1. A combined particulate solid and liquid container, comprising:
a base for holding a particulate solid; and
a top removably attached to the base, said top comprising:
a reservoir for holding a liquid comprising a lower part projecting downwardly from the reservoir towards the base and forming an opening; and
a port door removably attached to the opening, said port door having an enclosure projecting upwardly from the port door and into the reservoir so that an upper end of the enclosure is disposed proximate to a top surface of the reservoir when the port door covers the opening,
wherein said enclosure contains a thermally-conductive media and
wherein said port door further comprises a second port door that has a smaller cross-sectional area than the port door and which is adapted to functionally seal and cover an opening of said enclosure.
2. A container according to claim 1, wherein an amount of particulate solid in the base is user selected or preselected.
3. A container according to claim 1, wherein an amount of liquid in the reservoir is user selected or preselected.
4. A container according to claim 1, wherein the particulate solid is selected from the group consisting of dried cereal, cookies, candies, medicine, rice, and grains.
5. A container according to claim 1, wherein said base holds an individual serving of dried breakfast cereal.
6. A container according to claim 1, wherein the liquid is selected from the group consisting of milk, juice, soda, yogurt, and medicine.
7. A container according to claim 1, wherein said base comprises an outwardly-directed rim along an upper circumferential edge of the base.
8. A container according to claim 7, wherein said top comprises a lip that engages the outwardly-directed rim of said base to form an effective seal established by a frictional interference fit.
9. A container according to claim 1, wherein said port door is attached to said lower part by a leash and collar member.
10. A container according to claim 1, wherein said port door comprises at least one perimetrically disposed lip around a bottom surface or an outer surface to engage mateable threads or indentations disposed about or on said lower part.
11. A container according to claim 1, wherein the thermally-conductive media comprises at least one of chilled water, ice, gel, a thermally-insulating liquid, or a compressible solid.
12. A container according to claim 1, wherein said top integrally forms the reservoir on a bottom side thereof.
13. A container according to claim 1, wherein said reservoir comprises a hollow, resilient member.
14. A container according to claim 1, wherein said second port door comprises perimetrically disposed threads or indentations to engage mateable threads or indentations on said opening of said enclosure.
15. A method of admixing a particulate solid and a liquid with the container of claim 1, comprising:
pressing downwardly on said top;
dislodging the port door from the opening; and
mixing the liquid with the particulate solid in the base to form a ready-to-eat composition.
16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the particulate solid comprises dried cereal and the liquid comprises milk.
17. A container according to claim 1, wherein said base holds a particulate solid and said reservoir holds a liquid.
18. A combined particulate solid and liquid container, comprising:
1) a cup-shaped base for holding a particulate solid; and
2) a dome-shaped top removably attached to and covering the base, said top comprising:
a) a first enclosure on a bottom side of the top forming a reservoir for holding a liquid, said reservoir having an opening projecting downwardly from the reservoir towards the cup-shaped base;
b) a first port door removably attached to the opening;
c) a second enclosure comprising a deformable wall formed integrally with and projecting upwardly from the first port door and into the reservoir so that an upper end of a second enclosure is disposed proximate to a top surface of the reservoir when the port door covers the opening,
wherein a second enclosure comprises a second port door that has a smaller cross-sectional area that than of the first port door, and
wherein a second enclosure contains a thermally-conductive media.
19. A combined particulate solid and liquid container according to claim 18, where in the second port door covers a lower part projecting downward from the first port door and forming an opening.
20. A method of admixing a particulate solid and a liquid with the container of claim 18, comprising:
pressing downwardly on said top;
dislodging the port door from the opening; and
mixing the liquid with the particulate solid in the base to form a ready-to-eat composition.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer-implemented method for producing a storage area network resource management report view for presentation in a graphical user interface, the method comprising:
obtaining a series of core report definitions, each core report definition defining a set of report layouts that describe visual arrangements between associations of report parameters that are related to at least one specific type of managed entity;
obtaining at least one structure definition that defines attributes of data associated with the report parameters defined in the core report definitions, wherein the at least one structure definition further includes a link definition that defines linkable report columns and link targets for report layouts defined in the series of core report definitions allowing report dependencies to exist between report layouts;
parsing the series of core report definitions in conjunction with the at least one structure definition to produce a set of report definition objects that contain references to report parameters defined according to the attributes of the at least one structure definition;
displaying a plurality of report selections in the graphical user interface, each report selection corresponding to a report layout in at least one of the core report definitions;
receiving a user selection of a report selection in the graphical user interface; and
parsing the report selection to identify the report layout identified by the report selection from which to dynamically generate the report view;
caching the report view for a predetermined amount of time upon determining that the frequency of data changes in the report view is below a predetermined threshold level;
obtaining a data set corresponding to the report layout identified by the report selection, the data set including data values to be presented as the data in the graphical user interface;
applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view; and
providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the series of core report definitions define report layouts for storage area network managed resources, each report layout identifying arrangements of report parameters including a report name, report columns and characteristics of a report for a storage area network resource including at least one of a host computer system, a host file system, a storage array, a storage switch, and network attached storage.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one structure definition includes a template definition that defines report definition templates for each report layout defined in the series of core report definitions, each report definition template containing metadata including column values and data types for report columns identified in each report layout defined in the core report definition files.
4. The method of claim 1 comprising:
identifying, in the link definition, a report layout that contains a linked report column parameter to be linked to a target report layout;
for each linked report column parameter to be linked to a target report layout, identifying a corresponding report definition object report column parameter as being linked to a report layout corresponding to the target report layout;
and wherein providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface comprises:
determining if a report column to be displayed in the report view has a corresponding report definition object report column parameter that is linked to a target report layout, and if so, displaying the data values in the report column as linked data values in a linked report column;
receiving a user selection of a linked data value in the linked report column in the report view displayed on the graphical user interface; and
in response to the user selection of a linked data value, generating and displaying a report view corresponding to the target report layout associated with the linked report column as defined by the link definition.
5. The method of claim 4 further comprising providing a hyperlink from the linked report column parameter to the target report layout.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one structure definition further includes:
a related family definition that defines at least one related grouping of report layouts that specifies related report layouts that may be selected for viewing by a user when viewing a report view corresponding to a report layout in the related grouping of report layouts.
7. The method of claim 6 comprising:
identifying, in the related family definition, a related grouping of report layouts that specify related report layouts that may be selected for viewing by a user when viewing a report view corresponding to a report layout in the related grouping of report layouts;
defining a related report object containing a list of related report layouts specified by a grouping of related report layouts in the related family definition;
and wherein providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface comprises:
displaying the related report object as a user selectable list of related report views, each related report view corresponding to a related report layout in a grouping of related report layouts in the related family definition;
receiving a user selection of a specific related report view from the related report views; and
in response to the user selection of a specific related report view, generating and displaying a report view corresponding to the specific related report view.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the core report definitions and at least one structure definition are constructed in a markup language.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining a data set corresponding to the report layout comprises:
based on the identified report layout from the user’s report selection, identifying at least one data set containing data values identified by markup language tags that corresponding to report parameters in the report layout.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view comprises:
parsing the data set to obtain report parameter tags and corresponding data values; and
during parsing, identifying report parameter tags from the data set that match report parameters in the identified report layout from the user’s report selection, and for each matching report parameter and report parameter tag, storing a data value from the data set associated with that report parameter tag to a corresponding storage location in a report definition object associated with the report layout.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein identifying report parameter tags and storing a data value from the at least one data set associated with that report parameter tag comprises:
identifying a table tag in the at least one data set that indicates the start of a table of data value associated with the identified report layout, the table tag defining a plurality of column tags having associated tagged data values;
for each column tag associated with the table tag, identifying column tags that match report column parameters specified in the identified report layout; and
for each column tag in the at least one data set that matched a report column parameter in the report layout, storing associated data values for that column tag to a corresponding storage location in a report definition object associated with the report layout, such that data values associated with column tags corresponding to a report layout are stored within data value storage areas corresponding to the report definition objects for presentation as the at least one report view in the graphical user interface.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein storing a data value from the at least one data set associated with that report parameter tag further comprises:
generating a markup language report view containing the data values stored within storage locations in the report definition objects; and
wherein providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface comprises:
rendering the markup language report view in the graphical user interface for the user such that the user is presented with data values from the at least one data set that correspond to report parameter information defined in the user identified report view.
