System and method of providing a fast path link for an identified set of data

• US 20080021696A1
• Filed: 07/19/2006
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gabriel, Jonathan E., Bartelt, Jay D.
• Application Number:
  US11/489,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20080021696A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

The claimed method and system collects an alert link for display at a client device. The alert link may be associated with a trigger placed on a parameter associated with a legacy application. The alert link may be used to retrieve security and configuration data for the associated legacy application to dynamically activate an interface to the legacy application and configure the legacy application to a target state that enables a user to easily retrieve necessary data.

Claims

1. A method of initializing a legacy system from a web based application, the method comprising:

creating an alert having an associated alert identifier;

creating an index that associates an application menu sequence with the associated alert identifier;

retrieving the application menu sequence from the index based on the alert identifier;

creating a link in an application for the alert, wherein the link includes a message and the retrieved application menu sequence; and

upon selecting the link, initiating a legacy application emulator and placing the emulator in a state based on the retrieved application menu sequence.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a user identifier and a user password from a previous login attempt;

retrieving a legacy password from a database based on the user identifier;

validating the user password based on a database password; and

initiating a legacy application emulator by keying in the user identifier and the legacy application password into the legacy application emulator.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising prompting a user for a legacy login and password if the retrieved user password is invalid.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein validating the legacy application password comprises determining whether a duration of the password has expired.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising prompting a user for a new password if the password duration has expired.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert has an alert type and a menu sequence is associated with the alert type.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a legacy application emulator comprises initiating a browser applet that activates and configures the legacy application emulator.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the legacy application emulator is one of an AS/400 emulator, a TN3270 emulator, or a UNIX emulator.

9. A system for generating an alert and launching an associated application into a defined state based on the alert, the system comprising:

an index containing a menu sequence referenced by an alert identifier;

a first server configured to store an alert trigger associated with the alert identifier, and upon activation of the trigger, create an alert having the alert identifier;

a second server configured to retrieve the menu sequence from the index based on the alert identifier;

a client application in communication with at least one of the first and second server and configured to display an alert link containing a message and the menu sequence;

a security server configured to receive a password from the client application and determine whether the password is valid for a legacy application; and

an applet that is activated by the alert link and that is configured to execute the menu sequence on a legacy application emulator associated with the legacy application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein one of the first and second server is the security server.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the security server is configured to invalidate the received password when the received password is determined to be one of missing, expired, soon to be expired, or nonmatching.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the applet is an ActiveX component.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the first server is configured to monitor a legacy application database for trigger conditions.

14. A computer apparatus, comprising:

a display unit that is capable of generating video images;

an input device;

a processing apparatus operatively coupled to the display unit and the input device;

the processing apparatus comprising a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor;

a network interface connected to a network and to the processing apparatus;

the processing apparatus being programmed to;

detect a trigger condition associated with an alert identifier;

retrieve configuration data from an index based on the alert identifier;

generate an alert link for display on the display unit when a trigger condition is detected, wherein the alert link includes the retrieved configuration data; and

initiate a legacy application emulator based on the configuration data.

15. The computer apparatus of claim 14, wherein the index is stored on a remote server and accessed via the network interface.

16. The computer apparatus of claim 14, wherein an application server is programmed to monitor a legacy application database for the trigger condition and communicate the condition to the processing apparatus.

17. The computer apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing apparatus is further programmed to pass a user login identifier and password from a previous login attempt to the legacy application emulator.

18. The computer apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing apparatus is further programmed to communicate with a server to validate the user identifier and password before passing the login identifier and password to the legacy application.

19. The computer apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processing apparatus is further programmed to prompt a user to enter a user identifier and password when the server determines that at least one of the previous user login identifier or password is invalid.

20. The computer apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processing apparatus is further programmed to prompt a user for a new password when the server determines that the previous password is invalid.

21. The computer apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing apparatus is further programmed to remove the alert link when the trigger condition is no longer detected.