WO2003040955A1

WO2003040955A1 - Method and apparatus for capturing and displaying web page information

Info

Publication number: WO2003040955A1
Application number: PCT/AU2002/001531
Authority: WO
Inventors: Farooq Khan; Russell Crewe
Original assignee: Farooq Khan; Russell Crewe
Priority date: 2001-11-06
Filing date: 2002-11-06
Publication date: 2003-05-15

Abstract

A method for capturing and displaying web page information, the method comprising the steps of: receiving computer code, typically HTML code, from a remote location; executing or compiling the computer code to generate information to be displayed to a user in a first window; selecting a portion of the information displayed to the user; identifying the elements of the computer code that generated the selected information and any associated elements; generating a select computer code incorporating the elements of the computer code generated from the selected information and the associated elements; and executing or compiling the computer code to generate the selected information to be displayed in a second window or on the desktop.

Description

Method and Apparatus for capturing and displaying web page information

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for enabling information to be captured from a web page, and displayed, for example, on a desktop of a personal computer.

Throughout the specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Background Art

One problem encountered by an individual browsing the World Wide Web (a subset of the well-known Internet) is that although many companies offer their information to the public free of charge, there is a substantial cost paid by the user, in terms of time, as the user must parse through all the information on the web pages to retrieve the actual items of interest. This is due to the fact that web pages inundate the user with advertisements and other non-related information to what the user is actually looking for.

Additionally, web pages frequently change the layout of information contained thereon or delete the information from one page only to put it on another related web page. This requires the user to search the web page and/or its related web pages in order to obtain the information.

In each case the user is required to devote time to finding the actual information they desire on the web page.

A further problem relates to changing information. Where information changes periodically, the user is generally required to re-access that web page to update the information. This results in the user being required to devote further time to obtaining the information they desire. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a means by which the user can quickly access information of interest to them.

Disclosure of the Invention

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for downloading and displaying information from a remote source, the apparatus comprising:

display means for displaying information received from a remote source at a first portion thereof;

selection means for selecting a portion of the displayed information; and

processing means operable to determine the information selected for display and to display the selected information at a second portion of the display means.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises data receiving means for receiving computer code from a remote source; and the processing means is operable to execute or compile the computer code to create the information displayed by the display means at the first portion thereof.

More preferably, the computer code is HTML code and the information displayed by the display means is a web page generated from the execution or compilation of the HTML code.

Preferably, the display means displays the information in a first window and the processing means is operable to display the selected information in a second window.

Alternatively, the display means displays the information in a first window and the processing means is operable to integrate the selected information into the desktop. Preferably, the processing means is further operable to determine the computer code segment corresponding to the selected information and those aspects of the code that correspond to at least one of the following:

• the colour scheme of the selected information;

• the title given to the displayed or selected information;

• the rows or columns that the selected information covers; or

• any other aspect of the code that provides context to the selected portion,

and the processing means is operable to generate a select computer code using the computer code segment and the at least one corresponding aspect of the code and generate the information to be displayed at the second portion of the display means by executing or compiling the select computer code.

Alternatively, the processing means is further operable to determine the HTML code segment corresponding to the selected information and those aspects of the HTML code that correspond to at least one of the following:

• the web page's style sheets;

• the title of the web page;

• the Uniform Resource Locator of the web page;

• information on the frame, if any, in which the selected information resides;

• MAP tag contents for the web page;

• information on the form, if any, in which the selected information resides; or • any other aspect of the HTML code that provides context to the selected portion.

and the processing means is operable to generate a select HTML code using the HTML code segment and the at least one corresponding aspect of the HTML code and generate the information to be displayed at the second portion of the display means by executing or compiling the select HTML code.

More preferably, the processing means is operable to process information on the form by finding a containing form, calculate hidden fields that are not within the HTML code segment corresponding to the selected information and re-create the form with hidden fields when generating the select HTML code.

Preferably, the processing means is further operable to update the selected portion of information.

Preferably, the processing means is operable to allow the selected information to be edited.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for displaying a selected portion of information received from a remote source and displayed on an apparatus having a display means, the method including the steps of:

• displaying information received from a remote source at a first portion of the display means;

• selecting a portion of the displayed information;

• determining the information selected for display; and

• displaying the selected information at a second portion of the display means.

Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of: • receiving computer code from a remote source; and

• executing or compiling the computer code,

and the step of displaying information received from a remote source at a first portion of the display means comprises the step of displaying the executed or compiled computer code at the first portion of the display means.

Preferably, the computer code is HTML code and the information displayed is a web page generated from the execution or compilation of the HTML code.

Preferably, the step of displaying information received from a remote source includes the step of displaying the information in a first window and the step of displaying the selected information includes the step of displaying the selected information in a second window.

Preferably, the step of displaying information received from a remote source includes the step of displaying the information in a first window and the step of displaying the selected information includes the step of integrating the selected information into the desktop.

Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of:

• determining the computer code segment corresponding to the selected information;

• determining those aspects of the computer code that correspond to at least one of the following:

^■ the colour scheme of the selected information;

^■ the title given to the displayed or selected information;

^■ the rows or columns that the selected information covers; or ^■ any other aspect of the computer code that provides context to the selected portion, and

• generating a select computer code from the computer code segment and the at least one corresponding aspect of the computer code,

and the step of displaying the selected information at a second portion of the display means comprises the steps of:

• executing or compiling the select computer code; and

• displaying the executed or compiled select computer code at the second portion of the display means.

Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of:

• determining the HTML code segment corresponding to the selected information;

• determining those aspects of the HTML code that correspond to at least one of the following:

- the web page's style sheets;

^■ the title of the web page;

^■ the Uniform Resource Locator of the web page;

^■ information on the frame, if any, in which the selected information resides;

^■ MAP tag contents for the web page;

^■ information on the form, if any, in which the selected information resides; or ■ any other aspect of the HTML code that provides context to the selected portion, and

• generating a select HTML code from the HTML code segment and the at least one corresponding aspect of the HTML code,

• executing or compiling the select HTML code; and

• displaying the executed or compiled select HTML code at the second portion of the display means.

Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of:

• Finding a containing form;

• Calculating hidden fields not within the HTML code segment corresponding to the selected information; and

• Re-creating the form with hidden fields when generating the select HTML code.

Preferably, the method includes the step of updating the selected information at predetermined intervals.

Preferably, the method includes the step of editing the selected information.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a personal computer as used to run an application of the present invention; Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the process of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a view of a web page as displayed on a monitor of a personal computer with information selected for capture;

Figure 4 is a view of the web page of Figure 3, with the selected and captured information being displayed prior to display on a user's desktop;

Figure 5 is a view of the captured information as displayed on a user's desktop; and

Figure 6 is a view of a user's desktop with captured information and the resulting web browser, if a user clicks on a link within captured information.

Best Mode(s) for Carrying Out the Invention

The present invention is an application that allows information displayed via a web browser to be captured and displayed in a window or on the desktop of a computer display. In the embodiment described herein, the computer 1 is a personal computer comprising memory, processors and associated circuitry as is well known to persons skilled in the art. The computer 1 also includes a display 2, a keyboard 3, and a mouse 4, includes the facility to receive and transmit data to remote locations, including the facility to connect to the Internet and to access web pages in the usual manner. The computer 1 runs a windows-based operating system, such as Windows 98™, and includes an Internet web browser such as Internet Explorer™ ("IE"). As this is all well know to person skilled in the art, there is no requirement to describe this in more detail - except as is relevant to the present invention.

The present invention is embodied in two executable applications - hereinafter referred to as grabber.exe and manager.exe - whose functions will be described in more detail below. Briefly, grabber.exe allows a user to capture and save information displayed in a web page, while manager.exe allows this information to be modified and edited, and to be updated.

Grabber.exe is linked to the web browser Internet Explorer™ version 5 ("IE5") via a button or icon 5, as outlined in the following directory of the Microsoft Development Network Library viz - MSDN\Platform SDK Veb Services\Workshop\Reusing Browser Technology\Browser Extensions. The URL for adding extensions is http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/browser/ext/overview/overview.asp. For adding a toolbar button, the URL is http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/browser/ext/tutorials/button.asp. This is the Microsoft MSDN library, and the path outlines where the document can be found within the MSDN library. This section deals with extending IE, including a 'tutorial' called 'Adding toolbar buttons'. The specific method is a standard used to link Executable files.

The invention will be described with relation to the applications written in Borland Delphi or equivalent languages such as Visual Basic or Visual C++. As such, the use of terms "class" and "ActiveX controls" will be well known to person skilled in the art.

