US20110145282A1 - Utilizing virtual folders - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method utilizing virtual folders. The virtual folders expose regular files and folders to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. The virtual folders contain collections of items. The system includes a folder processor that obtains queries from a user and a relational database for storing information about the items. The folder processor first obtains a query from a user and passes the query to the relational database. The relational database provides results back to the folder processor, and based on the results from the relational database, the folder processor provides the results to the user as virtual folders. Users are able to work with the virtual folders through direct manipulation (e.g., clicking and dragging, copying, pasting, etc.).

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
• This application is a continuation of pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/403,174, filed Mar. 27, 2003, which is herein incorporated by reference.
• This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/403,341, attorney docket No. MSFT-1-20699 and U.S. application Ser. No. 10/403,175, attorney docket No. MSFT-1-20700, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention relates to file systems, and more particularly, to a system and method utilizing virtual folders.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• Present computer file systems have a number of undesirable limitations. One limitation is that users are generally unable to control the structure that they are shown. In other words, when folders are organized, a user must choose a structure, and that structure is then difficult to change. As a specific example, for a “music” folder, a user may choose to organize the music files in an artist/album format, wherein all of the album folders for each artist are grouped into that particular artist's folder, and all of the songs on a particular album are grouped into that album's folder. The artist/album format is not conducive to playing a type of music (e.g., playing two jazz songs from two different artists), or for playing a selection of albums from different artists.
• As another issue, a user may have a large number of files which are difficult to organize. Some users implement a rigid sense of placement for the files, and thus create strict hierarchies for them. The management of such files become increasingly complex and difficult as the number of available documents grows, making search and retrieval also difficult. This problem is further exacerbated when additional files are utilized from other locations, such as shared files, etc.
• Users also have to deal with files being in different locations, such as on different devices, on other PCs, or online. For example, users can select to listen to their music on the computer (as may be accessible to a music program) or can go online and listen to music from Web sites, however there is a strict division between these two sources. Music coming from different locations is organized differently, and not kept in the same fashion or place. As another example, files stored on a corporate network may inherently be separated from files a user has on a current machine.
• Users also have to keep track not only of what file data is stored, but where it is stored. For example, for music files, users are forced to keep copies on various systems and to try to track which music files are located where. This can make files difficult to locate, even when they are locally stored.
• It is also sometimes difficult to find and return to files that a user has. A user may find it difficult to recall where and how they stored certain files. Given a set of folders and even a group of similar files, users often find it difficult to quickly find the one that they are looking for. For files stored in a difficult place to find, it is that much more complex to locate. In addition, once users have enough files in a folder, it becomes more difficult to parse the folder quickly, especially if the contents are similar.
• It is also sometimes difficult for users to find or return to files on a network. Sharing and publishing files is often hard to do, and it may often be even more difficult to retrieve such a file from someone who makes it available. Users typically have to memorize or map the various sites and names that they need for finding files on a network.
• Name spaces may vary, which can cause confusion to the user as to what is “correct.” This is particularly true on a network where there are different naming conventions, limitations, and so on. For example, certain operating systems may require short names with no spaces in order for them to be visible.
• Programs also often save files to their own directory or other name spaces, which can make it difficult for users to find their way back to the files. Programs often have default directories and places they save documents. A user often has to search through their hard disk and make guesses about where a file is stored.
• Related items are also often stored in separate places. Related files that a user has may be stored on different parts of the hard disk, etc. This problem becomes more common with the developments of digital media services that have multiple content types (e.g., pictures, music, video).
• The present invention is directed to providing a system and method that overcome the foregoing and other disadvantages. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a file system utilizing virtual folders.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• A system and method utilizing virtual folders is provided. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the virtual folders expose regular files and folders (also known as directories) to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. Thus, the system is able to take a property that is stored in the database and represent it as a container that is like a folder. Since users are already familiar with working with folders, by presenting the virtual folders in a similar manner, users can adapt to the new system more quickly.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the virtual folders are provided according to a method that is utilized in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing the items. In accordance with the method, a metadata property is selected. The system then searches for items that have the selected metadata property, and a virtual folder display object is provided that represents the collection of items that have the metadata property.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the system includes a folder processor that obtains queries from a user and a relational database for storing information about the items. The folder processor first obtains a query from a user and passes the query to the relational database. The relational database provides results back to the folder processor, and based on the results from the relational database, the folder processor provides the results to the user as virtual folders. In one embodiment, the results that are provided back to the folder processor include database rows and columns. The database rows and columns are converted by the folder processor into an enumerator structure, which is then used to populate the display with the resulting virtual folders.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, users are able to work with the virtual folders through direct manipulation. In other words, the mechanisms that are provided for manipulating the virtual folders are similar to those that are currently used for manipulating conventional physical folders (e.g., clicking and dragging, copying, pasting, etc.).
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method for performing the direct manipulation of the virtual folders is provided in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing the items. In accordance with the method, groups of items are represented as virtual folders. Defined actions are provided that can be performed for direct manipulation of the virtual folders, wherein when a defined action is performed, the virtual folder is manipulated as directed by the defined action. An example of a defined action would be clicking and dragging a virtual folder. In one embodiment, the action of clicking and dragging a first virtual folder to a second virtual folder performs the function of copying the items from the first virtual folder to the second virtual folder. The copying of items to a virtual folder may involve adding or otherwise altering selected metadata properties that are associated with the items.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, filters are provided for manipulating the virtual folders. The filters are essentially tools for narrowing down a set of items. In one embodiment, the filters are dynamically generated based on the properties of the separate items. For example, for a set of items, the filter mechanism may review the properties, and if the items generally have “authors” as a property, the filter can provide a list of the authors. Then by clicking on a particular author, the items that don't have the author disappear. This allows the user to narrow the contents.