the user to tailor user interface displays. Asdiscussed, in many currently marketed applications, a pull-down menu from the
menu bar lists choices for controlling customization of the user interface display for
the application, including the sizing, minimi7Ation and location of the representative
icons for particular actions in different main windows. The new solution proposed
in this publication is to replace the pull-down "options" menu with an "options"choice on the pull-down menu associated with the system menu icon on the window's
title bar. Selection of the "options" choice would cause a pop-up menu listing the
available options that the user can then customize. This would enable the inexpert
user, in particular, to choose customization only advertently, rather than to initiate
unplanned screen alterations without reAli7ing how to "undo" the changes. The
publication describes only one specific customization that might be made, that is
selecting the particular manner in which a "sort" option would perform, such as from
smallest to largest, alphabetically, etc.
Similarly, U.S. Patent No. 5,121,477 entitled "System for Interactively
Creating Action Bar Pull-Down Windows of a User Interface for Use at Program RunTime" of Koopmans et al, discusses the lack of control for the end user inherent in
off-the-shelf software products in the presentation of user interface items. This
patent is directed to and describes a system in which, on initialization of an
application or process, a screen automatically appears enabling the user to customize
the data presentations, including the definition of subsequent pull-down menus, for
3 0 the application run . The customization entered may be saved for subsequent
application runs.
U . S . Patent No . 5,220,675 entitled "Method and System for Customizing a UserInterface in an Integrated Environment" of Padawer et al, describes a mechanism that
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permits the user to easily install and remove functions from an application by the
simple expedient of editing the menu list in the application functions. By selecting
the "Utilities" title on the menu displayed for the application, the user is presented
with a "Customize Menu" option. If this option is selected, the presentation of a
series of windows is set in motion that leads the user, step by step, in performing
the progr~mming necessary to link in a new function.
Other applications have approached the question of user interface
customization at a system design level. For example, both of U.S. Patent No.
4,843,538 entitled "Multi-Level Dynamic Menu" of Lane et al, which suppresses
display of items previously designated as "non-selectable", and U.S. Patent No.
5,206,950 entitled "Software Development System and Method Using Expanding
Outline Interface" of Geary et al, relate to mechanisms for facilitating the
customization of user displays during application development. In '538, a dynamic
menu automatically includes an application or process means to suppress menu items
representing actions or options that are not available or do not function in theapplication or process as designed by the system engineer. '950 is directed to
- mechanisms to facilitate a program designer in de~igning menus and other display
oriented program objects customized to the specific application. One of these
mech~ni~m~ is an outliner editor that includes a flag to indicate whether high level
menu items can be expanded to lower level subdivisions. An interactive drawing
program for d~signing visual displays is also disclosed.
U.S. Patent No. 5,140,678 entitled "Computer User Interface with Window
Title Bar Icons" of Torres discloses a mechanism for hiding the title bar and action
bar from the display with a window. However, the problem of customization is notaddressed and no facilities to change the items displayed and available on the title
or action bar are provided. Rather, the user simply "covers" the bar by clickingthe mouse and can cause it to reappear by repeating this action. Also, U. S .
Patent No . 5,040,131 entitled "Graphical Processing" of Torres, is directed to a user
interface that displays only those iconic pictorial representations corresponding to
the processes, for example in a data base setting, but this is determined in response
to the system and is not user initiated customization.
By contrast to all of the foregoing, the present invention is directed to means
by which the user can quite simply customize the presentation of any of the user
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interface fields displayed in an application window without actually affecting or being
affected by the rl~nning of the application. The types of customization proposed in
this invention include the elimin~tion from display of elements that are seldom or
never used in a way that these elements can be easily re-introduced to meet the
user's ~!h~nging needs, and a means for re-writing titles and keywords displayed in
user interface elements such as title bars. The clarity and simplicity of this
customization technique means makes it available to non-expert users, and easilypermits the customization to be subsequently reversed or altered.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide means for
customizing user interfaces to present only a subset of total choices at any one time,
as this can aid the novice user in learning the software and assist other users in
obt~ining more display "real estate".
Since novice users may require access to the total set of functions as they
become more experienced, and other users may require access to features for
different applications, it must be possible to reintroduce the choices removed from
the user interface. Therefore, it is also an object of this invention to provide a
control that only temporarily removes window components from the user interface,but that can be easily reversed to reintroduce removed components.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a means to permit the user to
customize titles and command prompt keywords in a user interface to make those
textual symbols more me~ningful to specific applications.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for customizing
presentation of user interface features in an application window. The process
consists of the computer implemented steps of displaying a list of user interface
features for the application window differentiating settings for displayed and non-
displayed features in response to a single user action, receiving a user selection on
at least one entry in the list and entering changes to the list of features in response,
and ~h~nging the presentation of features in the window in accordance with the
changes to the list of features.
