Graphical interface system monitor providing error notification message with modifiable indication of severity

• US 7,434,208 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkpatrick, Mark, Morrow, Darrin, Strohmeyer, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei Y.
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SATISH
• Application Number:
  US11/614,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 717/131, 717120-128, 717/175, 719/31, 719/313, 719/328, 714/57, 714/25, 714/5, 714/20, 714/4, 714/42
• US Class Current: 717/131
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software

Abstract

An interface is provided between a running computer application and a system monitor. The system monitor handles notification messages generated by the computer application. The interface includes an import module to scan a source file, extract notification messages from the source file and store the notification messages in a scan file. The interface includes a manager module to display each notification message in the scan file in a table in a graphical user interface to allow modifications to the data in the table. The data is exported to an export stage. The export module performs any translation required to create a file of the notification messages in a format that is acceptable to the system monitor.

Claims

1. A method for interfacing to a system monitor comprising:

prior to executing a computer application within a computing device,

(a) scanning a source file of the computer application resident in a storage device to be monitored for one or more notification messages that are contained within source code of the source file, the source file being stored in a first location;

(b) extracting the one or more notification messages from the source code of the source file;

(c) storing the one or more notification messages in a second location;

(d) after storing the one or more notification messages in the second location, deleting any duplicate notification messages detected among the one or more notification messages extracted from the source code of the source file;

(e) displaying the one or more notification messages in a graphical user interface rendered on a display device;

(f) after displaying the one or more notification messages in the graphical user interface, associating and displaying a severity level corresponding to each of the one or more notification messages detected by the computer application, the severity level being modifiable by a user;

(g) displaying in the graphical user interface a modifiable location data field that specifies a path to a storage location in a file system where actual notification messages that are generated by the computer application are stored when generated by the computer application;

(h) generating an export file in a format compatible with the system monitor, the export file comprising the modifiable severity and the modifiable location; and

(i) accessing the export file by the system monitor to find the one or more notification messages and to provide an indicator of the severity based on the modifiable severity level for the one or more notification messages discovered at the path specified by the modifiable location.

2. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising assigning a default value to the modifiable severity.

3. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying the one or more notification messages, the modifiable severity and the modifiable location in a table in the graphical user interface.

4. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising modifying the modifiable severity, wherein the export file comprises the modified modifiable severity.

5. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising modifying the modifiable location, wherein the export file comprises the modified modifiable location.

6. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

(b1) storing temporarily the notification messages in a data file in a third location; and

(b2) extracting the notification messages from the data file for display in the graphical user interface.

7. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising translating a representation of the severity from numerical to textual to be compatible with the system monitor.

8. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising translating a representation of the severity from textual to numerical to be compatible with the system monitor.

9. A system for interfacing to a system monitor, comprising:

a computer system maintaining a source file corresponding to a computer application to be monitored that is stored at a first location, the source file containing source code that includes one or more notification messages embedded within the source code, wherein the computer system includes at least a computing device, a display device and a storage device;

an import module executing within the computing device to extract each of the one or more notification messages from the source file, to store each of the one or more notification messages in a scan file, and deleting any duplicate notification messages detected in the scan file;

a manager module to display each of the one or more notification messages stored in the scan file in a scrollable window of a table displayed within a graphical user interface rendered on the display device and to accept a user modifiable severity level and a user modifiable second location into the table, where the modifiable second location specifies a path to the second location where the one or more notification messages are stored by the computer system on the storage device;

an export module to store data in the table in a format acceptable to the system monitor; and

a system monitor module that accesses the data in the table and provides an indicator of severity based upon the modifiable severity level upon discovering the one or more notification messages at the second location.

10. The system recited in claim 9, further comprising means for modifying the data in the table.

11. The system recited in claim 9, further comprising means for for converting data in the table to the format acceptable to the system monitor module.

12. The system recited in claim 11, further comprising means for converting severity level data in the table from a text format to a numerical format.

13. The system recited in claim 11, further comprising means for converting severity level data in the table from a numerical format to a text format.