System and method for representing user interaction with a web service

• US 9,183,004 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Manjunath, Geetha, Gupta, Ajay
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Liangche A
• Assistant Examiner(s): AGUIAR, JOHNNY B
• Application Number:
  US13/260,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,349 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/219, 709/224, 715/704, 715/738
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for representing user interaction with a web service. The method comprises the steps of: acquiring a representation of the actions of a user performing a task with the web service; analyzing the acquired actions to determine semantics and at least one variable describing the user actions; and representing the semantics and the at least one variable in at least one script file, the at least one script file supporting performance of user interaction with the web service based on the semantics and a value provided for the variable.

Claims

1. A method for representing user interaction with a web service comprising:

acquiring a representation of actions of a user performing multiple iterations of a task with the web service;

analyzing the acquired actions to determine semantics and a plurality of variables describing the user actions, each variable being an input to the web service that the web service requests the user to enter during the multiple iterations of the task, the variables comprising free variables and bound variables, where which of the variables are the free variables and which of the variables are the bound variables is determined automatically without prompting the user, by analyzing differences in the actions of the user across the multiple iterations of the task;

representing the semantics and the variables in at least one script file, the at least one script file supporting performance of user interaction with the web service based on the semantics and values provided for the variables, where each bound variable has a constant value over multiple executions of the at least one script file, and each free variable has a value that is changeable over the multiple executions of the at least one script file; and

associating the at least one script file with a unique uniform resource locator (URL) address that is selectable to initiate performance of user interaction with the web service,

wherein the unique URL address is selectable by different user devices to invoke and execute the user interaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing further comprises determining potential values of the variables, and wherein representing further comprises representing the potential values in a file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing comprises parsing the acquired actions and analyzing the web service on which the actions were performed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of each free variable is either provided by a user, or determined from user data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring a representation of the actions of a user comprises recording actions of a user performing a task with the web service.

6. A method of using a web service comprising:

generating at least one script file supporting performance of user interaction with the web service by representing a user interaction with the web service according to claim 1; and

performing an interaction with the web service based on the semantics and a value provided for each free variable.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein during each iterations of the task, the user provides values for the variables,

and wherein for each execution of the at least one script file, the variables that were previously determined as being bound have preset values such that the user is not prompted to enter values for the bound variables, and the variables that were previously determined as being free have non-preset values such that the user is prompted to enter the values for the free variables in each execution of the at least one script file.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a command to invoke performance of the at least one script;

in response to receiving the command, executing the at least one script to interact with the web service; and

during execution of the at least one script to interact with the web service,

requesting input from the user for each free variable while the at least one script interacts with the web service.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising, during execution of the at least one script to interact with the web service, providing output to the user as received from the web service during interaction of the at least one script with the web service.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising, during execution of the at least one script to interact with the web service, suppressing output to the user as received from the web service during interaction of the at least one script with the web service, except for the output specified by the at least one script.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising, during execution of the at least one script to interact with the web service, decoupling the web service from a device that the user is operating to provide a different interface for the web service at the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one script provides for a different interface by which the web service is interacted with by a user.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program that when executed on a computer, performs a method comprising:

acquiring a representation of actions of a user performing multiple iterations of a task with a web service;

analyzing the acquired actions to determine semantics and a plurality of variables describing the user actions, each variable being an input to the web service that the web service ordinarily requests the user to enter during the multiple iterations of the task, the variables comprising free variables and bound variables, where which of the variables are the free variables and which of the variables are the bound variables is determined automatically without prompting the user, by analyzing differences in the actions of the user across the multiple iterations of the task;

representing the semantics and the variables in at least one script file, the at least one script file supporting performance of user interaction with the web service based on the semantics and values provided for the variables, where each bound variable has a constant value over multiple executions of the at least one script file, and each free variable has a value that is changeable over the multiple executions of the at least one script file; and

associating the at least one script file with a unique uniform resource locator (URL) address that is selectable to initiate performance of user interaction with the web service,

wherein the unique URL address is selectable by different user devices to invoke and execute the user interaction.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein analyzing comprises parsing the recorded actions and analyzing the web service on which the actions were performed.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein analyzing further comprises determining potential values of the variables, and wherein representing further comprises representing the potential values in a file.

16. A system comprising:

data storage means for storing information;

a computer program memory comprising the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13; and

a data processor having access the computer program memory and the data storage means, the data processor being arranged to execute said computer program.