The present invention also provides a mechanism for displaying an application
window having multiple user interface features from a master file cont~ining on/off
settings for displaying each of said user interface features, a user-initiated
customizer for altering the displayed user interface features, consisting of means for
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displaying a list of user interface features that differentiates the settings for
displayed and non-displayed features in response to a single user-input action,
means for reversing a setting for a feature in the list in response to user selections,
and means for reversing display of the feature in the application window.
Preferably, the mechanism of the present invention also provides means for
receiving a user-typed title in the list of user interface features, and means for
altering a displayed title in the user application window to the user-typed title.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Embodiments of the invention will now be discussed in detail in association withthe accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a representative pictorial view of a user interface window on a
computer display screen illustrating commonly used fields, components and titles .
Figure 2 is a view of the window of Figure 1 illustrating pop-up menus
uncovered for several fields in the window, according to the invention.
Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the sequence in ~h~nging a text option in the menu
bar of the window of Figure 1, according to one aspect of the invention.
Figure 5 illustrates undisplayed options for the pull-down "View" menu
illustrated in the window representation of Figure 2.
2 0 Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the sequence in çh~nging user interface components
in the field of the frame of the window of Figure 1, according to another aspect of the
invention.
Figures 8 through 10 are flow diagrams illustrating aspects for implementing
the present invention in a computer according to preferred embodiments of the
2 5 invention .
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
In a typical application window (1), having a window frame (2), and client
area (3), illustrated in Figure 1, several user interface fields or components are
generally present. These fields include a title bar (4) that identifies the nature of
the file associated with the application window, a menu bar (5) with titles identifying
various actions a user can take, and a system menu icon (7) that permits the user
to manipulate or close the window. Both the system menu icon (7) and sizing icons
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(8), illustrated in Figure 1, may have associated functions that are outside the scope
of the invention.
Other typical user interface components not illustrated in Figure 1 include
scroll bars that permit a user to move forwards or backwards through multiple pages
of text, information areas that provide the user with a running commentary
expl~ining either the purpose of the various action titles (6) in the menu bar (5),
or what operations are being processed by the computer at any given time. An
example of an information area, in the form of a bar running across the lower window
frame (2) is illustrated at (9) in Figure 7.
Because a typical window display provided by a general purpose application
program may not meet the needs of all users, the present invention provides a means
for customizing the information displayed in the user interface fields. Several
different customizing applications from the present invention are illustrated inFigures 2 through 7 as described below.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the on-screen
mechanism for permitting the user easy access for customization of the window
presentation is a pop-up menu. A range of pop-up menus illustrating different
scope and functions is illustrated in Figure 2, although according to the preferred
embodiment of the present invention, no more than one customizing pop-up menu
would appear on the display at a time; multiple pop-ups would be confusing to the
user.
Three pop-up menus are shown in Figure 2, one at (11) associated with the
titles (6) that appear on the menu bar (5), a second at (12) associated with the pull-
down menu (10) for the action title (6) "View" on the menu bar (5), and a third at
(13) associated with the window client area (3).
Typically, however, when a user wants to take some customizing action
associated with one of the user interface fields, only one pop-up menu would appear,
and selecting a different field for customization would cause the first pop-up menu
to disappear and be replaced on the display with the pop-up menu associated withthe second field selected. Therefore, if the user wants to customize the title (6) on
the menu bar (5), only the pop-up menu (11) associated with this field will be
displayed as illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3 illustrates one aspect of the present invention. A menu bar (5)
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displays four titles (6) . In the associated pop-up menu (11), there are five possible
title choices, but only the titles actually displayed in the menu bar (5) appear in the
pop-up menu (11) with the selection marker (14) in the form of an "X" beside them.
The fifth title choice, "Annotate", has not been selected and is accordingly hidden
in the menu bar (5).
Another aspect of this invention is illustrated in Figure 4 schematically
showing sequential steps for ~h~nging the terminology of titles (6) shown in themenu bar (5). When the pop-up menu (11) is first displayed, it lists the titles (6)
actually displayed as well as the hidden titles. However, by placing the focus (15)
over one of the titles, as shown in pop-up menu (lla), the user can type in a new
title "New" shown in pop-up menu (llb), and once this change is executed, it will
update the titles (6a) actually displayed in the menu bar (5a). Customization
of another field is shown in Figure 5 . Typically, the action titles ( 6 ) in the menu bar
(5) will represent gross actions. By selecting a specific action title (6), the user
pulls down a menu (10) that lists the finer actions associated with the title. Similar
to the illustration of Figure 3, the customizing pop-up menu (12) associated with the
action title pull-down menu (10) lists the displayed finer action titles with selection
marker (14) and the non-displayed titles without.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the function of the pop-up menu (13) associated with
the client area (3) of the window (1). In Figure 6, the pop-up menu (13) lists four
features, only two of which are shown with selection markers ( 14 ) and are
accordingly displayed, that is, the title bar (4) and the menu bar (5) . However, in
the window shown in Figure 7, the user has removed the selection marker from themenu bar (and this feature is no longer displayed in the window), and added the
selection marker to the "Info area" so that an information text area (9) is now
displayed in the window.
