Selecting graphical component types at runtime

摘要

A system, apparatus and method of selecting graphical component types at runtime are provided. When a graphical component is to be displayed in a GUI, which usually has a type, the type of the GUI is first determined. Type in this case used to signify a look, feel and behavior that are to be exhibited by the graphical component. After determining the type of the GUI, the graphical component may be created based on the type of the GUI. After it has been created, the graphical component will be displayed in the GUI.

主权项

1. A method of displaying, on a display of a computer system, graphical components representing applications which are executable by an operating system (OS) executing on the computer system to which a user has access permission, the method comprising:
the computer system determining, at runtime, a predetermined control list to use, wherein the predetermined control list identifies each of the applications by an assigned unique identifier to which the user has the access permission and which are each to be represented by one of the graphical components, and wherein the predetermined control list used is associated with the user in response to a client device associated with the user performing one of a power on operation or a reset operation and is located on a selected one of a client, a server or a peer system; creating an object, by the computer system using a platform plug-in, for each application of the applications in the predetermined control list to form a set of objects, wherein each object comprises information including a type, an identification, a name, and an icon needed to create an instance of a respective application; parsing the set of objects, by the computer system using a dashboard plug-in, to determine an application type for a respective object; the computer system determining, at runtime, using the application type in examining the dashboard plug-in, a particular type of calling dashboard from a set of types comprising a tree type, a menu type, a table type and a voice type to be used for the user, wherein the particular type of calling dashboard defines an overall theme that defines both a look of a dashboard and a behavior of the graphical components displayed on the dashboard when selected; each application of the applications creating, in response to a determination of the particular type of calling dashboard at runtime, using an application type plug-in with a respective application type and the respective object, a selectable application instance as a respective graphical component for itself to form the graphical components representing the applications identified in the predetermined control list corresponding to the particular type of calling dashboard determined; and the computer system displaying on the dashboard, the created graphical components that represent the applications identified in the predetermined control list specifically for the particular type of calling dashboard determined.