Metadata-Configurable User Interface for Instance-Specific UI Customization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing user application software requires significant time and effort to modify user interface features, often leading to integration issues and potential errors, as changes typically necessitate altering and recompiling the source code.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a metadata-configurable user interface that allows for instance-specific configurations without modifying the application code, using supplemental information to provide different user interfaces across multiple instances hosted on various computer systems, enabling dynamic loading of data fields and features based on entity permissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If user interface features are modified by changing source code, then user interface flexibility is improved, but time consumption and error risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user interface configuration from the application source code by introducing a separate metadata file. This metadata file contains instance-specific user interface features that can be modified independently without changing the core application code, thus enabling flexible UI customization while avoiding time-consuming code modifications and recompilation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces metadata as an intermediary layer between the application source code and the user interface configuration. This metadata acts as a mediator that allows user interface features to be configured and modified without directly altering the application code, thereby maintaining code integrity while achieving UI flexibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If source code is modified to add user interface features, then user interface functionality is improved, but integration issues and errors increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting user interface configuration into a separate metadata file, the patent isolates UI modifications from the core application code. This segmentation ensures that changes to user interface features do not propagate errors into the application's core functionality, maintaining code integrity while enhancing UI capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The metadata serves as an intermediary that bridges the gap between application functionality and user interface customization. It allows the application to load and apply instance-specific UI features without requiring modifications to the source code, thereby preventing integration issues and maintaining application reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If application code is changed to accommodate new user interface features, then user interface customization is improved, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the application into core functionality (source code) and customizable features (metadata). This segmentation allows developers to customize user interfaces by simply modifying or adding metadata entries without touching the source code, dramatically improving development productivity while maintaining full UI customization capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a metadata template structure that pre-defines the framework for user interface configuration. This preliminary setup allows instance-specific customizations to be made by simply filling in or modifying metadata parameters, eliminating the need for time-consuming code changes and accelerating the customization process.
4Ease of manufacture
If multiple instances use the same application code, then deployment simplicity is improved, but instance-specific user interface configuration capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments user interface configuration into instance-specific metadata files that accompany the shared application code. Each instance can have its own metadata file containing customized UI features, allowing multiple instances to be deployed with the same core application while maintaining distinct user interface configurations without complicating the deployment process.
Solution Approach 2:
The metadata structure is designed to be universal and applicable across multiple application instances. The same metadata schema can accommodate different instance-specific configurations, enabling a single application deployment to serve multiple instances with customized user interfaces through instance-specific metadata files.
Data Source
AI summary
In certain embodiments, an instance-specific user interface may be facilitated via entity-associated application metadata. In some embodiments, access information associated with an entity may be provided to one or more servers via a first executable instance of a same user application during a launch of the first executable instance. Based on the access information, application metadata associated with the entity may be obtained via the first executable instance from among a set of application metadata during the launch of the first executable instance, where the application metadata indicates data fields that correspond to data accessible to the entity. Based on the application metadata, the data fields may be loaded for a user interface of the first executable instance during the launch of the first executable instance. One or more of the data fields may be presented via the user interface of the first executable instance.