Object framework and services for periodically recurring operations6745224Abstract A computer system includes an object oriented framework that provides a set of application integration interfaces that support programmatic updating operations for maintaining locally stored copies of resources such as hypertext document pages from remote servers on a computer network. The updating operations continually check for updates to the data at the remote server and download updated versions of the resources to maintain concurrency of the locally stored copy. The updating operations are performed while a connection to the remote network is left idle, to maximize usage of on-line connection time. The updating operations also can be programmatically scheduled by a client program of the updating operations. The updating operations include updating the contents of a folder or directory in a local file system as specified in a file at a remote server on the network, and providing automatically updating and populating groups of sites or document pages organized by category. Claims We claim: Description FIELD OF THE INVENTION
TABLE 1
Definition of Flags Value Bits
Bit Definition
0 The registry entry specifies a smart folder updating service
described in the "Smart Folders Updating Operation" section
below. The path string refers to a file system directory which is
a smart folder. The URL string refers to a file on a remote
server, called a "folder descriptor file," which Web Check uses
in the smart folder updating service to update the smart folder.
1 The registry entry specifies an updating service for Internet
Shortcuts kept in a local folder. The path string refers to the
local folder which contains the Internet Shortcuts that are
updated with this service The URL string is not used, and may
be omitted.
2 This bit is set in conjunction with bit 1 to specify the updating
service is for Internet shortcuts in sub-folders of the local folder
referred to by the path string.
A set of sample registry entries for Web Check 53 is as follows:
.backslash.HKCU.backslash.Software.backslash.Microsoft.backslash.Windows.b
ackslash.CurrentVersion
.backslash.WebCheck
.backslash.0000
(REG_DWORD) Flags=0x0000001
(REG_STRING) Path="c:.backslash.program
files.backslash.msn.backslash.unplugged"
(REG_STRING) URL="http://www.msn.com"
.backslash.0001
Flags=0x00000001
Path="c:.backslash.windows.backslash.favorites"
URL="http://www.hotlinks.com/favs.htm"
.backslash.xxxx
Flags=0x0000003
Path="c:.backslash.windows.backslash.desktop"
URL=" "
With reference to FIG. 3, Web Check 53 (FIG. 2) performs the updating operations specified in the Web Check entries of the system registry 70 (FIG. 2) on either a scheduled basis or during idle connection times at the user's option (referred to as the "monitoring time" option). The user sets this and other options 90 in a Web Check properties dialog 80, such as by clicking on a desired setting of each option with the mouse or other input device. For example, the user sets the monitoring time option to the idle connection times setting by clicking on a radio button control 82 next to the caption "Check sites for changes in the background while I'm connected to the Internet." Alternatively, the user can set the monitoring time option to the scheduled basis setting by clicking on another radio button control 84, and entering a schedule of times in a list box control 86. Alternative embodiments of the invention can present additional Web Check options. When the user sets the monitoring time option to idle connection times, Web Check 53 is loaded to run on the computer 20 whenever the Internet browser 51 or other application software loads the windows sockets module (wsock32.dll) to connect to the Internet 52. As described above, the Internet browser 51 uses the windows sockets module as a network programming interface for connecting to and communicating on the Internet 52. During the user's on-line session, Web Check 53 monitors the computer's connection to the Internet 52 to detect times when the connection is left idle (i.e., when the application. software is not transmitting or receiving data on the connection to the Internet). At such times, Web Check 53 performs the update operations specified in the registry entries described above, e.g., checking remote documents for changes and downloading updated documents to local storage. In the illustrated system 50, Web Check 53 detects idle times using services provided by the windows sockets network programming interface. Communications through windows sockets over the Internet connection are made through what are called "ports" or "sockets." Windows sockets tracks a time of the last activity occurring on each port, and provides a network programming interface for other software modules to query windows sockets for this "last activity" time. In the illustrated system, the the windows sockets provides network programming interfaces for applications to query the last activity time, which have the following form: GetSockOpt (SO_IDLE) getsockopt( SO_IDLE) The former of these two network programming interfaces returns a value indicating the time that a last transaction occurred on a non-idle time socket (i.e., on any socket not marked as an "idle time socket" as described below). The latter of the above windows sockets network programming interfaces returns a value indicating the time elapsed since the last activity on a non-idle time socket. This latter time is derived by subtracting the last activity time from a current system time. Web Check periodically polls these windows sockets interfaces to determine how long the connection has been idle. Although the Internet browser can commence new communications over the port at any time, the length of time that the connection has been idle is a good indication of how long the connection is likely to remain idle before the next communication commences. Specifically, the longer the connection has been idle--the more likely it is to continue to remain idle. This relationship reflects how a connection is used during on-line browsing. In general, when a user browses to a new document on-line, the browser engages in a series of rapid data exchanges with servers on the Internet, which include: requesting a connection to a name server; receiving a response; requesting translation of a URL identifying the document from the name server; obtaining a Internet Protocol (IP) address in response; requesting a connection to a World-Wide Web site where the document resides using the IP address; receiving a response; requesting to download the document from the site; receiving the document; requesting any images or other files referenced in the document (also known as the document's "dependencies"); and receiving the dependencies. Between each of these exchanges, there may be a short pause (typically a fraction of a second up to several seconds). On the other hand, once the document and its dependencies have been downloaded, the user usually reads or views the document for a much longer duration before browsing to another document. In which case, the delay until the browser resumes communications over the connection can be several minutes. Based on this relationship, Web Check 53 uses the elapsed time since the last activity time obtained from windows sockets to determine when the connection is idle. More particularly, Web Check 53 determines that the connection is idle when this elapsed time exceeds a predefined threshold interval or intervals. At such times, Web Check 53 downloads data from the Internet 52 for the updating operations specified in the Web Check entries of the system registry 70 (FIG. 2). Web Check 53 performs these downloads over a separate port (the "idle time port") than that used by the Internet browser, and sets parameters for the port such that windows sockets does not track the last activity time of the downloads using the idle time port. This allows Web Check to continue monitoring the elapsed time from the Internet browser's last activity time for idle time detection. In the illustrated system, the windows sockets provides the following network programming interfaces for Web Check 53 to mark the port it uses for idle time downloading as the idle time port: SetSockOpt(SO_IDLE) setsockopt( socket s, SO_IDLE) In the illustrated system 50, Web Check 53 uses different predefined threshold intervals for idle time detection depending on the expected duration of each updating service download. In particular, Web Check 53 triggers updating service downloads with short expected durations (hereafter "short term idle time events") when the elapsed time from the last activity time exceeds a short delay interval (e.g., about two seconds). These short term idle time events may include, for example, downloading update information of documents (e.g., last changed date) and downloading smaller documents. For updating service downloads with longer expected durations (hereafter "long term idle time events"), Web Check 53 uses a longer delay interval (e.g., ten seconds). These long term idle time events may include downloading updated versions of complete documents and their dependencies to the local storage 42 (FIG. 2). Generally, Web Check 53 triggers one or more short term idle time events (if any are pending) at the beginning of an idle period. Later in the idle period after sufficient time has elapsed from the last activity time, Web Check 53 triggers any long term idle time events. For higher bandwidth connections (e.g., an ISDN line or cable modem), Web Check 53 automatically scales down the delay threshold intervals. In alternative embodiments of the invention, Web Check 53 can determine the idle times using different delay intervals (e.g., a longer 30 second interval), and without consideration to the size of the download. When the monitoring time option is set to a scheduled basis, Web Check 53 is loaded and run at scheduled times by scheduler software (not shown). The scheduler software in the illustrated system 50 is the system agent application software of the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system. The system agent application software can be set at the user's option to load and run Web Check on any of a variety of bases, such as at a particular hour on a daily, weekly, monthly or like basis. Thus, for example, the user can have Web Check activated on a scheduled basis at times that the computer would otherwise be idle, such as during early morning hours. When activated at the scheduled times, Web Check 53 automatically connects to the Internet 52 using the windows sockets network programming interface. Web Check 53 then iterates through the Web Check entries in the system registry 70 (FIG. 2) and performs each of the updating operations specified therein. When the updating operations are complete, Web Check 53 disconnects from the Internet 52 and shuts down. Web Check 53 thus performs automated updating of locally stored copies of documents from the Internet 52, by unattended downloading of data from the Internet either at scheduled times or at detected idle on-line times. This provides automatically updated, locally stored copies of documents and other files from the Internet for off-line use. 3. Smart Folders Updating Operation With reference now to FIG. 4, Web Check 53 (FIG. 2) provides an updating operation 100 herein referred to as a "smart folder updating." In accordance with this updating operation, Web Check 53 updates the contents of a local folder 68 (the "smart folder") based on a file 104 (the "web collections file" or "WCF") residing on a remote server (e.g., World-Wide Web site 58 of FIG. 2) that specifies the contents of the smart folder. As described above, the local folders that are to be updated by Web Check 53 with the smart folder updating service are identified by entries in the system registry 70 which have the 0-bit of the flag value set. As stated in Table 1 above, the path string in this registry entry identifies the folder 68 in the file system of the local storage 42 (FIG. 2), while the URL string identifies the WCF 104 at the remote server 58 (FIG. 2). The illustrated WCF 104 can contain any of three main sections, which are as follows: Files To Download. This section contains a list of resources 108 (such as documents, images, and other files) that Web Check 53 is to download from the remote server 58, and locally store as files in the smart folder 58 in the local storage 42 (FIG. 2). The resources 108 are listed in statements having in the form of "<local path name>=<URL>." The local path name is a file system path name relative to the smart folder 68 which designates a file location in the smart folder or in any of the theme folder's sub-folders. The URL designates the resource at the server 58 which is to be downloaded and stored at the designated local storage location. URLs To Create. This section contains a list of URLs that Web Check 53 is to store as Internet Shortcuts (described below) in the smart folder 68 or sub-folder thereof. The URLs are listed as statements which include a local path name, an `=` character, a URL, and a comma delimited list of Internet Shortcut properties. As with the Files to Download section, the local path name designates a location to store the Internet Shortcut in the smart folder 68 or its sub-folders, whereas the URL is the URL to be stored as the Internet Shortcut at that location. Cache Only. This section contains a list of URLs which designate Internet resources 108 that Web Check 53 is to download and store in the Internet cache 66. If the URL designates a file in hypertext mark-up language (HTML) format, the Web Check updating operation parses the HTML file and also caches any other files (referred to herein as "dependencies" of the HTML file) which are referenced in the HTML file for incorporation into a hypertext page defined by the HTML file. Hypertext pages in the HTML format are ASCII encoded files which employ tags to designate text formatting, hyperlinks, and multi-media resources (the file's "dependencies") to be incorporated from other resources (e.g., files) into the document. Web Check 53 also creates entries in an URL section of the registry 66 to track the cached files designated in the Cache Only section of the WCF. The following is a listing of a sample WCF. [Files to download] image1.gif=http://www.foo.com/images/7-29-96.gif image2.gif=http://www.foo.com/images/9-22-06.gif /Sports/basketball.gif=http://www.foo.com/images/image.gif [URLs to Create] "University of Waterloo"=www.waterloo.ca, cache="sticky", author="Teri Martin", category="education" "ESPNet"=www.espnet.com, cache="sticky", author= "StarwaveCorp", category="Sports" News/"Globe and Mail"=www.Globemail.ca, cache=" ", author= "Editor's at the Globe", category="news" [Cache Only] http://www.foo.com/microsoft/startpaqe.htm http://www.foo.com/espn/sportszone.htm With reference to FIG. 5, Web Check 53 performs the smart folder updating service 110 for each smart folder 68 (FIG. 4) identified in the system registry 70 along with other updating operations on the scheduled time or detected idle time basis described above. When performing the smart folder updating service for each smart folder, Web Check 53 checks whether the WCF 104 associated with the smart folder 68 as specified in the registry entry has changed (step 111). If the WCF 104 has changed, Web Check 53 retrieves the WCF 104 (step 112) and updates the contents of the smart folder 68 as specified in the WCF (steps 113-115). Web Check 53 also deletes files and Internet shortcuts from the smart folder that are no longer specified in the WCF (step 116). 4. Internet Shortcuts Updating Operation With reference now to FIG. 6, Web Check 53 also provides an updating operation 120 referred to herein as "off-line readable Internet shortcut updating." In accordance with this service, Web Check 53 checks remote resources 122 identified by Internet shortcuts 124-125 for updates, and maintains up-to-date copies of the resources stored locally in the Internet cache 66. Internet shortcuts are software objects in the Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM. 95 operating system residing on the local computer 20 and which contain a URL that refers to a resource on a remote server (e.g., World-Wide Web site 58) along with other properties relating to the resource. Software objects and their implementation are described in more detail in the Object Overview section below. The data contained by an Internet shortcut can be persistently stored as a file in a file system folder 128 (hereafter "shortcuts folder"). With reference to FIG. 7, the Internet shortcuts 124-125 differ from those in the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system in that they are extended to include off-line reading properties according to the invention. The off-line reading properties of these extended Internet shortcuts 124-125 include the properties summarized in the following Table 2
TABLE 2
Internet Shortcut Off-line Reading Properties.
Property Definition
update checking This property indicates whether or not Web Check
is to check the resource referenced by the Internet
shortcut for updates.
local caching This property indicates whether or not Web Check
is to maintain a copy of the resource referenced by
the Internet shortcut in the Internet cache 66.
number of levels This property indicates the extent to which Web
deep Check is to download and locally cache copies of
documents referenced by hyperlinks in a hypertext
page referenced by the Internet shortcut. For
example, if the number of levels deep is set to two
Web Check downloads and caches the document
directly referenced by the Internet shortcuts, any
documents ("first level documents") referenced by
hyperlinks in the directly referenced document,
and also any documents ("second level
documents") referenced by hyperlinks in the first
level documents.
download This property indicates whether Web Check is to
dependencies download the dependencies of the document
pointed to by the Internet shortcut.
download size limit This property indicates a limit in kilobytes and/or
as a percentage of total local storage on the data
which is locally cached by Web Check for the
Internet shortcut.
In the illustrated system 50 (FIG. 2), the off-line reading properties are set for a particular Internet shortcut in a properties sheet which the user opens by right clicking on an icon of the particular Internet shortcut (such as in the Windows Explorer file management application of the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or in a folder view), and then selecting a properties command from a pop-up context menu activated by the right clicking. The extended Internet shortcuts 124-125 (FIG. 6) also include an added group of properties (herein called "about web site" properties) which relate to the update status of the resource 122 that the shortcuts reference. The about web site properties of the Internet shortcuts are summarized in the following table 3.
TABLE 3
Internet Shortcut About Web Site Properties
Property Definition
What's New A text string description of the newest update or
updates to the document. This text string
originally is obtained from a text string embedded
into the document by its author, such as by using
the "meta" HTML tag in a header to the document.
Last Visited A date that the document was last viewed by the
user of the computer 20. This information is
tracked locally by the Internet browser 51 per user.
Last Updated A date that the document was last updated. This
text string also is obtained from information
embedded by the author in the remote document
by its author, such as by using the "meta" HTML
tag in the document's header
Number of Visits A number of times the document was viewed by
the user of the computer 20 This information also
is tracked locally by the Internet browser 51 per
user.
