EVENT SET RECORDING

• US 20090249300A1
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thangadurai, Shiva Shankar, Vainer, Moshe, Reddy, S Neeraja, Klementiev, Dmitri
• Granted Patent: US 8,196,118 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring

Abstract

Recording of functional steps resulting from actions in an application is desirable for performing functional testing or user interface automation of an application. However, certain events that may result from actions occurring in an application are often difficult to record, which may lead to playback failure. Further, a user'"'"'s intent when performing an action is difficult to determine. In order to obtain effective playback, a reliable and efficient recording of an application'"'"'s functional steps needs to occur. Injecting wrapper functions into an application and monitoring an event generator'"'"'s state before and after an action has occurred may yield more reliable and effective results.

Claims

1. A method for recording an event set from a user interface, comprising:

injecting one or more monitoring wrapper functions in the user interface instructions, the one or more monitoring wrapper functions comprising;

a first monitoring wrapper function configured to record a first state of an event generator; and

a second monitoring wrapper function configured to;

record a second state of an event generator; and

send the first state and the second state to a recording engine;

associating a first reference to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions with one or more event handlers; and

associating a second reference to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions, subsequent to the first reference, with the one or more event handlers, comprising;

at least one set of instructions between the first reference and the second reference in the event handler.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

using the one or more monitoring wrapper functions to collect information from one or more events invoked by the one or more event generators, comprising;

recording a state of an event generator prior to invocation of an event;

calling one or more event handler functions called by the one or more events;

recording a state of an event generator after completion of the event; and

passing the information to a recording engine.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

for one or more event generators, replacing instructions that attach and detach an event handler with instructions for one or more event handler attach and detach wrappers;

upon invocation of an event upon one or more event generators, generating one or more monitoring wrapper functions for one or more event handlers; and

storing the called one or more references to the one or more event handler functions and the one or more references to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions.

4. The method of claim 3, comprising calling a deregistration function using stored references to the one or more event handler functions and references to the one or more wrapper functions.

5. The method of claim 3, replacing instructions comprising:

injecting wrapper instructions for attaching and detaching event handlers; and

replacing references in the one or more event generators to instructions that attach and detach event handlers with references to the one or more event handler attach and detach wrappers.

6. The method of claim 3, replacing instructions comprising at least one of the following:

replacing instructions as an application interface loads; and

replacing instructions after an application interface loads.

7. The method of claim 3, the event generators comprising elements that attach event handlers dynamically.

8. The method of claim 1, the second monitoring wrapper function configured to determine intent of an action upon the event generator comprising comparing the first state with the second state.

9. The method of claim 2, passing the information to a recording engine comprising:

injecting one or more new elements in the user interface instructions; and

sending collected information from the one or more new elements to the recording engine;

10. The method of claim 9, the one or more new elements comprising:

one or more lists of one or more events; and

one or more corresponding properties collected from the one or more events.

11. The method of claim 2, passing the information to a recording engine comprising:

injecting one or more broker objects in the user interface instructions;

sending the information from the one or more monitoring wrapper functions to the one or more broker objects; and

sending the information from the one or more broker objects to the recording engine.

12. The method of claim 1, the first monitoring wrapper function and the second monitoring wrapper function comprising the same monitoring wrapper function.

13. The method of claim 1, the first state of an event generator comprising a state of the event generator prior to an event being called upon the event generator.

14. The method of claim 1, the second state of an event generator comprising a state of the event generator after an event is called upon the event generator.

15. The method of claim 1, the states comprising one or more sets of properties for an element.

16. The method of claim 1, associating by replacing a reference to an event handler function with a reference to a monitoring wrapper function.

17. A system configured to record an event set from a user interface, comprising:

an instruction injector configured to inject monitoring wrapper function instructions into the user interface instructions, the monitoring wrapper function instructions comprising;

a first monitoring wrapper function configured to record a first state of an event generator; and

a second monitoring wrapper function configured to;

record a second state of an event generator; and

send the first state and the second state to a recording engine;

an event handler monitoring wrapper generator configured to;

associate a first reference to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions with one or more event handlers; and

associate a second reference to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions, subsequent to the first reference, with the one or more event handlers, the second reference comprising;

at least one set of instructions between the first reference and the second reference in the event handler.

18. The system of claim 17, comprising:

an instruction injector configured to replace user interface instructions that determine event handler registration and deregistration with new event handler registration and deregistration instructions;

a wrapper generator configured to generate one or more monitoring wrapper functions for one or more event handlers upon calling of an event on one or more event generators; and

a reference storage component configured to store the called one or more references to the one or more event handler functions and the one or more references to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions.

19. The system of claim 17, the monitoring wrapper function instructions configured to:

record a state of an event generator prior to invocation of an event;

call one or more event handler functions called by the one or more events;

record a state of an event generator after completion of the event; and

pass the states to a recording engine.

20. A method for recording an event set from a user interface, comprising:

for one or more event generators, replacing instructions that determine event handler registration and deregistration with new event handler registration and deregistration instructions;

upon invocation of an event upon one or more event generators, generating one or more monitoring wrapper functions for one or more event handlers;

injecting one or more monitoring wrapper functions in the user interface instructions, the one or more monitoring wrapper functions comprising;

a first monitoring wrapper function configured to record a first state of an event generator; and

a second monitoring wrapper function configured to;

record a second state of an event generator; and

send the first state and the second state to a recording engine;

associating a first reference to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions with one or more event handlers;

associating a second reference to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions, subsequent to the first reference, with the one or more event handlers, comprising;

at least one set of instructions between the first reference and the second reference in the event handler; and

storing the called one or more references to the one or more event handler functions and the one or more references to the one or more monitoring wrapper functions.