Methods, Systems and Computer Program Products for Controlling Tree Diagram Graphical User Interfaces and/or For Partially Collapsing Tree Diagrams

Abstract

Methods for selectively displaying portions of a hierarchical data set on an electronic display comprise the steps of displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data set on an electronic display in a tree diagram format. Input may then be obtained from a user to identify one or more displayed nodes in the tree diagram that are to be hidden and/or one or more hidden nodes in the tree diagram that are to be displayed. Based on this input, at least one node in the tree diagram is partially collapsed and/or at least one node in the tree diagram may be partially expanded so as to display the hidden nodes identified by the user and so as to hide the displayed nodes identified by the user.

1 . A method for selectively displaying portions of a hierarchical data set on an electronic display, the method comprising: 
 displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data set on the electronic display in a tree diagram format;    obtaining user input to identify one or more nodes in the tree diagram that are to be hidden; and    partially collapsing a first node in the tree diagram to hide the one or more identified nodes, wherein the partial collapse comprises collapsing the first node to hide some, but not all, of the children nodes of the first node.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing an indicia on the electronic display associated with the first node that identifies the first node as being a partially collapsed node.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the indicia comprises an ellipsis.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 obtaining user input to identify one or more portions of the hierarchical data set that are not currently displayed in the tree diagram; and    partially expanding at least one node in the tree diagram to display the one or more identified portions of the hierarchical data set.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic display is part of a handheld computing device.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising selecting the indicia.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the selection of the indicia causes the first node to fully collapse.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein selecting one portion of the indicia effects a complete collapse of the first node and wherein selecting a different portion of the indicia effects a full expansion of the first node indicia.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising saving to a memory storage device the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein saving to a memory storage device the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display comprises having a user associate a name with the current configuration and saving the current configuration and the associated name to the memory storage device.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein saving to a memory storage device the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display comprises saving the current configuration of nodes displayed on the electronic display when an application used to display the hierarchical data is terminated.  
   
   
       12 . A method for selectively displaying portions of a hierarchical data set on an electronic display, the method comprising: 
 displaying a portion of the hierarchical data set on the electronic display in a tree diagram format;    obtaining user input to identify one or more hidden nodes in the tree diagram that are to be displayed; and    activating a partial expand operation to partially expand at least one node in the tree diagram to display the one or more identified hidden nodes.    
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein activating a partial expand operation to partially expand at least one node comprises expanding the at least one node to display at least a direct descendant node and an indirect descendant node of the at least one node without fully expanding the at least one node.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising providing an indicia on the electronic display associated with each partially expanded node that identifies the node as being a partially expanded node.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein a dialog box is associated with the at least one node that is used to obtain the user input identifying the one or more undisplayed nodes in the tree diagram that are to be displayed.  
   
   
       16 . A system for controlling the display of hierarchical data in a tree diagram on an electronic display comprising: 
 means for partially collapsing an expanded node in the tree diagram so that only some, but less than all, of children nodes of the expanded node are displayed on the electronic display; and    means for partially expanding a collapsed node in the tree diagram so that some, but less than all, of hidden descendants of the collapsed node are displayed on the electronic display.    
   
   
       17 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising means for obtaining user input for identifying the descendant nodes of the expanded node that will remain displayed when the expanded node is partially collapsed.  
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising means for obtaining user input for identifying the descendant nodes of the collapsed node that will be displayed when the collapsed node is partially expanded.  
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the means for obtaining user input comprises a dialog box that displays at least some of the collapsed node's descendant nodes.