With reference to FIG. 6 and in accordance with the off-line readable Internet shortcut updating operation, Web Check 53 updates a group of Internet shortcuts 124-125 by maintaining update information relating to each shortcut and also by locally caching updated copies of the remote resources 122 indicated by the shortcuts into the Internet cache 66. In the illustrated system 50 (FIG. 2), Web Check 53 updates Internet shortcuts identified as described above by entries in the system registry 70 which have the 1-bit of the flag value set. As stated in Table 1 above, the path string in this registry entry identifies the shortcuts folder 68 in the file system of the local storage 42 (FIG. 2) where files containing the persistent data of the Internet shortcuts 124-125 are stored. The URL string of these entries is not used. These registry entries also may have the 2-bit of the flag value set to indicate that Internet shortcuts stored in sub-folders of the shortcuts folder identified in the Path string also are to be updated by Web Check 53. This method of identifying the Internet shortcuts to be updated by Web Check 53 assumes that the user of the computer 20 typically clusters Internet shortcuts together within particular folders in the file system, such as the desktop or favorites folders in a computer running the Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM. 95 operating system. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the Internet shortcuts which are to be updated by Web Check can be listed individually in an entry or entries of the system registry 70 to allow more flexibility in the storage locations of the Internet shortcuts (or, as a further alternative, Internet shortcuts outside of a favorites or like folder can be individually identified in the system registry). With reference to FIG. 7, Web Check 53 performs the off-line reading Internet shortcut updating service 160 for each shortcuts folder 128 identified in the system registry 70 along with other updating operations on the scheduled time or detected idle time basis described above. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the agent program that implements the Internet shortcut updating service 160 may update only Internet shortcuts stored in certain preset folders, rather than those identified in the system registry 70. When performing the off-line reading Internet shortcut updating service 160 for the shortcuts folder 128, Web Check 53 repeats a sequence of updating steps 162-172 for each of the Internet shortcuts 124-125 stored in the shortcuts folder 128 depending on the settings of the particular shortcut's off-line reading properties (step 161). At steps 162-164, Web Check 53 performs an update checking operation depending on whether the update checking property of the Internet shortcut is set. If the update checking property is set (step 162), Web Check 53 downloads the document referenced by the URL contained in the Internet shortcut from the Internet 52 (step 163). Web Check 53 then parses the document and extracts information from the document to update the shortcut's "about web site" properties, including the "last updated," "what's new," and "author" properties. Web Check stores these properties in the Internet shortcut 124-125. At steps 165-171, Web Check 53 performs operations to update locally cached data for the Internet shortcut 124-125 depending on other off-line reading properties of the shortcut and on whether the document has been updated since it was last visited. If the document has been updated more recently than the shortcut's "last visited" date (step 165) and the "local caching" property is set (step 166), Web Check 53 stores the downloaded document in the Internet cache 66 (FIG. 6) as indicated at step 167. Web Check 53 sets a flag (e.g., the "STICKY_CACHE_ENTRY" flag in the Internet cache of the Microsoft.RTM. Internet Explorer browser) so that the document is not automatically removed during on-line browsing with the Internet browser 51 (FIG. 2). The Internet browser 51 in the illustrated system 50 otherwise automatically replaces documents in the Internet cache 66 on a least recently used basis as new documents are downloaded. At the steps 168-171, Web Check 53 also maintains up-to-date locally cached copies of related resources. If the shortcut's download dependencies property is set (step 168), Web Check 53 also downloads and locally caches the document's dependencies (step 169). If the number of levels deep property is set to a number greater than zero, Web Check 53 further follows any hyperlinks in the document out to the number of levels set by this property, and downloads those documents indicated by the hyperlinks into the Internet cache 66. The document's dependencies and linked documents also are flagged as exempt from automatic replacement. Web Check 53 limits the local caching at steps 167-171 by the limits set in the download size limit property of the shortcut. Finally, at step 172, Web Check 53 removes any out-of-date files previously associated with the Internet shortcut from the Internet cache 66, such as copies of the document, its dependencies and levels deep documents from a previous update of the Internet shortcut by Web Check 53. In the illustrated system 50, information identifying the locally cached files associated with each Internet shortcut is stored in a database. Web Check 53 retrieves this information for the particular Internet shortcut 124-125, and verifies that each of the locally cached files associated with the Internet shortcut is still related as the document, one of its dependencies or a levels deep document. If the locally cached file is no longer related to the Internet shortcut, Web Check purges the file from the Internet cache 66. Web Check 53 then repeats the loop of steps 162-172 for the next Internet shortcut in the shortcuts folder 128 until all shortcuts in the folder have been updated (step 173). 5. Object Overview With reference to FIG. 8, Web Check 53 (FIG. 2) and other software in the illustrated system are implemented as objects which conform to Microsoft Corporation's Component Object Model (COM), and support various ActiveX (also known as Object Linking and Embedding ("OLE")) interfaces. COM, ActiveX and OLE are object-oriented technologies which provide integration and interoperability between separate software components. For a detailed discussion of OLE see Inside OLE, Second Edition by Kraig Brockschmidt, Microsoft Press, Redmond, Wash. 1995. A brief overview of objects in OLE and associated terminology is provided below before discussing the details of the illustrated embodiment. An object is an instance of a programmer-defined type referred to as a class, which exhibits the characteristics of data encapsulation, polymorphism and inheritance. Data encapsulation refers to the combining of data (also referred to as properties of an object) with methods that operate on the data (also referred to as member functions of an object) into a unitary software component (i.e., the object), such that the object hides its internal composition, structure and operation and exposes its functionality to client programs that utilize the object only through one or more interfaces. An interface of the object is a group of semantically related member functions of the object. In other words, the client programs do not access the object's data directly, but must instead call functions on the object's interfaces to operate on the data. Polymorphism refers to the ability to view (i.e., interact with) two similar objects through a common interface, thereby eliminating the need to differentiate between two objects. Inheritance refers to the derivation of different classes of objects from a base class, where the derived classes inherit the properties and characteristics of the base class (which for purposes of OLE are the interfaces of the base class). Microsoft Corporations's COM specification defines binary standards for objects and their interfaces which facilitate the integration of software components. According to the COM specification, a typical object 280 is represented in the system 50 (FIG. 2) by an instance data structure 282, a virtual function table 284, and member functions 286-288. The instance data structure 282 contains a pointer 290 to the virtual function table 284 and data 292 (also referred to as data members, or properties of the object). A pointer is a data value that holds the address of an item in memory. The virtual function table 284 contains entries 296-298 for the member functions 286-288. Each of the entries 296-298 contains a reference to the code 286-288 that implements the corresponding member function. The pointer 290, the virtual function table 284, and the member functions 286-288 implement an interface of the object 280. Client programs interact with the object 280 by obtaining a pointer (referred to as an interface pointer) to the pointer 290 of the virtual function table 284. OLE includes a type definition of an interface pointer which allows client programs to call member functions on the interface by name through the interface pointer and provides type checking on the function's arguments, as expressed in the following code (in the C++ programming language): pInterface.fwdarw.MemberFunction( . . . ) By convention, the interfaces of an object are illustrated graphically as a plug-in jack as shown for the document object in FIG. 8. Also, Interfaces conventionally are given names beginning with a capital "I." Objects can include multiple interfaces which are implemented with one or more virtual function tables. The member function of an interface is denoted as "IInterfaceName::FunctionName." The object 280 conforming to the COM specification exhibits data encapsulation by exposing its interfaces (semantic groupings of its member functions) to client programs. The client programs interact with the object 280 by calling the member functions 286-288 on a particular interface of the object, but do not directly manipulate the object's data. The object 280 also exhibits polymorphism and inheritance in that the object 280 can provide interfaces in common with a base class and other similar objects, so that client programs can interact with each of the objects in the same manner by calling member functions of the interface that the objects have in common. 