Figure 3 illustrates a web page 6 as displayed via a web browser such as IE on a display 2. The icon 5 is displayed in a toolbar 7.

Consider a user accessing the World Wide Web using IE5 and displaying a web page 6. Some of the information contained and displayed in that web page 6 may be of significant interest to the user, to the extent that the user may wish to have the information continuously displayed and updated on his desktop even while he is viewing other web pages, or using other applications. The term "desktop" and "active desktop" are terms well known to persons skilled in the art, and need not be described in any further details herein. The present embodiment is described using IE. As mentioned above, the applications embodying the present invention allows information from Internet (or Intranet/Extranet) destinations that is displayed at the user's computer 1 , to be captured and displayed, and to update the captured information at an interval defined by the user. In addition, it provides the user with interaction with the captured information on his computer as if the user is interacting with the actual Internet destination. There is a further configuration and initiation interface for a user to set up, edit, and modify the captured information. The captured information, and the applications are stored in memory in the computer 1 in any suitable, known manner. The applications will handle auto logins, if required, to update and display the captured information. The logins are handled by use of use of pre-stored configuration information.

Figure 2 illustrates the steps involved in capturing and updating the information in accordance with the present invention.

As mentioned above, the user has a web page 6 displayed, of which some is of interest. In the first instance, the user selects the information that is of interest - also referred to as content 10 in Figure 3. Selection is done in a conventional manner, for example using the mouse 4 to manoeuvre the cursor over the information while pressing the left mouse button. The selected text 10, i.e. content, is shown in Figure 3.

Once the information has been selected, then the user launches the grabber.exe application by clicking on the toolbar icon 5 in the usual way.

Once executed, grabber.exe locates the topmost browser window and gains access to its IHTMLDocument2 and IWebBrowser Common Object Model ("COM") interfaces. These are standard interfaces for automating IE, documentation on their behaviour can be found in the MSDN library. These interfaces provide access to the underlying HTML, and information on the user interface of the web browser. For example the IHTMLDocument2 interface provides access to the users selection which grabber.exe uses as the basis of the desktop item. From these interfaces, grabber.exe processes the users selection and its web page.

In the foregoing description, the term Item refers to the domain object that a user understands. The "items" are the things that appear on the desktop. The term "selection" is the computer code that the user has highlighted in the IE window, or that has been identified as the computer code that a user wants scheduled. The term "information" refers to the actual displayed contents selected by the user and displayed within the item.

Grabber.exe includes a number of classes that control the processing of the users selection. The TGeneratePreview class controls the processing of the user's selection and the web page. This includes:

o Getting the selected text.

o Copying the pages style sheets to maintain the selection's look.

o Grabbing the Title, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the web page 6.

o Processing the Frame information so it can correctly locate the web page 6 again (for subsequent updating and display).

o Collecting MAP tag contents to maintain the selections linkage.

o Processing any FORM tags that contain the selection so as to keep the forms working when the selection is isolated. This involves.

■ Finding the containing FORM;

■ Calculating if any hidden fields are not within the selection; and

■ Re-creating the FORM with any missing fields. Calculating if the selection can be scheduled, that is updated at regular, predetermined intervals, and, if so, how to locate it again from the URL. Schedule refers to the process of periodically checking if a selection has changed on the original web page, and updating it locally. The periodic checks are based on a user-defined schedule.

The THTMLSelGroup class performs this, and the steps include:

^■ Working down the Document Object Model ("DOM") from inside the selection, to work out its position within the HTML document;

^■ Locating the selection's position within the parent element of the selection. An element is referring to a HTML element. As is well known to person skilled in the art, elements belong inside parent elements. For a selection to be located again it needs to know where the parent element is located (which is the step describe above), and also identify the area within the parent element the selection belongs. For example, if the selection is the middle row of a 3 row table. The parent element of the selection is the table, but the selection is not the whole table, grabber.exe must work out where the selection starts and ends within the table, i.e. it needs to identify that the 2^nd row is selected and no others; and

^■ Grabbing the selection that it can identify, and saving the text. This is because the selection might not be the same as the original text. There can be a difference between the original selection and what can be best located, if the selection must be scheduled. This scheduled text is located by applying the algorithm that locates the scheduled items text to the current page, thus aligning the initial selection with what the next update will also locate. This scheduled text is displayed if the user wants to schedule the item, otherwise the original selection is used. o Calculating the selection's context so it can be recreated. The THTMLSelGroup class also performs this, and comprises capturing any tags that surround the selection and influence its appearance. This includes <DIV>, <FONT>, <TD> etc.