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, quick links are provided. In one embodiment, quick links are a set of predefined links (e.g., located on the left side of the display) that can be clicked on to generate useful views of the sets of items. These can be predefined by the program, or set by a user. For example, clicking on “all authors” could return a view stacked by authors. “All documents” may return a flat view of all the documents across all of the storage areas. Users can also create their own quick links. For example, a user might filter down to all of the documents that they modified in January 2003, and then could save that as a quick link.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, libraries are provided. Libraries consist of large groups of usable types of files that can be associated together. For example, photos may be one library, music may be another, and documents may be another. The libraries provide tools and activities that are related to the particular types of items. For example, in the photo library, there are tools and filters that relate to manipulating photos, such as for creating slide shows or sharing pictures.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a wide scope of files or items may be available. In other words, the system is able to represent files/items from multiple physical locations (e.g., different hard drives, different computers, different network locations, etc.) so that to a user all the items appear to be from one location. For example, a user can be presented with all of their music files on a single screen, and manipulate the files all from one view, even though the files may be physically stored on different hard drives, different computers, or different network locations.
• In accordance with another aspect of the invention, non-file items may be represented in the virtual folders. In other words, files that are stored in memory are located in a physical store. The virtual folders can be made to include items that are not currently represented in the physical store. Examples of non-file items are e-mails, and contacts.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general purpose computer system suitable for implementing the present invention;
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a virtual folder system in accordance with the present invention;
• FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine by which a user provides a query that draws back selected files and folders;
• FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine by which virtual folders are constructed and displayed on the screen in accordance with either a default query or a query from the user;
• FIG. 5 is a tree diagram of a folder structure in accordance with a physical folder arrangement on a hard drive;
• FIG. 6 is a tree diagram of a virtual folder structure;
• FIG. 7 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure ofFIG. 6, wherein the clients stack is further filtered by contracts and year;
• FIG. 8 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure ofFIG. 7, wherein the contracts of the clients stack are further filtered by year;
• FIG. 9 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure ofFIG. 6, wherein the contracts stack is further filtered by clients and year, of which the clients are still further filtered by year;
• FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display showing the stacks of a document library;
• FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display showing the documents in the ABC Corp. stack ofFIG. 10;
• FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a stacking function is selected for the documents ofFIG. 11;
• FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a “stack by author” parameter is selected for the stacking function ofFIG. 12;
• FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the files ofFIG. 13 have been stacked by author;
• FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a stacking function is selected and a “stack by category” option is further selected for restacking the files ofFIG. 14;
• FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the files ofFIG. 14 have been restacked by category;
• FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a quick link for showing physical folders is selected;
• FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the physical folders are shown which contain the files of the virtual folder stacks ofFIG. 17;
• FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine by which a user can directly manipulate virtual folders;
• FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a new “West Coast” stack has been added to the stacks ofFIG. 10;
• FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which direct manipulation is used for copying the files from the “ABC Corp.” stack to the “West Coast” stack ofFIG. 20;
• FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for the system dynamically generating new filter terms;
• FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for the system filtering items based on the selection of a filter term;
• FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the stacks ofFIG. 10 have been filtered by the term “AB”;
• FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the stacks ofFIG. 10 have been filtered by the term “ABC”;
• FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the filter term “year 2002” is selected for the stacks ofFIG. 10;
• FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the stacks ofFIG. 10 have been filtered by the “year 2002” and the further selection of the filter term “month”;
• FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a list is presented for selecting a month for filtering;
• FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display wherein the stacks ofFIG. 10 have been further filtered by the month of January, and further showing a filter term of “day”;
• FIG. 30 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for creating a new quick link;
• FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display for creating a new quick link called “January Work” based on the filtering ofFIG. 29;
• FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a quick link of “All Authors” is selected;
• FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a list of all of the authors ofFIG. 32 is presented;
• FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which “Author1” has been selected from the list ofFIG. 33 and all of theAuthor1's documents are shown;
• FIG. 35 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for creating a new library;
• FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a collection of various available libraries are shown;
• FIG. 37 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for defining the scope of a virtual folder collection;
• FIG. 38 is a block diagram illustrative of the various sources which may form the scope of a virtual folder collection;
• FIG. 39 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine for including non-file items in a virtual folder collection; and
• FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display showing various non-file items included in a virtual folder.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
• The present invention is directed to virtual folders. Virtual folders utilize the same or similar user interfaces that are currently used for file systems. The virtual folders expose regular files and folders (also known as directories) to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. Location-independent views are created which allow users to manipulate their files and folders utilizing similar controls as those presently used for managing file systems. In general, this means that users can organize and rearrange their files based on inherent properties in the files themselves, instead of the managing and organization being done as a separate part of the system. The virtual folders may represent files or items from different physical locations, such as from multiple disk drives within the same computer, between multiple computers, or different network locations, such that one view of files or items can expose files or items sitting at different physical locations. In one embodiment, the different items or files need only be connected via an IP network in order to be included.
• The virtual folder modeling is also able to be used for traditionally non-file entities. An application of this is to have a set of user interfaces similar to files and folders (that is, objects and containers) to show traditionally non-file entities. One example of such non-file entities would be e-mails, while another would be contact information from a contact database. In this manner, virtual folders provide for a location-independent, metadata-based view system that works regardless of whether the data being shown is from files or non-file entities. In general, these aspects allow more flexibility in terms of letting users manipulate their files and data, using both common user interface techniques (drag and drop, double-click, etc.) as well as leveraging the rich integration of various data types.
• FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the present invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a personal computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, characters, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
