Hierarchical User Interface With Infinite Scrolling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing user interfaces struggle to display hierarchical information in a scalable and efficient manner, particularly in systems with multiple levels of entities like hypervisor managers, hypervisors, virtual machines, and logical devices, often leading to clutter and inefficiency in data management.
Innovation Solution
The method involves a user interface that enables infinite scrolling in multiple portions, allowing users to navigate through hierarchical levels independently, with memory management that reuses space by ranking and reordering undisplayed objects based on age and distance from the cursor, ensuring efficient display and management of data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional fixed-display user interfaces are used to show hierarchical data, then the interface structure is simple, but the interface becomes cluttered and inefficient when displaying large amounts of hierarchical information
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface dynamically adjusts its structure and content based on user interactions. The display transitions from showing parent-level objects to showing child-level objects within the same viewport, allowing the interface to adapt to different levels of hierarchical data without requiring additional screen space or complex navigation structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The hierarchical data is segmented into parent objects and child objects that can be independently displayed. The interface segments the display area into different portions, with each portion capable of showing objects from different hierarchical levels, allowing efficient organization and access to large amounts of data.
2Loss of information
If all hierarchical objects are displayed simultaneously, then complete information is provided, but the display becomes cluttered and memory consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The interface displays only the necessary portion of hierarchical data at any given time. When a parent object is selected, only its child objects are displayed in the same viewport, rather than displaying all objects from all hierarchical levels simultaneously. This partial display approach maintains information accessibility while reducing memory consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system discards previously displayed objects from memory when they are no longer needed, and recovers memory space for displaying new objects. The interface maintains a buffer that can be cleared and reused, allowing efficient memory management while providing continuous access to hierarchical data through incremental loading.
3Adaptability or versatility
If independent scrolling is enabled for each hierarchical level, then navigation flexibility is improved, but the interface complexity and memory management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The same display portion serves multiple functions by displaying different hierarchical levels at different times. The first and second portions of the display can each show parent objects and their corresponding child objects independently, providing universal navigation capability across different hierarchical levels without requiring separate control mechanisms for each level.
Data Source
AI summary
Described are techniques for displaying data. A first set of data is received that includes a first plurality of objects at a first level in a hierarchy. At least some of the first plurality of objects are displayed on a user interface display. A first object is selected from the at least some of the first plurality of objects displayed on the user interface display. Responsive to selecting the first object, a second set of data is received that includes a second plurality of objects at a second level in the hierarchy. At least some of the second plurality of objects are displayed on the user interface display. The user interface display provides infinite scrolling of the first plurality of objects in a first portion of the user interface display and infinite scrolling of the second plurality of objects in a second portion of the user interface display.