Display Part Of or Summarize Other Notebooks

Question

How might I display parts of(or basically summarizing) one Notebook from parts of several other Notebooks?

This isn't a strict question question but more of a general/wiki question of how to organize one Notebook such that is summarizes other Notebooks.

Here is my current picture of how such a system might work and posted code below.

Answer 1

This partially satisfies the original picture. Minimize,File,Load and Refresh all work respectfully.

CellList /: MakeBoxes[CellList[list_], form_] := If[
   Length[list] > 0,
   GridBox[Map[{#} &, list]],
   ""
   ];

createFrame[] := DynamicModule[{file, cells, x, display, list, size},
   display = True;
   cells = {};
   x = HoldForm[SelectionMove[nb, All, Notebook]];
   size = 85;
   list = {
     ButtonBar[{
       "[-]" :> (
         display = ! display;
         ),
       "File" :> (
         file = SystemDialogInput["FileOpen"]
         ),
       "Load" :> (
         DialogInput[DialogNotebook[{
             InputField[Dynamic@x],
             Button["Update",
              nb = NotebookOpen[file, Visible -> False];
              ReleaseHold[x];

              cells = 
               Replace[NotebookRead[nb], Cell[x___] :> {Cell[x]}, {0}];
              NotebookClose[nb];
              DialogReturn[x]]
             }]];
         ),
       "Refresh" :> (
         nb = NotebookOpen[file, Visible -> False];
         ReleaseHold[x];
         cells = 
          Replace[NotebookRead[nb], Cell[x___] :> {Cell[x]}, {0}];
         NotebookClose[nb];
         )
       }, Method -> "Queued"]
     };
   Dynamic@Column[If[display === True,
      Append[list,
       Pane[
        CellList[cells]
        , ImageSize -> Dynamic@size, Scrollbars -> True]
       ],
      list
      ]]
   ];
Grid[{{
   createFrame[]
   }}]

Answer 2

It is not quite clear to me, what you have in mind and for which purpose. I have a solution for displaying a part of a notebook (the same or another) using a button as follows:

Button["Show it", CreateDocument[
  Notebook[{
    Cell["some explanatory text:", "Text", FontSize -> 20],

    Cell[BoxData[
      ToBoxes[Row[{TraditionalForm[
          Style["\[CapitalPhi]", 30, Italic]], 
         TraditionalForm[Style[" = ", 30, Italic]], 
         TraditionalForm[
          Style[(\[Phi] \[Tau]^2 \[Nu]^3 \[Omega] \[Theta][
             1 - \[Nu] \[Omega]])/(\[Tau]^2 \[Nu]^2 + 
             2 \[Delta] \[Nu] \[Tau] + \[Omega]^2)^2, Italic, 
           20]]}]]], TextAlignment -> Center, 
     ShowStringCharacters -> False]

               },
   Cell["some more explanatory text:", "Text", FontSize -> 20],

   WindowTitle -> "An expression", WindowSize -> {500, 300}, 
   ShowCellBracket -> False
              ]
                                                           ],

 ImageSize -> Automatic, Background -> Brown, 
 BaseStyle -> {"GenericButton", Bold}]

This creates a button, which you then copy-paste into a line of the text of your current notebook. Upon pressing it you bring up a notebook that you need to show. Hope it helps.