• With reference toFIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a conventionalpersonal computer20, including aprocessing unit21,system memory22, and a system bus23 that couples various system components including thesystem memory22 to theprocessing unit21. The system bus23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read-only memory (ROM)24 and random access memory (RAM)25. A basic input/output system (BIOS)26, containing the basic routines that helps to transfer information between elements within thepersonal computer20, such as during start-up, is stored inROM24. Thepersonal computer20 further includes ahard disk drive27 for reading from or writing to ahard disk39, amagnetic disk drive28 for reading from or writing to a removablemagnetic disk29, and anoptical disk drive30 for reading from or writing to a removableoptical disk31, such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. Thehard disk drive27,magnetic disk drive28, andoptical disk drive30 are connected to the system bus23 by a harddisk drive interface32, a magneticdisk drive interface33, and anoptical drive interface34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for thepersonal computer20. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs ahard disk39, a removablemagnetic disk29, and a removableoptical disk31, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories (ROMs), and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment.
• A number of program modules may be stored on thehard disk39,magnetic disk29,optical disk31,ROM24 orRAM25, including anoperating system35, one ormore application programs36,other program modules37 andprogram data38. A user may enter commands and information into thepersonal computer20 through input devices such as akeyboard40 andpointing device42. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to theprocessing unit21 through aserial port interface46 that is coupled to the system bus23, but may also be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A display in the form of amonitor47 is also connected to the system bus23 via an interface, such as a video card oradapter48. One ormore speakers57 may also be connected to the system bus23 via an interface, such as anaudio adapter56. In addition to the display and speakers, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as printers.
• Thepersonal computer20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more personal computers, such as aremote computer49. Theremote computer49 may be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to thepersonal computer20. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN)51 and a wide area network (WAN)52. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet.
• When used in a LAN networking environment, thepersonal computer20 is connected to thelocal area network51 through a network interface oradapter53. When used in a WAN networking environment, thepersonal computer20 typically includes a modem54 or other means for establishing communications over thewide area network52, such as the Internet. The modem54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus23 via theserial port interface46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to thepersonal computer20 or portions thereof may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary, and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
• As implemented on a system of the type illustrated inFIG. 1, the present invention utilizes virtual folders which make it easier for users to perform basic tasks around file manipulation and folder navigation (browsing) and to provide higher level storage capabilities which can be leveraged in new features. The virtual folders expose files and items to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of avirtual folder system200 in accordance with the present invention. As will be described in more detail below, the virtual folders allow a user to change the “pivot” which controls the way the data is viewed. As an example, a user could view their music as a flat list of all the songs, which can be grouped by album. Alternatively, the user could switch the view to show only the genres or artists or years, etc. The user can tailor the view to see only the objects suited to the task at hand. This allows an improved browsing experience that negates the need for further navigation through folders (both down and back up). The same lessons and capabilities apply to modeling other data-types not stored as files. Contacts, for example, can be exposed to the user in this way, giving them familiar interface capabilities, as well as richer infrastructure for manipulating them than is provided by a flat address book.
• As illustrated inFIG. 2, thevirtual folder system200 includes afolder processor210, arelational database230, a virtualfolder descriptions database232, an othershell folders component234, a folder handler'scomponent236, and a shell browser andview component240. Thefolder processor210 includes a nativehandling code component212, ahandler factory component214, aproperty writer component216, arowset parser component218, aquery builder component220, anenumerator component222, and aproperty factory component224.
• Therelational database230 stores properties about all files in the system. It also stores some items, like contacts (i.e., non-file items), entirely. In general, it stores metadata about the types of files and items that it contains. Therelational database230 receives SQL queries from thequery builder220. Therelational database230 also sends SQL rowsets to therowset parser component218, with one row per item column, columns being the item properties.
• The virtualfolder descriptions database232 includes the virtual folder descriptions. The virtualfolder descriptions database232 sends data to thequery builder component220, including a list of types to display in the folder, the initial filter, and the physical locations to show results from (the scopes).
• With regard to the othershell folders component234, thefolder processor210 delegates to existing shell folders from many types of items, including all files, for handlers or properties. The othershell folders component234 sends properties from other folders to theproperty factory224. The other shell folders component also sends handlers to thehandler factory214.
• Thefolder handlers component236 provides code behavior for the items that exist only in the database, like contacts. This is what allows non-file items to behave akin to files. Thefolder handlers component236 sends handlers to thehandler factory214.
• For the nativehandling code component212, thefolder processor210 directly implements certain handlers based on the properties of the items. The nativehandling code component212 sends handlers to thehandler factory214. For the nativehandling code component212 and thefolder handlers component236, like all namespaces, virtual folders have to provide a set of handlers (context menu, icon, thumbnail, infotip, . . . ) for their items. For most of these (infotip, data object, drag-drop handler, background context menu . . . ) the virtual folder provides a common (native) handler for all the types it holds. However there are others which the author of the type has to provide (context menu on the item itself, writable property store, . . . ). The default handler can also be overridden. Virtual folders reuse this for files and allow non-file items do the same.
• Thehandler factory214 takes ID lists and produces code behaviors that provide context menus, icons, etc. In general, thefolder processor210 may use native handlers, external handlers, or delegate to other shell folders to get handlers, as described above with respect to the nativehandling code component212, the othershell folders component234, and thefolder handlers component236. Thehandler factory component214 sends handlers to the shell browser inview240, as requested by the view. Thehandler factory component214 sends a property handler to theproperty writer216.
• Theproperty writer216 converts user intentions such as cut, copy, and paste into property rights to the file or item. A shell browser andview component240 sends data to theproperty writer216, including direct manipulation (cut/copy/paste) or editing of metadata. In general, since virtual folders present an organization based on the properties of an item, operations such as move and copy (drag-drop) become an edit on those properties. For example, moving a document, in a view stacked by author, fromAuthor1 toAuthor2, means changing the author. Theproperty writer component216 implements this function.
• Therowset parser218 takes database rowsets and stores all item properties into a shell ID list structure. A rowset takes the piecewise definition of the virtual folder and builds a SQL string which can then be issued to the database. Therowset parser component218 sends ID lists to theenumerator component222. As described above, therowset parser component218 also receives data from therelational database230, including SQL rowsets, with one row per item, the columns being item properties.
• Thequery builder component220 builds SQL queries. Thequery builder component220 receives data from theenumerator component222, including new filters from the navigation. Thequery builder component220 also receives data from the virtualfolder descriptions database232, including a list of the types to display in the folder, the initial filter, and the physical location to show results from (the scopes). Thequery builder component220 sends the SQL queries to therelational database230.
