Productivity application management
A method for managing third-tier productivity applications, as part of remote application deployment, consists of using a controlling program, called an AppController, to initiate the application launch which then allows otherwise incompatible programs to control and/or enhance the functionality of the productivity application by accepting commands transmitted using standard network communications protocols.
1. A method of programmatically managing a third-tier productivity application where a first-tier user accesses the third-tier productivity application over a network through a second-tier server running remote application access software, the method comprising the steps of:
a. initiating an application managing program in a third-tier process space;
b. said application managing program launching the third-tier productivity application in the third-tier process space;
c. passing user interface and user commands between the third-tier productivity application and a first-tier computer via the remote application access software;
d. transmitting a command from the second-tier server to the application managing program; and
e. the application managing program controlling the third-tier productivity application in accordance with the command received from the second-tier server.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the command from the second-tier server to said application managing program comprises a command to load a data file into the third-tier productivity application.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data file is opened allowing only read-only access.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application managing program consults a data store for data about the third-tier application, and wherein said data store contains information on a process by which the application managing program can control the third-tier productivity application.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the command is an instruction to modify display attributes of the third-tier productivity application.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the command is an instruction to toggle a run-time attribute of the third-tier productivity application.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the run-time attribute is chosen from a set including tracking user edits, showing changes to a data file, and, if the data file is a document, highlighting portions of the document.