Presenting information pertaining to a plurality of tabs in an instant messaging application

Abstract

Presenting information in an instant messaging (IM) application includes loading a tab configuration file comprising attribute information pertaining to a plurality of tabs in a main interface in the IM application, the attribute information comprising presented content information associated with the plurality of tabs; receiving a selection of one of a plurality of tabs in the main interface; retrieving attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs based at least on the tab configuration file information; and dynamically creating an extended window for the tab; and displaying the presented content information of the selected tab in the extended window.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system, comprising:
 a master control unit to:
 store a tab configuration file on a computer system having a display screen;
 wherein the tab configuration file includes attribute information corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of tabs in a main interface in an Instant Messaging (IM) application, 
 wherein the attribute information includes presented content information corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of tabs, and 
 wherein the attribute information includes a plurality of tab identifiers corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of tabs; 
 
 load the tab configuration file and present in the main interface of the IM application the plurality of tab identifiers included in the attribute information; and 
 receive a selection of one of the plurality of tabs presented in the main interface of the IM application; 
   an extended window control unit to:
 in response to the selection of the one of the plurality of tabs:
 retrieve from the stored tab configuration file attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs, wherein the retrieved attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs is configured to be used to create an extended window associated with the selected one of the plurality of tabs; 
 dynamically create the extended window for the selected one of the plurality of tabs based at least in part on the retrieved attribute information; and 
 determine position information of the extended window, including to:
 retrieve boundary information on the display screen where the main interface is located; 
 calculate a boundary distance from a boundary of the main interface to a boundary of the display screen; and 
 compare the boundary distance with a display width to determine whether the extended window is to be displayed in an area between the boundary of the main interface and the boundary of the display screen. 
 
 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the tab configuration file includes a system tab configuration file and a user tab configuration file. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the master control unit is further to store a corresponding user setting in the user tab configuration file upon receiving a user modified tab attribute. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the extended window is configured with a handle of the main interface and the main interface is configured with a handle of the extended window. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein communication between the main interface control unit and the extended window control unit is established through message transfer between the handle of the main interface and the handle of the extended window. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the main interface is notified through the handle of the main interface regarding an activity that took place on the extended window. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the presented content information comprises content associated with a Universal Resource Locator (URL). 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the tab configuration file includes at least one of a system tab configuration file and a user tab configuration file and wherein to load the tab configuration file comprises to:
 determine whether the user tab configuration file is present;   wherein in the event that the user tab configuration file is not present, load the system tab configuration file, and   wherein in the event that the user tab configuration file is present, load the user tab configuration file.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the tab configuration file is loaded in response to an initiation of the IM application. 
     
     
         11 . A method, comprising:
 storing a tab configuration file on a computer system having a display screen;
 wherein the tab configuration file includes attribute information corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of tabs in a main interface in an Instant Messaging (IM) application, 
 wherein the attribute information includes presented content information corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of tabs, and 
 wherein the attribute information includes a plurality of tab identifiers corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of tabs; 
   loading the tab configuration file and presenting in the main interface of the IM application the plurality of tab identifiers included in the attribute information; and   receiving a selection of one of the plurality of tabs presented in the main interface of the IM application;   in response to the selection of the one of the plurality of tabs:
 retrieving from the stored tab configuration file attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs, wherein the retrieved attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs is configured to be used to create an extended window associated with the selected one of the plurality of tabs; 
 dynamically creating the extended window for the selected one of the plurality of tabs based at least in part on the retrieved attribute information; and 
 determining position information of the extended window by:
 retrieving boundary information on the display screen where the main interface is located; 
 calculating a boundary distance from a boundary of the main interface to a boundary of the display screen; and 
 comparing the boundary distance with a display width to determine whether the extended window is to be displayed in an area between the boundary of the main interface and the boundary of the display screen. 
 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the tab configuration file includes a system tab configuration file and a user tab configuration file. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising storing a corresponding user setting in the user tab configuration file upon receiving a user modified tab attribute. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the extended window is configured with a handle of the main interface and the main interface is configured with a handle of the extended window. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein communication between a main interface control unit and an extended window control unit is established through message transfer between the handle of the main interface and the handle of the extended window. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the main interface is notified through the handle of the main interface regarding an activity that took place on the extended window. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the presented content information comprises content associated with a Universal Resource Locator (URL). 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the tab configuration file includes at least one of a system tab configuration file and a user tab configuration file and wherein loading the tab configuration file comprises:
 determining whether the user tab configuration file is present;   wherein in the event that the user tab configuration file is not present, loading the system tab configuration file, and   wherein in the event that the user tab configuration file is present, loading the user tab configuration file.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the tab configuration file is loaded in response to an initiation of the IM application. 
     
     
         20 . A computer program product, the computer program product is embodied a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
 storing a tab configuration file on a computer system having a display screen;
 wherein the tab configuration file includes attribute information corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of tabs in a main interface in an Instant Messaging (IM) application, 
 wherein the attribute information includes presented content information corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of tabs, and 
 wherein the attribute information includes a plurality of tab identifiers corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of tabs; 
   loading the tab configuration file and presenting in the main interface of the IM application the plurality of tab identifiers included in the attribute information; and   receiving a selection of one of the plurality of tabs presented in the main interface of the IM application;   in response to the selection of the one of the plurality of tabs:
 retrieving from the stored tab configuration file attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs, wherein the retrieved attribute information that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of tabs is configured to be used to create an extended window associated with the selected one of the plurality of tabs; 
 dynamically creating the extended window for the selected one of the plurality of tabs based at least in part on the retrieved attribute information; and 
 determining position information of the extended window by:
 retrieving boundary information on the display screen where the main interface is located; 
 calculating a boundary distance from a boundary of the main interface to a boundary of the display screen; and 
 comparing the boundary distance with a display width to determine whether the extended window is to be displayed in an area between the boundary of the main interface and the boundary of the display screen.