Method and Apparatus for Displaying Cascading Menu

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a method of displaying a cascading menu that includes a plurality of submenus. The method determines a first submenu as indicated for browsing by a user based on a clicking event of the user. When an operation interface of the first submenu is in a collapsed mode, a number of submenus that are currently in an expanded mode within an operation interface of the cascading menu is counted. When the number of submenus that are currently in the expanded mode reaches a defined threshold, at least a second submenu is selected from the submenus that are currently in the expanded mode, and an operation interface of the second submenu is shrunk. The operation interface of the first submenu is expanded. Therefore, a size of the operation interface of the cascading menu will not increase as the number of the expanded submenus increases. As such, the amount of a page space occupied by the cascading menu is reduced and utilization of the page space is improved. The present disclosure further discloses a terminal apparatus.

1 .- 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:
 displaying an operation interface of a cascading menu having a plurality of submenus, the operation interface of the cascading menu having a fixed length;   receiving a selection of a first submenu of the plurality of submenus;   determining that an operation interface of the first submenu is in a collapsed mode;   selecting at least a second submenu from submenus that are currently in an expanded mode to shrink an operation interface of the at least second submenu in response to determining that the operation interface of the first submenu is in the collapsed mode; and   shrinking the operation interface of the at least second submenu and expanding the operation interface of the first submenu such that the fixed length of the operation interface of the cascading menu is maintained.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein determining that the operation interface of the first submenu is in the collapsed mode comprises:
 measuring a size of the operation interface of the first submenu;   comparing the measured size of the operation interface with a predetermined threshold; and   determining that the operation interface of the first submenu is in the collapsed mode when the measured size of the operation interface of the first submenu is less than the predetermined threshold.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein shrinking the operation interface of the at least second submenu and expanding the operation interface of the first submenu are performed in a way to avoid increasing a mouse trajectory for a user to browse various submenus of the plurality of submenus. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 counting a number of submenus that are currently in the expanded mode within the operation interface of the cascading menu; and   comparing the number of submenus that are currently in the expanded mode with a predetermined threshold to obtain a comparison result, wherein expanding the operation interface of the first submenu comprises expanding the operation interface of the first submenu when the number of submenus that are currently in the expanded mode does not reach the predetermined threshold based at least in part on the comparison result.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein selecting the at least second submenu comprising identifying and selecting a currently expanded submenu to be the at least one second submenu from the plurality of submenus in a particular order. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the particular order comprises an order starting from a submenu at a highest level to a submenu at a level immediately higher than a level of the first submenu and then beginning from a submenu at a lowest level to a submenu at a level immediately lower than the level of the first submenu. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising expanding an operation interface of a third submenu that is at a lower level and adjacent to the first submenu when the third submenu is in the collapsed mode. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising determining a number of submenus to be concurrently expanded with the first submenu based on a size of the operation interface of the cascading menu. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 counting a number of submenus currently in the expanded mode within the operation interface of the cascading menu; and   selecting at least a third submenu from the number of submenus currently in the expanded mode to shrink an operation interface of the third submenu in response to determining that the number of submenus currently in the expanded mode reaches a predetermined threshold.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising expanding the operation interface of the first submenu without shrinking an operation interface of any other submenu in the cascading menu when a total width of submenus that are currently in the expanded mode does not reach a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the operation interface of the first submenu is expanded in a sliding manner.