User Scriptable Server Initiated User Interface Creation

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of providing user interfaces in association with network hosted computer scripts is disclosed. A group of selectable user interface elements is provided to a macro author. The elements include behavior that, when controls generated by the elements are selected by a computing device user, cause a web-connected server separate from the computing device to perform one or more operations. A selection by the macro author of a user interface element and an identification of one or more parameters for the element is received. Macro code to generate controls associated with the author-selected elements to be associated with a first macro is executed, the first macro stored to be called from and execute on computing devices different from the device used by the macro author. The macro code is stored and the generated macro code is provided for access by users of a hosted computer system.

1 . A computer-implemented method of managing computer macros, comprising:
 providing to a macro author, with a computer system, a group of selectable user interface elements, the elements including behavior that, when controls generated by the elements are selected by a user of a computing device, cause a web-connected server that is separate from the computing device to perform one or more defined operations;   receiving a selection by the macro author of one of the selectable user interface elements, and an identification of one or more parameters for the author-selected element;   causing, by the computer system, macro code to cause generation of controls associated with the author-selected elements to be associated with a first macro, the first macro stored to be called from and execute on computing devices other than a device used by the macro author; and   storing the macro code and making the generated macro code available for access by users of a hosted computer system other than the macro author.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising associating the first macro with the macro author using a registered user account of the macro author, and making the macro code available to other users of the hosted computer system according to access restrictions identified by the macro author. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the access restrictions are defined by one or more groups of users registered with the hosted computer system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving requests to execute the macro code from a plurality of different applications running on a plurality of different client computers remote from the hosted computer system, automatically executing the macro code on the hosted computer system for each of the requests, and providing results of executing the macro code to each respective application of the plurality of applications in response to executing the macro. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein particular ones of the different client computers are registered to different accounts for different users. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of different applications correspond to a plurality of different registered users. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein executing the macro code comprises making calls to multiple different hosted services provided by the hosted computer system. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein executing the macro comprises making calls to web services provided by third-party information providers that are independent of the hosted computer system. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising translating information generated by a first application running on the hosted computer system to a different format and providing the translated information to a second application running on the hosted computer system. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising automatically providing the results of executing the macro code to a plurality of different accounts for a plurality of different users who are registered with the hosted computer system. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selectable user interface elements are selected from a group consisting of dialog boxes, buttons, radio buttons, TextArea objects, user interface layout definitions, and forms. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-implemented method of managing computer macros, comprising:
 storing macro code generated by a macro author at a location in an internet-accessible hosted computer system, wherein the code was generated by the macro author by way of selection of user interface elements from a group of user interface elements and definition by the macro author of parameters for the selected user interface elements;   receiving a request, from an application that is running on a client computer remote from the hosted computer, to execute the macro code;   executing the macro code on the hosted computer system; and   providing results of executing the macro code to the application that is running on the client computer,   wherein macro code is stored and accessed apart from files on which the macro code is programmed to operate.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising determining whether a user associated with the application running on the client computing device is authorized to access the macro code, by determining whether the macro author included an account for the user as an account authorized to access the code. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving requests to execute the macro code from a plurality of different applications running on a plurality of different client computers remote from the hosted computer system, automatically executing the macro code on the hosted computer system for each of the requests, and providing results of executing the macro code to each respective application of the plurality of applications in response to executing the macro. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein executing the macro code on the hosted computer system comprises executing a portion of the macro code on the hosted computer system and a portion of the macro code on the client computing device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the user interface elements are selected by the macro author from a group consisting of dialog boxes, buttons, radio buttons, TextArea objects, user interface layout definitions, and forms. 
     
     
         17 . A computer-implemented system for executing macros on a hosted computer system, comprising:
 a plurality of hosted applications executable on the hosted computer system;   a macro authoring application programmed to present to macro authors one or more groups of user interface elements for selection by the macro authors, and whose selection causes code for generating a selected user interface element to be added automatically to a macro authored by a respective macro author;   a macro data store storing a plurality of macros that are each assigned to a user account on the hosted computer system and that each define a series of actions to be executed by at least one of the plurality of hosted applications, wherein access to the plurality of macros is defined so as to identify user accounts on behalf of which the system will execute each of the plurality of macros; and   a computer server programmed to run a script manager that accesses a macro in response to an execution request and executes the macro by gathering information from one or more network-accessible services to which a user account has access.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the stored macros are accessible from applications operated on behalf of one or more user accounts other than the user account to which the macros are assigned. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the script manager is programmed to selectively permit access to the macros to user accounts that are identified as having access to each particular macro of the macros. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the macro authoring application is programmed to generate code for at least three elements selected from a group consisting of dialog boxes, buttons, radio buttons, TextArea objects, user interface layout definitions, and forms. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising one or more hosted services operated by organizations that differ from an operator of the hosted computer system, each hosted service accessible in response to calls by a macro to provide information to the macro during execution of the macro. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising web page code for delivery to users of the hosted computer system that includes code for calling one of the plurality of macros and for using results generated by execution of the macros. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein each of the macros is assigned to a user account via a unique user identifier for an account of a user who published the macro to the datastore. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising a wrapped service manager to provide a security wrapper around the macro code to control access to resources that correspond to the user, according to access permissions or restrictions identified by the user. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the security wrapper is arranged to generate a dialog box for the user, the dialog box arranged to receive input from the user when the macro is first run, regarding access levels to be provided to the macro. 
     
     
         26 . A computer-implemented system for executing macros on a hosted computer system, comprising:
 a plurality of hosted applications operable from the hosted computer system;   a macro data store storing a plurality of macros that are each assigned to a user account on the hosted computer system and that each define a series of actions to be executed by at least one of the plurality of hosted applications; and   means for providing one or more selections of user interface elements to a macro author, and for generating macro code in response to a macro author selection of an interface element from the group and provision by the macro author of one or more parameters for the element.