METHOD OF HOSTING A FIRST APPLICATION IN A SECOND APPLICATION

• US 20110289513A1
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Code Systems Incorporated (VOXX International Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Code Systems Incorporated (VOXX International Corporation)
• Inventors: Degirmenci, Ozcan, Larimore, Stefan I., Zeller, Mark Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 8,763,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/545 Gui
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A method of hosting a first application (e.g., a virtual application) inside a second application (e.g., a control displayed by a web browser). The method includes executing the first application inside a runtime environment generated at least in part by a runtime engine. The executing first application calls user interface functions that when executed inside the runtime environment generate a first user interface. The runtime engine captures these calls, generates messages comprising information associated with the captured calls, and forwards the messages to a user interface manager that is a separate application from the runtime engine. The user interface manager receives the messages, translates the information associated with the captured calls into instructions for the second application, and sends the instructions to the second application. The control receives the instructions sent by the user interface manager, and displays a second user interface for the first application based on the instructions.

Claims

1. A computer executable method for use with a first application configured to generate a first user interface and a second application displaying a second user interface, the second user interface being different from the first user interface, the method comprising:

receiving a user interface message generated by the first application, the user interface message comprising instructions configured to modify the first user interface;

generating at least one user interface command for the second user interface, the at least one user interface command being generated based on the user interface message; and

sending the at least one user interface command to the second application, the at least one user interface command being configured to cause the second application to modify the second user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating execution of the first application.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

downloading the first application from a server over the Internet.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

performing an initialization process comprising loading a configuration file;

if execution of the first application is not initiated in a shell, initiating execution of the first application in a suspended state thereby suspending execution of the first application; and

ending the suspension of the execution of the first application after the initialization process has completed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising after receiving the user interface message:

identifying one or more of a plurality of listeners configured to generate a user interface command for the user interface message, each of the plurality of listeners comprising at least one condition and at least one action; and

for each listener identified, determining whether the at least one condition is satisfied, and if the at least one condition is satisfied, performing the at least one action of the listener, the at least one action generating one or more user interface commands.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

loading at least one configuration file comprising configuration information for the plurality of listeners; and

configuring the plurality of listeners based on the configuration information.

7. The method of claim 1 for use with the first application being a virtual application executed by a virtual runtime engine, the virtual application having generated the user interface message and the virtual runtime engine having captured the user interface message, the capturing preventing the first application from modifying the first user interface, wherein the user interface message is received from the virtual runtime engine.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a handle to the second user interface; and

using the handle to send the at least one user interface command to the second application.

9. The method of claim 1 for use with the first application being executed by a runtime engine inside a runtime environment, the method further comprising:

generating at least one message indentifying a call to an application programming interface function of the runtime environment;

sending the at least one message to the runtime engine, the runtime engine being configured to call to the application programming interface function of the runtime environment.

10. A computer executable method for use with a virtual application and a web browser, the virtual application being executable by a virtual runtime engine and configured to call windowing functions operable to display or modify at least one window of a first user interface, the virtual runtime engine being configured to capture calls to the windowing functions and generate user interface messages based on the captured calls, the capturing of the calls preventing the display or modification of the at least one window, the web browser displaying a web page comprising a control configured to display content, the method comprising:

receiving at least one of the user interface messages generated by the virtual runtime engine, the received at least one user interface message comprising instructions to display or modify the at least one window;

generating at least one user interface command for the control displayed by the web page, the at least one user interface command being generated based on the instructions to display or modify the at least one window; and

sending the at least one user interface command to the control, the at least one user interface command being configured to cause the control to display or modify the content displayed by the control.

11. A computer executable method performed by a runtime engine configured to provide at least a portion of a runtime environment, the method comprising:

executing an application inside the runtime environment provided at least in part by the runtime engine, the application being configured to instruct the runtime environment to generate a first user interface when executing;

capturing user interface messages generated by the executing application, the user interface messages including instructions to the runtime environment to modify the first user interface;

sending at least a portion the captured user interface messages to an external process configured to generate a second user interface different from the first user interface, both the external process and the second user interface executing outside the portion of the runtime environment provided by the runtime engine;

receiving one or more application programming messages from the external process in response to having sent the portion of the captured user interface messages to the external process; and

calling inside the runtime environment one or more application programming interfaces associated with a first portion of the one or more application programming messages.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more application programming messages are received over a named-pipe connection between the runtime engine and the external process.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the external process is a user interface manager of a virtual process manager configured to download the application from a server over the Internet and initiate execution of the application.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the virtual process manager is configured to render the second user interface in a control displayed by a webpage displayed by a web browser.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the control of the second user interface comprises contents of one or more windows.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first portion of the one or more application programming messages comprises fewer than all of the one or more application programming messages, and the method further comprises:

sending at least one user interface message to the external process for each application programming message not in the first portion of the one or more application programming messages.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

comparing the captured user interface messages to a list of user interface messages, the portion of the captured user interface messages sent to the external process comprising ones of the captured user interface messages on the list of user interface messages to send to the external process.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the application comprises one or more threads, and the method further comprises:

setting up a hook procedure for each of the one or more threads, each hook procedure being executable by a hook configured to monitor the thread for user interface messages, the hook triggering the execution of the hook procedure whenever the hook detects a user interface message, when executed, the hook procedure providing an indication that a user interface message has been generated.

19. A computer executable method comprising:

executing an application inside a runtime environment generated at least in part by a runtime engine, the application calling user interface functions that when executed inside the runtime environment generate a first user interface, the runtime engine capturing calls to the user interface functions, generating messages comprising information associated with the captured calls, and forwarding the messages to a user interface manager, the user interface manager being a separate application from the runtime engine;

receiving at the user interface manager, the messages comprising the information associated with the captured calls, the user interface manager translating the information associated with the captured calls into instructions for a control displayed by a web browser, and sending the instructions to the control; and

receiving at the control, the instructions sent by the user interface manager, the control displaying a second user interface for the application based on the instructions.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

at the user interface manager, generating a call to an application programming interface, generating an application programming message comprising information associated with the call to the application programming interface, and sending the application programming message to the runtime engine; and

at the runtime engine, receiving the application programming message, and calling the application programming interface associated with the information in the application programming message.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

downloading the application from a server over the Internet.