6. Automation Server Overview Referring still to FIG. 8, the virtual function table 284 and member functions 286-288 of the object 280 are provided by a server application program 300 which is stored in the computer system 20 (FIG. 1) as an executable program file (with a ".exe" file name extension) or as a dynamic link library file (with a ".dll" file name extension). Dynamic link library files are loaded, dynamically linked, and executed by the Windows.RTM. operating system in a same process with a client application program. Executable program files are loaded by the operating system as a separately executing process. In accordance with OLE, the server application 300 includes code for the virtual function table 284 (FIG. 8) and member functions 286-288 (FIG. 8) of the classes that it supports, and also includes a class factory 302 that generates the instance data structure 282 (FIG. 8) for an object of the class. For a client program (e.g., a document object host or container) to interact with the object 280 provided by the server application 300, the server application must first create the object (i.e., instantiate an object of a class supported by the server application) and the client program must gain an interface pointer to the object 280. In OLE, the client program realizes these events using services provided by OLE and a set of standard object interfaces defined by COM based on class and interface identifiers assigned to the object's class and interfaces. More specifically, the services are available to client programs as application programming interface (API) functions provided in the COM library, which is part of a component of the Windows.RTM. operating system in a file named "OLE32.DLL." In OLE, classes of objects are uniquely associated with class identifiers ("CLSIDs"). Class identifiers are 128-bit globally unique identifiers ("GUID") that the programmer creates with an OLE service named "CoCreateGUID" and assigns to the respective classes. The interfaces of an object are associated with interface identifiers ("IIDs"). In particular, the COM library provides an API function, "CoCreateInstance," that the client program can call to request creation of an object to encapsulate a particular documents data using a CLSID associated with the data. The CoCreateInstance API function creates the object and returns a pointer of the requested interface to the client program. Once the client program has obtained a first interface pointer to the object 280, the client program obtains pointers to other desired interfaces of the object using the interface identifier associated with the desired interface. COM defines several standard interfaces generally supported by OLE objects including the IUnknown interface. This interface includes a member function named "QueryInterface." The QueryInterface function can be called with an interface identifier as an argument, and returns a pointer to the interface associated with that interface identifier. By convention, the IUnknown interface's member functions are included as part of each interface on an object. Thus, any interface pointer that the client program obtains to an interface of the object 280 can be used to call the QueryInterface function. In a typical situation, however, the only information that the client program has to reference a particular document is a textual name, such as a file name or an Internet URL. In the case of a file name, the COM library provides API functions (e.g., "GetClassFile," "ReadClassStg" and "ReadClassStm") for obtaining a CLSID associated with the file. Client programs also can utilize a system provided object known as a moniker to resolve a name that references a document into an interface pointer on an instantiated object that encapsulates the document's data. These well known mechanisms are described in more detail in Inside OLE, Second Edition, supra. 7. Web Check Object Architecture With reference to FIG. 9, Web Check 53 (FIG. 2) is implemented within an object-oriented framework 320 which includes a Web Check core, scheduler and download objects 322 and Web Check agent objects 324. These objects 322 and 324 conform to the OLE/COM and Active X specifications, and support integration interfaces which allow a client application program 328 (e.g., the Internet browser 51 of FIG. 2) to programmatically utilize updating operations implemented in the agent objects 324 on a periodically recurring basis, e.g., the smart folder updating operation 100 (FIG. 4) and the Internet shortcuts updating operation 120 (FIG. 6), so as to provide an off-line reading feature, and other features based on these services. The Web Check core, scheduler and download objects 322 are implemented in the illustrated system 50 (FIG. 2) as three separate objects integrated together with private interfaces. These objects manage the infrastructure and scheduling of update operations by the agent objects 324 for Web Check's updating operations 100 (FIG. 4) and 120 (FIG. 6). In the illustrated system 50, a single instance of the core and scheduler objects run on the computer 20 (FIG. 1) in the address space of the operating system's shell at all times that Web Check is enabled. The core object creates the downloader object (also in the shell address space) when there are downloads to complete. The core, scheduler and download objects 322 also support a group of external interfaces summarized in Table 4 below for use by the client application 328 and agent object 324 (two of which, the IWebCheckScheduler interface 332 and IWebCheckModuleEvents interface 334 are shown in FIG. 9).
TABLE 4
Web Check Core, Scheduler and Download Object Interfaces.
Interface Description
IWebCheck This is the main interface for
programmatically controlling Web
Check
IWebCheckScheduler This interface manages a schedule of
updates. The client creates a agent
object for each item to be updated,
then schedules the agent object with
the scheduler using this interface.
IWebCheckScheduleItem This interface schedules a single
update item. The client retrieves a
pointer to this interface for an update
item from the IWebCheckScheduler
interface.
IWebCheckScheduleCollection This interface schedules a collection of
update items, which allows
programming the client application
using a "for each in" syntax of the
Microsoft Visual Basic programming
language.
IWebCheckEnumSchedules This interface enumerates schedules
which have previously been set.
IWebCheckModuleEvents This interface receives notifications
from a agent object during a download
operation.
IWebCheckAdviseSink This interface sends notifications to a
client application which has used the
IConnectionPoint interface on the
scheduler or Callback property on the
agent object.
DWebCheckEvents This interface sends notifications to a
client application which has used the
IConnectionPoint interface on the
scheduler. The D in
DWebCheckEvents denotes a
dispatch interface which supports late
bound calls.
IWebCheckDownloader This interface is used by the agent
object to cause Web Check to perform
a download operation on a URL.
IConnectionPoint This interface allows a client
application to connect to the object
322 so as to receive notifications of
Web Check activity.
The object-oriented framework 320 provides a different separate agent object 324 to handle each of the updating operations described above. The different agent objects in the illustrated framework 320 include a favorites agent object, an off-line reading agent object, and a smart folders agent object. The favorites agent object handles download operations to check Internet shortcuts for changes, and retrieve information for the about web site properties of the Internet shortcut. The off-line reading agent object handles downloads of resources (including dependencies and hyperlinked documents to a specified number of levels deep) indicated by an URL (such as an URL contained in Internet shortcuts) for caching locally and marking with the "sticky" flag. Each agent object 324 provides a user interface dialog for setting its options. Each agent object 324 supports an IWebCheckModuleControl interface 342 and an IPersistStream interface 344, in addition to an agent object-specific interface (i.e., an IWebCheckOfflineReading interface 346 for the off-line reading agent object 324; an IWebCheckFavorites interface for the favorites agent object; an IWebCheckinternetShortcuts interface for the Internet Shortcuts agent object; and an IWebCheckSmartFolders interface for the smart folders agent object). The IPersistStream interface is a well known OLE interface used to persistently store an object's state. The client application 328 in the illustrated framework 320 can provide a Web Check call back object 350 to receive notifications of Web Check activities from the agent object. The call back object 350 supports interfaces summarized in the following table 5 (of which an IWebCheckOfflineReadingSink interface 352 and an IPersistStream interface 354 are shown).
TABLE 5
Web Check Call Back Object Interfaces
Interface Description
DWebCheckEvents or This interface is needed by a call
IWebCheckAdviseSink back object which uses the
IConnectionPoint interface on
the Web Check scheduler object
to get notifications of Web Check
activity. IWebCheckAdviseSink
also handles receiving standard
notifications from the agent
object.
IPersistStream This interface is used to
persistently store the state of the
client's call back object when the
client sets the call back object to
receive notifications from a
scheduled download.