The TGeneratePreview class then creates a file from the user's selection using all the above elements. The selected text is copied into the file, with its context created around it. The various sections of the file are contained inside <DIV> tags so that the grabber.exe application can modify the contents, or show/hide the section. A typical file format is as follows:

<LINK href="C:\Program Files\Grab-lt\UserData\{4D904095-

088EDE542326}.htmi.css" rel=stylesheet> </HEAD>

<DIV id=GrabltHeadingElementTitle style="DISPLAY: none"> <DIV id=GrabitTitleElement> </DIV> <OBJECT classid=clsid:A45E73B7-7C09-4DF8-97CF-11A09BA23CD5

</OBJECT></TDx/TR> </DIV> <DIV id=GrabltHeadingElement style="DISPLAY: block"> <OBJECT classid=clsid:A45E73B7-7C09-4DF8-97CF-11 A09BA23CD5 ></OBJECT></TDx/TR> </DIV>

In the above file format, the BASE tag is used to bring all the images and links into the correct context of the original page, Style sheets from the original page are created externally and linked using the LINK tag. Also included is a style sheet for the General Fonts/Colors and one for the Custom Fonts/colors - see the Font and Color Option described below, and the BODY tag includes the bgColor, style and link colors from the original page.

Any MAP tags from the original page are inserted after the BODY tag.

A DIV with the title and a DIV without the title are next. Only one is displayed at a time depending on the option chosen - see below.

A DIV containing the actual selection is included next. Any context HTML is placed around this DIV. This DIV can be used to update the user's selection.

Once the file is created it is loaded into a preview window 8, which is an embedded IE browser. This is illustrated in Figure 4, which shows the original web page 6, and the preview window 8, in which is displayed the user's selected information. The example, described herein, this includes text and graphics.

The user can manipulate the information in the preview window 8. This is done by providing an options window 9. Using the options window 9, the user is also able to schedule updates of the information, set properties for security and login to gain access to secure Internet content areas, as well as an option to edit the HTML if the item is not a dynamically scheduled item. In this context, updates means that the captured and displayed information will be updated on a regular basis, if the captured information changes in any way. The user can select appropriate update frequency rates. The options window 9 is opened using the toolbar icon 5 when creating a new item. To edit already captured information, an ActiveX icon or button 14 on the desktop can be used to edit captured information or to configure the update of captured information. Clicking on this icon 14 - and (indicated by a down arrow at the top of the active desktop item) opens a menu window 11 immediately adjacent to the icon 14 - see Figure 5.

The TPreview Class is responsible for processing the actions within the preview window 8 - that is enabling the user to manipulate the information in the preview window 8. The user options available include:

Scheduled Option:

When this option is toggled, the selection is replaced with new information (if any) in accordance with the user-selected schedule, as mentioned above. Schedule information is contained in a TGrabltltem class and is used by the manager.exe application to regularly update the selection in accordance with the chosen schedule. When schedule information is changed, and, if saved, this is copied to an ini file - that is a configuration file with the extension .ini. This ini file is referred to as the ltems.ini file. The items.ini file is located in the UserData directory on the computer 1, and is under control of the Tgrabltltem class. The present application uses two configuration files - the Items.ini file described above, and another file called grabit.ini, which is located in the program directory and contains general program settings.

Font and Colour Option:

These options are controlled by style sheets. There are style sheets from the original document, a style sheet used for the general user option and a custom style sheet for the specific item.

When the option is changed the appropriate style sheets are turned on and off using the IHTMLDocument2 interface from the preview window 9.

Title visible: Toggles the title in the web page. This action shows and hides the appropriate DIV elements - as mentioned above with respect to the file format.

Once, and if, any of the selection has been edited/ manipulated, then this preview is saved and displayed on the user's desktop 13 as a separate window 12 - see Figure 5.

The file is displayed on the user's desktop using the lActiveDesktop interface. This interface is a known interface published by the Windows™ Desktop Update as used within Windows 98 ™ Me™, XP™, 2000™, and NT™. Also option to display in a standard floating application window.

The information is saved into the configuration file Items.ini

As mentioned above, the separate manager application - manager.exe - controls the management of displayed items and options, as well as controlling the scheduled updates of items.

