RECORDING USER-DRIVEN EVENTS WITHI A COMPUTING SYSTEM

• US 20090182753A1
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Chih-Yung, Huang, Shu-Fang, Wen, Li, Huang, Ling-Ya, King, Hung Ju, Huang, Yuli, Jiang, Yan-Mei, Chang, Michael Jen-Chiung, Chang, Wen-Chieh
• Granted Patent: US 8,448,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for recording user-driven events within a computing system. An interface is established between a recorder application and an input method editor (“IME”) executing on the computer system. Through the use of the interface, the recorder application can obtain and record data identifying user-driven events that are performed within the IME. An interface is also established between the recorder application and a UI control that does not expose data regarding user-driven events through standard system calls. Through the use of the interface, the recorder application can obtain and record data identifying user-driven events detected at the UI control. The recorder application can also provide data identifying the recorded user-driven events directly to a bug tracking application program for inclusion in a bug database.

Claims

1. A method for recording user-driven events within a computing system, the method comprising:

establishing an interface between a recorder application and an input method editor (IME) executing on the computing system, the interface between the recorder application and the IME configured to provide data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME to the recorder application;

receiving data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME on the interface between the recorder application and the IME; and

recording the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the IME comprises a text services framework.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

establishing an interface between the recorder application and a user interface (UI) control that generates non-standard focus and event messages, the interface between the recorder application and the UI control configured to provide data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control to the recorder application;

receiving data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control on the interface between the recorder application and the UI control; and

recording the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the UI control comprises an accessibility interface.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

establishing an interface between the recorder application and an application program, the interface between the recorder application and the application program configured to provide data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program to the recorder application;

receiving data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program on the interface between the recorder application and the application program; and

recording the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the application program comprises a system hook.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME, the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control, and the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program to a bug tracking application program.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME, the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control, and the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program to a bug tracking application program comprises:

receiving a request to provide the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME, the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control, and the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program to a bug tracking application program;

causing the bug tracking application program to be executed in response to receiving the request;

providing the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME, the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control, and the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program to the bug tracking application program; and

causing the data provided to the bug tracking application program to be stored in a bug tracking database maintained by the bug tracking application program.

9. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

establish an interface between the recorder application and a user interface (UI) control that generates non-standard focus and event messages, the interface between the recorder application and the UI control configured to provide data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control to the recorder application;

receive data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control on the interface between the recorder application and the UI control; and

to record the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control.

10. The computer storage medium of claim 9, comprising further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

establish an interface between a recorder application and an input method editor (IME) executing on the computing system, the interface between the recorder application and the IME configured to provide data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME to the recorder application;

receive data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME on the interface between the recorder application and the IME; and

to

record the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME.

11. The computer storage medium of claim 10, comprising further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

establish an interface between the recorder application and an application program, the interface between the recorder application and the application program configured to provide data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program to the recorder application;

receive data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program on the interface between the recorder application and the application program; and

to

record the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program.

12. The computer storage medium of claim 11, comprising further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to provide the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the IME, the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the UI control, and the data identifying the user-driven event detected at the application program to a bug tracking application program.

13. The computer storage medium of claim 12, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the IME comprises a text services framework.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the UI control comprises an accessibility interface.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the application program comprises a system hook.

16. A method for recording user-driven events within a computing system (600), the method comprising:

executing a recorder application on the computing system, the recorder application configured to record user-driven events occurring within the computing system;

establishing an interface between the recorder application and an input method editor (IME);

establishing an interface between the recorder application and a user interface (UI) control that generates non-standard focus and event messages;

providing data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME by way of the interface between the recorder application and the IME;

recording the data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME by way of the recorder application;

providing data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control by way of the interface between the recorder application and the UI control;

recording the data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control by way of the recorder application; and

providing the data identifying a user-driven event detected at the IME and the data identifying a user-driven event detected at the UI control to a bug tracking application program for storage in a bug database.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

establishing an interface between the recorder application and an application program;

providing data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program by way of the interface between the recorder application and the application program;

recording the data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program by way of the recorder application;

providing the data identifying a user-driven event detected at the application program to a bug tracking application program for storage in a bug database.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the IME comprises a text services framework.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the UI control comprises an accessibility interface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the interface between the recorder application and the application program comprises a system hook.