ICustomDownloadModuleAdviseSink This is a agent object specific
(e.g., interface which handles
IWebCheckOfflineReadingSink) receiving notifications specific to
the agent object.
7.1 Interfaces For Web Check Core and Scheduler Objects The IWebCheck interface. The IWebCheck interface has member functions defined as follows: HRESULT ShowProperties(HWND hwndParent); HRESULT StartService( ); HRESULT StopService( ); The ShowProperties function causes the Web Check core object 322 to display the Web Check properties dialog 80 (FIG. 3) to the user. The client application 328 calls this function to allow the user to set Web Check options. This is available instead of allowing programs to directly set WebCheck scheduling options. The StartService and StopService function start and stop the scheduler service of WebCheck. The IWebCheckScheduler interface. The IWebCheckScheduler interface 332 of the Web Check core object 322 has member functions defined as follows: Parameterized property: IWebCheckScheduleItem ScheduleItem(long Cookie); Read-only property: IWebCheckScheduleCollection ScheduleItems; Property: VARIANT_BOOL Busy HRESULT NewScheduleItem([out] long*pINewCookie, [out]IWebCheckScheduleItem**ppScheduleItem); HRESULT get_ScheduleItem(long Cookie, [out]IWebCheckScheduleItem*pScheduleItem); HRESULT DeleteScheduleItem(long ICookie); HRESULT EnumerateScheduleItems(BSTR IpURL, BSTR bstrCLSID, [out]IWebCheckEnumSchedules** ppEnumSchedules); HRESULT get_ScheduleItems(BSTR IpURL, BSTR bstrCLSID, [out]IWebCheckScheduleCollection**ppScheduleCollection); HRESULT RunScheduleItemNow(long ICookie); HRESULT AbortScheduleItem(long Icookie); HRESULT AbortEverything( ); HRESULT get_Busy([out] VARIANT_BOOL*fBusy); The NewSchedulerItem function creates a new schedule item which sets a schedule for a particular download operation with an agent object. The function returns a data structure called the "cookie," and a copy of the schedule item. The cookie is a data value that identifies the schedule item in the scheduler object. The ScheduleItem function retrieves a reference to the schedule item. The DeleteScheduleItem function causes the Web Check core object to delete the schedule item associated with the cookie. The EnumerateScheduleItem function causes the Web Check core object to enumerate the schedule items associated with a particular URL (specified in the IpURL parameter), or a particular agent object (specified in the bstrCLSID parameter). The function returns an IWebCheckEnum Schedules interface (in the ppEnumSchedules parameter) for enumerating the specified schedules. The get_ScheduleItems function is called by the client application to enumerate a collection of schedule items associated with a agent object. The function returns a pointer to the IWebCheckScheduleCollection interface. The RunScheduleItemNow function is called by the client application to cause the Web Check core object to trigger a previously scheduled download operation to update a specified URL (associated with the cookie specified as the ICookie parameter). The AbortScheduleItem is called by the client application to abort a specified previously scheduled download operation. If the Web Check core object queued the download operation, the function will delete the download operation. If it is currently processing the download operation, the function will abort the download operation. The AbortEverything function is called by the client application to immediately abort whatever download operations currently being performed by the Web Check core object. The client application should only call this function at the user's request. The get_Busy function returns the value, TRUE, if any of the agent objects are currently performing download operations. The IWebCheckScheduleItem interface. This interface includes functions to set scheduling options for a single schedule item. Each schedule item has associated with it a URL, a trigger settings, and a schedule type. A newly created schedule item will have NULL URL, have no trigger setting, and be of type "Run Later". Property: BSTR URL Property: long ScheduleFlags Property: long MaxDownloadLimit Property: SAFEARRAY (unsigned char) TaskTrigger Property: IUnknown DownloadModule Property: VARIANT_BOOL Disabled Property (read only): DATE LastRun Property (read only): DATE LastCompleted Property (read only): DATE NextRun Property (read only): long Cookie HRESULT get_URL([out] BSTR*pURL); HRESULT put_URL(BSTR pURL); HRESULT get_ScheduleFlags([out] long*pIScheduleFlags); HRESULT put_ScheduleFlags(long IScheduleFlags); HRESULT get_MaxDownloadLimit([out] long*pIMaxDownloadLimit); HRESULT put_MaxDownloadLimit(long IMaxDownloadLimit); Property: ScheduleTypeConstants ScheduleType HRESULT get_ScheduleType([out] ScheduleTypeConstants*psScheduleType); HRESULT put_ScheduleType(ScheduleTypeConstants sScheduleType); HRESULT get_TaskTrigger([out] SAFEARRAY (unsigned char)*pTaskTrigger); HRESULT put_TaskTrigger(SAFEARRAY (unsigned char) TaskTrigger); HRESULT get_DownloadModule([out] IDispatch**ppDisp); HRESULT put_DownloadModule(IDispatch*pDisp); HRESULT get_Disabled([out] VARIANT_BOOL*pfDisabled); HRESULT put_Disabled(VARIANT_BOOL fDisabled); HRESULT get_LastRun([out] DATE*pLastRun); HRESULT get_LastCompleted ([out] DATE*pLastCompleted); HRESULT get_NextRun([out] DATE*pNextRun); HRESULT get_Cookie([out] long*pICookie); The get_URL and put_URL functions are called by the client application 328 to retrieve and set the URL associated with the schedule item. The get_ScheduleFlags and put_ScheduleFlags functions are called by the client application 328 to retrieve and set trigger settings associated with the schedule item. Normally, the Web Check scheduler object 322 will trigger the schedule item's download operation only if the URL has changed since it was last run. A constant called schedRunEvenIfURLUnchanged can be passed as the parameter of the functions to override the normal triggering so that the scheduler object will always trigger the download operation. A constant called schedPerMachineOperation can be passed to indicate the scheduler will run the download operation for any user, not just the user currently logged onto the computer 20. The get_maxDownLoadLimit and put_MaxDownloadLimit functions are called by the client application to retrieve and set a limit on the maximum size in kilobytes that the scheduler will allow the operation to consume. The download operation will be aborted once it exceeds this limit. A value of 0 (the default) indicates no limit. The get_ScheduleType and put_SheduleType functions are called by the client application to retrieve and set a schedule type associated with the schedule item. The parameter passed with the function can be one of the following values: schedRunWithWholeUpdate--will update when Smart Favorites are updated schedRunLater--runs only when "RunScheduleItemNow" method is called (can optionally use TaskTrigger) schedRunWhenIdle--will be triggered when we are connected and have idle communications time available. The get_TaskTrigger and put_TaskTrigger are called by the client application to retrieve and set the trigger setting of the schedule item. The trigger setting is used only if the schedule item's type is set to "schedRunLater," in which case it is still optional. When set, the scheduler objects uses the trigger setting to determine the next time the download operation of schedule item is to run. The get_DownloadModule and put_DownloadModule functions are called by the client application to retrieve or change the agent object which handles the download operation for the schedule item. The get_Disabled and put_Disabled functions are called by the client application to retrieve and set the disabled status of the schedule item. If the disabled status is set to TRUE, the schedule item's download operation will not be run unless the RunScheduleItemNow method is called in the scheduler object. The get_LastRun, get LastCompleted, and get NextRun are called by the client application to retrieve the date and time that this schedule item was last triggered, that it last completed running, and that it will next be run given current options. The value may be 0 if invalid or not available. The get_Cookie function is called by the client application 328 to obtain the cookie that identifies the schedule item in the scheduler object 322. The IWebCheckEnumSchedules interface. This interface is retrieved from the Web Check scheduler object using functions of the IWebCheckScheduler interface. The IWebCheckEnumSchedules interface has member functions to enumerate schedule items for a single URL or agent object 324, which are defined as follows. HRESULT Next(ULONG celt, [out]long*ICookies, [out]ULONG*pcFetched); HRESULT Skip(ULONG celt); HRESULT Reset( ); HRESULT