Figures 8 through 10 are flow diagrams illustrating aspects for implementing
the present invention in a computer, according to the preferred embodiments of the
invention. A basic process for effecting the customization shown in Figures 6 and
7 is set forth in Figure 8. Figure 9 sets forth the computer steps for implementing
the customization illustrated in Figure 4, and Figures 10A and 10B illustrate two
security features applicable to different types of system needs.
Referring first to Figure 8, following startup (block 21 ), a program is
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initialized in the system (block 22). A file contPJining the window feature settings
is accessed and read into the system (block 23). The current settings from the
settings file are implemented for displaying the main window of the initialized
program (block 24) until the user closes the window.
It should be understood that the settings file contains all of the display
settings for the main window available on this system or under the initialized
program. The "current" settings, that is those that will be visibly implemented
when the main window is displayed, are "true", while settings for features that the
user has elected not to be visible in the user interface display are "false".
The normal default for the settings file has all "true" settings, so that all
possible user interface features are visible when the main window is first displayed.
The user can subsequently customize the main window to remove unnecessary
features, as described hereafter.
The following code sets up the data area in the preferred embodiment with
variables for each of the items that can be turned on or off. When it is set up all
values are "on". Then the settings file is read and the values in the settings file
overwrite the initialized values.
The definition setting up the data area is:
# define MAXLEN 255
typedef struct APPLSTATUS {
BOOL fEnable;
ULONG ulControlID;
CHAR szControl String [MAX_LEN];
} APPLSTATUS;
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By using this definition, a typical settings file would appear as follows when
all values are "on" . It should be noted that the settings file shown below is a subset
of all of the features illustrated in Figure 1.
APPLSTATUS applStatus = {
{{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_BILLOFLADING },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_ANNOTATE },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_VIEW },
{ TRUE , MAB_IDM_POP_OPTIONS },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_HELP },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_LAST },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_FIRST },
TRUE , MAB_IDM_POP_GO },
{ TRUE , MAB_IDM_POP_NEXT },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_ROTATE },
{ TRUE , MAB_IDM_POP_ZOOM },
{ TRUE , MAB_IDM_POP_SHRINK },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_VERTSCROLL },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_HORZSCROLL },
2 0 { TRUE , MAB_IDM_POP_TITLEBAR },
{ TRUE, MAB_IDM_POP_MENUBAR } } },
When an item is turned off or on, a call is sent to the graphic engine to disable
or display the control.
If, while the window is open, the user chords (i.e., depresses all mouse
buttons simultaneously) on an area of the user interface display (block 25) the
customer implements a series of steps beginning with block 26 in Figure 8 in response
to user selections for editing or otherwise altering the user interface presentation.
The term "chord" is used here to denote a selection method. Generally, through the
use of a mouse directed cursor, the user places the focus on the user interface
display field, such as the menu bar, a pull-down menu, or the client area of the main
window itself, and either clicks on the mouse or presses a key to display a pop-up
menu (block 26) as illustrated in any of Figures 3, 5, 6 or 7.
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The binding of the mouse button and/or key to the chording function can be
programmed in a known way. It may be preferred, for example, to permit the user
to click a little-used right hand mouse button when the cursor is located anywhere
within a field in a main window to display the pop-up "customization" menu or
alternatively, to require the user to focus on unoccupied space in the field in order
to initiate customization of the field according to the mechanism provided by the
invention.
According to the invention, the user could place the focus of the cursor within
the boundaries of the menu bar and chord on that field (block 25). This would cause
the appropriate pop-up menu to be displayed (block 26~ that is a pop-up menu listing
the title bar features (11) as illustrated in Figure 2. The listing of user interface
features includes means to indicate to the user which features are currently
displayed and which features are available but not currently displayed in the field
of the window selected by the user. One means for differentiating displayed
features from undisplayed features is to include a check mark beside those features
which are "on" or "true" and therefore displayed in the field.