The manager.exe application enables the captured information to be updated automatically at pre-configured intervals. Manager.exe and the functions provided thereby are initiated by means of COM automation e.g. ActiveX™ - as will be described in more detail below.

Manager.exe does also provide a way to manage - through its main screen - the editing of an item. However, when a user wishes to edit an item, then manager.exe launches the grabber.exe application to do the actual editing with the preview - as described above. The same occurs if the user uses the ActiveX menu 11 on the item itself to view the properties of the item, then this launches grabber.exe to do the actual editing. So it is possible to modify an item's properties once it has been created by either using the ActiveX menu 11 inside the item, or by using the manager's main screen to access this feature.

To update items, manager.exe initiates the process of checking for updates to pages that are scheduled. It uses the information stored in the ini file and accessed using the TGrabltltem class to locate the web page selection to test. It uses the lwebBrowser2 interface to create a hidden IE browser to download the web page. This functionality is wrapped in a class called THTMLDownload2. Once the web page is loaded it will locate the web page selection using the information generated when the selection was first captured. This is achieved as described above with regard to the THTMLSelGroup functions. This selection is then compared to the text in the local desktop page. If there has been a change the text is updated.

As described above, within the item displayed on the user's desktop the manager.exe updates the information (local HTML file used by the active desktop) with new content that from the original website that may have changed from within the selection made. Therefore the information displayed within the active desktop window on the desktop will be the only information that is updated. Once the content is updated the user can select any new links within this new content to display a new window with the full detail from that link. For example, consider a user that chooses to have the latest news headlines appearing within the item, and then these headlines can change. The user can click on a news headline to get more details within another browser window. This is illustrated in Figure 6.

A user can also specify a page that they need to login to in order to see the actual content. If this information is specified it will first process this page to log them in and then proceed to the URL of the appropriate web page.

As mentioned above, an ActiveX control is embedded into the web page to open a menu system 11 allowing easy access to the various functions available for the saved and displayed selection. The menu 11 is displayed on the display - and is shown in Figure 5. This control passes on the work to both the grabber.exe application and the manager.exe application to process as appropriate. Actions for the manager.exe application are sent using COM automation, while actions for the grabber.exe application are sent using the command line. One action that it processes itself is the rollup/rolldown action, which is performed using the Tgrabltltem class. A second embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to Figure 7:

In this second embodiment, the application is separated into 4 functionality groups. The first functionality group is the processing and collection of Grabbed Selections made by the user, second is the displaying of these Grabbed Selections and third is the management and synchronizing of these Grabbed selections with the source web page. The fourth functionality group is Support Services and utilities which are not part of the primary functionality of the product but support the primary functionality.

The application is made up of three executable programs and one ActiveX dll. They are:

• Manager.exe - this program serves as the main controller of the functionality provided and as the synchronizing service, for this reason it is always running. It also provides user access to the management services and general options, via the Tray Icon and the Management

Window.

• Grabber.exe - this program provides the IE hook to grab selections and also allow modification of the grabbed selections after they are created.

• WManager.exe - this program allows the grabbed selections to be displayed in standard windows of the Microsoft Windows™ OS.

• XButton.ocx - this dll implements the quick menu within the grabbed selection frame that provides access to the management services provided by Manager.exe and Grabber.exe.

Functionality Group: Grabbing Selections

The captured selection is saved within a specially formatted HTML page. This HTML page serves multiple purposes: a) It provides the proper context, processed from the original page, needed to have the selection correctly display and function as it did on the original page.

b) Identifies the captured selection to allow the updating of it during synchronization.

c) Provide the HTML to display and hide the Title of the Grabbed Selection and to display the ActiveX menu button.

The application collects extra information when synchronization is required from a web site that requires the user to login. In this case the user can specify the login information using the 'Login' page of the properties window.

Login information can be reused for multiple grabbed selections. If the user already has entered the login information then they can select it from the list of existing logins. Otherwise the user needs to set-up the new login information. Where a site requires HTTP authentication the user can simply enter their user- name and password for the site. Where the site uses some custom method to authenticate the user based on the user sending information using HTML FORM tags, the user must follow the wizard provided to set-up the login information.

The wizard launches an Internet Explorer Window (using the IWebBrowser interface) and gets the user to re-enter their login information using the sites actual login page. Once entered the application gathers the login information from the web page by using the COM Automation interface provided by Internet Explorer. This information is located within the FORM that currently has user input focus.

