US6246404B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Automatically generating code for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application
Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
•
Filing: 1999-03-18
•
Granted: 2001-06-12
•
Expires: 2019-03-18
Abstract
Abstract A computer software application includes multiple software components such as graphical control objects. A help editor receives context-sensitive help information associated with the graphical control objects. Using this help information as well as information about the graphical control objects, the help editor creates a header file and a map data structure. A help developer edits the header file and map data structure to produce a configuration of context-sensitive help functions for the computer software application. The help editor generates a source code header file and a source code map data structure according to the user-indicated configuration for integrating context-sensitive help functions into the computer software application.
Inventors
- 👤 Randall James Feigner
- 👤 Ralph Everett Walden
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 09:10
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/44; G06F9/451; G06F9/453
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 29
Claim 1
Independent Claim
196 words
A method for automatically generating source code for integrating into a computer software application context-sensitive help functions for graphical control objects of the computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more dialog boxes, and wherein a dialog box comprises one or more graphical control objects; providing context-sensitive help information for the graphical control objects of the computer software application, wherein the context-sensitive help information comprises textual help descriptions associated with the graphical control objects; creating one or more header files about the context-sensitive help information; creating one or more map data structures for associating graphical control objects with the context-sensitive help information; displaying the header files and map data structures; editing by a help developer the displayed header files and map data structures, whereby the help developer configures context-sensitive help functions for the computer software application; and generating one or more source code files for the edited help header files and edited map data structures, whereby the source code files are usable by a programmer to integrate into the computer software application one or more context-sensitive help functions as configured by the help developer.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
196 words
A method for automatically generating source code for integrating into a computer software application context-sensitive help functions for graphical control objects of the computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more dialog boxes, and wherein a dialog box comprises one or more graphical control objects; providing context-sensitive help information for the graphical control objects of the computer software application, wherein the context-sensitive help information comprises textual help descriptions associated with the graphical control objects; creating one or more header files about the context-sensitive help information; creating one or more map data structures for associating graphical control objects with the context-sensitive help information; displaying the header files and map data structures; editing by a help developer the displayed header files and map data structures, whereby the help developer configures context-sensitive help functions for the computer software application; and generating one or more source code files for the edited help header files and edited map data structures, whereby the source code files are usable by a programmer to integrate into the computer software application one or more context-sensitive help functions as configured by the help developer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
18 words
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1 .
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
157 words
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable modules comprising: a dialog box extraction module for locating one or more dialog boxes of a computer software application; a dialog box creation and display module for preparing a dialog box for display and displaying the dialog box, wherein the dialog box encapsulates one or more control objects; a dialog box data organization module for managing the dialog box, wherein the dialog box data organization module organizes data for the one or more control objects of the dialog box, and wherein the dialog box data organization module saves control object data to a control object map; a help topic creation module for associating context-sensitive help information with the one or more control objects of the-dialog box as used in the dialog box; and a dialog box code generation module for generating help development files for integrating into the computer software application context-sensitive help functions for one or more of the control objects.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
157 words
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable modules comprising: a dialog box extraction module for locating one or more dialog boxes of a computer software application; a dialog box creation and display module for preparing a dialog box for display and displaying the dialog box, wherein the dialog box encapsulates one or more control objects; a dialog box data organization module for managing the dialog box, wherein the dialog box data organization module organizes data for the one or more control objects of the dialog box, and wherein the dialog box data organization module saves control object data to a control object map; a help topic creation module for associating context-sensitive help information with the one or more control objects of the-dialog box as used in the dialog box; and a dialog box code generation module for generating help development files for integrating into the computer software application context-sensitive help functions for one or more of the control objects.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
92 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more software components; providing context-sensitive help information for the software components; and automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises source code information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for software components into the computer software application.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
92 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more software components; providing context-sensitive help information for the software components; and automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises source code information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for software components into the computer software application.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 4 .