Clone([out]IWebCheckEnumSchedules**ppIEnum); The Next function is called by the client application to retrieve cookies identifying schedule items associated with the URL or agent object one at a time in the enumeration. The client application can then use the cookie in a call to the IWebCheckScheduler::GetSchedule function described above. The Skip function jumps one schedule item forward in the enumeration, while the Reset function returns to the beginning of the enumeration. The IWebCheckScheduleCollection interface. This interface is intended for client applications written in the Microsoft Visual Basic programming language to allow use of the "for each in/next" syntax of that language in enumerating schedules. The interface has member functions defined as follows: HRESULT _NewEnum([out]IUnknown**ppEnum); HRESULT NewEnum([out]IWebCheckEnumSchedules**ppEnum); The _NewEnum function returns an interface to an object implemented as the IEnum VARIANT data structure of Visual Basic. The NewEnum function returns the IWebCheckEnumSchedules interface. The IWebCheckModuleEvents interface. The scheduler object 322 uses this interface to receive notifications from the agent object 324 and thereby keep track of active agent objects and their status. The interface has member functions defined as follows: HRESULT UpdateBegin(long ICookie, SCODE scReason, BSTR IpURL, IUnknown*punkModule); HRESULT UpdateProgress(long ICookie, long ISizeDownloaded, long ICurrent, long IMax, BOOL fExternalEvent); HRESULT UpdateEnd(long ICookie, SCODE scReason, long IFlags); HRESULT UpdateBegin(long ICookie, SCODE scReason, BSTR IpURL); HRESULT UpdateProgress(long ICookie, long ICurrent, long IMax); HRESULT UpdateEnd(long ICookie, SCODE scReason); The UpdateBegin function notifies the scheduler object that the agent object has begun a download operation. The ICookie parameter contains an identifier which is unique for the life of the agent object. The scReason parameter indicates a reason that this operation is being run by the agent object. The IpURL parameter designates the URL used in the download operation. The punkModule parameter points to the agent object. The function may return a value to indicate that no further notification relating to the download operations need be made by the agent object to the scheduler object. The UpdateProgress function is called by the agent object to notify the scheduler object periodically of the progress of the download operation. The ISizeDownloaded parameter indicates the entire size of the data that has been downloaded so far. The ICurrent parameter indicates the current position in the download, starting at 0 and increasing in value as the download progresses. The IMax parameter indicates the maximum size of the download operation. (The IMax parameter may be -1 if the maximum value is unknown.) The agent object is required to call this method when anything changes. If the scheduler object passes the notifications to the client application connected by an event sink, it returns true as the fExternalEvent parameter. This allows the agent object to cut back on the number of UpdateProgress calls when the fExternalEvent parameter is false. The UpdateEnd function is called by the agent object to notify the scheduler that the download operation is completed. The scReason parameter indicates whether the download operation ended successfully, or was aborted/failed. The IFlags parameter indicates the result of the download operation using values defined by the agent object. The schedNotifyOnDelete parameter indicates that the scheduler object must notify the agent object before deleting the schedule item so that the agent object can performs cleanup (such as removing the "sticky" flag marking from resources stored in the Internet cache 66 to allow their removal). The IWebCheckAdviseSink interface. This interface is used as an advise sink to notify the client application of Web Check activities. The scheduler object 322 uses this interface to pass status notification from the agent object 324 on to the client application 328 when it has set global connections to the scheduler 322. The agent object 324 also uses the interface to communicate directly with the client application 328 when the client application has set callbacks on that specific agent object. The client application may instead or also support agent object specific advisory interfaces (defined by the agent object) for richer information reporting. The IWebCheckAdviseSink interface has member functions similar to like named functions of the IWebCheckModuleEvents interface described above, which are defined as follows: HRESULT UpdateBegin(long ICookie, SCODE scReason, BSTR IpURL); HRESULT UpdateProgress(long ICookie, long ICurrent, long IMax); HRESULT UpdateEnd(long ICookie, SCODE scReason); The DWebCheckEvents interface. This interface is similar to the IWebCheckAdviseSink interface, but is implemented as a dispatch interface. The interface has member functions similar to like named functions of the IWebCheckAdviseSink interface, which are defined as follows: HRESULT UpdateBegin(long ICookie, SCODE scReason, BSTR IpURL); HRESULT UpdateProgress(long ICookie, long ICurrent, long IMax); HRESULT UpdateEnd(long ICookie, SCODE scReason); 7.2 Interfaces for Web Check Download Modules The IWebCheckModuleControl interface. This interface provides member functions which are called from the Web Check scheduler object 322 during a download operation. The member functions are defined as follows: HRESULT ScheduleTriggered(long ICookie, LPCWSTR IpURL, SYSTEMTIME pstTriggered, IUnknown*punkScheduleAdvise); HRESULT PauseUpdate(SCODE scReason); HRESULT ResumeUpdate( ); HRESULT AbortUpdate(SCODE scReason); The ScheduleTriggered function is called from the scheduler object 322 when the download operation is to start. The ICookie parameter identifies the schedule item of the agent object. The punkScheduleAdvise parameter passes a pointer to the scheduler object's IWebCheckModuleEvents interface, which the agent object uses to notify the scheduler object of its status during the download operation. The PauseUpdate function is called by the scheduler object 322 to cause the agent object 324 to stop downloading after any current downloads complete. The scheduler object 322 uses this function to control download operations performed at detected idle times and to suspend lower-priority downloads. In response to the call, the agent object 322 maintains its state until it is resumed or aborted. The ResumeUpdate function is called by the scheduler object 322 to cause the agent object to start downloading again after the PauseUpdate function suspends a download operation. The AbortUpdate function is called by the scheduler object 322 to cause the agent object to abort whatever operation it may be performing. The scheduler object 322 may abort an update operation of the agent object for the following reasons: the user requests to abort, the maximum download size limit is reached, and the computer becomes disconnected from the Internet 52 (FIG. 2). In response, the agent object immediately aborts any downloads. The agent object still notifies the scheduler object (via the punkScheduleAdvise.fwdarw.UpdateEnd function) when it's complete. 7.3 Interfaces for Off-line Reading Download Module The IWebCheckOfflineReading interface is implemented by the Off-line Reading agent object 324 to allow setting and retrieval of all off-line reading options for an individual URL, Internet shortcut, or like entity. This interface has member functions defined as follows: Property:IUnknown*Callback Property:long RecurseFlags Property:long RecurseLevels Property:BSTR SiteMapToFollow Property:long MaxSize Property:BSTR SiteMapToCreate HRESULT get_Callback([out]IUnknown**ppunkCallback); HRESULT put_Callback(IUnknown*punkCallback); HRESULT get_RecurseFlags([out]long*pIFlags); HRESULT put_RecurseFlags(long IFlags); HRESULT get_RecurseLevels([out]long*pIRecurseLevels); HRESULT put_RecurseLevels(long IRecurseLevels); HRESULT get_SiteMapToFollow([out]BSTR*pURL); HRESULT put_SiteMapToFollow(BSTR URL); HRESULT get_MaxSize([out]long*pIMaxSize); HRESULT put_MaxSize(long IMaxSize); HRESULT get_SiteMapToCreate([out]BSTR*pPath); HRESULT put_SiteMapToCreate(BSTR Path); The put_Callback and get_Callback functions set or retrieve a call back (e.g., the Web Check call back object 350 of the client application 328) that the off-line reading agent object 324 uses to provide notifications relating to an update operation. The call back object 350 must support IPersistStream as well as IWebCheckOfflineReadingSink. The get_RecurseFlags and put_RecurseFlags functions are called to set and retrieve flags controlling the off-line reading agent object's update operation. One or more of the flags shown in Table 6 can be set.
