Methods and systems for providing a user interface

Abstract

Methods, devices and systems for providing a user interface in an on-demand software service environment are described. Some implementations involve receiving an indication of a component definition to instantiate. The component definition may be a portion of a component definition data structure. Such implementations may also involve instantiating the provided component, instantiating all remaining attributes of the component definition data structure to produce a component instance data structure and transmitting an intermediate representation of the indicated component to a client device. The intermediate representation may comprise a version of the component instance data structure. The intermediate representation may allow the client device to create an instance of the component in memory.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 system software stored on a non-transitory data storage medium for execution by at least one processor, the system software operable to cause:   processing, by a server, an indication of an event received from a client device, the event associated with a program at the client device;   instantiating, by the server, a tree having a data structure corresponding to a document object model (DOM), the tree having attributes defining a plurality of user interface objects corresponding to at least one element of a graphical user interface capable of being generated and displayed at the client device, the at least one element capable of being rendered in the graphical user interface at the client device, the objects organized by parent/child relationship and comprising a first object situated at a first level of the data structure and a second object situated at a second level of the data structure, the first object having a parent relationship with the second object;   serializing, by the server, the tree; and   sending, by the server, the serialized tree to the client device, the serialized tree capable of being used by the client device to render the at least one element in the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , the system software further operable to cause:
 sending, by the server, data corresponding to the event to the client device, the data indicating additional user interface objects corresponding to the at least one element of the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , the system software further operable to cause:
 determining, by the server, the additional user interface objects based on the event.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first level is at a higher position in a hierarchy of the tree than the second level. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the user interface objects comprises corresponding attributes describing the user interface objects. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the tree indicates interactions between the user interface objects. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , the system software further operable to cause:
 synchronizing the tree instantiated by the server and the serialized tree sent to the client device.   
     
     
         8 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a server, an indication of an event received from a client device, the event associated with a program at the client device;   instantiating, by the server, a tree having a data structure corresponding to a document object model (DOM), the tree having attributes defining a plurality of user interface objects corresponding to at least one element of a graphical user interface capable of being generated and displayed at the client device, the at least one element capable of being rendered in the graphical user interface at the client device, the objects organized by parent/child relationship and comprising a first object situated at a first level of the data structure and a second object situated at a second level of the data structure, the first object having a parent relationship with the second object;   serializing, by the server, the tree; and   sending, by the server, the serialized tree to the client device, the serialized tree capable of being used by the client device to render the at least one element in the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 sending, by the server, data corresponding to the event to the client device, the data indicating additional user interface objects corresponding to the at least one element of the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 determining, by the server, the additional user interface objects based on the event.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first level is at a higher position in a hierarchy of the tree than the second level. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein each of the user interface objects comprises corresponding attributes describing the user interface objects. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the tree indicates interactions between the user interface objects. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 synchronizing the tree instantiated by the server and the serialized tree sent to the client device.   
     
     
         15 . A server system comprising at least one processor, the server system configured for:
 processing an indication of an event received from a client device, the event associated with a program at the client device;   instantiating a tree having a data structure corresponding to a document object model (DOM), the tree having attributes defining a plurality of user interface objects corresponding to at least one element of a graphical user interface capable of being generated and displayed at the client device, the at least one element capable of being rendered in the graphical user interface at the client device, the objects organized by parent/child relationship and comprising a first object situated at a first level of the data structure and a second object situated at a second level of the data structure, the first object having a parent relationship with the second object;   serializing the tree; and   sending the serialized tree to the client device, the serialized tree capable of being used by the client device to render the at least one element in the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         16 . The server system of  claim 15 , the server system further configured for:
 sending, by the server, data corresponding to the event to the client device, the data indicating additional user interface objects corresponding to the at least one element of the graphical user interface.   
     
     
         17 . The server system of  claim 16 , the server system further configured for:
 determining the additional user interface objects based on the event.   
     
     
         18 . The server system of  claim 15 , wherein the first level is at a higher position in a hierarchy of the tree than the second level. 
     
     
         19 . The server system of  claim 15 , wherein each of the user interface objects comprises corresponding attributes describing the user interface objects. 
     
     
         20 . The server system of  claim 15 , wherein the tree indicates interactions between the user interface objects.