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the set of one or more help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for all of the software components into the computer software application.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the software components are graphical controls of dialog boxes of the computer software application.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 7 further comprising: automatically generating a set of one or more help development files for each of plural dialog boxes of the computer software application.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 7 further comprising: automatically generating a set of one or more help development files for each dialog box of the computer software application.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the context-sensitive help information for a software component comprises context-sensitive help information in place of default help information.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for all non-default software components into the computer software application.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the set of help development files comprises at least one header file and at least one map data structure.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the map data structure comprises a map of software component identifiers to help information identifiers.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 4 wherein a user configures the set of help development files.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 4 wherein generating comprises: providing relation information on associations between the software components and the context sensitive help information; and based upon the relation information, creating the set of help development files.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the software components are graphical controls of dialog boxes of the computer software application, and wherein the relation information comprises a control object map.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 16 wherein the control object map comprises a map of numerical graphical control identifiers to help information identifiers, and wherein creating the set of help development files comprises overwriting at least one numerical graphical control identifier with a mnemonic graphical control identifier.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 4 further comprising: displaying one or more of the help development files in the set of help development files; and editing the displayed help development files.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
18 words
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 18 .
Claim 23
Independent Claim
152 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more graphical controls of dialog boxes; providing context-sensitive help information for the one or more graphical controls; automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for the one or more graphical controls into the computer software application, and wherein generating comprises: providing relation information on associations between the one or more graphical controls and the context sensitive help information, wherein the relation information comprises a control object map; and based upon the relation information, creating the set of help development files, wherein said creating comprises filtering the control object map.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
152 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more graphical controls of dialog boxes; providing context-sensitive help information for the one or more graphical controls; automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for the one or more graphical controls into the computer software application, and wherein generating comprises: providing relation information on associations between the one or more graphical controls and the context sensitive help information, wherein the relation information comprises a control object map; and based upon the relation information, creating the set of help development files, wherein said creating comprises filtering the control object map.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
150 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more software components; providing context-sensitive help information for the software components; automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for software components into the computer software application; displaying one or more of the help development files in the set of help development files; and editing the displayed help development files, wherein during editing a user selects software components, and wherein after editing the set of help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for all but the selected software components into the computer software application.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
150 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more software components; providing context-sensitive help information for the software components; automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for software components into the computer software application; displaying one or more of the help development files in the set of help development files; and editing the displayed help development files, wherein during editing a user selects software components, and wherein after editing the set of help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for all but the selected software components into the computer software application.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
148 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more software components; providing context-sensitive help information for the software components; automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for software components into the computer software application; displaying one or more of the help development files in the set of help development files; and editing the displayed help development files, wherein during editing a user selects software components, and wherein after editing the set of help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for the selected software components into the computer software application.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
148 words
A method for automatically generating help development files for integrating context-sensitive help functions into a computer software application, the method comprising: providing a computer software application, wherein the computer software application comprises one or more software components; providing context-sensitive help information for the software components; automatically generating a set of one or more help development files, wherein the set of help development files comprises information usable by a programmer during development of the computer software application to integrate context-sensitive help functions for software components into the computer software application; displaying one or more of the help development files in the set of help development files; and editing the displayed help development files, wherein during editing a user selects software components, and wherein after editing the set of help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for the selected software components into the computer software application.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of claim 22 further comprising: automatically generating a second set of one or more help development files, wherein the second set of help development files comprises information usable to integrate context-sensitive help functions for the non-selected software components into the computer software application.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4970678A
Cited
US5029113A
Cited
US4992972A
Cited
US5287448A
Cited
US5940614A
Cited
US5546521A
Cited
US5535323A
Cited
US5627958A
Cited
US5982365A
Cited
US5581684A
Cited
US5675520A
Cited
US5821932A
Cited
US5754858A
Cited
US5715415A
Cited
US5933139A
Cited
US5877757A
Cited
US5933140A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2004-06-11 | 2004-12-11 | 2005-06-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2008-06-11 | 2008-12-11 | 2009-06-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2012-06-11 | 2012-12-11 | 2013-06-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |