U.S. patent application number 13/874387 was filed with the patent office on 2013-09-26 for system, method and computer program product for performing actions associated with a portal.
This patent application is currently assigned to SALESFORCE.COM, INC. The applicant listed for this patent is SALESFORCE.COM, INC. Invention is credited to Ganesh Mathrubootham, Patrick McFarlane, Shuchun Yang.
Application Number | 20130254671 13/874387 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45329816 |
Filed Date | 2013-09-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130254671 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
McFarlane; Patrick ; et
al. |
September 26, 2013 |
SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PERFORMING ACTIONS
ASSOCIATED WITH A PORTAL
Abstract
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms
and methods for performing actions associated with a portal. These
mechanisms and methods for performing actions associated with a
portal can enable an improved user experience, increased
efficiency, optimized productivity, etc.
Inventors: |
McFarlane; Patrick; (San
Francisco, CA) ; Mathrubootham; Ganesh; (Fremont,
CA) ; Yang; Shuchun; (San Francisco, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SALESFORCE.COM, INC |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
SALESFORCE.COM, INC
San Francisco
CA
|
Family ID: |
45329816 |
Appl. No.: |
13/874387 |
Filed: |
April 30, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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13165714 |
Jun 21, 2011 |
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13874387 |
|
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61357080 |
Jun 21, 2010 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/738 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/0484 20130101;
G06F 3/0481 20130101; G06F 16/954 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/738 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/0481 20060101
G06F003/0481 |
Claims
1. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer
usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied
therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed
to implement a method for performing actions associated with a
portal, the method comprising: receiving a request from a user to
view a portal; displaying the portal to the user; and performing
one or more actions associated with the portal, based on user
input.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the request to
view the portal includes login data associated with the user.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the request to
view the portal includes a selection of a link that is provided to
the user by a search engine as a result of a query input by the
user into the search engine.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein displaying the
portal to the user includes requesting and retrieving data from one
or more sources, which is then presented to the user by the
portal.
5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the retrieved
data includes user data retrieved from a database associated with
the user's account.
6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the portal
includes one or more widgets that are displayed through the
portal.
7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the portal
includes a plurality of columns, and each widget is located within
one of the plurality of columns.
8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein one of the
widgets displayed through the portal displays data retrieved from a
social media source.
9. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein one of the
widgets displayed through the portal displays data associated with
a knowledge base.
10. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the widgets
are displayed to the user through the portal based on one or more
privileges associated with the user.
11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein only widgets
that correspond to the user's access score are displayed to the
user through the portal.
12. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the widgets
are loaded within the portal after the portal is loaded.
13. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or
more actions include displaying additional information within a
widget of the portal.
14. The computer program product of claim 1, further including
saving one or more preferences associated with the user input.
15. A method, comprising: receiving a request from a user to view a
portal; displaying the portal to the user; and performing one or
more actions associated with the portal, based on user input.
16. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and one or more stored
sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor,
cause the processor to carry out the steps of: receiving a request
from a user to view a portal; displaying the portal to the user;
and performing one or more actions associated with the portal,
based on user input.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 13/165,714, filed Jun. 21, 2011, which claims the benefit of
U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/357,080, filed Jun. 21,
2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by
reference.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] One or more implementations relate generally to data
presentation, and more particularly to manipulation of presented
data.
BACKGROUND
[0004] The subject matter discussed in the background section
should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its
mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned
in the background section or associated with the subject matter of
the background section should not be assumed to have been
previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the
background section merely represents different approaches, which in
and of themselves may also be inventions.
[0005] Conventional systems may desire to present data associated
with the system to a user. For example, systems may retrieve system
data from a database and present it to a user utilizing a display.
Unfortunately, data presentation techniques have been associated
with various limitations.
[0006] Just by way of example, traditional methods of presenting
system data to a user may involve a static layout and static
display of one or more data elements that may not be in a format
preferred by the user, and may not convey information desired by
the user. Additionally, the display may be slow to load due at
least in part to one or more data requests associated with the
display. Accordingly, it is desirable to allow a user to manipulate
a display of presented system data and to optimize the presentation
of such system data.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0007] In accordance with embodiments, there are provided
mechanisms and methods for performing actions associated with a
portal. These mechanisms and methods for performing actions
associated with a portal can enable an improved user experience,
increased efficiency, optimized productivity, etc.
[0008] In an embodiment and by way of example, a method for
performing actions associated with a portal is provided. In one
embodiment, a request is received from a user to view a portal.