This information gathered is:

a) All the FORM INPUT parameters are extracted, including hidden fields.

b) The FORM action URL

c) The method used to send information to the server, Get or Post. This information is encrypted and stored within the applications Grabit.ini file for use when the Grabbed Selection is synchronized.

Grabbed selections and their associated information are stored in a directory called 'UserData' found under the main program directory. Each grabbed selection is given a unique file name based on a GUID (Globally unique Identifier). There is a matching entry in the Items.ini file that stores all the settings associated with it. The TGrabltltem class manages the loading and saving of this information.

A grabbed selection is identified with the HTML document by locating its position within the HTML hierarchical structure. This information is then stored as a string representing the path that needs to be followed in order to find the selection again.

THTMLSelGroup performs this using the IHTMLDocument2 interface to negotiate the HTML hierarchical structure. Starting from the current location of the users selection it processes each parent HTML Element until it reaches the <BODY> element. At each step down the hierarchy it must identify at what position within the current child element collection do the parent belong. There are two pieces of information stored for each step in the hierarchy, 1) the TAG type and 2) the index of it within the current children elements collection.

Finally the selection must be isolated from within its initial parent element. This is done using the IHTMLTextRange interface and its compareEndPoints method. It negotiates the Children Collection of the initial parent Element of the selection looking for where the selection starts and ends within this collection.

a) For each element in the parent element's children collection it encloses it within a IHTMLTxtRange using the following method:

a. IHTMLTxtRange.moveToElementText

b) This range is then compared to the original range using the following method: a. IHTMLTxtRange.compareEndPoints

c) From this information the first and the last index positions that the selection falls within can be identified. This information is stored within the string using the FIRST and LAST identifiers.

An Example string representing the Path to the Selection is as follows:

[TABLE.6] [TBODY.O] |TR,1] [TD,2] [FIRST,2] [LAST 4]

To elaborate, the example string means that the selection is found:

- Within the 7^th element of the initial <BODY> element (Number is zero based)

- Then the 1^st element of this <TABLE> element.

- Then the 2^nd element of this <TBODY> element.

- Then the 3^rd element of this <TR> element

- Then it starts at the 3^rd element within the <TD> element.

- And ends at the 5^th element within the <TD> element.

As THTMLGroupSel walks down the HTML Hierarchy it also collects other information needed to reproduce the Grabbed Selection as close to its orginal state as possible. Once collected this information is associated with appropriate TGrabltltem object that is then responsible for saving it.

Information collected includes the following:

o Can the Grabbed Selection be reproduced and thus synchronized? ^" o The parent elements that affect the visual aspect of the Grabbed Selection. These are combined together to form two HTML stings that are placed around the Grabbed Selection when it is rendered.

o The background colour that appears behind the Grabbed Selection.

o Any <FROM> tags that enclose the Grabbed Selection.

Once a Selection is located and extracted into the HTML holder page the TGeneratePreview class performs some final tasks:

a) The previous URL that the user came from must be checked to see if the user browsed to this page via a POST based <FORM>. If this is the case then the application redisplays this Form to the user and collects the information that the user entered to get to the current page. This information must then be used when synchronising the Grabbed Selection.

b) If there is a <FORM> surrounding the Grabbed Selection then the source page is checked to see if any hidden input parameters need to be saved.

c) All style sheet information is extracted and saved to ".ess" files stored in the UserData directory. These style-sheets are then linked into the Grabbed Selection using the createStyleSheet method of the IHTMLDocument2 interface. During this process the 'general' style sheet linked to the Grabbed Selection and a 'Custom of this item' style sheet is created and linked to the Grabbed Selection. These style sheets are disabled and enabled, using the IHTMLDocument2 interface, based on the users appearance settings for the Grabbed Selection.

d) All links (<A> element) are processed to ensure that they will open into a new browser window rather than use the host window. This is achieved by setting the target parameter to '_blank'. Functionality Group: Displaying Grabbed Selections

Grabbed selections can be displayed to the user in two ways. The grabbed selections can be integrated as part of the Active Desktop, or displayed in standard floating windows that can appear on top of the desktop or on top of other applications. The user can control which method to use for each item using the ActiveX menu button (Quick Menu). The Quick Menu communicates the users option to the Manage.exe via COM Automation, which then performs the necessary change.