13. The method of claim 1 comprising:
receiving a user custom report layout definition by performing the operations of:
receiving a user selection of columns available for inclusion into the user custom report layout;
receiving a user sort option by which to sort the user selected columns in the user custom report layout;
saving the user selection of columns and the user sort option in a user custom report layout;
receiving a selection of the user custom report layout for display as a report view on the graphical user interface; and
in response to the selection of user custom report layout, generating and providing a report view corresponding to the user custom report layout for display within a graphical user interface.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein receiving a selection of the user custom report layout for display as a report view on the graphical user interface comprises:
receiving a report view type selection specifying the report view to be presented including a graph.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein, in response to the selection of user custom report layout, generating and providing a report view corresponding to the user custom report layout for display within a graphical user interface comprises:
in response to receiving the report view type selection, displaying the data set as a graph.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view comprises:
extracting data values from the data set using at least one technique, the at least one technique including a markup language transformation processing technique;
processing the data values to produce a graphical view of relationships expressed within the data values, the graphical view including at least one of a tree view of relationships between the data values, a table view of the relationships between the data values, and a pictorial view of the relationships between the data values; and
storing the graphical view of the relationships as a report view file in a markup language format.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the markup language format is at least one of
i) hypertext markup language;
ii) extensible markup language; and
iii) a comma separated value markup language.
18. The method of claim 16 comprising:
receiving a selection of data in a displayed report view;
sorting data in the displayed report view according to the selected data; and
causing the report view to be redisplayed according to the sorted data in the report view.
19. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
identifying, in the link definition, a report layout that contains a linked report column parameter to be linked to a target report layout;
for each linked report column parameter to be linked to a target report layout, identifying a corresponding report definition object report column parameter as being linked to a report layout corresponding to the target report layout; and
wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
determining if a report column to be displayed in the report view has a corresponding report definition object report column parameter that is linked to a target report layout, and if so, displaying the data values in the report column as linked data values in a linked report column;
receiving a user selection of a linked data value in the linked report column in the report view displayed on the graphical user interface; and
in response to the user selection of a linked data value, generating and displaying a report view corresponding to the target report layout associated with the linked report column as defined by the link definition.
20. The method of claim 1 wherein the report parameters that specify a report layout for presentation are stored within the element data of an XML file.
21. The method of claim 1,
wherein applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view comprises:
extracting data values from the data set using at least one technique, the at least one technique including a markup language transformation processing technique;
processing the data values to produce a graphical view of relationships expressed within the data values, the graphical view including at least one of a tree view of relationships between the data values, a table view of the relationships between the data values, and a pictorial view of the relationships between the data values; and
storing the graphical view of the relationships as a report view file in a markup language format.
22. A computer system comprising:
a memory;
a processor;
a communications interface;
an interconnection mechanism coupling the memory, the processor and the communications interface;
wherein the memory is encoded with a report generator application that when performed on the processor, provides a report generator process for producing a storage area network resource management report view for presentation in a graphical user interface, the report generator process causing the computer system to perform the operations of:
obtaining a series of core report definitions, each core report definition defining a set of report layouts that describe visual arrangements between associations of report parameters that are related to at least one specific type of managed entity;
obtaining at least one structure definition that defines attributes of data associated with the report parameters defined in the core report definitions, wherein the at least one structure definition further includes a link definition that defines linkable report columns and link targets for report layouts defined in the series of core report definitions allowing report dependencies to exist between report layouts;
parsing the series of core report definitions in conjunction with the at least one structure definition to produce a set of report definition objects that contain references to report parameters defined according to the attributes of the at least one structure definition;
displaying a plurality of report selections in the graphical user interface, each report selection corresponding to a report layout in at least one of the core report definitions;
receiving a user selection of a report selection in the graphical user interface;
parsing the report selection to identify the report layout identified by the report selection from which to dynamically generate the report view obtaining a data set corresponding to the report layout identified by the report selection, the data set including data values to be presented as the data in the graphical user interface;
caching the report view for a predetermined amount of time upon determining that the frequency of data changes in the report view is below a predetermined threshold level;
applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view; and
providing, via the communications interface, the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface.
