Method and system for automated simulation of dynamic URL-based Web application

• US 20040205490A1
• Filed: 05/17/2001
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Haeuptle, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,581,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/501.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links

Abstract

A method and system are described for simulating a dynamic link between electronic documents located in a computer network. In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a first dynamic link is selected that leads from a first electronic document to a second electronic document. The position of the first dynamic link is located within a first set of instructions used to render the first electronic document. A navigation point associated with the first dynamic link is identified in the first set of instructions. The navigation point is then stored.

Claims

1. A method for simulating a dynamic link between electronic documents located in a computer network, comprising the steps of:

selecting a first dynamic link that leads from a first electronic document to a second electronic document;

locating, within a first set of instructions used to render the first electronic document, a position of the first dynamic link;

identifying, in the first set of instructions, a navigation point associated with the first dynamic link; and

storing the navigation point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second electronic documents are HyperText Markup Language (HTML) web pages.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of locating comprises:

searching for HTML anchors within the first set of instructions that contain the first dynamic link.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of locating comprises:

searching for HTML forms within the first set of instructions that contain the first dynamic link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation point is a unique text that identifies a dynamic link.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising the steps of:

retrieving the navigation point associated with the first dynamic link;

locating the navigation point in a second set of instructions used to render a version of the first electronic document that has been updated to include a second dynamic link, wherein the second dynamic link leads from the first electronic document to the second electronic document;

extracting, from the second set of instructions, the second dynamic link corresponding to the navigation point; and

navigating to the second electronic document using the second dynamic link.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each dynamic link is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that includes at least one unique session identifier.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and second dynamic links are URLs that point to the same location and have different session identifiers.

9. A system for simulating a dynamic link between electronic documents located in a computer network, comprising:

a memory that stores steps used to;

locate, within a first set of instructions used to render a first electronic document, a position of a first dynamic link that leads from the first electronic document to a second electronic document, and

store at least one navigation point that is associated with the first dynamic link; and

a processor for accessing the memory to execute the steps.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first and second electronic documents are HyperText Markup Language (HTML) web pages.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the memory stores steps to search for HTML anchors within the first set of instructions that contain the first dynamic link.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the memory stores steps to search for HTML forms within the first set of instructions that contain the first dynamic link.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the navigation point is a unique text that identifies a dynamic link.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the memory stores steps to retrieve the navigation point associated with the first dynamic link, and to locate the navigation point in a second set of instructions used to render a version of the first electronic document that has been updated to include a second dynamic link, wherein the second dynamic link leads from the first electronic document to the second electronic document.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory stores steps to extract from the second set of instructions the second dynamic link that corresponds to the navigation point, and to navigate to the second electronic document using the second dynamic link.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein each dynamic link is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that includes at least one unique session identifier.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first and second dynamic links are URLs that point to the same location and have different session identifiers.