Method and apparatus for unified, pre-addressed, context-sensitive reporting

• US 6,381,711 B1
• Filed: 10/20/1998
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sholars, Sheila I., Martinez, RamonaLisa P., Chiang, Alice
• Primary Examiner(s): Ray, Gopal C.
• Application Number:
  US09/175,841
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 714/48, 714/38, 709/302, 709/219, 709/250, 707/102, 707/10, 707/1, 707/203, 717/1-3, 345/338, 703/22, 703/13, 702/123
• US Class Current: 714/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for reporting a context-sensitive comment to a pre-addressed destination is described. The method comprises the steps of invoking a help module from a software application, invoking a reporting module from the help module or directly from the software application, reading software application context information from the software application, presenting a user dialog based on the software application context information, accepting a comment in an input field in the user dialog, and transmitting the user report to a destination. The article of manufacture comprises a data storage device tangibly embodying instructions to perform the method steps described above. The apparatus comprises a reporting module for reading the software application context information and for presenting a user dialog with an input box for user comments, and a device for transmitting the user report to a destination.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of reporting context-sensitive information to a pre-addressed destination, comprising the steps of:

invoking a help module from a software application;

invoking a reporting module from the help module;

reading software application context information from the software application and help module context information from the help module;

presenting a user dialog based on the software application context information and the help module context information, the user dialog comprising an input field;

accepting user-input information regarding the software application via the user dialog; and

transiting a user report comprising the information, the software application context information, and the help module context information to the pre-addressed destination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the help module comprises a tree of help instructions, and the reporting module is invoked when a branch of the tree of help instructions is exhausted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a transport connection is initiated with the destination when the reporting module is invoked, the user report is transmitted to the destination via the transport connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

accumulating the user reports for multiple invocations of the reporting module in a computer executing the software application; and

establishing a transport connection with the destination after the software application is closed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

accumulating the user reports for multiple invocations of the reporting module in a computer executing the software application module; and

establishing a transport connection with the destination when a number of user reports exceeds a threshold value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving the user report at the pre-determined destination; and

processing the user report in accordance with the user comment and the help module context information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user report is routed according to the report information.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of processing the user report in accordance with the help module context information comprises the step of storing the user report information in a database and the method further comprises the step of generating statistics from the database.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user report is transmitted from a user address and the method further comprises the step of transmitting an acknowledgement message from the destination to the user address.

10. A computer-implemented method of reporting a software application error to a pre-addressed destination, comprising the steps of:

executing a software application;

invoking a reporting module when the software application encounters an error;

reading software application state information comprising error and system information;

presenting a user dialog based on the software application state information, the user dialog comprising at least one input field;

accepting comments regarding the software application via the user dialog; and

transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the application state information to the pre-addressed destination.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

a transport connection is initiated with the destination when the reporting module is invoked; and

the user input and the application state information is transmitted to the destination via the transport connection.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

receiving the user report at the pre-determined destination; and

processing the user report in accordance with the user comments and the application state information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user report is routed according to the user comments and application state information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of processing the user report in accordance with the user comments and application state information comprises the step of storing the user report information in a database and the method further comprises the step of compiling statistics from the database.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the user report is transmitted from a user address and the method further comprises the step of transmitting an acknowledgement message from the destination to the user address.

16. A computer-implemented method of receiving context-sensitive comments in a pre-addressed destination, comprising the steps of:

receiving a user report at the pre-addressed destination, the user report comprising application context information and user comments generated via a reporting module; and

processing the user report based on the user comments and context information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of processing the user report based on the user comments comprises the step of routing the user report according to the user comments and context information.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of processing the user report based on the user comments comprises the step of performing a statistical analysis of the user reports.

19. A computer-implemented method of reporting comments to a destination, comprising the steps of:

invoking a module in a software application;

accepting comments in an input field of a user dialog, the user dialog based upon a current context of the software application; and

transmitting a user report comprising the contents and the current context to the destination.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user report further comprises the context history of the software application.

