N-column explorer

Abstract

The present disclosure involves system, methods, and media for displaying and exploring software object relationships in an interactive manner. In general, complex structures can have relationships between objects, such as parent/child relationships, general associations, and dependencies. Additionally, some objects may have multiple dependencies. For example, an object representing “low battery” may be a child object for both a screen failure object and a GPS failure object. The n-column explorer allows for exploring relationships between objects of arbitrary categories and in hierarchies of arbitrary depth, without the need to duplicate objects. For example, the “low battery” object need not be duplicated for both the GPS failure and the screen failure.

1 . A computer-implemented method for traversing associative software objects comprising:
 presenting, in a graphical user interface (GUI), a plurality of columns, each column comprising a plurality of software objects, each software object comprising an attribute and at least one association with another software object;   receiving, in the GUI, a selection of a particular software object in one of the plurality of columns; and   populating, in the GUI, software objects in each of the other columns of the plurality of columns to present software objects associated with the selected particular software object.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attribute identifies a particular column of the plurality of columns to which each software object is assigned. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each software object is presented with an interactive GUI element. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the interactive GUI element comprises an edit button, a bookmark button, and an unselect button. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the interactive GUI element presents a number of associated software objects. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of columns are arranged adjacent to each other, and wherein a number of columns displayed is based on available screen space. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 receiving, in the GUI, an updated selection of a second particular software object; and   updating, in the GUI, software objects in each of the other columns of the plurality of columns to present software objects that are associated with the second selected particular software object.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the second selected particular software object is in a different column then the selected particular software object. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations for traversing associative software objects, the operations comprising:
 presenting, in a graphical user interface (GUI), a plurality of columns, each column comprising a plurality of software objects, each software object comprising an attribute, and at least one association with another software object;   receiving, in the GUI, a selection of a particular software object in one of the plurality of columns; and   populating, in the GUI, software objects in each of the other columns of the plurality of columns to present software objects that are associated with the selected particular software object.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 9 , wherein the attribute identifies a particular column of the plurality of columns to which each software object is assigned. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 9 , wherein each software object is presented with an interactive GUI element. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 11 , wherein the interactive GUI element comprises an edit button, a bookmark button, and an unselect button. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 11 , wherein the interactive GUI element presents a number of associated software objects. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of columns are arranged adjacent to each other, and wherein a number of columns displayed is based on available screen space. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 9 , comprising:
 receiving, in the GUI, an updated selection of a second particular software object; and   updating, in the GUI, software objects in each of the other columns of the plurality of columns to present software objects that are associated with the second selected particular software object.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory medium of  claim 15 , wherein the second selected particular software object is in a different column then the selected particular software object. 
     
     
         17 . A system, comprising:
 one or more computers; and   a computer-readable storage device coupled to the one or more computers and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computer, cause the one or more computers to perform operations for traversing associative software objects, the operations comprising:   presenting, in a graphical user interface (GUI), a plurality of columns, each column comprising a plurality of software objects, each software object comprising an attribute, and at least one association with another software object;   receiving, in the GUI, a selection of a particular software object in one of the plurality of columns; and   populating, in the GUI, software objects in each of the other columns of the plurality of columns to present software objects that are associated with the selected particular software object.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the attribute identifies a particular column of the plurality of columns to which each software object is assigned. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein each software object is presented with an interactive GUI element. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the interactive GUI element comprises an edit button, a bookmark button, and an unselect button.