Virtual window screen renderings using application connectors
A method and system for capturing and transmitting screen content and input/output events from a server to a client device are provided. The method includes transmitting, to the client device, a screen output rendered by the server respective of a first instance of a first application; and transmitting, to the client device, the screen output rendered by the server respective of a second instance of a second application, wherein the first instance is contained in a first securable object associated with the first application and the second instance is contained in a second securable object associated with the second application, wherein the first instance and the second instance are simultaneously executed by the server under a single logon session.
1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing unit, configure a server:
to transmit, to a client device, a screen output rendered by a first rendering engine of the server respective of a first instance of a first application, the first rendering engine rendering the screen output based on data received from a first virtual user interface (UI) subsystem, the first virtual UI subsystem configured to receive, from a first application connector, information relevant to a change in screen content associated with the first instance of the first application; and
to transmit, to the client device, the screen output rendered by a second rendering engine of the server respective of a second instance of a second application, the second rendering engine rendering the screen output based on data received from a second virtual UI subsystem, the second virtual UI subsystem configured to receive, from a second application connector, information relevant to a change in screen content associated with the second instance of the second application,
wherein the first instance is contained in a first securable object associated with the first application and the second instance is contained in a second securable object associated with the second application,
wherein the first instance and the second instance are executed by the server under a single logon session.
2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first securable object is a first non-interactive Windows Station and the second securable object is a second non-interactive Windows Station.
3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the first application and the second application are the same application.
4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the first and second non-interactive Windows Stations are isolated from each other.
5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, further configure the server:
to receive notifications from the client device about input events triggering screen changes, wherein the input events include any one of mouse movements and keyboard inputs.
6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the transmission of the screen content to the client device is performed over a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).
7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the transmission of the screen content to the client device is performed over a secured hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS).
8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, further configure the server:
to transmit image differences between iterations of the screen content captured at a first time and a second time.
9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, further configure the server:
to transmit modified pixels as an array of non-intersecting rectangles, wherein each of the non-intersecting rectangles bounds all pixels modified between a first image and a second image respective of the screen content captured at the first time and the second time.
10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein a single modified pixel with no adjacent modified pixel is represented as a single rectangle to be transmitted; wherein at least two adjacent modified pixels are represented as a single rectangle to be transmitted; wherein pixels that are not adjacent are each represented as standalone rectangles to be transmitted; and wherein if the number of rectangles required exceeds a predetermined threshold, a full screen image is taken.
11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein one or more non-intersecting rectangles contain a number of unmodified pixels.
12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, further configure the server:
to detect at least one of a horizontal shift and a vertical shift between the first image and the second image; and
to encode the changed shift as an offset vector and rectangle coordinates.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the content of each of the non-intersecting rectangle is further compressed.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein a rectangle of the non-intersecting rectangles containing a uniform color is encoded as the rectangle coordinates and value of the color only.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein a rectangle under a certain size threshold is encoded as an HTML Base64 object.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first application is a virtualized cloud version of a first legacy application and the second application is a virtualized cloud version of a second legacy application.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the screen outputs are rendered using at least an HTML5 web standard.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first securable object is a first Windows Desktop contained in a first Windows Station and rendered on a first logical display; and the second securable object is a second Windows Desktop contained in a second Windows Station rendered on a second logical display.