Generic, multi-instance method and GUI detection system for tracking and monitoring computer applications

• US 8,079,037 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2005
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KNOA Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: KNOA Software Incorporated
• Inventors: Lui, Philip, Kopytnik, Zbigniew, Rayna, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mudrick, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US11/248,981
• Publication Number:
  US 20070083813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,254 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 715/709, 719/310
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3612 by runtime analysis performance monitoring G06F11/3466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program

Abstract

Presented is a system and method for monitoring events derived from a computer target application presentation layer including the steps of providing, independent of recompiling the target application'"'"'s source code, a script running at a level within the target application. The script scans run-time instantiations of objects of the target application, and allocates structures in real-time to the object instantiations. These allocated structures are adapted to create a reflection of the target application structure, which is used along with detected object instantiations that match a predetermined object structure to capture a portion of an environmental spectrum of the detected object. Further, the system can process state machine events occurring on at least one of a server machine and a client/localized machine, correlate the state machine events with the environmental spectrum, and deduce a user experience based on the correlated state machine events.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring events derived from a presentation layer and software methods of a target application while the target application is executing on at least one computer, the method comprising the steps of:

providing, without modifying source code of the target application, a script operable to run at a level within the target application, wherein the target application has a structure;

scanning and intercepting run-time instantiations of different types of objects including methods, dynamic GUI objects and object events of the target application occurring on the at least one computer, wherein the dynamic GUI objects and object events include at least one of operating system events, application events and web browser events generated directly or indirectly by a user;

allocating, in a memory accessible by the at least one computer, target application hierarchy structures in real-time based on the object instantiations;

generating categorized events derived from the target application hierarchy structures, wherein the categorized events are processed by the script;

adapting and tracking the allocated structures to create a target application hierarchy reflection synchronized with the target application structure, wherein the reflection provides a dynamic model for each of the different types of objects of the target application, and wherein the target application hierarchy structures are configured to change based in part on properties of the generated categorized events;

detecting one or more object instantiations that match a predetermined object structure criteria using the generated categorized events to detect categories of related objects; and

capturing at least a portion of an environmental spectrum of the detected object, the environmental spectrum of the detected object comprising one or more conditions of the detected objects.

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

processing the captured environmental spectrum of the detected object into logical events;

reassembling the logical events to reflect multi-instantiation structures within distinct contexts, wherein the distinct contexts are prior states of the target application; and

correlating the reassembled multi-instantiation structures to analyze the prior state of the target application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein there are multiple instantiations of the target application, the scanning step scans each target application instantiation and the detecting step detects object instantiations concerning more than one instantiation of the target application.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the capturing step captures contents of detected objects from any target application instantiation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the captured environmental spectrum includes categories of information concerning the detected object, wherein the information provides insight about the target application environment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning step further comprises the step of selecting object instantiations based on at least one predefined monitoring criterion.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step provides the script on the at least one computer.

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

sharing the reflection of the target application structure among a plurality of scripts, wherein each of the plurality of scripts is associated with a respective instantiation of the target application;

wherein the reflection of the target application structure provides a GUI context for collected tracking data.

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

detecting generic instantiations of the objects using script expressions capable of detecting categories of related objects; and

processing the contents and properties of the detected generic object instantiations to determine, the occurrence of target application events in context.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of building user contexts by using track-message level, and predefined, semantics and conventions.

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

declaring a hierarchical organizing entity that represents a portion of the target application and contains contextual information from at least the captured environmental spectrum; and

analyzing the captured environmental spectrum supported by the hierarchical organizing entity.

12. The method of claim 11, including the additional step of evaluating a context level value to distinguish among multiple object instantiations during execution of the target application.

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

sensing at least one of a target application interaction with a user and a target application generated-event;

selectively generating events based on execution of the script in response to the results of the sensing step;

passing one or more of the generated events to an interpreter;

passing one or more of the generated events to an interpreter;

analyzing the selectively generated events; and

correlating the analysis by direct mapping to external sources.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of generating at least one of reports, alerts, correlations, and responses containing results of the analyzing and correlating steps.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning, allocating, adapting, detecting and capturing steps are repeated at a predetermined interval to create an updated reflection of the target application.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning, allocating, adapting, detecting and capturing steps are invoked by detected events to create an updated reflection of the target application.

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

associating the script with a single process of a window in the target application;

detecting a message associated with a thread id;

capturing the message using a sensor;

providing the captured message to the script for evaluation of contents of the message; and

deriving events and properties from the message contents to obtain information on the target application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sensor is an active hook routine.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the reflection of the target application structure includes a hierarchical object tree to represent GUI objects comprising the user interface of the target application.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the environmental spectrum includes at least one of invariant and time variant conditions present in the target application.

21. A system for monitoring events in a presentation layer of a computer target application, having a predetermined structure, and executing on a computer connected to a communication network, the system comprising:

a system memory comprising a monitoring program executing on a central processing unit of the computer that includes a script operable to run at a level within the presentation layer;

the monitoring program operable to perform the steps of;

scanning and intercepting run-time instantiations of different types of objects and object events of the target application, wherein the different types of objects and object events include at least one of operating system events, application events and web browser events generated directly or indirectly by a user;

allocating target application hierarchy structures in real-time based on the object instantiations;

generating categorized events derived from the target application hierarchy structures, wherein the categorized events are processed by the script;

adapting and tracking the allocated structures to create a target application hierarchy reflection synchronized with the target application structure, wherein the reflection provides a dynamic model for each of the different types of objects of the target application, and wherein the target application hierarchy structures are configured to change based in part on properties of the generated categorized events;

detecting one or more object instantiations that match a predetermined object structure criteria using the generated categorized events to detect categories of related objects; and

capturing at least a portion of an environmental spectrum of the detected objects, the environmental spectrum of the detected objects comprising one or more conditions of the detected objects.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer is a client computer selected from the group consisting of a personal computer, a workstation, a personal digital assistant, and a platform capable of executing computer operating instructions.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the reflection of the target application structure includes a hierarchical object tree to represent GUI objects comprising the user interface of the target application.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the monitoring program is further operable to perform the step of capturing at least a portion of an environmental spectrum of the detected object, wherein the environmental spectrum includes at least one of invariant and time variant conditions of present in the target application.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer is a server.