Additionally, the portal is displayed to the user. Further, one or
more actions associated with the portal are performed, based on
user input.
[0009] While one or more implementations and techniques are
described with reference to an embodiment in which performing
actions associated with a portal is implemented in a system having
an application server providing a front end for an on-demand
database system capable of supporting multiple tenants, the one or
more implementations and techniques are not limited to multi-tenant
databases nor deployment on application servers. Embodiments may be
practiced using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE.RTM.,
DB2.RTM. by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of
the embodiments claimed.
[0010] Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together
with one another in any combination. The one or more
implementations encompassed within this specification may also
include embodiments that are only partially mentioned or alluded to
or are not mentioned or alluded to at all in this brief summary or
in the abstract. Although various embodiments may have been
motivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, which may be
discussed or alluded to in one or more places in the specification,
the embodiments do not necessarily address any of these
deficiencies. In other words, different embodiments may address
different deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification.
Some embodiments may only partially address some deficiencies or
just one deficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and
some embodiments may not address any of these deficiencies.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] In the following drawings like reference numbers are used to
refer to like elements. Although the following figures depict
various examples, the one or more implementations are not limited
to the examples depicted in the figures.
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates a method for performing actions
associated with a portal, in accordance with one embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 2 illustrates a method for accessing and interacting
with a portal, in accordance with another embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary portal, in accordance with
another embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 4 illustrates another exemplary portal, in accordance
with another embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary portal that is
manipulated by a user, in accordance with another embodiment;
[0017] FIG. 6 illustrates another exemplary portal in which a help
search is performed, in accordance with another embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example of an
environment wherein an on-demand database system might be used;
and
[0019] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of
elements of FIG. 7 and various possible interconnections between
these elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
General Overview
[0020] Systems and methods are provided for performing actions
associated with a portal.
[0021] As used herein, the term multi-tenant database system refers
to those systems in which various elements of hardware and software
of the database system may be shared by one or more customers. For
example, a given application server may simultaneously process
requests for a great number of customers, and a given database
table may store rows for a potentially much greater number of
customers.
[0022] Next, mechanisms and methods for performing actions
associated with a portal will be described with reference to
example embodiments.
[0023] FIG. 1 illustrates a method 100 for performing actions
associated with a portal, in accordance with one embodiment. As
shown in operation 102, a request is received from a user to view a
portal. In one embodiment, the portal may include data retrieved
from one or more sources. For example, the portal may include data
from one or more databases, data from a multi-tenant on-demand
database system, data from one or more web sites, etc.
[0024] Additionally, in one embodiment, the portal may include one
or more web pages (e.g., one or more hypertext markup language
(HTML) pages, etc.). In another embodiment, the request to view the
portal may include login data associated with the user. For
example, the request to view the portal may include a user name and
password associated with a user account within a system that
provides the portal that is input by the user utilizing a graphical
user interface (GUI).
[0025] Further, in another embodiment, the request to view the
portal may include an address of a location of the portal. For
example, the request to view the portal may include a uniform
resource locator (URL) that is input by the user into a web
browser. In yet another embodiment, the request to view the portal
may include a selection of a link to the portal. For example, the
request to view the portal may include the selection of a link that
is provided to the user by a search engine (e.g., an Internet-based
search engine, etc.) as a result of a query input by the user into
the search engine. In another example, the request to view the
portal may include the selection of a link (e.g., a help link,
etc.) within a web page of the provider of the portal.
[0026] Further still, in one embodiment, the portal may be
associated with a multi-tenant on-demand database system. For
example, the user may include a customer of the multi-tenant
on-demand database system (e.g., an organization of the system,
etc.), an employee of a customer of the multi-tenant on-demand
database system, an administrator of a customer of a multi-tenant
on-demand database system, etc., and the portal may provide
information associated with such system to the user. In another
embodiment, the portal may be provided by the multi-tenant
on-demand database system.
[0027] Also, it should be noted that, as described above, such
multi-tenant on-demand database system may include any service that
relies on a database system that is accessible over a network, in
which various elements of hardware and software of the database
system may be shared by one or more customers (e.g. tenants). For
instance, a given application server may simultaneously process
requests for a great number of customers, and a given database
table may store rows for a potentially much greater number of
customers. Various examples of such a multi-tenant on-demand
database system will be set forth in the context of different
embodiments that will be described during reference to subsequent
figures.