The user can shift through the list of items simply by ch~n~ing the focus of
the cursor or by using the up and down arrow terminal navigation keys on the
terminal keyboard. To select an item to be changed (block 27 in Figure 8) the user
can simply click on the mouse or use any other known selection method. The
computer will check to determine if the "ALT" key is depressed (block 40) at thesame time as the user's selection of an item (block 27) as this will trigger the steps
of Figure 9.
If the user's selection is simple and the user's choice in the pop-up menu is
marked (block 28) that is, it is true and the feature is visible, the user's selection
on the choice removes the check mark and sets the feature to "false" (block 29).Once the pop-up window is dismissed (block 31) the feature is removed from the
window block during redisplay of the window (block 35). If the choice on the pop-
up menu is not marked (block 28), it is "false" and the feature is not currentlyvisible in the field of the window. The user clicks on the choice to add a check mark
to the choice and set it to "true" (block 30), and the feature is re-inserted in the
window during redisplay (block 35).
Removal of certain features alter the physical dimensions of the window. For
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example, if the field selected is the entire window, removal of the title bar from the
window alters the frame (block 33) necessitating that the client area of the main
window be re-sized (block 34) prior to redisplay (block 35).
In a double buffering system, any changes in the window can be written to a
background window. Once the writing is complete, the background window can be
switched to the foreground. This is not required in the more common single
buffering system to which the steps illustrated in Figure 8 relate.
Following redisplay of the window (block 35), the changes are written in the
settings file (block 36), the user can terminate the program (block 37, 38). f
1 0 after bringing up the pop-up menu, the user chooses not to make any changes to the
user interface customization (block 27) the user can simply click the mouse button
elsewhere (block 39) in order to dismiss the pop-up menu for that field (block 31)
and exit the change loop without m~king any changes to the window settings (blocks
32, 37)-
Alternatively, by chording on a different field on the window (block 25), the
appropriate pop-up menu for the new field is displayed (block 26) in order to
customize the user interface features of that field.
Figure 4 schematically illustrates the sequence for customizing titles and
keywords by rewriting them as desired. This sequence is implemented in a computer
2 0 as set forth in the flow diagram of Figure 9, according to the preferred embodiment
of the invention.
The standard window display steps set out in Figure 8 are implemented, but
at the time the user selects an items in a pop-up menu (block 27, Figure 8), the"ALT" key is also depressed (block 40) . As illustrated in Figure 9, this changes the
item in the pop-up menu to an entry field (block 41) and permits the user to
overwrite the existing item title (block 42). The user enters the new title by
selecting the entry key (block 43) which updates the pop-up menu to the new title
(block 46).
To avoid entering the new title, the user can select the "ESC" key (block 44) .
This changes the field back to the original title (block 45) and returns the user to
the main loop in Figure 8 at block 27.
Once the pop-up menu has been updated to the new name (block 46), the user
can also return to the main loop in Figure 8 at block 27, or can click on a different
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field in the window (block 47) to update the control by ren~ming the feature actually
displayed in the window (block 49), updating the settings in memory by passing astring for the new name (block 50), after dismissing the pop-up menu (block 48).Following this, the user is returned to block 37 in Figure 8.
Figures 10A and 10B illustrate the integration of user profile features into thepresent invention based on user id's set up through a separate program using a
known method. In Figure 10A, the user's logon id is used to identify the
appropriate window settings. After startup (block 51), the program is invoked
(block 52) and a logon screen appears (block 53). The user logs in his or her
specific id to enter the program (block 54), and this information is used to search
in the settings file for the predefined settings associated with this user id (block
55) . If predefined settings exist for this user id (block 56), they are read into the
system (block 57). If no predefined settings corresponding to this user id are
located (block 56), a default profile of settings is read into the system (block 58).
Once the settings file is established, the window is displayed from the values in this
file (block 24, which is also found in Figure 8).
The user identification system permits user authorizations for security control
to be put in place on the type of changes that can be made to customize a user
interface, and an embodiment of this is illustrated in Figure 10B. When the system
receives a user chording on a user interface field (block 25), a check will be made
of the user's settings profile (block 59) to see if this user id has authority to
customize the window features (block 60). If so, then customization proceeds as
illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 from block 26. If not, then the customization program
automatically terminates.
In the preferred embodiment, both user profiles and authorizations are put in
place by establishing a meta data area. The modifications in the data area definition
set forth above would appear as follows:
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typedef struct USER_PROFILE {
CHAR szUserID [MAX_USERID_LEN];
CHAR szPassword [MAX_PASSWORD_LEN];
BOOL fUpdatable;
APPLSTATUS applstatus [MAX_CONTROLS];
CHAR szControl String [MAX_LEN];
} USER_PROFILE;
Modifications of the foregoing invention which would be obvious to one skilled
in the art are intended to be covered by the appended claims.
