WO2009076992A1

WO2009076992A1 - Graphical user interface and method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2009076992A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/063939
Authority: WO
Inventors: Raveendran Trichy Vasudevan; Sujitkumar Uramkumarath
Original assignee: Siemens AG; Siemens Corp
Current assignee: Siemens AG; Siemens Corp
Priority date: 2007-12-14
Filing date: 2007-12-14
Publication date: 2009-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 2010-06-14
Also published as: CN101896890A

Abstract

Graphical user interface and method thereof The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces and to a method for providing a graphical user interface. The invention explains an improved graphical user interface for displaying the content of log files. A graphical user interface provided comprises a window (10) containing at least one control pane (15, 20, 25) adapted to display information on a plurality of log files in response to a first user input. The interface includes a first control pane (20) adapted to display information to identify the plurality of log files and a second control pane (25) adapted to display the content of a first log file (22) selected from the first control pane in response to a second user input. The interface also has a scroll control (30) associated with the second control pane (25) adapted to receive a third user input to append the content of a second log file (21, 23) on the second control pane.

Description

Graphical user interface and method thereof

The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces and to a method for providing a graphical user interface.

Graphical user interfaces are typically based on graphic display technology that employs pictorial representations, typographic-styled text and other graphical representations on a display screen of a computer system. A graphical user interface (GUI) includes a window environment that configures the screen to resemble a graphical display for a user to enter or view information. The window could even be divided into control panes or frames destined to provide more user friendly hierarchical display. Generally, an application program executing on the computer system presents the information to the user through this control panes by drawing images, graphics or text within the pane region. The user, in turn, communicates with the application by ^Λpointing' at controls within the control pane region via a user input means, such as a mouse. However, a GUI is limited by the available space on a computer screen, as well as the amount of data that a user's mind can focus on at a given time.

Usually diagnostics tools are used to trace the sequence or flow of logic and status of various software objects and parameters within a software project. Log files are generated by such a diagnostics tool. These log files need to be viewed in an appropriate viewer so that software developers or maintenance engineers can diagnose the problems in the system and fix these problems. These log files usually vary in size and numbers . Most of the available viewer tools open the log files one at a time for viewing these logs . This was achieved using the standard windows controls such as the "File Open" dialogs that are a part of the actual software. This means that if the end of the log file is encountered while viewing an error description (which is yet not completed and continued in another file) , the user will have to open the next log file to continue reading the description of the error he/she was viewing. In closing the current log file and opening the next log file, many a time the user tends to lose the connectivity between the error descriptions spread across two or more files .

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved graphical user interface for displaying the content of log files .

The above object is achieved by a graphical user interface, comprising:

a window containing at least one control pane adapted to display information on a plurality of log files in response to a first user input;

a first control pane adapted to display information to identify the plurality of log files;

a second control pane adapted to display the content of a first log file selected from the first control pane in response to a second user input; and

a scroll control associated with the second control pane adapted to receive a third user input to append the content of a second log file on the second control pane.

The above object is achieved by a method for providing a graphical user interface, comprising the steps of:

in response to a first user input, generating a window containing at least one control pane adapted to display information on a plurality of log files; displaying information to identify the plurality of log files in a first control pane;

in response to a second user input, displaying the content of a first log file selected from the first control pane in a second control pane; and

appending the content of a second log file to the second control pane in response to a third user input given to a scroll control.

The underlying idea of the present invention is to facilitate a seamless and continuous browsing of log files. In this specific GUI a window comprising a first control pane adapted to display information to identify a plurality of log files is described. The GUI also contains a second control pane (viewer) to display the actual content of a log file which is selected by the user in the first pane. The user can append the content of a second log file into the second control pane currently displaying the content of a first log file using a scroll control thereby enabling the continuous browsing.

In a preferred embodiment, the second control pane is adapted to append the content of the second log file when a beginning or end of the content of the first log file is detected. The above feature facilitates the user to view the files seamlessly in the second control pane.

This enables the user to navigate easily so that he can view the log files seamlessly without having to close the existing file and opening a new one.

In a further preferred embodiment, the second control pane is adapted to visually indicate the beginning and/or end of the content of the log files being displayed in the second control pane. The feature provides a better view to analyze the log files generated in the software. In an alternative embodiment, each log file is associated with a timestamp indicating a time of creation of the log file, and wherein the timestamp of the first log file is adjacent to the timestamp of the second log file. This ensures that the file appended is a pre or post continuation of the file already in the control pane.

The present invention is further described hereinafter with reference to illustrated embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG 1 is an illustration showing a graphical user interface in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a graphical user interface to give a seamless and continuous browsing of log files.

