CLIENT APPLICATION AND WEB PAGE INTEGRATION

• US 20110271184A1
• Filed: 04/28/2010
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Hong, Zhang, Jichao, Dong, Yingtao, SiMa, YunRui
• Application Number:
  US12/768,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20110271184A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Application integration may be provided. A first application may be executed on a client computer. The first application may connect to a second application, such as a browser-based application. The first application may identify at least one functionality associated with the second application and display a user interface element associated with the at least one functionality within the first application.

Claims

1. A method for providing application integration, the method comprising:

executing a first application;

connecting to a second application from the first application;

identifying at least one functionality associated with the second application; and

displaying a user interface element associated with the at least one functionality within the first application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first application comprises a client-based application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second application comprises a web browser-based application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a selection of the displayed user interface element by a user of the first application; and

invoking the at least one functionality associated with the second application.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining whether at least one second functionality is provided by the first application and associated with invoking the at least one functionality; and

in response to determining that the at least one second functionality is provided by the first application and associated with invoking the at least one functionality, invoking the at least one second functionality by the first application.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving a result notification by the first application from the second application.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising displaying the result notification to the user of the first application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the user interface element associated with the at least one functionality within the first application comprises:

identifying an action category associated with the at least one functionality; and

assigning a visual appearance to the user interface element associated with the action category.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the visual appearance assigned to the user interface element comprises at least one of the following:

a color, a text style, a location, an icon, and a menu placement.

10. A computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for providing application integration, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

initializing a first application;

determining whether at least one second application comprises an exposed element; and

in response to determining that the at least one second application comprises an exposed element, displaying an indication within a user interface of the first application that the exposed element of the at least one second application is available to a user of the first application.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the exposed element comprises a data element.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving an action request from the user of the first application;

determining whether the action request comprises a change to the data element; and

in response to determining that the action request comprises a change to the data element, informing the at least one second application of the change to the data element.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the data element comprises a help topic.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein displaying the indication within the user interface of the first application that the exposed element of the at least one second application is available to a user of the first application comprises adding the help topic to a help menu associated with the first application.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the exposed element comprises a function.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein displaying the indication within the user interface of the first application that the exposed element of the at least one second application is available to a user of the first application comprises adding at least one action element to a user interface associated with the first application.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the at least one action element as an input from the user of the first application; and

invoking the function on the at least one second application.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a result notification from the at least one second application in response to invoking the function; and

displaying, to the user of the first application, a message associated with the result notification received from the at least one second application.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of exposed elements, wherein each of the plurality of exposed elements is associated with at least one of a plurality of browser-based applications; and

creating an element within the user interface of the first application associated with each of the plurality of exposed elements.

20. A system for providing application integration, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

connect to at least one browser-based application from a client-based application,

identify at least one exposed function associated with the at least one browser-based application,

display a user interface element within the client-based application, wherein the user interface element is associated with the at least one exposed function,

receive a request to execute the at least one exposed function via the user interface element from a user of the client-based application,

determine whether the client-based application comprises a pre-execution function associated with the at least one exposed function,

in response to determining that the client-based application comprises a pre-execution function associated with the at least one exposed function, execute the pre-execution function,

send a request to execute the at least one exposed function to the at least one browser-based application,

receive a result from the at least one browser-based application associated with the request to execute the at least one exposed function by the at least one browser-based application,

display a notification associated with the received result to the user of the client-based application,

determine whether the client-based application comprises a post-execution function associated with the at least one exposed function, and

in response to determining that the client-based application comprises a post-execution function associated with the at least one exposed function, execute the post-execution function.