[0028] Additionally, as shown in operation 104, the portal is
displayed to the user. In one embodiment, displaying the portal to
the user may include requesting and retrieving data from one or
more sources, which may then be presented to the user by the
portal. For example, one or more applications, databases, etc. may
be queried for data, and such data may be retrieved and presented
to the user through the portal. In another embodiment, the
retrieved data may be associated with the user. For example, the
retrieved data may include user data retrieved from a database
associated with a user's account, etc.
[0029] In another embodiment, the portal may provide one or more
services to the user. For example, the portal may provide messaging
services (e.g., electronic mail messaging, instant messaging, etc.)
to the user. In another example, the portal may provide one or more
search services (e.g., portal search, Internet search, etc.) to the
user. In yet another embodiment, the portal may be displayed
utilizing a web browser. For example, the portal may be displayed
as one or more web pages within the web browser.
[0030] Further, in one embodiment, the portal may include one or
more widgets (e.g., one or more portlets, gadgets, etc.) that are
displayed through the portal. For example, the portal may include
one or more applications that are executed within the portal. In
another embodiment, each of the widgets displayed within the portal
may be associated with particular data. For example, each widget
may retrieve data from a specific source. In another example, each
widget may display a certain type of data to the user. In yet
another embodiment, the portal may include a plurality of columns,
where each widget may be located within one of the plurality of
columns.
[0031] Further still, in one embodiment, one of the widgets
displayed through the portal may display data retrieved from a
social media source. In another embodiment, one of the widgets
displayed through the portal may display data associated with a
knowledge base (e.g., a knowledge base of a multi-tenant on-demand
database system, etc.). In yet another embodiment, one of the
widgets displayed through the portal may display frequently asked
questions (FAQs) associated with a system (e.g., FAQs associated
with a multi-tenant on-demand database system, etc.). For example,
the widget may display most popular FAQs, highest rated FAQs, etc.
In still another embodiment, the widget may display training and/or
certification information. For example, the widget may include a
jumpstart widget that links to a training area associated with an
organization of the user.
[0032] In another embodiment, the widget may include case
information associated with the user. For example, the widget may
display open tickets associated with the user, open cases
associated with the user, terms associated with a contract, etc. In
yet another embodiment, the widget may display information
associated with a status of a system (e.g., a status of the user's
local computer, a status of one or more servers, a status of a
multi-tenant on-demand database system, etc.).
[0033] Also, in one embodiment, the widgets may be displayed to the
user through the portal based on one or more privileges associated
with the user. For example, the user may have an associated level
of access (e.g., an access score, an associated role within an
organization, etc.), and only widgets that correspond to the user's
access score (e.g., widgets that have a score less than or equal to
the user's access score, etc.) may be displayed to the user through
the portal.
[0034] Additionally, in one embodiment, the widgets may be loaded
in parallel with the portal. For example, a web page associated
with the portal may load immediately in response to the request,
and one or more widgets may load within the portal in parallel
(e.g., via asynchronous data requests, etc.). In another
embodiment, the widgets may be loaded within the portal after the
portal is loaded. In yet another embodiment, the one or more
widgets may be loaded within the portal according to one or more
settings associated with the user. For example, one or more portal
preferences associated with the user may be saved that describe
which widgets are to be di splayed to the user through the
portal.
[0035] Further, as shown in operation 106, one or more actions
associated with the portal are performed, based on user input. In
one embodiment, the user input may include a user request to
manipulate one or more elements associated with one or more widgets
of the portal. For example, the user input may include one or more
of the user selecting one or more widgets within the portal
utilizing an icon of a GUI, dragging and dropping one or more
widgets within the portal, selecting one or more icons within one
or more widgets, etc.
[0036] Further still, in one embodiment, the one or more actions
may include manipulating one or more widgets of the portal. For
example, the one or more actions may include changing a location of
a widget within the portal based on the user clicking and dragging
the widget to a different location (e.g., a different columns,
etc.) within the portal. In another example, the location of one or
more widgets may be arranged within the portal by the user. In
another embodiment, the location of a widget may be calibrated when
the widget is moved. In yet another embodiment, the one or more
actions may include adding and/or removing one or more widgets from
the portal. For example, a widget may be added to the portal in
response to the user selecting and dragging an icon associated with
the widget from a toolbar of the portal to another location within
the portal (e.g., a display area within the portal, etc.). In
another example, a widget may be removed from the portal in
response to a user selecting an icon within the widget (e.g., a
removal icon, etc.).
[0037] Also, in one embodiment, the one or more actions may include
displaying additional information within a widget of the portal.
