Centralized User Interface for Displaying Contextually Driven Business Content and Business Related Functionality

Abstract

A centralized User Interface (UI) comprising a supplementary UI and a desktop UI is employed to bring in enterprise constructs into the desktop application. The supplementary UI is generated and dynamically positioned based on selections on the desktop application UI. Summary information associated with data that is to be synchronized or transferred between the desktop application and an LOB application is presented in the supplementary UI along with controls that enable a user to bind additional items to be synchronized.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of displaying multiple frames within a user interface, the method comprising:
 displaying a first frame comprising user interface elements organized into regions of the first frame;   receiving a selection of a first user interface element within a first region;   generating, in response to the received selection, a second frame comprising information associated the first region; and   displaying the second frame in conjunction with the first frame.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the second frame comprises generating a different second frame for each region of the first frame. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of a second user interface element within a second region; and   regenerating the second frame to comprise information associated with the second region; and   redisplaying the regenerated second frame in conjunction with the first frame.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , generating the second frame comprises retrieving the information from a remote application residing on a server. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein displaying the second frame comprises displaying a drop-down menu having entries which, when selected, are configured to change the information displayed in the second frame. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of a drop-down menu entry; and   changing, in response to the received selection of the drop-down menu entry, the information in the second frame to correspond to a second region of the first frame.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein displaying the second frame comprises displaying the second frame adjacent to the first region. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising relocating a position of the second frame in response to changing the information in the second frame, the relocating position being adjacent to the second region. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving an indication to hide the second frame from display upon subsequent selections of the first user interface element. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving customizations to the second frame; and   displaying the customized second frame upon subsequent selections to the first user interface element.   
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions which, when executed, perform a method of displaying multiple frames within a user interface, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:
 displaying, within a first application, a first frame comprising user interface elements organized into regions;   receiving a selection of a first user interface element within a first region;   retrieving, from a second application, data associated with the first user interface element, the second application located remotely from the first application;   generating a second frame comprising information associated the first region, the information corresponding, at least in part, to the data retrieved from the second application; and   displaying the second frame in conjunction with the first frame.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of a second user interface element within a second region; and   regenerating the second frame to comprise information associated with the second region; and   redisplaying the regenerated second frame in conjunction with the first frame.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein displaying the second frame comprises displaying a drop-down menu having entries which, when selected, are configured to change the information displayed in the second frame. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of a drop-down menu entry; and   changing, in response to the received selection of the drop-down menu entry, the information in the second frame to correspond to a second region of the first frame.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein displaying the second frame comprises displaying the second frame adjacent to the first region. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , further comprising relocating a position of the second frame in response to changing the information in the second frame, the relocating position being adjacent to the second region. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further comprising receiving an indication to hide the second frame from display upon subsequent selections of the first user interface element. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving customizations to the second frame; and   displaying the customized second frame upon subsequent selections to the first user interface element.   
     
     
         19 . A system for displaying multiple frames within a user interface, the system comprising:
 a memory storage; and   a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, the processing unit being configured to:   display, within a first application, a first frame comprising user interface elements organized into regions, each region being associated with a different functionality of the first application,   receive a selection of a first user interface element within a first region,   synchronize, between the first application and remotely located second application, data associated with the first user interface element,   generate a second frame comprising information associated the first region, the information corresponding, at least in part, to the data retrieved from the second application,   displaying the second frame in conjunction with the first frame,   receive a selection of a second user interface element within a second region,   regenerate the second frame with information associated with the second region, wherein the information is retrieved, at least in part, from the second application, and   redisplay the second frame in conjunction with the first frame.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the processing unit being configured to redisplay the second frame comprises the processing unit being configured to reposition the second frame so as to be adjacent to the second region of the first frame.