Each TGrabltltem is associated with an IWndController interface. The IWndController interface represents the methods required to implement a Grabbed Selection display service. A display service is responsible for displaying the specially formatted HTML Page that contains the Grabbed Selection. Two such display services have been created that implement the IWndController interface. The TDeskTopWndController implements the Active Desktop display service. The TStandardWndController implements the Standard Windows display service.

Specifically a display service must implement the following features:

• Ability to query and change the Size and position of the Grabbed Selection window.

• Ability to refresh the contents of the Grabbed Selection window.

• Ability to Show and Hide the Grabbed Selection and query its current visible state.

• Respond to a Popup command when an item is required to being its self to the users attention.

• Allow the creation and deletion of Grabbed Selection windows. TDesktopWndController provides the Active Desktop display service by communicating with the Windows operating systems Active Desktop via the COM interface supplied with the Windows operating system (lActiveDesktop). The Windows operating system does the actual displaying of the Grabbed Selection on the users Desktop.

TStandardWndController provides the Standard Window display service to the TGrabltltem by communication with the WManager.exe executable via COM automation and the custom IWManager interface. WManager.exe does the actual displaying of the Grabbed Selection within a window. The windows mimic the behaviour of Active Desktop items where the Border is normally hidden but when the mouse is over the window is the borders are shown.

As well as implementing the IWndController interface TStandardWndController also implements the custom IStandardWnd interface. This interface provides access to the extended options available to the Standard Window service as described below.

WManager.exe displays the Grabbed Selections within an Internet Explorer ActiveX control. These windows offer options to customise their appearance and behaviour. The TitemHolder and TWebGrabltWnd classes implement the display and options of the windows.

The following options are implemented:

a) Show on task bar. Shows the window on the Windows taskbar.

b) Transparent options. In Windows 2000 and above the Window can appear in various degrees of transparency.

c) Stay on top. The window can be made to stay above all other windows.

d) Ability to Print the selection using the standard Internet Explorer Print facility. e) The ability to rollup/rolldown the selection to compress the amount of information to be displayed as part of the selection.

f) The ability to automatically re-display one or more items of selected information (previously hidden) upon the apparatus determining that the selected information has changed.

These options are implemented using the standard Window API calls for these operating system features.

The Quick Menu provides the user with a quick way to interact with a specific Grabbed Selection. Each Grabbed Selections Quick Menu is linked to the specific Grabbed Selection as a parameter of the ActiveX OBJECT tag within the HTML.

The Quick Menu delegates most of the commands to either Manager.exe or Grabber.exe. It only implements the commands that open web pages directly. The properties command runs grabber.exe specifying the Grabbed Selection for Grabber.exe to open the Properties Window. The other commands are all sent to manager.exe via its COM Automation interface. Manager.exe then implements the commands actions. In this way the ActiveX menu button is completely independent from whatever is hosting it, be it WManager.exe or the Active Desktop.

Functionality Group: Management and Synchronising Grabbed Selections

Manager.exe is always running and will synchronise the required Grabbed Selections periodically, as specified by the user's settings.

For each Synchronization manager.exe instantiates the TUpdateltem class that controls the update process. TUpdateltem creates a hidden Internet Explorer window using the IWebBrowser interface. The THTMLDownload class encapsulates this interface. The IWebBrowser interface proved the most reliable method to automate Internet Explorer to avoid memory leaks. The hidden Internet Explorer window loads the required page then passes its IHTMLDocument2 interface to TUpdateltem. TUpdateltem then uses the IHTMLDocument2 interface to negotiate the page structure looking for the Grabbed Selection. (See previous discussion of how a Grabbed Selection is identified.) For it to correctly identify the Grabbed Selection any scripts that run after the page is loaded must be executed so that the structure is the same as when the user first selected the area. If the source page used a FORM with POST parameters then the page must be navigated to using the POST communication method.

Due to the nature of Internet Explorer being an active view of a HTML page, it can modify the HTML code after the page is loaded. For this reason the HTML grabbed from the latest page is re-rendered into the current Grabber Selection HTML container page before a comparison can be made. The current Grabbed Selection is loaded into the same hidden Internet Explorer browser and the HTML text of the selection is extracted. This text is the original HTML that the comparison is based on. The latest version of the HTML text is inserted into its place and then the final HTML text is then extracted and compared to the original HTML text. This process ensures that a comparison of like verses like is made when judging if a Grabbed Selection has changed. The IHTMLDocument3 interface first introduced by Internet Explorer 5 is required to then copy the final changes back to the file if a new version of the Grabbed Selection has been detected.

