Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software program development tool – Testing or debugging
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-29
2003-12-23
Zhen, Wei (Department: 2122)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software program development tool
Testing or debugging
C717S106000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06668369
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to an improved tool for debugging software applications. In particular, the present invention relates to a client-side debugging tool for use in debugging dynamic hypertext mark-up language (DHTML) software programs.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The World Wide Web (“Web”) is essentially a distributed depository of interconnected files stored on Web servers, i.e., computers. These computers, and others, are connected by a global communications network, the Internet.
Web browser software (“browser”) running on a user's computer, i.e., a Web client, is used to access, retrieve, interpret, and display files accessible via the Internet. In the Web context, most of these files are text files written in hypertext mark-up language (HTML) code, which marks up text with special commands that control its formatting and link it with other files in a manner which can be interpreted by a browser. The coding, including HTML commands (“elements” or “tags”), is typically hidden from the user. The user views a Web page which is the browser's interpretation of the coding, including text, colors, graphics, sounds, etc. The coding is contained in a “source file”, which is sent from a server. The HTML coding contained in the source file is referred to as “hard-coded” or “static” HTML.
HTML coding generated dynamically, i.e., at a client after the file leaves a server, is referred to as dynamic HTML (“DHTML”). DHTML also refers to the practice of dynamic generation of code and encompasses a combination of HTML tags, options, and programming that allows for more animated and/or more interactive Web pages. DHTML combines standards including HTML, style sheets, a scripting language, and the “Document Object Model” or “DOM” standard established by the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C and available for review at the time of filing of the application on the World Wide Web at http://www.w3c.org/dom. The Document Object Model is essentially a roadmap for a hierarchy in which variables are stored in accordance with the Document Object Model. DHTML is currently supported by recent versions of browser software, such as Netscape Communications Corp.'s Navigator® 4.0 or higher or Microsoft Corporation's Internet Explorer® 4.0 or higher. Each of the web browsers has implemented the Document Object Model to varying degrees.
A DHTML source file includes static (“hard-coded”) HTML as well as a hard-coded script for generating DHTML at the client. Scripts may be written in any suitable language, e.g., Microsoft Corporation's visual basic script (“VBScript”) and “JScript”, Netscape Corporation's Javascript, or Perl Script. For example, a script could be used to dynamically generate coding for displaying a table on a Web page. The use of scripts for creating dynamically created HTML code (or “dynamic code”) at the Web client is well known in the art. The dynamic code generated by DHTML is stored in internal variables of the web browser. The browser's interpretation of the dynamic code is displayed to the user as a web page.
Until now, a user could display, at the client, only the static HTML coding in the source file as it was received at the client from the server, e.g., using a “View Source” or web browser command. Accordingly, the “View Source” command has been used as a debugging tool for static HTML. Before the use of client-side code generation (DHTML), the viewing of static coding was sufficient for debugging purposes.
The use of DHTML to dynamically generate code at the client is becoming much more frequent. Problems, errors, or “bugs” in a script may create errors in the dynamic code. The results of erroneous DHTML code are easy for the user to find, e.g., by viewing an incomplete table using a web browser. Until now, the only mode of debugging DHTML software was to view the static script using the “View Source” browser command. However, errors in a script are typically difficult to find because of the complexity of scripting languages. Additionally, the syntax of the scripting language may be correct although the script will generate erroneous dynamic code.
FIG. 1
is an image of an exemplary DHTML Web page
10
shown displayed in a Web browser window
12
, as it would be seen on a user's computer and as is known in the prior art.
FIG. 1
shows a malformed table
14
resulting from dynamic code generated by a script in a source file (not shown). In this example, the table should have 1 column, 5 rows, and a number between 1 and 5 should appear in each of the cells of the table. However, the script contains an error that generates dynamic code that does not produce the desired table. The result is the single-celled table
14
that appears in FIG.
1
. It is readily apparent to a user that the script is faulty since the desired five-celled table is not displayed. Accordingly, the programmer would want to “debug”, the Web page.
FIG. 2
is an image of a portion of the DHTML source file for displaying the exemplary Web page of FIG.
1
. The source code
20
, includes static HTML and a script (identified by the designation “All”) for generating dynamic code. The source code may be displayed in a source window
22
using the “View Source” command and, as is evident, the dynamic code generated by the script A is not displayed. The erroneous script shown at “A” in
FIG. 2
is written in the javascript programming language.
FIG. 2
is a display of the source file as it is received from a Web server. It is difficult by examining only the script A to determine the error that generates the erroneous dynamic code resulting in the malformed table shown in FIG.
1
. Because of the syntax of HTML, it would be easy to find errors in dynamically created code generated by a script if this code was viewable. Until now, the user could not view the dynamic code. Now that DHTML is widely used, it is desirable for the user to view the dynamic code for debugging purposes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a client-side software debugging tool for viewing dynamic code. Accordingly, the present invention provides a tool for assisting a programmer in locating errors in DHTML and scripts for generating dynamic code. Whereas current debugging tools, such as the “View Source” command of popular Web browser software, permit a programmer to view only static code as it is received from a Web server, e.g., a script, the present invention permits the programmer to view the dynamic code generated at the client by the script. This assists the programmer to locate errors in, or “debug”, software by viewing the results of a script, rather than the script itself. Advantageously, the present invention may be used in conjunction with existing browser software by providing a viewer for viewing the browser's internal variables that are currently used to store dynamic code.
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Krebs William H.
Lumsden Mark W.
Doudnikoff Gregory M.
Synnestvedt & Lechner LLP
Zhen Wei
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