User interface controls for specifying data hierarchies

摘要

User interface controls that facilitate the specification/modification of data hierarchies. In one set of embodiments, a first UI control component can be provided that comprises an ordered group of drop-down menus. Each drop-down menu in the ordered group can be populated with a selectable list of attributes from a data set and can be associated with a level in a data hierarchy. By selecting values using the various drop-down menus, a user can interactively specify a data hierarchy for the data set. The data set can then be visualized according to the specified hierarchy. In further embodiments, a second UI control component can be provided in addition to the first UI control component. The second UI control component can allow a user to interactively enable or disable certain drop-down menus in the ordered group, thereby acting as a “depth filter” for controlling the depth of the data hierarchy.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a computer system, a data set to be provided in a hierarchical visualization, the data set including values for a plurality of attributes of the data set; generating, by the computer system, a user interface including a first control component comprising an ordered group of drop-down menus arranged in a row, each drop-down menu being populated with a blank value and having a selectable list of attributes from the plurality of attributes and being operable to select a particular attribute as a level in a data hierarchy of the data set; generating a slide bar control interface that spans the length of the row associated with the ordered group of drop-down menus and is adjacent to the row of the ordered group of drop-down menus, the slide bar control configured to control a depth of the ordered group of drop-down menus, the depth indicating a number of drop-down menus to be enabled at a particular time; receiving, from a user, a first selection corresponding to the slide bar control interface; disabling one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus based at least in part on the received first selection to generate a subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus; receiving, from the user, a second selection for at least one of the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus; providing the hierarchical visualization of the data set based at least in part on the received second selection; receiving, from the user, a selection change for a first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus; updating, based at least in part on the selection change, the selectable list of attributes for a second drop-down menu following the first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus; determining, based at least in part on the selection change, an attribute in the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu that results in an invalid data hierarchy for the data set; deleting the attribute from the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu; and updating the hierarchical visualization of the data based at least in part on the received selection change.