Cross-application walkthrough guides from desktop app to desktop app, desktop app to browser and browser to desktop app
A technique to support a walkthrough across different applications is disclosed. Walkthroughs between desktop applications is supported. Walkthroughs between a desktop application and a web application may also be supported. A central flow route processor may be provided to support routing walkthroughs between applications. The central flow route processor may include an application identity table to identify application identifiers, process names, and class names.
1 . A system for supporting digital adoption platform (DAP) walkthroughs across target applications for uninterrupted guidance, the system comprising:
a flow processor configured to support communication of full contextual flow state information between walkthrough applications and monitor a custom protocol associated exclusively with initiating and routing state to a desktop application, wherein the custom protocol is utilized to receive flow state information; and route a walkthrough the full contextual flow state information across applications to enable an uninterrupted continuation of the walkthrough between at least one of: 1) between two or more distinct desktop applications, 2) between a desktop application and a web application, and 3) between a web application and a desktop application,
wherein the routing, when involving a desktop application, bypasses a reliance on detecting a subsequent advancement condition within a receiving application to initiate the continuation of the walkthrough.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow processor identifies, for an application, an application identifier (ID) and a corresponding process and class name to ensure accurate inter-environment routing of the full contextual flow state information.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the flow processor utilizes an application identity table to identify a unique identifier for each application and associated process and class information for real-time routing of the full contextual flow state information.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow processor monitors a flow identifier (ID) associated with a browser extension for web apps and a flow ID associated with the custom protocol for desktop apps is utilized to trigger a flow transfer utility configured to write the full contextual flow state information into a shared local flow data store that is subsequently read by a DAP player embedded in a receiving desktop application to initiate the uninterrupted continuation of the walkthrough.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the flow processor supports the uninterrupted continuation of flow state information between two different desktop applications via the flow transfer utility and the shared local flow data store.
6 . The system of claim 4 wherein the flow processor supports the uninterrupted continuation of flow state information between two different desktop applications via the flow transfer utility and the shared local flow data store.
7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a DAP guidance system and an application programming interface (API), wherein the flow processor includes a response request processor configured to generate a finder response, in response to a finder request, to facilitate immediate display of a guided tooltip by a receiving desktop application upon uninterrupted continuation.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow processor is compatible with the Windows®, MAC®, and/or Linux® operating systems and is configured to utilize the custom protocol and a flow transfer utility to achieve seamless state transfer across the Windows®, MAC®, and/or Linux® operating systems.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow processor communicates full contextual flow state information via a custom protocol-initiated transfer mechanism to a shared local flow data store to maintain uninterrupted context of the walkthrough across desktop applications.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the flow processor exchanges the state of a running walkthrough using a custom protocol-initiated file transfer mechanism to support providing a guided assistance flow that continues across different applications without restart or delay or dependency on detected advancement conditions.
11 . A system for supporting digital adoption platform (DAP) walkthroughs across target applications for uninterrupted guidance, the system comprising:
a DAP guidance system having a plurality of application containers for a plurality of applications, wherein each application container is uniquely addressable per concurrently running desktop application instance;
a flow processor configured to support communication and exchange of flow state information between the application containers; and route a walkthrough based on a unique identification between at least one of: 1) between two or more distinct desktop applications, 2) between a desktop application and a web application, and 3) between a web application and a desktop application,
wherein the flow processor is further configured to uniquely identify a target desktop application instance for routing using a combination of a process identifier (ID) and a window handle ID.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the flow processor identifies, for a desktop application instance, a unique identifier comprising a combination of an application identifier (ID), a process name, and a window handle ID to ensure fine-grained routing across multiple concurrently running desktop application instances.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the flow processor utilizes an application identity table to identify the unique identifier for each desktop application instance and associated process and class information for real-time routing of full contextual flow state information.
14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the flow processor monitors a flow identifier (ID) associated with a browser extension for web apps and a flow ID associated with a custom protocol for desktop apps is utilized to transfer flow state information for uninterrupted continuation of the walkthrough across desktop applications.
15 . The system of claim 14 wherein the flow processor supports the uninterrupted continuation of flow state information between two different desktop applications via a flow transfer utility initiated by the custom protocol.
16 . The system of claim 14 wherein the flow processor supports the uninterrupted continuation of flow state information between a desktop application and a web application via a flow transfer utility initiated by the custom protocol.
17 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the DAP guidance system generates, for an application container, a finder request for a step of the walkthrough, wherein the flow processor includes a response request processor configured to generate a finder response to the finder request to facilitate immediate display of a guided tooltip by a receiving desktop application upon uninterrupted continuation.
18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the flow processor is compatible with the Windows®, MAC®, and/or Linux® operating systems and is configured to utilize the custom protocol to achieve seamless state transfer between desktop applications across the Windows®, MAC®, and/or Linux® operating systems.
19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the flow processor communicates using the unique identification combination of process ID and window handle ID to ensure accurate state transfer to a designated, concurrently running desktop application instance.
20 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the flow processor exchanges the state of a running walkthrough to support communication of full contextual flow state information via a custom protocol-initiated flow transfer utility to the application instance identified by the unique identifier.
21 . A method for routing a walkthrough across applications, comprising:
starting a walkthrough on an application at a selected step N of the walkthrough, where N is a positive integer;
generating a finder request for selected step of the walkthrough;
obtaining a process name and class name for the finder request of the application from an application identity table storing information on application identifiers and associated process names and class names; and
transferring the finder request to an application container based on the process name and class name to start a new walkthrough starting from step N.
22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising getting elements from an application matching a query corresponding to the request.
23 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising using data present in the finder request to decide where a current guided tooltip needs to be shown.
24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein walkthrough is routed between two different desktop applications and flow state information is communicated between the two different desktop applications.
25 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the walkthrough is routed between a desktop application and a web application and flow state information is communicated between the desktop application and the web application.
26 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the walkthrough is routed between a web application and a desktop application, and flow state information is communicated between the web application and the desktop application.
27 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising transferring flow state information of the walkthrough across applications.
28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein a custom protocol is utilized to maintain context to transfer flow state information for desktop applications.