User interface widget unit sharing for application user interface distribution

• US 20070078953A1
• Filed: 10/04/2005
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Su, Hui, Chai, Haixin, Chen, Daniel, Fu, Rong
• Granted Patent: US 8,914,733 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to application sharing and provide a method, system and computer program product for user interface widget unit based application sharing. In a first embodiment, a data processing system for user interface widget unit based application sharing, can include a dynamic widget server communicatively linked to a dynamic widget browser. The dynamic widget browser can include program code enabled to render a user interface including one or more remote dynamic widgets peered to corresponding dynamic widgets for a dynamic view for an application launched by the dynamic widget server.

Claims

1. A data processing system for user interface widget unit based application sharing, comprising:

a dynamic view server communicatively linked to a dynamic widget browser;

said dynamic widget browser comprising program code enabled to render a user interface comprising one or more remote dynamic widgets peered to corresponding dynamic widgets for a dynamic view for an application launched by said dynamic view server.

2. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said dynamic view server comprises an application builder configured to assemble said corresponding dynamic widgets into said dynamic view.

3. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said dynamic view server comprises a session manager configured to establish a communicative session for each application launched responsive to a request provided through said dynamic widget browser.

4. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a registry of available applications and corresponding dynamic views; and

,

listener logic enabled to listen for requests to browse said registry and to launch applications listed in said registry.

5. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein each of said corresponding dynamic widgets is disposed in a dynamic widget library and comprises an extension of a standard widget toolkit (SWT) widget.

6. The data processing system of claim 5, wherein said extension comprises:

an init method programmed to create a remote peer widget; and

,

an add_listener method programmed to create and couple a listener object to said created remote peer widget.

7. The data processing system of claim 5, wherein said dynamic widget library comprises a listener table, clone factory and synchronization engine.

8. A method for user interface widget unit based application sharing, comprising:

separating an application user interface for a shareable application into movable and non-movable graphical user interface widgets;

distributing remote peer instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets to a client host for incorporation in a synchronized dynamic view for the application; and

,

synchronizing said remote peer instances with corresponding instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets in a server host.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

registering a plurality of shareable applications and corresponding views for distribution to client hosts; and

,

listening for requests to launch selected ones of said shareable applications.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said distributing remote peer instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets to a client host for incorporation in a synchronized dynamic view for the application, comprises:

creating said remote peer instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets in said client host; and

,

coupling a listener object to each of said remote peer instances to pass events occurring in said remote peer instances to said corresponding instances.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said synchronizing said remote peer instances with corresponding instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets in a server host, comprises:

listening for events received from said remote peer instances; and

,

forwarding method calls to said remote instances from said corresponding instances.

12. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for user interface widget unit based application sharing, said computer program product including:

computer usable program code for separating an application user interface for a shareable application into movable and non-movable graphical user interface widgets;

computer usable program code for distributing remote peer instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets to a client host for incorporation in a synchronized dynamic view for the application; and

,

computer usable program code for synchronizing said remote peer instances with corresponding instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets in a server host.

13. The computer program produce of claim 12, further comprising:

computer usable program code for registering a plurality of shareable applications and corresponding views for distribution to client hosts; and

,

computer usable program code for listening for requests to launch selected ones of said shareable applications.

14. The computer program produce of claim 12, wherein said computer usable program code for distributing remote peer instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets to a client host for incorporation in a synchronized dynamic view for the application, comprises:

computer usable program code for creating said remote peer instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets in said client host; and

,

computer usable program code for coupling a listener object to each of said remote peer instances to pass events occurring in said remote peer instances to said corresponding instances.

15. The computer program produce of claim 12, wherein said computer usable program code for synchronizing said remote peer instances with corresponding instances of said movable graphical user interface widgets in a server host, comprises:

computer usable program code for listening for events received from said remote peer instances; and

,

computer usable program code for forwarding method calls to said remote instances from said corresponding instances.