For example, an additional layer of a hierarchical widget may be
displayed in response to the user selecting an icon next to a
representation of the widget within the portal. In another example,
additional information may be displayed within a widget in response
to the user selecting a tab within the widget. In another
embodiment, the one or more actions may include minimizing a widget
that is shown within the portal. For example, the widget may be
minimized within the portal in response to the user selecting an
icon of the widget. In another embodiment, the one or more actions
may include maximizing a minimized widget that is shown within the
portal.
[0038] In addition, in one embodiment, one or more widgets of the
portal may be categorized based on a common theme, pattern, etc.
Additionally, one or more actions may be performed on all widgets
of a certain categorization, based on user input. For example, only
a top number of items may be shown in all widgets that include
lists of items. In another example, only a certain number of
columns may be shown for all widgets that include tables. In yet
another example, all widgets of a certain categorization may be
removed, maximized, etc. based on the user input.
[0039] In another embodiment, the one or more actions may include
manipulating one or more elements of the portal layout. For
example, one or more columns of the portal may be added, removed,
or adjusted in response to the user input. In another embodiment,
one or more preferences associated with the user input may be
saved. For example, after performing the one or more actions, the
state of the portal may be saved to memory. Additionally, the saved
state may be later used to recreate the preferences of the user
within the portal when the user logs on at a later time.
[0040] FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 for accessing and
interacting with a portal, in accordance with another embodiment.
As an option, the method 200 may be carried out in the context of
the functionality of FIG. 1. Of course, however, the method 200 may
be carried out in any desired environment. The aforementioned
definitions may apply during the present description.
[0041] As shown in operation 202, a user performs an internet
search utilizing a search engine. In one embodiment, the user may
perform the search by inputting a search query into a field of the
search engine interface. Additionally, as shown in operation 204,
the user selects a link to a portal from the search engine results.
For example, the search engine may return multiple hyperlinks in
response to the internet search, and the user may select one of the
hyperlinks, where the selected hyperlink may direct the user to the
portal.
[0042] Further, as shown in operation 206, the portal presents one
or more widgets to the user, based on one or more settings
associated with the user. In one embodiment, the settings may
include data stored by the user's web browser (e.g., one or more
cookies, etc.). In another embodiment, the settings may identify
the user to the portal. In yet another embodiment, the portal may
compare the identification of the user to one or more user portal
profiles stored by the provider of the portal. Additionally, if the
identification of the user matches an existing profile stored by
the provider, the matching profile may be retrieved. If the
identification of the user does not match an existing stored
profile, then a default profile may be retrieved.
[0043] Further still, in one embodiment, the retrieved profile may
be used to determine which widgets are displayed to the user within
the portal. For example, a list of available widgets may be stored
in a master table in association with the portal, and the retrieved
profile may dictate which widgets from the list are to be displayed
to the user within the portal. Additionally, one or more row and
column coordinates may be stored within the retrieved portal for
each widget displayed within the portal, such that each widget may
be displayed to the user in the same manner that the user last
viewed them. In another embodiment, the number of widgets presented
to the user through the portal may be based on an authorization
level of the user.
[0044] Also, in one embodiment, each of the widgets displayed to
the user may retrieve information from one or more sources. For
example, each widget may retrieve information from a database of
the portal provider, from a web application call, from a knowledge
base application, etc. In another embodiment, each of the widgets
may retrieve information from the one or more sources after the
portal has loaded. For example, each widget may display a "loading"
indicator after the portal has loaded while the widget retrieves
the information. In this way, the portal may be quickly loaded and
presented to the user. In another example, a widget may cache the
retrieved information. In yet another embodiment, each of the
widgets may be displayed using a scripting language (e.g.
Javascript, etc.), and may retrieve information utilizing a
platform (e.g., a Force.com.RTM. platform utilizing Apex code,
etc.).
[0045] Additionally, as shown in operation 208, the user attempts
to manipulate one or more elements of the portal. In one
embodiment, the user may attempt to manipulate the structure of the
portal. For example, the user may click and drag one or more
columns of the portal. In another example, the user may rearrange
the order of one or more widgets displayed within the portal. In
another embodiment, the user may attempt to add one or more widgets
to the display area of the portal. For example, the portal may
include a toolbar where the user may select one or more unused
and/or new widgets to be displayed by the portal.
[0046] Further, in one embodiment, the user may attempt to remove
one or more widgets displayed within the portal, minimize one or
more widgets displayed within the portal, maximize one or more
widgets displayed within the portal, etc. In another embodiment,
the user may attempt to set a particular format for one or more
categories of widgets. For example, one or more widgets may be
grouped into a category based on common themes and/or patterns
(e.g., list view, single view/edit, graph, etc.), and the user may
attempt to set a format (e.g., a number of items listed, rows
displayed, etc.) for the category.
