Child window surfacing and management

摘要

Tabs or other display elements that do not comply with traditional “window” requirements can be individually presented to a user when the window containing such tabs or other display elements is hidden or obscured. The user can be enabled to perform tab-specific actions, such as closing a particular tab, or viewing a specific tab without interacting with the containing window. Executing processes utilizing such tabs can register them and provide order and display information. Subsequent tab-specific actions can be received and directed to such executing processes. Additional requests, such as for thumbnails and bitmaps, can be directed to such executing processes in order to implement the tab presentation mechanisms and to provide for the tab-specific actions.

主权项

1. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions for providing individual access to sub-window display elements, the computer-executable instructions directed to steps comprising:
displaying a task reference for an application program that is executing independently of the computer-executable instructions and that utilizes multiple of the sub-window display elements within a single window such that content of only one of the multiple sub-window display elements is visible within the single window while content of others of the multiple sub-windows display elements is not concurrently displayed within the single window, each of the multiple sub-window display elements having content provided by the application program; receiving, from the independently-executing application program, individual sub-window registration information for at least two of the multiple sub-window display elements; detecting a first user action directed to the task reference; requesting, in a single request, from the independently-executing application program, individual thumbnails of the content of the at least two multiple sub-window display elements for which the individual sub-window registration information was received; and displaying a display element proximate to the display of the task reference, the display element comprising the individual thumbnails of the content of the at least two multiple sub-window display elements for which the individual sub-window registration information was received, each of the individual thumbnails being independently user-selectable.