Abstract: The present invention provides methods and apparatus for capturing and processing user events that are associated with screen objects on a computer system. User events may be captured and recorded so that the user events may be reproduced either at the user's computer or at another computer. An event engine is instructed, through a user interface, to capture and to process a user event that is applied to a screen object. The event engine interacts with one or more application programming interfaces that are supported by the applications being monitored. User events may be processed by an event engine so that each user event is represented as an event entry in a file. The file may be a text file such as an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file, in which each user event is represented by a plurality of attributes that describe user actions, corresponding screen object, and application.

Abstract: A distance-learning system includes a toolbar, which may be docked within a Web browser, that has a dynamically constructed menu system and facilitates providing, to distance-learning students, multiple technologies and/or integration of distance-learning activities with Web-based content. To dynamically construct the toolbar's menu structure, the toolbar may obtain profile information from one or more remotely located server computers. The profile information may be specific to an institution and/or an individual user. Menu items within the toolbar may include the following types of items: a hyperlink that, when activated, navigates a Web-pane pane of the browser; a terminal-server client to a remote machine or application; a Unix-shell client; an embedded browser; a local application; and an instance of a docked info bar. Within a Web browser's display, content for distance learning may be displayed in a Web-page pane while a student is performing distance-learning tasks in an embedded-application pane.