[0047] Further still, in one embodiment, the user may attempt to
view a different portion of a widget (e.g., by selecting a tab
associated additional information provided by the widget, etc.). In
another embodiment, the user may attempt to view an additional
hierarchy associated with the widget (e.g., by clicking on an icon
associated with the widget such that the widget expands to show
hierarchical information, etc.).
[0048] Also, as shown in decision 210, it is determined whether the
user has sufficient authorization to perform the attempted
manipulation. In one embodiment, an authorization level may be
associated with the user and may be stored within the user's local
computer (e.g., as a cookie, etc.) and/or a server database
associated with the provider of the portal (e.g., as a portal state
custom object, etc). In another embodiment, this authorization
level may be compared to the user's attempted manipulation. For
example, this authorization level may be compared to the
authorization level needed to add, remove, view, or otherwise
manipulate data associated with one or more widgets (e.g., a
widget's authorization level, etc.), the authorization level needed
to perform one or more modifications to the portal, etc.
[0049] If it is determined in decision 210 that the user has
sufficient authorization to perform the attempted manipulation,
then in operation 212 the attempted manipulation is performed. In
one embodiment, the portal may dynamically adjust in response to
the performed manipulation. For example, the portal may
automatically line up an added widget with other displayed widgets,
and may automatically pull information needed by the widget from
the data source after the attempt is authorized. In another
example, the portal may push down existing information in order to
display additional hierarchical information associated with a
widget. In another embodiment, queries associated with the portal
manipulation may be performed in bulk in order to minimize a
consumption of system resources.
[0050] Additionally, as shown in operation 214, the portal settings
associated with the portal manipulation are saved. In one
embodiment, the settings may be saved to the user's local computer
(e.g., as one or more cookies, etc.), to a server database, etc. In
another embodiment, the settings may include toolbar settings,
widget settings, portal arrangement settings, etc. In yet another
embodiment, one or more actions of the user (e.g., a number of
times the user opens a page of the portal, minimizes a widget of
the portal, etc.) may be tracked and stored by the portal.
[0051] If it is determined in decision 210 that the user does not
have sufficient authorization to perform the attempted
manipulation, then in operation 216 the user is prompted with a
message requiring the user to log in to or register with the
provider of the portal. In this way, the user may be further
authorized in order to determine whether the attempted manipulation
may be carried out.
[0052] Further, in another embodiment, a purpose of the widget
framework may be to allow the user to arrange a custom desktop with
useful and relevant information for their needs. It may serve up
dynamic content and reduce the need for a user to click to get
value from the portal page. In yet another embodiment, the portal
may include a user dashboard. In this way, value may be provided to
different types of users through the availability of a wide variety
of widgets.
[0053] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary portal 300, in accordance
with another embodiment. As an option, the portal 300 may be
implemented in the context of the functionality of FIGS. 1-2. Of
course, however, the portal 300 may be carried out in any desired
environment. The aforementioned definitions may apply during the
present description.
[0054] As shown, the portal 300 includes a plurality of widgets
304a-g displayed within three columns of the body of the portal
300. Additionally, the portal 300 includes a help window 302. In
one embodiment, a user of the portal 300 may input one or more
keywords into the help window 302, and such keywords may be
compared against a help database of the portal 300. Further, the
portal 300 includes a site search window 306, where a user may
input one or more keywords that are to be searched within the site
of the provider of the portal 300.
[0055] FIG. 4 illustrates another exemplary portal 300, in
accordance with another embodiment. As an option, the portal 400
may be implemented in the context of the functionality of FIGS.
1-3. Of course, however, the portal 400 may be carried out in any
desired environment. The aforementioned definitions may apply
during the present description.
[0056] As shown, the portal 400 includes a social media widget 402.
In one embodiment, the social media widget 402 of the portal 400
may retrieve data from an external social media web site, and may
display such retrieved data within the social media widget 402. In
this way, a user may not have to leave the portal 400 in order to
view data associated with a social media web site.
[0057] FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary portal 500 that is
manipulated by a user, in accordance with another embodiment. As an
option, the portal 500 may be implemented in the context of the
functionality of FIGS. 1-4. Of course, however, the portal 500 may
be carried out in any desired environment. The aforementioned
definitions may apply during the present description.
[0058] As shown, a social media widget 502 of the portal 500 has
been minimized. In one embodiment, this minimization of the social
media widget 502 may be performed by a user selecting an icon 504
within the social media widget 502. In this way, the user may
manipulate the display of the widgets within the portal 500.