23. The computer system of claim 22 wherein:
the series of core report definitions define report layouts for storage area network managed resources, each report layout identifying arrangements of report parameters including a report name, report columns and characteristics of a report for a storage area network resource including at least one of a host computer system, a host file system, a storage array, a storage switch, and network attached storage.
24. The computer system of claim 22 wherein:
the at least one structure definition includes a template definition that defines report definition templates for each report layout defined in the series of core report definitions, each report definition template containing metadata including column values and data types for report columns identified in each report layout defined in the core report definition files.
25. The computer system of claim 22 wherein the at least one structure definition further includes:
a related family definition that defines at least one related grouping of report layouts that specifies related report layouts that may be selected for viewing by a user when viewing a report view corresponding to a report layout in the related grouping of report layouts.
26. The computer system of claim 25 wherein the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
identifying, in the related family definition, a related grouping of report layouts that specify related report layouts that may be selected for viewing by a user when viewing a report view corresponding to a report layout in the related grouping of report layouts;
defining a related report object containing a list of related report layouts specified by a grouping of related report layouts in the related family definition; and
wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
displaying the related report object as a user selectable list of related report views, each related report view corresponding to a related report layout in a grouping of related report layouts in the related family definition;
receiving a user selection of a specific related report view from the related report views; and
in response to the user selection of a specific related report view, generating and displaying a report view corresponding to the specific related report view.
27. The computer system of claim 22 wherein the core report definitions and at least one structure definition are constructed in a markup language.
28. The computer system of claim 22 wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of obtaining a data set corresponding to the report layout, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of:
based on the identified report layout from the user’s report selection, identifying at least one data set containing data values identified by markup language tags that corresponding to report parameters in the report layout.
29. The computer system of claim 28 wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
parsing the data set to obtain report parameter tags and corresponding data values; and
during parsing, identifying report parameter tags from the data set that match report parameters in the identified report layout from the user’s report selection, and for each matching report parameter and report parameter tag, storing a data value from the data set associated with that report parameter tag to a corresponding storage location in a report definition object associated with the report layout.
30. The computer system of claim 29 wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of identifying report parameter tags and storing a data value from the at least one data set associated with that report parameter tag, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
identifying a table tag in the at least one data set that indicates the start of a table of data value associated with the identified report layout, the table tag defining a plurality of column tags having associated tagged data values;
for each column tag associated with the table tag, identifying column tags that match report column parameters specified in the identified report layout; and
for each column tag in the at least one data set that matched a report column parameter in the report layout, storing associated data values for that column tag to a corresponding storage location in a report definition object associated with the report layout, such that data values associated with column tags corresponding to a report layout are stored within data value storage areas corresponding to the report definition objects for presentation as the at least one report view in the graphical user interface.
31. The computer system of claim 30 wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of storing a data value from the at least one data set associated with that report parameter tag further, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of:
generating a markup language report view containing the data values stored within storage locations in the report definition objects; and
wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of:
rendering the markup language report view in the graphical user interface for the user such that the user is presented with data values from the at least one data set that correspond to report parameter information defined in the user identified report view.