• In general, thequery builder component220 includes a set of rows (in other words a table). This is what running the query yields. Therowset parser component218 takes each row and using the column names transforms the row into an ID list. An ID list is a well-known shell structure which is used to reference items in a namespace. Doing this allows virtual folders to be just like any other namespace to the rest of the shell. Also caching this data helps keep database access, which can be costly, to a minimum.
• Theenumerator component222 operates in response to a navigation to a virtual folder. As described above, theenumerator component222 receives ID lists from therowset parser component218, and sends new filters from the navigation to thequery builder component220. Theenumerator222 also sends data to the shell browser andview component240, including ID lists that are returned to be inserted into the view after a navigation.
• Theproperty factory component224 takes ID lists and property identifiers and returns values for those properties. Theproperty factory component224 receives data from thehandler factory component214 including the property handler. As described above, theproperty factory component224 also receives data from the othershell folders component234, including properties from other folders. Theproperty factory component224 also sends data to the shell browser andview component240, including item properties, as requested by the view.
• The shell browser andview component240 displays the contents of a folder in a window, and handles all the user interaction with the displayed files or items, such as clicking, dragging, and navigating. Thus, the shell browser andview component240 receives the user actions. The shell browser andview component240 also gets the data regarding the code behaviors that it needs from the folder, in this case thefolder processor210.
• As described above, the virtual folders expose regular files and folders (also known as directories) to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. Thus, the system is able to take a property that is stored in the database and represent it as a container that is like a folder. Since users are already familiar with working with folders, by presenting the virtual folders in a similar manner, users can adapt to the new system more quickly.
• FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine300 by which a user provides a query that draws back selected items. At ablock302, the folder processor gets a query from the user. In ablock304, the folder processor passes the query to the relational database. At ablock306, the relational database provides the results back to the folder processor. Atblock308, the folder processor provides the results to the user in the form of virtual folders and items.
• FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine320 by which virtual folders are constructed and displayed on the screen in accordance with either a default query or a query from the user. At ablock322, when a user first opens the virtual folder, a default query is used. This default query is taken from the registry. For example, the default query for a music library could be to show all the songs grouped by album. At ablock324, the folder processor constructs a query object for this query, and then passes this query to the relational database. At ablock326, the relational database generates the results of the query and passes these back to the folder processor as database rows and columns.
• At ablock328, the folder processor takes these results and converts them from the rows and columns of data into an enumerator structure, which is used by the folder view to populate the screen with the resulting virtual folders and items for the user to interact upon. At adecision block330, a user decides whether to change the view (by issuing a different query or “pivot”). For example, a user could issue a “show all artists” pivot. If the user does want to change the view, then the routine returns to block324 where the folder processor passes this new query to the relational database, and receives back new rows and columns of results, and constructs a new enumerator structure. The process then continues as described above, as the folder view clears and updates, using the enumerator to draw the “artist” objects to the screen.
• In one example, album objects are provided that represent containers that users can navigate into. For example, double-clicking the “Beatles” albums will navigate the view to see all of the Beatles' songs. The folder processor issues the “show all Beatles' songs” query to the relational database, which hands back the rows and columns of data for those songs. The folder processor creates an enumerator of all these songs, which then get drawn to the screen.
• The user can also choose the view at any point while browsing virtual folders. From the above example, after narrowing down to just show Beatles songs, a user can change the view to only show the songs as albums. The process of changing the view of items into another representation is called “stacking”. This is because the items are conceptually arranged into “stacks” based on that representation. In this case, the songs are rearranged into stacks for each of the various albums. Users can then navigate into one of these stacks, only seeing the songs from that particular album. Again, the user can rearrange the view of these remaining songs into stacks based on a property (e.g., a rating, for example). If the rating property were selected, the songs from that Beatles album would be shown in stacks for a one-, two-, or a three-star rating.
• The results of each query depend on which physical locations are included in the scope. For example, the scope may be made to include only the folders in the user's “my documents” folder. Alternatively, the scope could include all folders on the computer, or even all folders on multiple network connected computers. The user is able to view and change the scope through a scope property sheet. In one example, the scope property sheet could be exposed by right-clicking on the virtual folder and choosing “properties.” The user could add new folders to the scope, or remove folders that were previously added.
• One group of users for which virtual folders will provide particular utility is knowledge workers. Virtual folders allow knowledge workers to easily switch between viewing documents by file type, project, case number, author, etc. Since knowledge workers each tend to have a different method for organizing documents, virtual folders can be used to accommodate these different preferences.
• FIG. 5 is a tree diagram of a folder structure in accordance with a physical folder arrangement on a hard drive. This physical folder arrangement is based on the traditional implementation of folders, which may be based on NTFS or other existing file systems. Such folders are referred to as physical folders because their structuring is based on the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. As will be described in more detail below, this is in contrast to virtual folders, which create location-independent views that allow users to manipulate files and folders in ways that are similar to those currently used for manipulating physical folders.
• As illustrated inFIG. 5, afolder400 is a “my documents” folder. At a first level, thefolder400 includesfolders410,420, and430, corresponding toClients1,2, and3, respectively. At a second level, each of thefolders410,420, and430 contain afolder411,421, and431, respectively, which each correspond to the contracts for the selected client. At a third level, each of thefolders411,421, and431 contains afolder412,422, and432, respectively, each corresponding to theyear 2001. At the third level, each of thefolders411,421, and431 also contains afolder413,423, and433, respectively, each corresponding to theyear 2002.
• It will be appreciated that a number of obstacles are presented to a user who wishes to navigate a physical folder file structure such as that illustrated inFIG. 5. For example, if the user wishes to work with all of the contracts that the user has produced, the user will first need to navigate to thefolder411 to work with the contracts forClient1, and then will have to renavigate to thefolder421 to reach the contracts forClient2, and will again have to renavigate to thefolder431 for the contracts forClient3. This arrangement makes it difficult for the user to access all of the contracts, and in general prevents simultaneous viewing and manipulation of all of the contracts. Similarly, if the user wishes to view all of the contracts produced in theyear 2001, the user will have to navigate and renavigate to thefolders412,422, and432, respectively. As will be described in more detail below, the virtual folders of the present invention provide an improved file system structure.
• FIG. 6 is a tree diagram of a virtual folder structure. As will be described in more detail below, virtual folders create location-independent views that allow users to manipulate their files and folders in convenient ways. As shown inFIG. 6, the virtual folders are represented as stacks. Avirtual folder500 is an “all items” folder. At a first level, thevirtual folder500 containsvirtual folders510,520, and530, corresponding to clients, contracts, and year, respectively. As will be described in more detail below, this structure allows a user to access files according to a desired parameter.