[0059] FIG. 6 illustrates another exemplary portal 600 in which a
help search is performed, in accordance with another embodiment. As
an option, the portal 600 may be implemented in the context of the
functionality of FIGS. 1-5. Of course, however, the portal 600 may
be carried out in any desired environment. The aforementioned
definitions may apply during the present description.
[0060] As shown, a search term 604 is entered into the help window
602 of the portal 600. As the search term 604 is entered into the
help window 602, help search results 606 related to the input
search term 604 are displayed within the portal 600. In this way, a
user of the portal 600 may receive system assistance, widget help,
keyword searching, etc. while using the portal 600.
System Overview
[0061] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an environment 710
wherein an on-demand database system might be used. Environment 710
may include user systems 712, network 714, system 716, processor
system 717, application platform 718, network interface 720, tenant
data storage 722, system data storage 724, program code 726, and
process space 728. In other embodiments, environment 710 may not
have all of the components listed and/or may have other elements
instead of, or in addition to, those listed above.
[0062] Environment 710 is an environment in which an on-demand
database system exists. User system 712 may be any machine or
system that is used by a user to access a database user system. For
example, any of user systems 712 can be a handheld computing
device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a work station, and/or a
network of computing devices. As illustrated in FIG. 7 (and in more
detail in FIG. 8) user systems 712 might interact via a network 714
with an on-demand database system, which is system 716.
[0063] An on-demand database system, such as system 716, is a
database system that is made available to outside users that do not
need to necessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining
the database system, but instead may be available for their use
when the users need the database system (e.g., on the demand of the
users). Some on-demand database systems may store information from
one or more tenants stored into tables of a common database image
to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). Accordingly,
"on-demand database system 716" and "system 716" will be used
interchangeably herein. A database image may include one or more
database objects. A relational database management system (RDMS) or
the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information
against the database object(s). Application platform 718 may be a
framework that allows the applications of system 716 to run, such
as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an
embodiment, on-demand database system 716 may include an
application platform 718 that enables creation, managing and
executing one or more applications developed by the provider of the
on-demand database system, users accessing the on-demand database
system via user systems 712, or third party application developers
accessing the on-demand database system via user systems 712.
[0064] The users of user systems 712 may differ in their respective
capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system 712 might
be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the
current user. For example, where a salesperson is using a
particular user system 712 to interact with system 716, that user
system has the capacities allotted to that salesperson. However,
while an administrator is using that user system to interact with
system 716, that user system has the capacities allotted to that
administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at
one permission level may have access to applications, data, and
database information accessible by a lower permission level user,
but may not have access to certain applications, database
information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission
level. Thus, different users will have different capabilities with
regard to accessing and modifying application and database
information, depending on a user's security or permission
level.
[0065] Network 714 is any network or combination of networks of
devices that communicate with one another. For example, network 714
can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network),
WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network,
point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub
network, or other appropriate configuration. As the most common
type of computer network in current use is a TCP/IP (Transfer
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global
internetwork of networks often referred to as the "Internet" with a
capital "I," that network will be used in many of the examples
herein. However, it should be understood that the networks that the
one or more implementations might use are not so limited, although
TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol.
[0066] User systems 712 might communicate with system 716 using
TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet
protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an
example where HTTP is used, user system 712 might include an HTTP
client commonly referred to as a "browser" for sending and
receiving HTTP messages to and from an HTTP server at system 716.
Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network
interface between system 716 and network 714, but other techniques
might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the
interface between system 716 and network 714 includes load sharing
functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to
balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a
plurality of servers. At least as for the users that are accessing
that server, each of the plurality of servers has access to the
MTS' data; however, other alternative configurations may be used
instead.
[0067] In one embodiment, system 716, shown in FIG. 7, implements a
web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For
example, in one embodiment, system 716 includes application servers
configured to implement and execute CRM software applications as
well as provide related data, code, forms, webpages and other
information to and from user systems 712 and to store to, and
retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpage
content. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may
be stored in the same physical database object, however, tenant
data typically is arranged so that data of one tenant is kept
logically separate from that of other tenants so that one tenant
does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such data is
expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 716 implements
applications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. For
example, system 716 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted
(standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application.
User (or third party developer) applications, which may or may not
include CRM, may be supported by the application platform 718,
which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or
more database objects and executing of the applications in a
virtual machine in the process space of the system 716.
[0068] One arrangement for elements of system 716 is shown in FIG.
7, including a network interface 720, application platform 718,
tenant data storage 722 for tenant data 723, system data storage
724 for system data 725 accessible to system 716 and possibly
multiple tenants, program code 726 for implementing various
functions of system 716, and a process space 728 for executing MTS
system processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running
applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional
processes that may execute on system 716 include database indexing
processes.
[0069] Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 7 include
conventional, well-known elements that are explained only briefly
here. For example, each user system 712 could include a desktop
personal computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any
wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other
computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to
the Internet or other network connection. User system 712 typically
runs an HTTP client, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser, Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's
browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cell phone, PDA
or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g.,
subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user system 712
to access, process and view information, pages and applications
available to it from system 716 over network 714. Each user system
712 also typically includes one or more user interface devices,
such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen,
pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface
(GUI) provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen,
LCD display, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms, applications
and other information provided by system 716 or other systems or
servers. For example, the user interface device can be used to
access data and applications hosted by system 716, and to perform
searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interact
with various GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As
discussed above, embodiments are suitable for use with the
Internet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of
networks. However, it should be understood that other networks can
be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet,
a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any
LAN or WAN or the like.
[0070] According to one embodiment, each user system 712 and all of
its components are operator configurable using applications, such
as a browser, including computer code run using a central
processing unit such as an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or the
like. Similarly, system 716 (and additional instances of an MTS,
where more than one is present) and all of their components might
be operator configurable using application(s) including computer
code to run using a central processing unit such as processor
system 717, which may include an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or
the like, and/or multiple processor units. A computer program
product embodiment includes a machine-readable storage medium
(media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to
program a computer to perform any of the processes of the
embodiments described herein. Computer code for operating and
configuring system 716 to intercommunicate and to process webpages,
applications and other data and media content as described herein
are preferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire
program code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other
volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known,
such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storing
program code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy
disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk
(CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or
optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any
type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or
data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,
may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over a
transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another
server, as is well known, or transmitted over any other
conventional network connection as is well known (e.g., extranet,
VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g.,
TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will
also be appreciated that computer code for implementing embodiments
can be implemented in any programming language that can be executed
on a client system and/or server or server system such as, for
example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java.TM.,
JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such as
VBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known
may be used. (Java.TM. is a trademark of Sun Microsystems,
Inc.).
[0071] According to one embodiment, each system 716 is configured
to provide webpages, forms, applications, data and media content to
user (client) systems 712 to support the access by user systems 712
as tenants of system 716. As such, system 716 provides security
mechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate unless the data is
shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may be located in close
proximity to one another (e.g., in a server farm located in a
single building or campus), or they may be distributed at locations
remote from one another (e.g., one or more servers located in city
A and one or more servers located in city B). As used herein, each
MTS could include one or more logically and/or physically connected
servers distributed locally or across one or more geographic
locations. Additionally, the term "server" is meant to include a
computer system, including processing hardware and process
space(s), and an associated storage system and database application
(e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also
be understood that "server system" and "server" are often used
interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object described
herein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed
database, a collection of distributed databases, a database with
redundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc.,
and might include a distributed database or storage network and
associated processing intelligence.
[0072] FIG. 8 also illustrates environment 710. However, in FIG. 8
elements of system 716 and various interconnections in an
embodiment are further illustrated. FIG. 8 shows that user system
712 may include processor system 712A, memory system 712B, input
system 712C, and output system 7121. FIG. 8 shows network 714 and
system 716. FIG. 8 also shows that system 716 may include tenant
data storage 722, tenant data 723, system data storage 724, system
data 725, User Interface (JI) 830, Application Program Interface
(API) 832, PL/SOQL 834, save routines 836, application setup
mechanism 838, applications servers 800.sub.1-800.sub.N, system
process space 802, tenant process spaces 804, tenant management
process space 810, tenant storage area 812, user storage 814, and
application metadata 816. In other embodiments, environment 710 may
not have the same elements as those listed above and/or may have
other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed
above.
[0073] User system 712, network 714, system 716, tenant data
storage 722, and system data storage 724 were discussed above in
FIG. 7. Regarding user system 712, processor system 712A may be any
combination of one or more processors. Memory system 712B may be
any combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or
long term memory. Input system 712C may be any combination of input
devices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners,
cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 712D may be
any combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors,
printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 8, system
716 may include a network interface 720 (of FIG. 7) implemented as
a set of HTTP application servers 800, an application platform 718,
tenant data storage 722, and system data storage 724. Also shown is
system process space 802, including individual tenant process
spaces 804 and a tenant management process space 810. Each
application server 800 may be configured to tenant data storage 722
and the tenant data 723 therein, and system data storage 724 and
the system data 725 therein to serve requests of user systems 712.