TABLE 6
Off-line Reading agent object Recurse Flags.
Flag Description
WCOffReadMakeHTMLSticky Make HTML sticky in cache
Make dependencies sticky in
WCOffReadMakeImagesSticky cache
WCOffReadDownloadSomeImages Cache some dependencies (non-
background images/sounds/avis)
WCOffReadDownloadAllImages Cache all dependencies
WCOffReadLinksToOtherSites Recurse - follow links other sites
WCOffReadLinksTowardHomePage Otherwise will follow only links
to same or lower `level` on
same site.
WCOffReadOnlyLinksInHTMLSite Will follow only links to site
Map map referenced in HTML. If this
flag is not set, WebCheck will
ignore any site maps referenced
in the HTML but will use
"SiteMapToFollow" if it
is set.
WCOffReadIgnoreIfHTMLUnchanged Only recurse or cache
dependencies from that page if
HTML has changed.
The get_RecurseLevels and put_RecurseLevels functions retrieve and set the number of levels deep of hyperlinked documents to be downloaded in the update operation. The IRecurseLevels parameter indicates the number of levels of hyperlinked documents to follow recursively, and also download. When set to zero, the parameter indicates to not follow any links and download only top level page. The get_MaxSize and put_MaxSize functions retrieve and set a limit on the amount of downloading performed for the update operation. The off-line reading agent object will stop downloading in the update operation when the limit is reached. Setting the limit to zero indicates no maximum size limit (which is the default). The get_SiteMapToFollow and put_SiteMapToFollow functions retrieve and set a site map property of the off-line reading agent object 324. A site map is a file at a World-Wide Web site which includes a directory listing of resources that reside at the site. Setting the site map property causes the off-line reading agent object 324 to limit the recursive downloading of hyperlinked documents in the update operation to only those denoted in the site map at the root HTML page of the subject URL of the update operation. In other words, the agent object 324 does not follow or download documents at hyperlinks from the URL of the update operation that are not in the URL's site map. A URL of a specific custom site map can be passed in the pURL property to override using the site map at the root HTML page. If the site map property is not set, the off-line reading agent object 324 does not look at a site map unless the appropriate bit in RecurseFlags is set and a site map is referenced in the root HTML page. The get_SiteMapToCreate and put_SiteMapToCreate sets or gets a local stored site map for off-line use. This site map will be created based on the URLs that the off-line reader downloads. The IWebCheckOfflineReadingSink interface. This interface is implemented on the client application's call back object 350 to receive notifications specific to the off-line reading agent object 324. The agent object 324 provides progress notifications for an update operation on a single URL and all its associated URLs (i.e., dependencies and levels deep documents). The agent object 324 retrieves the documents depth-first, then dependencies (i.e., the top level or subject URL first, then first and subsequent levels deep URLs up to the maximum levels deep setting, and finally the dependencies of each URL). This interface has member functions defined as follows: HRESULT UpdateInitialize(long ICookie, BSTR URL, [out]long*pIOptions); HRESULT UpdateBegin( ); HRESULT UpdateProgress(long ILevel, long INum, long IMax); HRESULT UpdateFinishedOneHTML(BSTR URL, long IFlags); HRESULT UpdateEnd(SCODE scReason); The client application's call back object 350 can return a value, "E_ABORT," to the off-line reading agent object 324 from any of these functions to request that the agent object stop the operation. The UpdateInitialize function is called first and only once by the off-line reading agent object at the start of an update operation. The IpURL parameter of the function indicates the subject URL of the update operation. The off-line reading agent object passes a pointer to its IWebCheckOfflineReading interface as the pOfflineReading parameter. The client application's call back object 350 returns flags controlling which notifications the off-line reading agent object sends to the call back object in the pIOptions parameters. These flags can include an WCOffReadNotifyProgress flag to indicate the call back object's UpdateProgress( )function may be called periodically with progress updates, and an WCOffReadNotifyEachHTML flag to indicate the call back object's UpdateFinishedOneHTML( ) function will be called for each HTML URL successfully downloaded. The UpdateBegin function is called once by the off-line reading agent object 324 at the start of downloading the top-level URL. The UpdateProgress function is called by the off-line reading agent object 324 to indicate the progress of the update operation. The off-line ILevel parameter passed in the function call be the off-line reading agent object indicates the update operation's progress (ILevel==1, 2, 3 for level of recursion currently being downloaded, and ILevel==-1 if dependencies being downloaded). The INum and IMax parameters represent current file number and maximum file number out of the files downloaded in the update operation, although the off-line reading agent object need not call the function for every file downloaded in the update operation. The UpdateFinishedOneHTML function is called by the off-line reading agent object as soon as a given HTML URL has been downloaded. The off-line reading agent object passes a value as the IFlags parameter as shown in Table 7 below.
TABLE 7
UpdateFinishedOneHTML Flags
Flag Description
WCOffReadURLUnchanged Off-line reading agent object has
detected that the URL has not
changed from the last time we
downloaded it.
WCOffReadWillFollowLinks Off-line reading agent object will
follow hyperlinks from this page
one or more levels.
WCOffReadWillDownloadImages Off-line reading agent object will
download images on this page.