• FIG. 7 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure ofFIG. 6, wherein at a second level, thevirtual folder510 further includesvirtual folders511 and512, which correspond to contracts and year, respectively. In other words, the clients stack ofvirtual folder510 is further filtered by contracts and year. The process for determining which files and items are contained in each of the virtual folders will be described in more detail below.
• FIG. 8 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure ofFIG. 7, wherein at a third level, thevirtual folder511 contains avirtual folder513, which corresponds to a year. In other words, the contracts stack ofvirtual folder511 is further filtered by year. While the virtual folder structure for thevirtual folders510,511, and513 have been structured according to clients, contracts, and year, it will be appreciated that the virtual folders allow for other structuring sequences to occur, as will be described in more detail below with reference toFIG. 9.
• FIG. 9 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure ofFIG. 6, wherein at a second level, thevirtual folder520 has been further filtered intovirtual folders521 and522, corresponding to clients and year. At a third level, thevirtual folder521 has further been filtered to avirtual folder523, corresponding to a year. The contrast between the organizational structures ofFIGS. 8 and 9 helps illustrate the flexibility of the virtual folder system. In other words, in a virtual folder system, a user is able to navigate the virtual folders according to desired parameters, as opposed to being dependent on the location-dependent views of a physical file structure such as that illustrated inFIG. 5.
• FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrative of ascreen display600 showing the stacks of a document library. As noted above, stacks can be used to represent a type of virtual folder. As will be described in more detail below, thescreen display600 includes quick link elements610-613, filter elements620-626, activity elements630-633, information and control elements640-645, and virtual folder stacks651-655.
• The quick link elements include an “all categories”quick link610, on “all authors”quick link611, a “January work”quick link612, and a selection for displaying additionalquick links613. As will be described in more detail below, quick links can be selected by a user to perform desired navigations of the virtual folders. Quick links may be provided by the system, and some quick links may be created and saved by a user.
• The filter elements include a “filter by”indicator620, an entry blank621, a “by date”indicator622, a “year”selector623, a “pick an author”selector624, a “pick a category”selector625, and a “more filters”selector626. The “filter by”indicator620 directs a user to the fact that the items below can be used to filter the virtual folders or items. The entry blank621 provides an area in which a user can type a desired new filter term. The “by date”indicator622 directs a user to the fact that by selecting a date from the “year”selector623, the virtual folders or items can be filtered by the selected year. The “pick an author”selector624 allows a user to filter according to a specific author. The “pick a category”selector625 allows a user to filter according to a selected category. The “more filters”selector626 allows a user to pull up additional filters on the display.
• The activity selectors include a “create a new category”selector630, “activity”selectors631 and632, and a “more activities”selector633. As will be described in more detail below, the activities that are presented may be for generally desirable functions, or may more specifically be directed to activities useful for the type of virtual folders that are currently being displayed. For example, the “create a new category”selector630 can be selected by the user to create a new category which will be represented by a new stack.
• As noted above, theactivity selectors631 and632 may be more specifically directed to the type of folders or items that are being displayed. For example, the present display is of a document library, for which the “activity”selectors631 and632 may be directed to activities specifically tailored for documents, such as editing or creating attachments. If the present library had been a photo library, the “activity”selector631 and632 could be for activities specifically directed to photos, such as forming photo albums or sharing photos with other users.
• The information and control elements includeinformation lines640 and641, acontrol line642, abackspace control643, andinformation lines644 and645. The information lines640 and641 provide information as to the current navigation of the virtual folders or items. In the present example, theinformation line640 indicates that the current navigation is to a document library, while theinformation line641 indicates the more complete navigation, showing that the document library is within the storage area. Thecontrol line642 provides a number of standard controls, and thebackspace button643 allows a user to back up through a navigation. Theinformation line644 provides numerical information about the contents of the present navigation. In the present example, theinformation line644 indicates that there are 41 items which take up 100 MB in the stacks of the document library. Theinformation line645 is available to provide additional information, such as additional information about a file that is selected.
• The stacks of the document library include an “ABC Corp.”stack651, a “backups stack”652, a “business plans”stack653, an “XYZ Corp.”stack654, and a “marketing reports”stack655. The numbers on top of each of the stacks indicate how many items are in each stack. For example, the “ABC Corp.”stack651 is shown to include 8 items. The total number of items of the stacks adds up to the number of items indicated in theinformation line644, which as described above is 41 in the present example. A selection box SB is provided which can be utilized by a user to select a desired item. The selection of the “ABC Corp.”stack651 yields a view of the items of that stack, as will be described below with respect toFIG. 11.
• FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display showing the items in the “ABC Corp.”stack651 ofFIG. 10. It should be noted that theinformation lines640 and641 now indicate that the present navigation is showing the “ABC Corp.” stack. The “ABC Corp.”stack651 is shown to include 8 documents751-758, corresponding to documents1-8, respectively. Theinformation line644 correspondingly indicates that there are 8 items which take up 20 MB of memory. Documents ofFIG. 11 may be further arranged into stacks within the ABC Corp. stack. In other words, within the virtual folder represented by theABC Corp. stack651, additional virtual folders may be organized to hold the documents, as will be described below with respect toFIGS. 12-16.
• FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a stacking function is selected for the documents ofFIG. 11. As shown inFIG. 12, the user is able to pull up afunction box760. Thefunction box760 includes a “view”selection761, an “arrange icons by”selection762, a “stacks”selection763, a “refresh”selection764, an “open containing folders”selection765, a “cut”selection766, a “copy”selection767, an “undo”selection768, a “new”selection769, and a “properties”selection770. The selection box SB is shown to be around the “stacks”selection763.
• FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a “stack by author” parameter is selected for the stacking function ofFIG. 12. As shown inFIG. 13, abox780 is displayed which presents various stacking options. The stacking options include an “unstack”option781, a “stack by category”option782, a “stack by author”option783, and a “stack by a user”option784. The selection box SB is shown to be around the “stack by author”option783.
• FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the files ofFIG. 13 have been stacked by author. As shown inFIG. 14,stacks791 and792 correspond to authors Bob and Lisa, respectively. As indicated by the numbers on top of each of the stacks, theBob stack791 includes two items, while theLisa stack792 includes five items. The item758 (corresponding to document8) did not have an author, and so is not included in an “author” stack. Thestacks791 and792 illustrate that stacks may be organized at multiple levels, such as within the “ABC Corp.”stack651. Thus, the virtual folders may be formed at multiple levels, such as the “Lisa”stack792 being within the “ABC Corp.”stack651 which is within the document library.
• FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a “stack by category” option is further selected for restacking the files ofFIG. 14. As shown inFIG. 15, the selection box SB is around the “stack by category”option782. Since some of the items are already stacked in thestacks791 and792, the selection of the “stack by category”option782 will restack the items, as will be described in more detail below with reference toFIG. 16.
• FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the files ofFIG. 14 are restacked by category. As shown inFIG. 16, thestacks793 and794 correspond to the “XYZ Corp.” and “marketing reports” categories, respectively. Theitems751 and752, corresponding todocuments1 and2, were not designated for any additional categories, and thus did not fall into any of the other category stacks.
• FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a quick link for physical folders is selected. The selection box SB is shown to be around the “all folders”quick link616. As will be described in more detail below with respect toFIG. 18, the “all folders”quick link616 provides for switching to a view of physical folders.
• FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display showing physical folders. The physical folders that are shown contain the files of the virtual folder stacks ofFIG. 17. In other words, the items contained within the stacks651-655 ofFIG. 17 are also contained in certain physical folders in the system. These are shown inFIG. 18 as a “My Documents”folder851 that is located on the present computer, a “Desktop”folder852 that is located on the present computer, a “Foo”folder853 that is located on the hard drive C:, a “My Files”folder854 that is located on a server, an “External Drive”folder855 that is located on an external drive, a “My Documents”folder856 that is located on another computer, and a “Desktop” folder857 that is located on another computer.
• As shown inFIG. 18, a user is able to switch from the virtual files representation ofFIG. 17 to the physical file representation ofFIG. 18. This allows a user to toggle between virtual file representations and physical file representations, depending on which is desired for a current task. The different locations of the physical folders851-857 also illustrate that the scope of the virtual file system may be relatively broad, as will be described in more detail below.
• FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine880 by which a user can directly manipulate virtual folders. As will be described in more detail below, the mechanisms that are provided for manipulating the virtual folders are similar to those that are currently used for manipulating regular folders (e.g., clicking and dragging, copying, pasting, etc.). As shown inFIG. 19, at ablock882, the system provides defined actions that the user can perform for direct manipulation of the virtual folders that are represented as display objects. At ablock884, the user performs a defined action. As noted above, one example of this might be a user clicking and dragging a virtual folder to copy its contents to another virtual folder. At ablock886, the virtual folder and/or contents are manipulated as directed by the action performed by the user.
• FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a newWest Coast stack656 has been added to the stacks ofFIG. 10. TheWest Coast stack656 was formed by a user creating a new category of “West Coast.” Upon its initial creation, the newWest Coast stack656 would be empty and have zero items. In the embodiment ofFIG. 20, two items have been added to theWest Coast stack656. One method for adding items to a stack is to select a particular item, and either modify or add additional categories to the category metadata for the item, such as adding the category “West Coast” to two items as was done in the embodiment ofFIG. 20. This process illustrates that the category data is a metadata property for an item that is a type of ad-hoc property. In other words, a property of this type does not have any implicit meaning, and can be assigned an arbitrary value by the user. For example, the category “property” can have any value whereas the “author” property should be the name of a person. As will be described in more detail below with reference toFIG. 21, items may also be clicked and dragged to be copied from other stacks to the West Coast stack656 (in which case the categories of the items are automatically updated to include “West Coast”). In this regard,FIG. 20 shows that the selection box SB is around theABC Corp. stack651, in preparation for its contents being copied.
• FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which direct manipulation is used for copying the files from the ABC Corp. stack651 to theWest Coast stack656. In other words, as shown inFIG. 20, the user selected theABC Corp. stack651, and then as shown inFIG. 21 the user has clicked and dragged the stack to be copied to theWest Coast stack656. Thus, theWest Coast stack656 which had two items inFIG. 20, is now shown to include a total of ten items, including the additional eight items from theABC Corp. stack651. When the items from theABC Corp. stack651 were copied to theWest Coast stack656, this was accomplished by modifying the category descriptions of the eight items to also include the “West Coast” category in addition to including the original “ABC Corp.” category. This illustrates one type of direct manipulation that may be performed.
• Another example of direct manipulation is right clicking an item and selecting delete. In one embodiment, when a deleting function is selected by a user, the user is queried whether the item should be deleted all together, or simply removed from the present virtual folder. If the item is just to be removed from a present virtual folder category stack as noted above, this can be accomplished by removing the desired category from the metadata for the item. In other words, if one of the items that had been copied from the ABC Corp. stack651 to theWest Coast stack656 was then to be removed from theWest Coast stack656, this could be accomplished by modifying the category data for the particular file to no longer include the “West Coast” category.
• FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine900 for the system dynamically generating new filter terms. Filter terms are utilized for manipulating the virtual folders. The filtering terms are essentially utilized as a set of tools for narrowing down a set of items. In one embodiment, filters consist of metadata categories and their values (presented to the user in the user interface as clickable links or drop-down menus). The user clicks on a filter term in order to filter down the current results set of items on the display.
• FIG. 22 illustrates how filters may be dynamically generated. As shown inFIG. 22, at ablock902, the properties (from the metadata) of the items in a collection on the present display are reviewed. In ablock904, proposed filter terms are dynamically generated based on common properties of the items. At ablock906, the proposed filter terms are presented to the user for possible selection for filtering items. As an example of this process, the system may review the properties of a set of items, and if the items generally have “Authors” as a property, the filter can provide a list of the authors to filter by. Then, by clicking on a particular Author, the items that don't have that Author are removed from the set on the display. This filtering process provides the user with a mechanism for narrowing the set of items on the display.
• FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine920 for the system filtering items based on the selection of a filter term. At ablock922, the user either enters a new filter term or else selects one of the filter terms that have been presented by the system. As noted above, the filter terms may be dynamically generated by the system, or they may be preset. At ablock924, the items from the collection on the display are evaluated with regard to whether their selected properties match the filter term. For example, if the filter term is for items that were authored by “Bob,” then the items are evaluated in accordance with whether their author property includes “Bob”. Atblock926, the items for which the selected properties do not match the filter term are removed from the collection on the display.
• FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the stacks ofFIG. 10 have been filtered by the term “AB”. As shown, in thefilter area621, the term “AB” has been typed by a user. The information lines640 and641 indicate that the items in the display are now those that have been filtered by the term “AB”. As shown, theABC Corp. stack651 still contains eight items, while the Backups stack652 now contains three items, and the XYZ Corp. stack654 also contains three items. Theinformation line644 thus indicates that there are a total of 14 items, taking up a total of 35 MB of memory.
• FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the stacks ofFIG. 10 have been filtered by the term “ABC”. With regard to the filter term “AB” ofFIG. 24, the user has simply typed the additional letter “C” to make the total filter term “ABC”. As shown inFIG. 25, theinformation lines640 and641 now indicate that the items on the display are those that contain the term “ABC”. TheABC Corp. stack651 is still shown to contain eight items, while the Backups stack652 now contains only two items. Theinformation line644 now indicates that there are a total of 10 items in the stacks on the display, which take up a total of 25 MB of memory.FIGS. 24 and 25 thus provide examples of how a user may enter new filter terms, and how those filter terms are then used to filter the items that are shown on the display.
• FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the system provided filter term “year 2002” is selected. As noted above, under the bydate indicator622, theyear selections623 include theyears 2000, 2001, or 2002. The selection box SB is shown to be around theyear 2002, indicating that the user is selecting that as the desired filter term.
• FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which the filter term “2002” has been applied. Also shown is the further selection of the “pick a month”selector623A. As shown inFIG. 27, after applying the filter term “2002”, the number of items in the stacks have been reduced. More specifically, theABC Corp. stack651 now contains six items, theBackups stack652 now contains eight items, the Business Plans stack653 now contains three items, and the XYZ Corp. stack654 now contains five items. Theinformation line644 now indicates a total of 22 items, taking up a total of 50 MB of memory. The information lines640 and641 now indicate that the items shown on the display are those that have been filtered to contain the filter term “2002”.
• FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a list is presented for selecting a month for filtering. Abox950 is provided which includes the list of the months. Thebox950 has been provided on the display due to the user selecting the “pick a month”selector623A. The selection box SB is shown to be around the month of January.
• FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display wherein the stacks ofFIG. 28 have been further filtered by the month of January, and further showing a filter term of “day”. As shown inFIG. 29, theinformation lines640 and641 now indicate that the items on the display are those that have been filtered by the term “January”. The Backups stack652 is now shown to contain two items, while the Business Plans stack653 is also shown to contain two items. Theinformation line644 indicates that there are a total of four items on the display, which take up a total of 10 MB of memory. A “pick by day”selector623B is provided, should the user wish to further filter the results to a specific day.
• FIG. 30 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine940 for creating a new quick link. As will be described in more detail below, quick links are predefined links that can be clicked on by a user to create user selected views of the sets of items. In one embodiment, a quick link may be thought of as a type of pivot. Quick links provide a mechanism for retrieving a virtual folder. Clicking a quick link can take a user to a desired folder (in the same way that clicking a “favorites” may take a user to a Web site. The quick links can be predefined by the system, or can be set by a user. For example, clicking on “all authors” could return a view stacked by authors. Clicking on “all documents” may return a flat view for all of the documents for all of the storage areas. Users can also create their own quick links.
• As shown inFIG. 30, at ablock942, a user makes a selection on the display to indicate that a new quick link should be formed from the present filter term or navigation. At ablock944, the user provides a new name for the new quick link. At ablock946, the new quick link is saved and the new quick link name is provided in the quick link section on the display.
• FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display for creating a new quick link called “January Work” based on the filtering ofFIG. 29. As described above, inFIG. 29, the stacks have been filtered by the month of January. InFIG. 31, the user has indicated that the filtering ofFIG. 29 should be saved as a new quick link, and has named the new quick link “January work”. Thus, the new January workquick link612 is shown in the quick links section of the display. With regard to forming new quick links, the user is generally provided with an option such as “save this collection as a quick link”.
• FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a quick link of “All Authors” is selected. As shown inFIG. 32, the selection box SB is shown around theAll Authors selection611. Other examples of collections that might be accessible by quick links include “all authors”, “recent documents”, “all documents I've shared”, “all documents I've authored”, “all documents not authored by me”, “desktop”, and “all types”.
• FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a list of all of the authors of the items ofFIG. 32 is presented. As shown inFIG. 33, aninformation line950 is provided, which indicates columns for showing the name of an item, the author, the modified date, the type, the size, and the location of an item. A list of Authors951-954 are shown, corresponding to Authors1-4, respectively.
• FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which “Author1” has been selected from the list ofFIG. 33. TheAuthor1's documents include documents951A and951B, corresponding todocuments1 and2, respectively. The document951A is shown to have been authored byAuthor1, was modified on 11 Jul., 2001, is a Microsoft Excel file, takes up 282 Kb of memory, and was obtained from the location \\server1\folder2. The document951B is shown to have been authored byAuthor1, was modified on 22 Dec., 2002, is a Microsoft Word file, takes up 206 kilobytes of memory, and is physically stored in the location My Documents\folder1. The locations of the documents951A and951B also illustrate that the virtual folders of the present invention may contain items from different physical locations, as will be described in more detail below.
• FIG. 35 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine960 for creating a new library. One example of a library is the documents library described above with reference toFIG. 10. In general, libraries consist of large groups of usable types of files that can be associated together. For example, photos may be one library, music may be another, and documents may be another. Libraries may provide tools and activities that are related to the particular types of items. For example, in the photo library, there may be tools and filters that relate to manipulating photos, such as for creating slide shows or sharing pictures. As shown inFIG. 35, at ablock962, a new library is created which is to include items with selected characteristics. At ablock964, the selected items are grouped into the library. At ablock966, the tools and/or activities related to the selected characteristics of the items or to other desired functions are provided.
• FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display in which a collection of available libraries are shown. As shown inFIG. 36, the libraries include a documents library971, a photos andvideo library972, amusic library973, amessages library974, acontacts library975, and a TV andmovies library976, as well as an allitems library977. The allitems library977 is shown to include 275 items, which is the total number of items from all of the other libraries combined. Theinformation line644 indicates a total of 275 items, which take up a total of 700 MB of memory. It should be noted that the documents library971 is the library that was described above with respect toFIG. 10.
• FIG. 37 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine990 for defining the scope of a virtual folder collection. As will be described in more detail below, a virtual folder system is able to represent items from multiple physical locations (e.g., different hard drives, different computers, different networks locations, etc.) so that to a user, all of the items are readily accessible. For example, a user can be presented with music files from multiple physical locations on a single display, and manipulate the files all at once.
• As shown inFIG. 37, at ablock992, a scope is defined for the physical locations from which items are to be drawn. At ablock994, in response to a query, the items are drawn from the physical locations as defined in the scope. At ablock996, all of the items drawn by the query are presented on a single display.
• FIG. 38 is a block diagram illustrative of the various sources which may form the scope of a virtual folder collection. As shown inFIG. 38, thesystem1000 may include apresent computer1010, anadditional computer1020, external andremovable storage1030, and locations on anetwork1040. Theoverall scope1001 is described as including all of the physical locations from which a user's items are drawn to create collections. The scope may be set and modified by a user. As noted above, other figures have illustrated that items may come from different physical locations, such asFIG. 34 showing different documents coming from a server and a My Documents folder on a present computer, and inFIG. 18 showing physical folders that are physically stored in multiple locations.
• FIG. 39 is a flow diagram illustrative of a routine1080 for including non-file items in a virtual folder collection. Non-file items are contrasted with file items that are typically located in a physical file storage. Examples of non-file items would be things like e-mails, or contacts. As shown inFIG. 39, at a block1082 a database is utilized to include non-file items along with file items that may be searched by a query. At ablock1084, in response to a query, both non-file items and file items are drawn to match the query. At ablock1086, both the non-file items and the file items that matched the query are presented on the display.
• FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrative of a screen display showing various non-file items. As shown inFIG. 40, the items have been filtered to those that include “John”. The items are shown to include acontact item1101, ane-mail item1102, anddocument items1103 and1104. Thecontact item1101 ande-mail item1102 are non-file items. The present system allows such non-file items to be included with regular file items, such that they can be organized and manipulated as desired by a user. As was described above with respect toFIG. 2, such non-file items may be contained entirely within therelational database230, which otherwise includes information about the properties of files.
• While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (20)