The tenant data 723 might be divided into individual tenant storage
areas 812, which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a
logical arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage area 812,
user storage 814 and application metadata 816 might be similarly
allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user's most
recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage 814.
Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is a
tenant might be stored to tenant storage area 812. A UI 830
provides a user interface and an API 832 provides an application
programmer interface to system 716 resident processes to users
and/or developers at user systems 712. The tenant data and the
system data may be stored in various databases, such as one or more
Oracle.TM. databases.
[0074] Application platform 718 includes an application setup
mechanism 838 that supports application developers' creation and
management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into
tenant data storage 722 by save routines 836 for execution by
subscribers as one or more tenant process spaces 804 managed by
tenant management process 810 for example. Invocations to such
applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 834 that provides a
programming language style interface extension to API 832. A
detailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments is
discussed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478 entitled,
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA
A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, filed
Sep. 21, 2007, which is incorporated in its entirety herein for all
purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one or
more system processes, which manages retrieving application
metadata 816 for the subscriber making the invocation and executing
the metadata as an application in a virtual machine.
[0075] Each application server 800 may be communicably coupled to
database systems, e.g., having access to system data 725 and tenant
data 723, via a different network connection. For example, one
application server 800.sub.1 might be coupled via the network 714
(e.g., the Internet), another application server 800.sub.N-1 might
be coupled via a direct network link, and another application
server 800.sub.N might be coupled by yet a different network
connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between
application servers 800 and the database system. However, it will
be apparent to one skilled in the art that other transport
protocols may be used to optimize the system depending on the
network interconnect used.
[0076] In certain embodiments, each application server 800 is
configured to handle requests for any user associated with any
organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able
to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any
time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a
user and/or organization to a specific application server 800. In
one embodiment, therefore, an interface system implementing a load
balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is
communicably coupled between the application servers 800 and the
user systems 712 to distribute requests to the application servers
800. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses a least connections
algorithm to route user requests to the application servers 800.
Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as round robin
and observed response time, also can be used. For example, in
certain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user
could hit three different application servers 800, and three
requests from different users could hit the same application server
800. In this manner, system 716 is multi-tenant, wherein system 716
handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data and
applications across disparate users and organizations.
[0077] As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that
employs a sales force where each salesperson uses system 716 to
manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact
data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals
and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user's personal
sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage 722). In an example of
a MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to
access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be
maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than
network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and
cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a
salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internet
access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates
as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the
lobby.
[0078] While each user's data might be separate from other users'
data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be
organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users
or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant.
Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system 716
that are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures
might be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support
multiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should
have security protocols that keep data, applications, and
application use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for
access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy,
up-time, and backup are additional functions that may be
implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data and
tenant specific data, system 716 might also maintain system level
data usable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level
data might include industry reports, news, postings, and the like
that are sharable among tenants.
[0079] In certain embodiments, user systems 712 (which may be
client systems) communicate with application servers 800 to request
and update system-level and tenant-level data from system 716 that
may require sending one or more queries to tenant data storage 722
and/or system data storage 724. System 716 (e.g., an application
server 800 in system 716) automatically generates one or more SQL
statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that are designed to
access the desired information. System data storage 724 may
generate query plans to access the requested data from the
database.
[0080] Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of
objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted
into predefined categories. A "table" is one representation of a
data object, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual
description of objects and custom objects. It should be understood
that "table" and "object" may be used interchangeably herein. Each
table generally contains one or more data categories logically
arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or
record of a table contains an instance of data for each category
defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may include a
table that describes a customer with fields for basic contact
information such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc.
Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields for
information such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In
some multi-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be
provided for use by all tenants. For CRM database applications,
such standard entities might include tables for Account, Contact,
Lead, and Opportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It
should be understood that the word "entity" may also be used
interchangeably herein with "object" and "table".
[0081] In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be
allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed
to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating
custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/817,161, filed Apr. 2, 2004,
entitled "Custom Entities and Fields in a Multi-Tenant Database
System", and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference,
teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects as well as
customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In
certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows are
stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain
multiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to
customers that their multiple "tables" are in fact stored in one
large table or that their data may be stored in the same table as
the data of other customers.
[0082] While one or more implementations have been described by way
of example and in terms of the specific embodiments, it is to be
understood that one or more implementations are not limited to the
disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover
various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent
to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended
claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to
encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
* * * * *