32. The computer system of claim 22 wherein the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
receiving a user custom report layout definition by performing the operations of:
receiving a user selection of columns available for inclusion into the user custom report layout;
receiving a user sort option by which to sort the user selected columns in the user custom report layout;
saving the user selection of columns and the user sort option in a user custom report layout; and
wherein the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
receiving a selection of the user custom report layout for display as a report view on the graphical user interface; and
in response to the selection of user custom report layout, generating and providing a report view corresponding to the user custom report layout for display within a graphical user interface.
33. The computer system of claim 22 wherein when the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operation of applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view, the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
extracting data values from the data set using at least one technique, the at least one technique including a markup language transformation processing technique;
processing the data values to produce a graphical view of relationships expressed within the data values, the graphical view including at least one of a tree view of relationships between the data values, a table view of the relationships between the data values, and a pictorial view of the relationships between the data values; and
storing the graphical view of the relationships as a report view file in a markup language format.
34. The computer system of claim 33 wherein the markup language format is at least one of
i) hypertext markup language;
ii) extensible markup language; and
iii) a comma separated value markup language.
35. The computer system of claim 33 wherein the report generator process causes the computer system to perform the operations of:
receiving a selection of data in a displayed report view;
sorting data in the displayed report view according to the selected data; and
causing the report view to be redisplayed according to the sorted data in the report view.
36. The computer system of claim 22 wherein the report parameters that specify a report layout for presentation are stored within the element data of an XML file.
37. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium including computer program logic encoded thereon that, when executed on a computer system provides a method for producing a storage area network resource management report view for presentation in a graphical user interface by causing the computer system to perform the operations of:
obtaining a series of core report definitions, each core report definition defining a set of report layouts that describe visual arrangements between associations of report parameters that are related to at least one specific type of managed entity;
obtaining at least one structure definition that defines attributes of data associated with the report parameters defined in the core report definitions, wherein the at least one structure definition further includes a link definition that defines linkable report columns and link targets for report layouts defined in the series of core report definitions allowing report dependencies to exist between report layouts;
parsing the series of core report definitions in conjunction with the at least one structure definition to produce a set of report definition objects that contain references to report parameters defined according to the attributes of the at least one structure definition;
displaying a plurality of report selections in the graphical user interface, each report selection corresponding to a report layout in at least one of the core report definitions;
receiving a user selection of a report selection in the graphical user interface;
parsing the report selection to identify the report layout identified by the report selection from which to dynamically generate the report view obtaining a data set corresponding to the report layout identified by the report selection, the data set including data values to be presented as the data in the graphical user interface;
caching the report view for a predetermined amount of time upon determining that the frequency of data changes in the report view is below a predetermined threshold level;
applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view; and
providing the at least one report view for rendering in the graphical user interface.
38. A computer-implemented method for producing a storage area network resource management report view for presentation in a graphical user interface, the method comprising:
obtaining a series of core report definitions, each core report definition defining a set of report layouts that describe visual arrangements between associations of report parameters that are related to at least one specific type of managed entity;
obtaining at least one structure definition that defines attributes of data associated with the report parameters defined in the core report definitions, the at least one structure definition including a link definition that defines linkable report columns and link targets for report layouts defined in the series of core report definitions allowing report dependencies to exist between report layouts; and
parsing the series of core report definitions in conjunction with the at least one structure definition to produce a set of report definition objects that contain references to report parameters defined according to the attributes of the at least one structure definition;
displaying a plurality of report selections in the graphical user interface, each report selection corresponding to a report layout in at least one of the core report definitions;
receiving a user selection of a report selection in the graphical user interface; and
parsing the report selection to identify the report layout identified by the report selection from which to dynamically generate the report view;
caching the report view for a predetermined amount of time upon determining that the frequency of data changes in the report view is below a predetermined threshold level;
obtaining a data set corresponding to the report layout identified by the report selection, the data set including data values to be presented as the data in the graphical user interface; and
applying the data values in the data set to the report parameters corresponding to the report selection to populate the report layout identified by the report selection to dynamically generate the report view, the step of applying the data values including extracting data values from the data set using at least on technique, the at least one technique including a markup language transformation processing technique.