1. A method of exposing items having associated metadata properties, the method comprising:

receiving a first metadata property that describes at least a portion of file items including a first file item stored in a first physical location and a second file item stored in a second physical location;

within a database, searching for one or more items that have the first metadata property, the database storing metadata properties of a plurality of file items each of which is stored within one of a plurality of physical memory locations and storing a plurality of non-file items;

obtaining the one or more items that have the selected first metadata property, wherein file items are obtained from the corresponding physical memory location at which the file item is stored and non-file items are obtained from the database at which the non-file items are stored; and

providing within a file system user interface a first virtual folder that represents the one or more items that have the first metadata property, the first virtual folder exposing the first file item and the second file item despite physical locations of the first and second file items.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a user can simultaneously manipulate the one or more items having the first metadata property by manipulating the first virtual folder, and wherein manipulating the first virtual folder comprises clicking and dragging, copying, or pasting the first virtual folder.

3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein clicking and dragging can be used to copy the one or more items from the first virtual folder to a second virtual folder, and when items are copied a selected metadata property of the second virtual folder is automatically added to each of the items copied from the first virtual folder.

4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a plurality of virtual folders are provided on a display, each virtual folder representing a collection of items that have a selected metadata property.

5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein an addition of the first metadata property to a third item also causes the third item to be added to the first virtual folder that is based on the selected first metadata property.

6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a filter is provided on a display that can be selected by a user to filter items based on a metadata property specified by the filter, said filter displayed concurrently with the first virtual folder.

7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a quick link is provided on a display that can be selected by a user to view a specified collection of items.

8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first and second physical locations comprise a present computer and at least one of a different computer, a location on a network, and an external storage device.

9. A method of exposing items, the items having associated metadata properties, the method comprising:

referencing a first metadata property that describes file items stored within a plurality of physical memory locations and non-file items stored within a database, the database storing metadata properties of the file items stored within the plurality of physical memory locations;

searching in the database for one or more file items and one or more non-file items that have the selected first metadata property utilizing a computing process;

obtaining the one or more file items and the one or more non-file items that have the selected first metadata property, wherein each of the one or more file items is obtained from a physical memory location at which the file item is stored and each of the one or more non-file items is obtained from the database at which the non-file item is stored; and

providing within a file system user interface a first virtual folder that represents a collection of the one or more file items and the one or more non-file items that have the first metadata property, wherein the first virtual folder exposes the one or more file items and the one or more non-file items having the first metadata property despite physical locations of the items.

10. The method ofclaim 9 further comprising receiving an indication from a user, via a link, to toggle from the first virtual folder to a physical file representation.

11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the first virtual folder is represented as a stack.

12. The method ofclaim 9, wherein a second metadata property is selected to create a second virtual folder within the first virtual folder, the one or more file items and the one or more non-file items that are in the first virtual folder being further searched to determine if they have the second metadata property, the second virtual folder representing a collection of the file items and non-file items within the first virtual folder that have the second metadata property.

13. The method ofclaim 9, wherein a user can make changes to the one or more file items and the one or more non-file items through direct manipulation of the first virtual folder.

14. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the searching is based on a decision to change a pivot of a virtual folder view.

15. A non-volatile computer-readable storage medium having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a computer-implemented method of exposing items having associated metadata properties, the method comprising:

referencing a first metadata property, wherein the first metadata property describes one or more file items, each of the one or more file items comprising a file or a folder including a first file item stored in a first physical location and a second file item stored in a second physical location;

searching for items, within a database, that have the first metadata property, the database storing metadata properties of the one or more file items that are stored within one or more physical memory locations and storing non-file items;

drawing the items that have the first metadata property, wherein file items are drawn from the corresponding physical memory location at which the file item is stored and non-file items are drawn from the database at which the non-file items are stored; and

providing a first virtual folder that represents a collection of items that have the first metadata property, the first virtual folder displaying the items despite physical locations of the items.

16. The method ofclaim 15 further comprising creating a second virtual folder within the first virtual folder.

17. The method ofclaim 15 further comprising implementing direct manipulation of the first virtual folder.

18. The method ofclaim 15, wherein a user can simultaneously manipulate the collection of items by manipulating the first virtual folder, and wherein manipulating the first virtual folder comprises clicking and dragging, copying, or pasting the first virtual folder.

19. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the first and second physical locations comprise a present computer and at least one of a different computer, a location on a network, and an external storage device.

20. The method ofclaim 15, wherein referencing the first metadata property comprises referencing the first metadata property automatically selected based on default information corresponding to the user of the computer system.

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