Using existing content to generate active content wizard executables for execution of tasks

1. A computer implemented method of converting existing help content files into an active content wizard executable file, the method comprising:

using a processor to convert an existing help content file in a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) format into a corresponding file in an active content wizard Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema format by using heuristic criteria based upon style guidelines of help content to map the existing content file from the HTML format to the XML format;

creating a database of user interface elements by recording user interface elements and corresponding properties from one or more windows of an application program to which the existing content file corresponds;

using the processor to access the database of user interface elements in order to retrieve information relating to user interface elements referenced in the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema; and

using the processor to create an active content wizard file from the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema and the retrieved information relating to user interface elements.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the existing content file is in a first XML format, and wherein the active content wizard schema is a second XML format, the step of converting the existing content file into the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema further comprising using a style sheet to convert the existing content file from the first XML format to the second XML format.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the step of converting the existing content file into the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema further comprises performing a multi-step conversion of the existing content file from the HTML format to the XML format.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3 , wherein performing the multi-step conversion of the existing content file from the HTML format to the XML format comprises:

converting the existing content file in the HTML format to a corresponding file in an XHTML format; and

converting the corresponding file in the XHTML format to the corresponding file in the XML format.

5. A system for converting existing content files into an active content wizard executable file, the system comprising:

a processor;

a computer storage medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for configuring the processor to implement system components comprising:

a conversion component configured to convert an existing help content file into a corresponding file in an active content wizard schema by searching the existing help content file using the plurality of heuristic criteria;

a database of user interface elements corresponding to user interface elements recorded from one or more windows of an application program to which the existing content file corresponds;

a window recorder component configured to record the user interface elements and corresponding properties from the one or more windows of the application program to which the existing content file corresponds, and to store the user interface elements and corresponding properties in the database; and

an active content script generator configured to create an active content wizard file from the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema and from the user interface elements in the database.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the existing content file is in an HTML format, and wherein the active content wizard schema is an XML format, wherein the conversion component is configured to convert the existing content file into the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema using the heuristic criteria to map the existing content file from the HTML format to the XML format.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the conversion component is further configured to convert the existing content file into the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema by performing a multi-step conversion of the existing content file from the HTML format to the XML format.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the conversion component is configured to perform the multi-step conversion of the existing content file from the HTML format to the XML format by first converting the existing content file in the HTML format to a corresponding file in an XHTML format, and then by converting the corresponding file in the XHTML format to the corresponding file in the XML format.

9. The system of claim 5 , wherein the existing content file is in a first XML format, and wherein the active content wizard schema is a second XML format, the conversion component being configured to convert the existing content file into the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema using a style sheet to convert the existing content file from the first XML format to the second XML format.

10. The system of claim 5 , wherein the conversion component is configured to convert the existing content file into the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema by performing a multi-step conversion.

11. A computer implemented method of converting existing content files into an active content wizard executable file, the method comprising:

using a processor to convert an existing help content file into a corresponding file in an active content wizard schema by searching the existing help content file using a plurality of heuristic criteria based upon style guidelines of help content and using the plurality of heuristic criteria to map the existing help content file into the active content wizard schema;

using the processor to create a database of user interface elements by recording the user interface elements and corresponding properties from one or more windows of an application program to which the existing content file corresponds;

using the processor to retrieve information relating to user interface elements referenced in the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema from the database; and

using the processor to create an active content wizard file from the corresponding file in the active content wizard schema and the retrieved information relating to user interface elements.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 , wherein recording the user interface elements and corresponding properties from the one or more windows of the application program to which the existing content file corresponds further comprises:

identifying a window in the application program; and

using a window recorder to automatically record a plurality of user interface elements shown in the identified window, along with corresponding properties for the plurality of user interface elements.