FIG 1 is an illustration showing a graphical user interface in accordance with the present invention. A graphical user interfaces comprises a window (10) containing control panes (15, 20, 25) adapted to display log information in response to a first user input. The first control pane (20) is adapted to display information on a plurality of log files. In this example the log files are arranged in the first control pane in the ascending order of their respective time stamps . Each log file is associated with a timestamp indicating a time of creation of the log file. Log file 21 and log file 23 are adjacent log files of log file 22 with respect to their time stamps of creation. A second control pane 25 is adapted to display the content of a first log file 22 selected from the first control pane 20 in response to a second user input. A scroll control 30 associated with the second control pane 25 is adapted to receive a third user input to append the content of a second log file on the second control pane 25. The second log file could be log file 21 or log file 23 according to the direction of the movement of scroll control 30. The second control pane 25 is designed such that when the user scrolls the scroll control 30 up to the top 45 of the second control pane 25 to the beginning of the first log file 22 and the viewable area of the control pane is reached, the previous file 21 in the order of timestamp is loaded and appended to the first log file 22 in the second control pane 20. In a similar manner, when the end of a log file is reached or the scroll control 30 of the second control pane 25 hits the bottom 50, the content of the next log file 23 is loaded and appended to the first log file 22 in the second control pane 25. The second control pane 25 is adapted to visually indicate the beginning and end of the first log file and the second log file (log file 21 or log file 23 accordingly appended) being displayed in the second control pane. The above feature facilitates a better view to analyze the log files generated in the software. This could be done for example by providing distinct colours to highlight the beginning and end of the first log file 22 and the second log files (21, 23) .

FIG 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a graphical user interface to give a seamless and continuous browsing of log files. In step 110 a window containing at least one control pane adapted to display log information is generated in response to a first user input. In step 120 a plurality of log files in a first control pane is displayed. Each log file has an associated timestamp indicating the time of creation of the file. In step 130 a user selects a first log file whose content has to be viewed. Once the first log file is selected, the content of the first log file is shown in a second control pane (step 140) . In step 150 the user drags a scroll control associated with the second control pane to view the content. In step 160 a check is made to ensure that a beginning or end of the content of the first file has been reached. If the beginning or end of the first log file has been reached the second log file gets appended to the first log file (step 170) . This facilitates a seamless and continuous browsing of log files wherein a user can just scroll down or up to the end or beginning of the file, after which the next file is automatically loaded into a control pane (viewer) . Similarly, by scrolling to the beginning of the file in the control pane, the previous file can be automatically loaded into the viewer. Such a method of loading the log files into the viewer dynamically is based on the order of the timestamps of the log files generated by the software. The control pane is designed such that when the end of a log file is reached and the scroll control of the control pane hits the bottom of the pane, the next log file is loaded and appended to the control pane. In a similar manner, when the user scrolls up the control pane to the beginning of the log file and the viewable area of the control pane is reached, the previous file in the order of timestamp is loaded and appended to the control pane.

Summarizing, the present invention relates to a graphical user interface which facilitate a seamless and continuous browsing of log files. The user can just scroll down or up to the end or beginning of the file, after which the adjacent file is automatically loaded into a control pane (viewer) . Such a phenomenon of loading the log files into the viewer dynamically is based on the order of the timestamps of the log files generated by the software. This enables the user to view the files seamlessly in a control pane.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternate embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that such modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined.

Claims

Patent claims

1. A graphical user interface, comprising:

a window (10) containing at least one control pane (15, 20, 25) adapted to display information on a plurality of log files in response to a first user input;

a first control pane (20) adapted to display information to identify the plurality of log files;

a second control pane (25) adapted to display the content of a first log file (22) selected from the first control pane in response to a second user input; and

a scroll control (30) associated with the second control pane (25) adapted to receive a third user input to append the content of a second log file (21, 23) on the second control pane.

2. The graphical user interface according to claim 1, wherein the second control pane (25) is adapted to append the content of the second log file (21, 23) when a beginning or end of the content of the first log file (22) is detected.

3. The graphical user interface according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second control pane (25) is adapted to visually indicate the beginning and/or end of the content of the log files (21, 22, 23) being displayed in the second control pane (25) .

4. The graphical user interface according to any of the preceding claims, wherein each log file (21, 22, 23) is associated with a timestamp indicating a time of creation of the log file, and wherein the timestamp of the first log file (22) is adjacent to the timestamp of the second log file (21, 23) .

5. A method for providing a graphical user interface, comprising the steps of:

in response to a first user input, generating a window (10) containing at least one control pane (15, 20, 25) adapted to display information on a plurality of log files;

displaying information to identify the plurality of log files in a first control pane (20) ;

in response to a second user input, displaying the content of a first log file (22) selected from the first control pane (20) in a second control pane (25); and

appending the content of a second log file (21, 23) to the second control pane (25) in response to a third user input given to a scroll control (30) .

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the content of the second log file (21, 23) is appended to the second control pane (25) when a beginning or end of the content of the first log file (22) is detected.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the second control pane (25) visually indicates the beginning and/or end of the content of the log files (21, 22, 23) being displayed in the second control pane (25) .

8. The method according to claims 5-7, wherein each log file (21, 22, 23) is associated with a timestamp indicating a time of creation of the log file, and wherein the timestamp of the first log file (22) is adjacent to the timestamp of the second log file (21, 23) .