Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Susan E Strom

Brendan McKeon

Robert E Sinclair, Ii

Peter Kam-Ho Wong

Daniel F Plastina

Gopal Parupudi

Robert E Corrington

Chao-Chia Liu

Roger F Grambihler

Murthy Srinivas

Identifier information is generated for a user interface element of interest within a user interface of a computer program based on a description of a hierarchical element path comprising, e.g., some combination of parent elements that the user interface element inherits from, class names of user interface elements, module names of application programs in the element path, and sibling order information. Process identifiers may also be added to distinguish between user interface elements of two different process instances of the same program. Unlike more fragile identifiers, such an element path identifier persists across instances of the computer program, across different computers, across different builds of the program, etc. Converting between a user-defined data type and a string type and vice versa also is provided.

Element persistent identification

A centralized manager for managing the data synchronization operations for multiple applications according to user preferences. Applications register respective COM handlers with the synchronization manager via COM methods. On a synchronize event the synchronization manager queues the registered application handlers, and calls the handlers to perform the synchronization of items therein. Progress and results are communicated to a user-viewable dialog via callbacks from the handlers to the synchronization manager. The synchronization manager provides consistent user interfaces for obtaining user preferences related to synchronization and for presenting information to the user, thus resulting in a consistent user experience.

Synchronization manager for standardized synchronization of separate programs

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Susan E Strom