Hewlett-packard Company

Byron T Jenings, Jr

Jason D Goldman

Joseph J Courant

A method and apparatus for automating and controlling execution of tools in a computer system that includes a number of software application tools. The method and apparatus of the present invention enables a user without knowledge of the event connector, the message server or of software programming to create customized tool interactions from the different application tools present to match the user's needs. The method and apparatus of the present invention gives the user control of software tool integration without having to write any code or changing the implementations of the individual software tools. The tool integration is based on user-defined, event-driven interactions between the functions of the different tools of the system.

Method and apparatus for automating and controlling execution of

A screen-oriented application tool is integrated into a computer-aided software development system including one or more software development tools for performing predefined software development tasks. An interface program controls communication between the software development system and a screen-oriented application tool that contains a representation of a display screen. The interface program monitors inputs and outputs of the application tool and generates a trigger when a predefined application tool event has occurred within a predefined region of the display screen. The event region of the display screen is defined by a start row, an end row, a start column and an end column. The application tool events include cursor events wherein the cursor enters or exits the predefined region, text events wherein the text within the predefined region is modified and expression events wherein the text within the predefined region is modified and the new text matches a desired pattern.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Byron T Jenings, Jr