The UpdateEnd function is called once by the off-line reading agent object 324 when the subject URL of the update operation, and all linked documents and dependencies are done downloading. The agent object 324 also may be called if the update operation is aborted. The value passed as the scReason parameter will indicate which case. 7.4 Interfaces for The Favorites Web Check Download Module The favorites agent object which implements the Internet shortcut updating operation 120 of FIG. 6 comprises two separate objects a favorites object and an Internet shortcut object. The Web Check scheduler 322 always keeps at least one favorites object scheduled. This favorites object controls checking all URLs in the Internet browser's favorites list and on the desktop for updates (e.g., the Internet shortcuts stored in the favorites folder and the desktop folder in the computer's file system). The favorites object also is responsible for enumerating all scheduled Internet shortcut objects to check for updates at the same time as the favorites folder. More specifically the favorites object operates by creating an Internet Shortcut object and using it to check each of the shortcuts found in the Favorites folder. The favorites object then enumerates the Internet Shortcut objects through the scheduler object 322 to find any other Internet shortcuts to check. The IWebCheckFavorites interface. The favorites object provides an IWebCheckFavorites interface which allows the client application to control overall checking of URLs stored as Internet shortcuts in the favorites and desktop folders of the computer's file system. The IWebcheckFavorites interface has member functions defined as follows: Property: VARIANT_BOOL CheckFavoritesFolder Property: VARIANT_BOOL CheckFavoritesSubFolders Property: VARIANT_BOOL CheckDesktop Property: VARIANT_BOOL CheckInternetShortcuts Property: IUnknown*Callback HRESULT get_CheckFavoritesFolder([out]VARIANT_BOOL*fCheckFavoritesFolder); HRESULT put_CheckFavoritesFolder(VARIANT_BOOL fCheckFavoritesFolder); HRESULT get_CheckFavoritesSubFolders([out]VARIANT_BOOL*fCheckFavoritesSubFolders); HRESULT put_CheckFavoritesSubFolders(VARIANT_BOOL fCheckFavoritesSubFolders); HRESULT get_CheckDesktop([out]VARIANT_BOOL*fCheckDesktop); HRESULT put_CheckDesktop(VARIANT_BOOL fCheckDesktop); HRESULT get_CheckInternetShortcuts([out]VARIANT_BOOL*fCheckInternetShortcuts); HRESULT put_CheckInternetShortcuts(VARIANT_BOOL fCheckInternetShortcuts); HRESULT get_Callback([out]IUnknown**ppunkCallback); HRESULT put_Callback(IUnknown*punkCallback); The functions in the IWebCheckFavorite interface get and set properties of the favorites object which include a CheckFavoritesFolder value (default TRUE), a CheckFavoritesSubFolder value (default (TRUE), a Check Desktop value (default FALSE), and a CheckInternetShortcuts value (default TRUE). These value control whether the favorites object checks Internet shortcuts for updates that are contained in the favorites folder 202 (FIG. 2), favorites sub-folders (e.g., the favorites category folders 204-205 of FIG. 2), the desktop folder, and Internet shortcuts stored elsewhere that are individually scheduled through the Internet shortcut by a client application (e.g., the Internet browser 51), respectively. The get_Callback and put_Callback functions retrieve and set the call back object of the client application to which the favorites object sends notifications. The call back object must support the PersistStream interface as well as the IWebCheckAdviseSink interface described above. The IWebCheckInternetURL interface. The Internet shortcut object for a scheduled Internet shortcut implements this interface. The client application uses the interface to check a single URL to see if it's changed since the last time the Internet shortcut object was executed. The locally cached copy of the document indicated by the URL can be removed from the Internet cache 66 (FIG. 2). The Internet shortcut object uses the about web site properties obtained from the HTML document header as described above (if available) or a cyclic redundancy check ("CRC") checksum calculated on the file to determine if the target of the Internet shortcut's URL has changed. The Internet shortcut checks only the target of the URL for updates, and not any indirectly referenced URLs such as frames in a frameset. The IWebCheckInternetURL interface has member functions defined as follows: Property:IUnknown*Callback Property:VARIANT_BOOL IsInternetShortcut HRESULT get_Callback([out]IUnknown**ppunkCallback); HRESULT put_Callback(IUnknown*punkCallback); HRESULT get_IsInternetShortcut([out]VARIANT_BOOL*fIsInternetShortcut); HRESULT put_IsInternetShortcut(VARIANT_BOOL fIsInternetShortcut); The get_Callback and put_Callback functions retrieve and set the call back object of the client application to which the Internet shortcut is to send notifications of its activities. The call back object must support the IPersistStream interface as well as the IWebCheckAdviseSink interface described above. The Internet shortcut object passes the value S_TRUE as the scReason parameter in a call to the UpdateDone function of the IWebCheckAdviseSink interface on the call back object to indicate the URL has changed, and S_FALSE if the URL has not changed. The Internet shortcut object passes S_FALSE the first time it runs an update check for the URL. The get_IsInternetShortcut and put_IsInternetShortcut functions retrieve and set the IsInternetShortcut property of the Internet shortcut object which controls whether the Internet shortcut object updates the about web site properties displayed in the dialog 130 of FIG. 8. If set to FALSE, the Internet shortcut object checks only whether the URL has changed since it was last checked by the Internet shortcut object. 7.5 Interfaces for Smart Folders Download Module The smart folders updating operation 100 of FIG. 4 is handled with a smart folders agent object. The smart folders agent object provides an IWebCheckSmartFolders interface to allow client applications to programmatically control the smart folders updating operation 100. The IWebCheckSmartFolders interface has member functions defined as follows: Property:BSTR LocalDirectory; Property:long IOptions Property:long IMaxSize; Property:IUnknown*Callback HRESULT get_LocalDirectory([out]BSTR*IpDirectory); HRESULT put_LocalDirectory(BSTR IpDirectory); HRESULT get_Options([out]long*pIOptions); HRESULT put_Options(long IOptions); HRESULT get_MaxSize([out]long*pIMaxSize); HRESULT put_MaxSize(long IMaxSize); HRESULT get_Callback([out]IUnknown**ppunkCallback); HRESULT put_Callback(IUnknown*punkCallback); These functions set and retrieve properties of the smart folders agent object that control aspects of the smart folder updating operation 100 (FIG. 4). The LocalDirectory property is the location of the smart folder updated by the agent object. The LMaxSize property specifies a maximum size of the data to download into this directory. The Callback property determines the callback object to which the smart folders agent object send activity notifications, which must support the IPersistStream and IWebCheckAdviseSink interfaces. 8. Programmatically Scheduling and Executing Web Check Update Operations. With reference still to FIG. 9, the client application uses the interfaces described above to programmatically request, monitor, and control update operations by Web Check 53 (FIG. 2). The use of the interfaces to schedule an update operation using an off-line reading update operation as an example is illustrated in FIG. 9. The client application 328 begins scheduling an off-line reading update operation by creating an instance of the off-line reading agent object 324. The client application 328 then calls functions described above from the IWebCheckOfflineReading interface 346 on the agent object 324 to set up all of the off-line reading options, such as the recursion depth, dependencies, maximum size limit, and other options. The client application also creates a callback object and passes a pointer to the callback object (i.e., a pointer to the callback object's IPersistStream interface 354) in a call to the put_Callback function on the IWebCheckOffline reading interface 346. The client application 328 next calls the NewScheduleItem function of the IWebCheckScheduler interface 332 of the Web Check scheduler object 322 to schedule the update operation of the off-line reading agent object 324. The scheduler object 322 returns a pointer to a IWebCheckScheduleItem interface for the client application to set options of the schedule item controlling the scheduled times of the off-line reading update operation. The client application calls functions on the IWebCheckScheduleItem interface to set the URL, the scheduled download times, and the off-line reading agent object in the schedule item. Finally, the scheduler object 322 uses the IPersistStream interface 344 on the off-line reading agent object to persist the object so that it can be unloaded from the main memory 40 (FIG. 1) until the scheduled time of the update operation. The off-line reading agent object in turn uses the IPersistStream interface on the callback object 350 to persist the call back object. The use of the Web Check interfaces to execute the off-line reading update operation is illustrated in FIG. 10. When the next scheduled time set for the schedule item for the update operation arrives, the scheduler object 322 uses the IPersistStream interface to reload the off-line reading agent object 324 and restore its persisted state. The off-line reading agent object 324, in turn, reloads and restores the persisted state of the client application's call back object 350 using its IPersistStream interface. The scheduler object 322 then calls the ScheduleTriggered function of the IWebCheckModuleControl interface 342 on the off-line reading agent object 324. This causes the off-line reading agent object to commence its update operation. The off-line reading agent object begins downloading any files that need to be updated into the Internet cache 66 as described above. As files are downloaded, the off-line reading agent object calls functions of the IWebCheckModuleEvents interface 334 on the scheduler object 322 and of the IWebCheckOfflineReadingSink interface 352 on the client application's callback object 350 to notify them of the status of the update operation. The scheduler object 322 passes notifications received via its IWebCheckModuleEvents interface to other client applications that have connected via the IConnectionPoint to receive the notifications on these other client application's IWebCheckAdviseSink or DWebCheckEvents interfaces. Having described and illustrated the principles of our invention with reference to an illustrated embodiment, it will be recognized that the illustrated embodiment can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. It should be understood that the programs, processes, or methods described herein are not related or limited to any particular type of computer apparatus, unless indicated otherwise. Various types of general purpose or specialized computer apparatus may be used with or perform operations in accordance with the teachings described herein. Elements of the illustrated embodiment shown in software may be implemented in hardware and vice versa. In view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of our invention may be applied, it should be recognized that the detailed embodiments are illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of our invention. Rather, we claim as our invention all such embodiments as may come within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalents thereto.
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