21. A computer-implemented method of reporting context-sensitive comments to a pre-addressed destination from an executing software application, comprising the steps of:

invoking a reporting module in the executing software application;

reading software application context information from the executing software application;

presenting a user dialog based on the software application context information, the user dialog comprising an input field;

accepting the comments via the user dialog; and

transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the context information to the pre-addressed destination.

22. An apparatus for reporting context-sensitive information to a pre-addressed destination, comprising:

means for invoking a help module from a software application;

means for invoking a reporting module from the help module;

a reporting module for reading software application context information from the software application and help module context information from the help module, for presenting a user dialog based on the software application context information and the help module context information, the user dialog comprising an input field, and for accepting information regarding the software application via the user dialog; and

means for transmitting a user report comprising the comment, the software application context information, and the help module context information to the pre-addressed destination.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the report module is tailorable by a set of software developer-configurable software application program interface modules.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the help module comprises a tree of help instructions, and the reporting module is invoked when a branch of the tree of help instructions is exhausted.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein a transport connection is initiated with the destination when the reporting module is invoked, the user report is transmitted to the destination via the transport connection.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising:

means for accumulating the user reports for multiple invocations of the reporting module in a computer executing the software application; and

means for establishing a transport connection with the destination after the software application is closed.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising:

means for accumulating the user reports for multiple invocations of the reporting module in a computer executing the software application module; and

means for establishing a transport connection with the destination when a number of user reports exceeds a threshold value.

28. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising:

means for receiving the user report at the pre-determined destination; and

means for processing the user report in accordance with the user comment and the help module context information.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the user report is routed according to the user report information.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the means for processing the user report in accordance with the help module context information comprises means for storing the user report information in a database and the apparatus further comprises means for generating statistics from the database.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the user report is transmitted from a user address and the apparatus further comprises means for transmitting an acknowledgement message from the destination to the user address.

32. An apparatus for reporting a software application error to a pre-addressed destination, comprising:

means for executing a software application;

means for invoking a reporting module when the software application encounters an error;

means for reading software application state information comprising error and system information;

means for presenting a user dialog based on the software application state information, the user dialog comprising at least one input field;

means for accepting comments regarding the software application via the user dialog; and

means for transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the application state information to the pre-addressed destination.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising:

means for initiating a transport connection with the destination when the reporting module is invoked; and

means for transmitting the user input and the application state information via the transport connection.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for receiving the user report at the pre-determined destination; and

means for processing the user report in accordance with the user comments and the application state information.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the user report is routed according to the user comments and application state information.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the means for processing the user report in accordance with the user comments and application state information comprises means for storing the user report information in a database and the apparatus further comprises means for compiling statistics from the database.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the user report is transmitted from a user address and the apparatus further comprises means for transmitting an acknowledgement message from the destination to the user address.

38. An apparatus for receiving context-sensitive comments in a pre-addressed destination, comprising:

means for receiving a user report at the pre-addressed destination, the user report comprising application context information and user comments generated via a reporting module; and

a processor communicatively coupled to a database, for processing the user report based on the user comments and context information.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the means for processing the user report based on the user comments comprises means for routing the user report according to the user comments and context information.

40. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the means for processing the user report based on the user comments comprises means for performing a statistical analysis of the user reports.

41. An apparatus for reporting comments to a destination, comprising:

means for invoking a module in a software application;

means for accepting comments in an input field of a user dialog, the user dialog based upon a current context of the software application; and

means for transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the current context to the destination.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the user report further comprises the context history of the software application.

43. An apparatus for reporting context-sensitive comments to a pre-addressed destination from an executing software application, comprising:

a reporting module invoked from the executing software application;

means for reading software application context information from the executing software application;

a user dialog based on the software application context information, the user dialog comprising an input field;

a user interface for accepting the comments via the user dialog; and

means for transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the context information to the pre-addressed destination.

44. A program storage device, readable by computer having a processor and a memory, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps of reporting context-sensitive information to a pre-addressed destination, the method steps comprising the steps of:

invoking a help module from a software application;

invoking a reporting module from the help module;

reading software application context information from the software application and help module context information from the help module;

presenting a user dialog based on the software application context information and the help module context information, the user dialog comprising an input field;

accepting user-input information regarding the software application via the user dialog; and

transmitting a user report comprising the comment, the software application context information, and the help module context information to the pre-addressed destination.

45. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein the help module comprises a tree of help instructions, and the reporting module is invoked when a branch of the tree of help instructions is exhausted.

46. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein a transport connection is initiated with the destination when the reporting module is invoked, the user report is transmitted to the destination via the transport connection.

47. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein the method steps further comprise the steps of:

accumulating the user reports for multiple invocations of the reporting module in a computer executing the software application; and

establishing a transport connection with the destination after the software application is closed.

48. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein the method steps further comprise the steps of:

accumulating the user reports for multiple invocations of the reporting module in a computer executing the software application module; and

establishing a transport connection with the destination when a number of user reports exceeds a threshold value.

49. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein the method steps further comprise the steps of:

receiving the user report at the pre-determined destination; and

processing the user report in accordance with the user comment and the help module context information.

50. The program storage device of claim 49, wherein the user report is routed according to the user report information.

51. The program storage device of claim 49, wherein the method step of processing the user report in accordance with the help module context information comprises the method step of storing the user report information in a database and the method steps further comprises the step of generating statistics from the database.

52. The program storage device of claim 51, wherein the user report is transmitted from a user address and the method steps further comprise the step of transmitting an acknowledgement message from the destination to the user address.

53. A program storage device, readable by computer having a processor and a memory, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps of reporting a software application error to a pre-addressed destination, the method steps comprising the steps of:

executing a software application;

invoking a reporting module when the software application encounters an error;

reading software application state information comprising error and system information;

presenting a user dialog based on the software application state information, the user dialog comprising at least one input field;

accepting comments regarding the software application via the user dialog; and

transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the application state information to the pre-addressed destination.

54. The program storage device of claim 53, wherein:

a transport connection is initiated with the destination when the reporting module is invoked; and

the user input and the application state information is transmitted to the destination via the transport connection.

55. The program storage device of claim 54, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving the user report at the pre-determined destination; and

processing the user report in accordance with the user comments and the application state information.

56. The program storage device of claim 55, wherein the user report is routed according to the user comments and application state information.

57. The program storage device of claim 55, wherein the method step of processing the user report in accordance with the user comments and application state information comprises the method step of storing the user report information in a database and the method steps further comprise the method step of compiling statistics from the database.

58. The program storage device of claim 53, wherein the user report is transmitted from a user address and the method steps further comprise the step of transmitting an acknowledgement message from the destination to the user address.

59. A program storage device, readable by computer having a processor and a memory, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps of receiving context-sensitive comments in a pre-addressed destination, the method steps comprising the steps of:

receiving a user report at the pre-addressed destination, the user report comprising application context information and user comments generated via a reporting module; and

processing the user report based on the user comments and context information.

60. The program storage device of claim 59, wherein the method step of processing the user report based on the user comments comprises the method step of routing the user report according to the user comments and context information.

61. The program storage device of claim 59, wherein the method step of processing the user report based on the user comments comprises the method step of performing a statistical analysis of the user reports.

62. A program storage device, readable by computer having a processor and a memory, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps of reporting comments to a destination, the method steps comprising the steps of:

invoking a module in a software application;

accepting comments in an input field of a user dialog, the user dialog based upon a current context of the software application; and

transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the current context to the destination.

63. The program storage device of claim 62, wherein the user report further comprises the context history of the software application.

64. A program storage device, readable by computer having a processor and a memory, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps of reporting context-sensitive comments to a pre-addressed destination from an executing software application, the method steps comprising the steps of:

invoking a reporting module in the executing software application;

reading software application context information from the executing software application;

presenting a user dialog based on the software application context information, the user dialog comprising an input field;

accepting the comments via the user dialog; and

transmitting a user report comprising the comments and the context information to the pre-addressed destination.

65. A method of reporting user comments to a destination, comprising the steps of:

invoking a reporting module in a computer when a user selects a hotkey in a software application executing on the computer;

presenting a user report dialog pre-addressed to the destination;

accepting at least one user comment in the user report dialog; and

transmitting a user report comprising the user comment to the destination.