A variation of this synchronization process occurs when there is Login Information that needs to be processed before the source web page can be loaded. When this occurs TUpdateltem uses the Login information associated with the TGrabltltem to log into the web site prior to navigating to the source page.

Where the login uses HTTP authentication the usemame and password are inserted into the source pages URL. Where the login require some kind of custom parameters sent to the server then TUpdateltem first submits the login page to the server before loading the source page. Special consideration is made to the type of server communication, either get or post. Where Post is used the THTMLDownload class initiates a post call and processes the Post parameters.

Claims

ClaimsWhat is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for downloading and displaying information from a remote source, the apparatus comprising:

- display means for displaying information received from a remote source at a first portion thereof;

selection means for selecting a portion of the displayed information; and

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

data receiving means for receiving computer code from a remote source;

and where the processing means is operable to execute or compile the computer code to create the information displayed by the display means at the first portion thereof.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the computer code is HTML code and the information displayed by the display means is a web page generated from the execution or compilation of the HTML code.

4. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims where the display means displays the information in a first window and the processing means is operable to display the selected information in a second window.

5. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 where the display means displays the information in a first window and the processing means is operable to integrate the selected information into the desktop.

6. An apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5, as dependent on claim 2, where the processing means is further operable to determine the computer code segment corresponding to the selected information and those aspects of the code that correspond to at least one of the following:

• the colour scheme of the selected information;

• the title given to the displayed or selected information;

• the rows or columns that the selected information covers; or

• any other aspect of the code that provides context to the selected portion,

7. An apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, as dependent on claim 3, where the processing means is further operable to determine the HTML code segment corresponding to the selected information and those aspects of the HTML code that correspond to at least one of the following:

• the web page's style sheets;

• the title of the web page;

• the Uniform Resource Locator of the web page;

• MAP tag contents for the web page; • information on the form, if any, in which the selected information resides; or

• any other aspect of the HTML code that provides context to the selected portion.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 where the processing means is operable to process information on the form by finding a containing form, calculate hidden fields that are not within the HTML code segment corresponding to the selected information and re-create the form with hidden fields when generating the select HTML code.

9. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims where the processing means is further operable to update the selected portion of information.

10. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the processing means is operable to allow the selected information to be edited.

11. A method for displaying a selected portion of information received from a remote source and displayed on an apparatus having a display means, the method including the steps of:

• selecting a portion of the displayed information;

• determining the information selected for display; and

12. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:

• receiving computer code from a remote source; and

• executing or compiling the computer code,

where the step of displaying information received from a remote source at a first portion of the display means comprises the step of displaying the executed or compiled computer code at the first portion of the display means.

13. A method according to claim 12 where the computer code is HTML code and the information displayed is a web page generated from the execution or compilation of the HTML code.

14. A "method according to any one of claims 11 to 13 where the step of displaying information received from a remote source includes the step of displaying the information in a first window and the step of displaying the selected information includes the step of displaying the selected information in a second window.

15. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 13 where the step of displaying information received from a remote source includes the step of displaying the information in a first window and the step of displaying the selected information includes the step of integrating the selected information into the desktop.

16. A method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, as dependent on claim 12, where the method further comprises the steps of:

■ the colour scheme of the selected information; ■ the title given to the displayed or selected information;

■ the rows or columns that the selected information covers; or

■ any other aspect of the computer code that provides context to the selected portion, and

and where the step of displaying the selected information at a second portion of the display means comprises the steps of:

• executing or compiling the select computer code; and

17. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, as dependent on claim 13, where the method further comprises the steps of:

^■ the web page's style sheets;

^■ the title of the web page;

^■ the Uniform Resource Locator of the web page;

■ information on the frame, if any, in which the selected information resides; ^■ MAP tag contents for the web page;

^■ information on the form, if any, in which the selected information resides; or

^■ any other aspect of the HTML code that provides context to the selected portion, and

• executing or compiling the select HTML code; and

18. A method according to claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

• Finding a containing form;

19. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 18 including the step of updating the selected information at predetermined intervals.

20. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 19 including the step of editing the selected information.

21. An apparatus substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.

22. A method substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.