Method to enable semi-automatic regeneration of manuals by saving manual creation operations as scripts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9996368-B2
Application number	US-96586407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2007
Priority date	Dec 28, 2007
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for creating, editing, and generating operating manuals utilizing scripts. Operations performed by an author during manual creation are saved as scripts. The operations are replayed when regenerating or modifying the manual. When replaying the script of the operating manual, the script may be stopped at convenient points to add additional operations and/or modifications. These additional operations and/or modifications are also recorded as scripts to enable generation of the edited/modified manual.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. In a data processing system, a method comprising:
extracting information from a target application and monitoring first operations associated with the extracted information during operation of the target application;
recording the extracted information and first operations within a first script;
creating a manual for the target application using the first script;
providing a first affordance that enables playback of the first script;
providing a second affordance that pauses playback of the first script;
detecting a selection of the first affordance, wherein upon detection:
initiating the playback of the first script to provide a visual indication of a content of the manual; and
detecting a selection of the second affordance during the playback;

in response to the detecting that the second affordance has been selected during the playback, pausing the first script and beginning to actively monitor the first script for modifications to the extracted information recorded within the first script; and
in response to detecting a selection of the first affordance during the pausing, ceasing to actively monitor the first script for the modifications to the extracted information recorded within the first script;
dynamically recording second operations that perform the modifications to the extracted information within a second script, the recording of the second script including recording control identifications, coordinates, text, and image dimensions of the extracted information; and
creating a modified manual using the second script.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling editing of the extracted information to generate the modifications to the extracted information; and
dynamically updating the second script to reflect the second operations that resulted in the modifications to the extracted information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracted information includes screen images and the text, said method further comprising
storing the screen images and the text for each screen transition event produced by the target application within the first script;
wherein the first script includes script properties, original information, and the first operations of the screen images and text.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the modifications to the extracted information further includes editing operations on the screen images and text to generate an edited screen image and edited text during the second operations;
wherein said recording of the second script automatically records the editing operations; and
said creating includes:
retrieving the first script of the extracted screen images and the extracted text obtained during the first operations;
receiving the second operations comprising edits to the extracted screen images and the extracted text to provide the edited screen images and edited text; and
recording the second script, wherein the creating generates the modified manual with the edited screen images and edited text included therein.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein when the selection of the second affordance is detected, said method further comprises:
pausing the playback of the first script at a breakpoint;
monitoring for the editing operations performed on the extracted information and for addition of additions to the second operations directly within the first script at the breakpoint; and
enabling resumption of playback of the first script when selection of the first affordance is detected.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
comparing first properties of the first script with second properties of the second script; and
presenting detected differences between the first properties and the second properties in a compare box.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transcribing text of the manual from a first language into a second language to create a first language manual;
extracting one or more screen images of the first language manual;
recording, in the second script, changes to embedded information within the one or more screen images and changes to visual parameters of components within the one or more screen images;
enabling generation of a second language manual using the first script and the first language manual modified with the second operations detected during the modifications to the extracted information within the first script; and
providing a compare box indicating differences between a first language version of the first script and first language manual, and a second language version of the first script and second language manual.

8. A computer program product comprising:
a storage medium; and
a manual generating utility having program code that when executed by a processor performs the functions of:
extracting information from a target application and monitoring first operations associated with the extracted information during operation of the target application;
recording the extracted information and first operations within a first script;
creating a manual for the target application using the first script;
providing a first affordance that enables playback of the first script;
providing a second affordance that pauses playback of the first script;
detecting a selection of the first affordance, wherein upon detection:
initiating the playback of the first script to provide a visual indication of a content of the manual; and
detecting a selection of the second affordance during the playback;

in response to the detecting that the second affordance has been selected during the playback, automatically pausing the playback of the first script at a breakpoint and beginning to actively monitor the first script for the second operations that perform the modifications to the extracted information and for the addition of third operations directly within the first script at the breakpoint;
in response to detecting a selection of the first affordance during the pausing, ceasing to actively monitor the first script for the second operations that perform the modifications to the extracted information and the addition of the third operations directly within the first script, and resuming playback of the first script;
dynamically recording the second operations and third operations within a second script, the recording of the second script including recording control identifications, coordinates, text, and image dimensions of the extracted information; and
creating a modified manual using the second script.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein said program code further comprises code for:
enabling editing of the extracted information to generate the modifications to the extracted information; and
dynamically updating the second script to reflect the second operations that resulted in the modifications to the extracted information.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the extracted information includes screen images and text, and said program code further comprises code for
storing the screen images and the text for each screen transition event produced by the target application within the first script;
wherein the first script includes script properties, original information, and the first operations of the screen images and text.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the modifications to the extracted information further includes editing operations on the screen images and text to generate an edited screen image and edited text during the second operations;
wherein said recording automatically records the editing operations; and
said creating includes:
retrieving the first script of the extracte

Assignees

• Hamzaoui Karim
• Kamimura Ryo
• Takiguchi Kentaro
• IBM

Inventors

• Hamzaoui Karim
• Kamimura Ryo
• Takiguchi Kentaro

Classifications

• G06F9/453 Primary

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F8/70

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title

• G06F8/73

  Program documentation · CPC title

• G06F9/4446 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic